A teaching hospital of

Harvard Medical School

The Power of Blogging

gg g
Jaime Lyons
Sr Interactive Producer
Sr.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

• Harvard teaching hospital

located in Boston, Ma
• Renowned for excellence in
patient care, biomedical
research, teaching and
community service.
service
• 621 licensed beds

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 New BIDMC Web Site

• In September of ’08 the new bidmc.org site went live

• The site took a total of 2 ½ years to build
• Replaced an old, out-of-date static hospital Web site

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 Evolution of the BIDMC Web Site
Very recently,
recently the BIDMC Web site went from this:

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Evolution of the BIDMC Web Site
To this:

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Harvard
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 Evolution of the BIDMC Web Site

Features added to the new BIDMC site include:

• Chats
• Podcasts
• E-Letters
• Video
• Webinars
• Blogs

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 Awards and Honors

• Bidmc.org has recently received awards including:

– Gold Lamplighter Award
– Gold Horizon Interactive Award
– Interactive Media Award
– Aster Award
– Hermes Award
– Stevie Award Finalist

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 Blogging, whose doing it?

•In 2007 Business Week Magazine noted that there were

15.5 million active blogs!
•One in three online Americans now read blogs at least
once a month,
th while
hil 18% commentt on them.
th Blog
Bl
readers as a group grew by nearly 50% over this past
year. (Quoted
y (Q from Forrester Research: October 20,,
2008)

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 Know Your Blogcabulary!
Blogcabulary:
The word’s you’ll need to learn in order to “speak the language” of blogs
Blog:
g
An online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called
Web log
Blogger
A person who maintains a blog
Bloggorhea
When you just can’t stop blogging or post too much information
Blogilicious
g
Something you just have to share on your blog
Blogstipation
When you want to blog but just can’t think of anything to post
Bl t it
Blogstrosity
Posting/blogging way, way too much…to the point that it’s frighteningly impressive

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Why Should We Blog?

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 Why Blog?
Reason #1 – Relationship Building!
OMG! Let
me tell
t ll you
all about me! •How do you feel about
someone who
Did I tell you constantly talks AT
that I’m so
good at…. you?
•Do you feel close to
someone who never
gives you an
opportunity to share
your opinion?

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 Why Blog?
Reason #1 – Relationship Building!
• The day of the “We’re Wonderful” sites are over!
• When we give users the opportunity to give their
opinions, converse with our staff, etc. relationships are
built.

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 Why Blog?
Reason #2 – Adding Personality
• It’s one thing to say you are something, and another to
demonstrate the quality.
– At BIDMC, we consider ourselves “Harvard with a heart”
– Our “Living with Breast Cancer” blog demonstrates that
qqualityy through
g the words of the social worker author of the
blog.
– Her personality is added and reinforces our “Harvard with a
heart” brand
heart

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 Why Blog?
Reason #3 – Thought Leadership
• Blogging about a topic
allows your institution to
declare their authority on that
topic.
• Gives a forum for your
institution’s thought leaders
to share their information
with the public.

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 Why Blog?
Reason #4 – Repeat Visitors
• Interesting blogs will
generate loyal readers.
• A blog can become just like
“a book you can’t put down.”
• Repeat visitors are more apt
to feel a relationship with
your institution.

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 Why Blog?
Reason #5 – Promote Services and Physicians
• Through blogging, we can promote services and
physicians passively, which is often more effective than
aggressive traditional marketing.
• The blogger will be marketing themselves by simply
sharing their thoughts and in effect marketing the service
they represent
represent.

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 Why Blog?
Reason #6 – SEO
• The content added to blogs
on your institution’s Web
site will help search engine
more easily find you!
• If your blog topics represent
the strategic initiatives of
your institution, every time
the topic is blogged about
more relevant
l t keywords
k d are
added to your site.

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 Why Blog?
Reason #7 – Viral Marketing

If you get people

talking on your blog,
they’re more apt to
keep talking about it
to friends and family.

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Branding through Blogging

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 Branding through Blogging

• A true opportunity to enhance your brand by

displaying the personalities that make your brand.
• A brand will emerge whether you want it to or not!
• You can shape your brand by answering a few
questions
ti prior
i tot starting
t ti your blog.
bl

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 Branding with Blogging

• What
Wh t is
i your brand?
b d?
– Are you the compassionate hospital?
– Aree you thee most
os technically
ec c y advanced
dv ced hospital?
osp
– What do you hope people say about you when you’re not in
the room?
• Wh
What topics
i andd peoplel aroundd your institution
i i i are a
true reflection of your brand?
– Pick a blog topic and blogger that corresponds with the brand
message you are trying to create

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 Branding with Blogging
In other words, if you would
like to be considered as a
compassionate hospital, don’t
choose someone with this
reputation as a blogger!!! You
will brake your brand because
his or her p
personality
y will
come out!

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 Branding with Blogs

• Monitor and participate in conversations about you.

– learn how we’re perceived
– build a relationship with someone and influence their
perceptions
– do damageg control byy correctingg errors and giving
g g two sides
of the story
– Through a blog you may get tips on how to grow and
improve how you do things

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 Trackingg Your Blogg
• Your blog statistics keep you focused. Set blogging goals and
track whether you are meeting them or not. Looking at your
statistics, you will know if you have achieved your goals, are
making progress, or are off-track.

• Blog statistics help you plan effectively. By knowing how

people are coming to your blog, what they’re reading, and what
actions they’re taking,
taking you can make more thoughtful choices
about which topics work and which do not.

• Blog stats can wake you up. Whether you’ve underestimated

the value of your blog or have gotten complacent about adding
value, knowing your statistics will give you a snapshot of reality.

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The Opposition!
pp

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 The Opposition

Y wantt me tto bl
You blog?
?
I’m the Chief of Neurosurgery,
not Perez Hilton!!!! Isn’t
blogging for teenagers?

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 The Opposition!
pp
Users could say
anything!
What happens if someone
says something horrible??

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 Th O
The Opposition!
iti !

I don’t have time for

a blog!!!!

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 The Opposition!

Liability – What if they

diagnose each other?

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Things to consider when adding blogs to your
strategy
• Disclaimers
• Plan your blog’s path out in advance
• Bloggers should be interesting people with interesting
things to say
• Integrating your blog with the rest of your Web site
• Your blog needs to be marketed in order for people to
find it
• If your blogs are not moderated, someone needs to
police comments.
comments
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Blogging at BIDMC

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 BIDMC Blog Implementation

• Blogging has expanded the BIDMC brand by:

– Building awareness of bidmc.org as a health information
resource by
b engaging
i users ini bidmc.org
bid (“Healthy
(“H lth Is”I ” blog)
bl )
– Demonstrating compassion through condition-oriented
support blogs (“Living with Breast Cancer” blog)
– Building personality (“Trials and Tribulations of a New
Mom” blog)
– Demonstrating transparency ((“Running
Running a Hospital”
Hospital blog)

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 “Healthy Is”

Created in May 09 to satisfy the following marketing

goal:

Engaging consumers with health information with non-traditional media is

our goal. By being more “buzz-worthy” than traditional campaigns we can
get recognized
i d in
i the
h frenzy
f off today’s
d healthcare
h lh advertising
d i i on a limited
li i d
budget.

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 Our Concept

Healthy is _________.

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 Rolling Out the Campaign

Phase 1: Employee Driven Campaign

• The campaign began internally before doing any paid
advertising
• Email to employees about campaign and ask them to show
BIDMC spirit by:
• Using bumper stickers
• Wearing t-shirts
• Submitting photos of healthy activities while wearing T-shirts
• T-shirts at events
• Tables in cafeterias to pass out bumper stickers and T-shirts
• Post stories on the Web
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 Rolling Out the Campaign

Phase 2: External Paid Campaign

• Just two weeks after implementing the internal plan,
th paid
the id portion
ti off the
th campaign
i will
ill begin
b i
• Web Banners
• Print
P i t Advertising
Ad ti i
• Radio
• Facebook & Twitter
• Guerilla/Street Marketing
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Creative

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Radio Script (30 second spot)

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Harvard
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Harvard
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Harvard
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 “Living with Breast Cancer” Blog

• Part of Breast Cancer Support Net

• Written by the Director of Breast Cancer Social Work,
Hester Hill.
• Hester is a 2 time survivor of breast cancer.

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Harvard
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Harvard
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 Topics Discussed

Anything and everything regarding being a breast cancer

patient. Specific topics include:
• Dealing with hair loss
• Dealing with hair growing back in after treatment
• Sleep problems w/ breast cancer
• Recent research findings
• And,
A d much, h much h more

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 From post titled “In the Beginning”
“This is as bad as it gets. There are few promises associated with cancer treatment,
but this is one of them. The first days and weeks after hearing a cancer diagnosis are
always an emotional catastrophe. You can think of little else but cancer. Probably,
you are not sleeping well, and either eating not enough or way too much. You are in
the front car of the famous emotional roller coaster, holding on tightly, and at the
mercy of intense feelings and too many medical appointments.

What can you do in the meantime? It helps to break down time. time Concentrate on
getting through half a day, or even half an hour, at a time. Don’t worry about your
diet; if ice cream is all that will slide past the lump in your throat, forget about the
calories. Comfort food reigns right now. You have to sleep. Ask your doctor what
you can take to help achieve the necessary rest. rest You will not get addicted to sleeping
meds by taking them for a week or two. Move your body. Whenever you feel
overwhelmed and upset, get up and do something. It matters less what you do than
that you do it: take a walk, wash dishes, telephone a friend. Find distractions: watch
funny movies
movies, read trashy novels,
novels clean your closet.
closet Right now,
now unscheduled time is
unhelpful.”

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“Trials and Tribulations of a New Mom” Blog

• A blog authored by Jessica Doherty, a new mom who

works at BIDMC
• Blog started prior to giving birth to first child
• Honest and open view of childbirth and new
motherhood
th h d

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Harvard
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 Topics Discussed

• The count down to labor

• Dealing with preeclampsia
• Sleep deprivation
• Emotions and stress with new baby
• And much more!

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 From ppost titled “Heavy
y Issues”
“It has been 8 weeks and Hannah is officially 2 months old! I can't believe
how fast time has gone. It has been an amazing experience with lots of ups
andd some major
j downs
d as well.
ll Since
Si I try
t tot be
b truthful
t thf l andd honest
h t with
ith
this blog, I will share with you one of my biggest downs...

Most women might not tell you that there is a lot of emotional stuff you
you'll
ll
deal with just after you have your baby. For me, I was very emotional due
to the change in hormones, of course...BUT- do most women tell you that
they cry a ton, wishing their post baby weight would come off? I do! I
really do- it is very hard to STILL be wearing my maternity jeans 8 weeks
after giving birth! And did I mention I have been working out every day
and eating right too? Oh, and breastfeeding is supposed to "suck the fat
off"...well,
off well it helps II'm
m sure as I know II've
ve already lost 40 lbs,
lbs but
seriously...I still have a ways to go. (Oh, did I mention I gained a
whopping 60 pounds with Hannah in my belly!?!?!?- don't tell anyone!
Hahaha!)”

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 “Running a Hospital” Blog

• Blog run by Paul Levy, CEO and President of BIDMC

• Purposely not connected to bidmc.org
• Runningahospital.blogspot.com

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Harvard
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 From post titled “Looking for Your Help”

“Over the past two years, I have shared things with readers of this blog that usually are
not made public by the CEO of an organization. I have done so because I think the
issues facing hospitals are of sufficient societal import -- i.e., beyond the particular
interests of our own hospital -- that they warrant public attention and discourse.
Further I believe that academic institutions like ours have a responsibility to provide
Further,
educational materials to others, and what works better at that than real time case studies
of what we are going through?
In so doing, I show us for what we are in real time, warts and all. This makes us
vulnerable
l bl to
t nastyt anonymous commenters t ini the
th blogosphere,
bl h as well
ll as to
t people
l
who think they benefit from embarrassing us and making us uncomfortable. And, even
a few of my board members have said, from time time, "Transparency is one thing, but
did you have to post that?" The answer is that this is an experiment in real time, but that
I believe BIDMC ends up p being
g a stronger,
g , more effective,, more efficient,, and more
humane organization for having done so.”

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 Blogging Thoughts to Leave You With

• Stop talking at people!

• Don’t be scared, jump in, the water is warm!
• The technology is waiting for you, don’t let more time
pass you by!

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 Other Corporate Blogs for Inspiration

• Ebay – www.ebaychatter.com
• Marriot – www.blogs.marriott.com
• Monster – http://monster.typepad.com/monsterblog
• Walmart – www.checkoutblog.com
• Wholefoods – http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com

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Harvard
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