We love to talk about our ICE App. Partly because we created it, but mostly because of how successful it has been. Our app has the potential to save every downloader’s life. Just how many people have downloaded our In Case of Emergency app? Check out the case study on our DC Interactive Group website.

http://www.dcinteractivegroup.com/category/case-studies/

For the past several years, the use of social and mobile in the healthcare industry has been on the rise. Social media and mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives, and social and health seem to have a natural connection. People like to research their own health—they have been since the Internet made this easy. And now they are starting to share opinions with others, ask for advice, and search for information on the go.

Smart hospitals are starting to catch on, implementing social media programs that help to brand, manage reputations, and provide helpful, reliable information to these consumers.

In the below infographic, we examine recent research from several sources that tells a story: Patients of all ages are increasingly using social and mobile sites to listen to and engage with others who are talking about health. Hospitals who are not currently participating in the conversation should be.

If you’d like to implement a social media program for your hospital but aren’t sure how to get started, contact us!

We have worked with every type of client. This includes those that like to have a tight grip on everything that is distributed, and prefer to be involved in the creation of every piece of marketing that is published—approving and editing piece after piece of content, requesting to have final approval of each blog post, banner ad, and tweet. And we have also worked with clients who give us the general idea and then hand over the reigns and say, “Have at it.”

We like to work with every client at their comfort level for control, since we understand that our work reflects not only the brand that we are creating social media content for, but also the individuals within each business who are responsible for working with us. If we do a good job, these individuals look good. We like when that happens.

When we start working as social media partners with a client who prefers a lot of control over what content is posted, we have noticed that often, after a while, they will let go of their tight grip a bit. We will get a good feel for the brand’s appropriate voice and topics of conversation, and the client will trust our judgement and knowledge of what will work for them. This not only frees up the time of the individuals responsible for us so they can work on other important responsibilities, but it often allows for more creative social media content and conversations. In other words, when the web marketing team is allowed to be creative and spontaneous, beautiful things can happen.

As an example of our work, take Sherman Hospital’s Movember and Stache Yourself campaign. In 2011, for Prostate Cancer Awareness month in November, we ran a mustache contest on Facebook, asking men to grow mustaches, take a picture, and then pictures were voted on by Facebook fans. This was all in honor of men’s health, and all related content (including blog posts about famous TV mustaches, etc.), reminded men to get their prostate checked. This year, because the client is the type to allow freedom and creativity, we have added a “Stache Yourself” campaign, where people can send in a picture of themselves and we will give them a custom photo-shopped mustache to use as a profile picture on social networking sites. This sort of fun marketing likely wouldn’t make it through the filter if it had to be approved by layers of authority, and even if it did, the lead time approvals required wouldn’t have allowed this addition to the campaign to happen.

Consider this example: @Oreo, who has 57,000 Twitter followers, tweeted “Ever bring your own Oreo cookies to the move theater?” and Shane Adams, the social media manager of @AMCTheatres, could have ignored this post. Or if he had to report to his superiors for approval, he may not even have given the post thought. Or if he had to report to legal, a response would have taken too long. Instead, in 8 minutes, he crafted one of the best RTs by a brand ever and let it fly:

Within a day, this 3 word reply had over 1,000 RTs. Their Twitter feed has grown by 13,000 followers since the reply and now has 149,000 followers. Oreo responded again with, Fair enough, @AMCTheatres, but don’t hate the player, hate the game. To which @AMCTheatres crafted another silly response:

The lesson? Have fun with your brand’s social media where it makes sense. But the larger lesson comes from Shane Adams’s blog regarding how he was able to come up with this brilliant piece of marketing:

“…Successes like this are not purely the result of being clever. Being given the latitude to react and respond is critical for a social media group within a brand. Trust matters. The trust that we have been given is an invaluable asset in instances like this. And I will continue to live up to that trust…why wouldn’t I? I am a representative of the brand (a brand that I am proud of), so why would I do anything that would harm the brand?”

And the same is true of us, when we’re acting as your marketing agency. We care about creating good work and a good image for you, because we know everything we put out reflects on us as well. If you let us, we will take good care of you and your brand. So have as much control as you would like, but also keep in mind that great trust can equal great creativity.

I just found an interesting infographic about customer’s feelings on the Facebook Like. The infographic is from Lab42, who recently surveyed 1,000 social media users on why they like (or don’t like) brands. The entire infographic is interesting (and you can get to it by clicking the splice below), but I was most intrigued about a few results that had to do with customer retention—once you get people to Like you, why might they “Unlike” you? The most popular reasons:

In addition, those surveyed, when asked how to get non-likers to like them on Facebook, responded: 1. More giveaways. 2. Post less often.

So, do you want to keep your hard earned Facebook fans? Just what is the magic number of Facebook posts for a brand? In a recent Mashable article, Facebook’s communications manager recommends that less is more. She suggests you begin with one or two posts a week, and once you feel out what makes for a good post, increase to a maximum one excellent post per day. This is better than two so-so posts. This also prevents you from cluttering up people’s news feeds and annoying them.

Think of your most interesting Facebook friends. Likely they aren’t posting more than one time a day, and when they do, it is something thoughtful, interesting, and entertaining. Now think of your most annoying friends. They likely post too often, and aren’t entertaining enough. They probably did Crossfit this morning and posted a picture of an upside-down cat a few hours later and this afternoon will post a detailed list of chores that still need to be done around the house. You start to ignore the things they post, scrolling on by, sighing—just that person again. Post one time a day, and have it be the most interesting post your fans will see that day.

The above is a rule of thumb. You may have occasions where more than one post per day is appropriate. Maybe you are hosting an event where your fans will find regular updates interesting. As long as this is done with great discretion, you may go this route. As an example, one of our clients, United Way of Elgin , recently built a playground with volunteers in one day. We posted a photo update every hour of the playground build, and the fans truly enjoyed seeing all of the updates—evidenced by engagements with the posts—likes, shares, and comments.  In the final post of the day alone, 10 percent of their fans engaged with the post and 6 percent of their fans liked, shared, or commented on the picture. Clearly they weren’t annoyed by the end of a day full of posts.

We are with Facebook on the one post a day idea, although your brand may warrant more or less. We recommend keeping an eye on what your fans like, and how many you lose and gain as you increase or decrease your post frequency. (We can also help you manage your social media presence if you don’t have the time or even via consultation.)

What have you found success with on your Facebook page regarding post frequency?

It seems like everyone has an app idea. Especially if you work in your organizations marketing department, you have probably been approached by staff, board members, and other colleagues who claim to have the next great app idea for your company. But according to a recent Forrester Study, “Mobile Apps for Marketing,” branded apps aren’t for everyone—and they require a great deal of thought when creating them to be sure they are worth the effort.

A few years ago we created the ICE App as a branded app for hospitals. The app allows people to add a banner to their mobile phone home image that includes an In Case of Emergency phone number, so first responders can easily see who to call if someone has an accident or medical emergency, without having to open a person’s phone and search contact information. The app is offered by hospitals free for user’s to download. The branded portion of the app: next to the emergency number is the hospital’s logo.

So just what should you consider when evaluating your branded app idea? A few thoughts from Forrester follow, as well as a close evaluation of how our ICE App for Hospitals measures up:

Audience skews younger. Almost 2/3 of app users are Generation X and Generation Y. 19% of those 56 to 66 use mobile apps. So if your app is geared toward a younger crowd and you are aiming to reach those up to 55, you are more likely to find success.

• ICE App Evaluation: Ideally a hospital would like to reach the older generation also, but the younger generation does have health issues. And reaching Generation X, who is getting older, is great. These people also may be making health decisions for the older generation. As far as app content goes, anyone can have an emergency, and Generation X is increasingly aware of this.

The best apps enhance brand experience or build loyalty. Most people who will download your app are aware of your brand and like it before they do so. The app shouldn’t try to do the job of introducing your brand—it should be helpful and provide a reminder of who your company is.

• ICE App Evaluation: The ICE App is not out of the blue—it makes sense for hospitals. It certainly provides a valuable service to the users, making them prepared in case of an emergency. It also suits a hospital brand—it is about helping you when you have a health crisis. Users will hopefully become aware of your app through a solid marketing plan, and they will see that you are going out of your way to provide them with tools to better their health.

Create apps people will return to. Research from a Pew study shows once apps are downloaded, people may not open them very often. 68% of smartphone owners open only 5 or less apps one time a week. So your app idea needs to be functional, and something users need.

• ICE App Evaluation: Users have no choice but to see your brand when they use this app. They download it, set up the picture with their ICE information, and then they never have to open the app again. Your brand with their ICE phone number will appear on their home screen every time they turn on their phone. In terms of shelf life and stickiness, an app can hardly do better.

Learn more about the ICE App and how your hospital can put it to use.

According to Compete, Pinterest traffic has experienced meteoric growth since we last wrote about it in August. At the end of August, they had 1,241, 295 unique visitors. As of January 2012, they had 11,140,641. And most of this growth is recent, so who knows how big the site will become.

It would be safe to say that, as a business marketer, if you haven’t paid any attention to the site, now would be the time. Here are the basics: The site is a “virtual pinboard” that allows users to “Pin” photos to their “Boards” that are organized by categories the user creates. The photos are directly linked to the sites where they originate, so it is, at its most basic, a photo bookmarking site. Users can then browse other people’s boards, “RePin” things they like, and make comments.

So how can you leverage this site for your business?

The site discourages use for “self-promotion”, but this doesn’t mean brands have been unsuccessful using it. It just means the site needs to be used creatively and interactively—in the same way it is used by consumers. Mashable recently asked Pinterest who they believed to be the top brands using their site. Answers ranged from magazines like Real Simple and Better Homes and Gardens to furniture retailer West Elm to Whole Foods.

But what we were most interested in was how they defined their top brands. Their criteria are included in our top 3 tips below. The other 2 tips are just our recommendations for how you might get started with your business on Pinterest.

1. Pin from various sources rather than one specific site. If you get involved on Pinterest, users will be more likely to follow you and repin if you use the site for its purpose—to pin the things you are passionate about. We recommend focusing on your brand rather than your products only. So if you are a hospital, create boards that deal with healthy lifestyles and pin from sources all over the internet—healthy recipes, motivational quotes for exercise or dieting—this establishes your brand as a health thought leader and as something a user would want to follow.

2. Repin from within the site to engage with others. Just like with Facebook or Twitter, you are going to get the most mileage from the site if you use the social media in a social way. Repin theirs, and they may take interest and repin yours.

3. Create at least a few boards and cover a broad range of interests. If you simply go on the site and create a board named after your company, you have wasted your time. Consider all of the things your brand stands for and what categories or words users may be searching. If you are a nonprofit organization, create boards for volunteers in action, inspirational photos, and events you have hosted.

4. Name boards and tag carefully. Don’t just use the main Board names that Pinterest recommends when you sign up. Think of keywords that you target in your other marketing, and name the boards using those same words. Search on Pinterest to see what other boards you will be “competing” with if you name a board a certain way. This will help you find topics you can dominate, as well as other boards you may want to follow and repin from. Tag photos following the same rules.

5. Add the Follow and Pin It Button to your website and blog. Pinterest offers code for a Follow button. This can be used on your website, and wherever else you recommend people follow your social media. You can also add a “Pin It” button on your product pages or on your blog posts, where appropriate. This will allow and encourage Pinterest users to pin your images directly from within your post.

As you can see, it will take some time to learn to use the site properly and to get a feel for what works for your business. But if you can manage to be creative, consider your brand, and put some effort in, it will likely pay off to be an “early adopter.” Don’t have time? Consider Sparking—we can help. If you’re ready, go ahead and get pinning!

What are some of your favorite brands on Pinterest?

I’m a sucker for contests. I absolutely love them and I enter them all the time. Contests are not only a great way to win something cool or gain some extra cash…they are a great way for the company who is running it to advertise themselves or their product. Lets be honest, we all remember the Doritos contest winner from last year’s Super Bowl. Why? Because Doritos did some serious marketing to promote their contest last year, therefore leading to crazy amounts of brand awareness for them all over the internet. I mean, if you see something you like or you have a friend who submitted a commercial and you want to help them get votes, where are you going to post a link? More than likely you will post it on Facebook or tweet it to get exposure from the widest audience all at one time without having to know everyone’s email address.

Some friends of mine recently entered a submission in this year’s Doritos Crash The Superbowl Contest. Within days of posting their video, it is one of the most viewed commercial submissions on the whole site. This proves two things. One is that the use of social media can spread the word rather quickly and two is that Doritos just got oodles of exposure without spending money on media placement. Think about that. Someone just created a commercial for them for free and even if it’s not picked, about 1,400 people have seen it without them even having to do anything. That is excellent marketing! Of course, they are offering the winner 1 million dollars and the chance to work with The Lonely Island, but your prizes don’t have to be so extravagant to get people to participate. Let’s be honest, we all like free stuff.

Our client, Sherman Health, is currently running a contest for Movember. If you don’t know what Movember is, it’s a month long event where men grow mustaches. For Sherman, the mustaches symbolize men’s health and through their Movember Contest, one lucky guy sporting a sweet ’stache will be taking home some Blackhawks tickets. If you haven’t heard about the Movember contest, take a look at the Sherman Health Blog and see what other fabulous prizes we are giving away! Don’t forget to start growing out that mustache .

One of the biggest questions we get from our clients when we are creating a new campaign for them is “Why should I buy a $250-$550 photo when I can get one for $30-$100 that is just as good?” Ever since the invention of stock photography sites, clients just can’t understand why some photos are just so darn expensive!

Since the recession hit, we designers have spent countless hours searching through cheap stock photography sites for clients. Sometimes sites like this are good because they offer us photography at a price that is affordable. This is great when you have a really small budget, but what if you don’t? Should you give in and buy the more expensive photos? The answer is yes. Here are my 4 reasons why…from a designer’s point of view.

Reason 1 – Cheap Stock Photography Can Cheapen Your Brand
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “You get what you pay for,” you heard right. There is no such thing as a good cheap photo – there’s a reason it’s cheap. Most of the photos found on these inexpensive photography sites have a cheesy, unprofessional look to them. If you’re building a web site for a hospital or bank, you probably don’t want that cheesy photo to be the first thing people see. Clients connect what they see visually with how they think of your brand. That’s why advertising is an effective and important part of your business. If you are trying to build a serious and reputable brand, you probably want a photo that shows that as well.

Photos on a cheaper stock photography site are usually submitted by amateur photographers who are just trying to make some side money. These photographers do not have the training or experience that a professional who is submitting their work to a more reputable site does. That means the quality of their work and their eye for creative and interesting shots is most likely not where it needs to be to make your brand really stand out from the crowd.

Reason 2 – The Cheaper The Photo, The More Likely Someone Else Will Use It
Back in the day, there was no such thing as stock photo sites. That meant that whenever a business needed to do a brochure and they wanted photos, they had to hire a photographer to take these images for them. The advantage of this type of photography was that no one else in the world would be using those photos for advertising, except you.

Well, times have changed. Now, anyone can get a stock photo downloaded from the internet in ten minutes or less. If you are a big hospital, do you want your advertising campaign to be built around images off a cheaper stock photography site that anyone can afford? Your campaign that you spent all that money on will not look so original if the guy down the street is using the same image for his small business.

Reason 3 – The Cheaper The Photo, The Less Specific They Will Be
Sometimes, when we’re building a campaign for a client, they want to see certain types of photos/demographics. Usually, this is not a problem to find when you are searching for photos on a more reputable stock photography site. These sites specialize in stock photography. That means that they use actual data and figure out what items are searched for most frequently and therefore do more photo shoots of these things.

Not only do they monitor what people are searching, they also know the rules and regulations of advertising. They know that in printed pieces and online you need a certain number of each type of demographic, therefore they offer this type of photography.

On the contrary, a cheaper site won’t offer as many images that fit your needs because most of their images are added at random by amateur photographers. This means that they are most likely not photos that have been taken as part of a shoot and also that they do not offer a wide range of demographics – therefore making it harder to find what you’re looking for.

Reason 4 – Series Photos Are Important
Generally, photos that are part of a series are the best photos to use for a campaign. Why? Well, they are all the same. They are a bunch of photos that all have a similar theme and were taken at the same time. Because of this, they will have the same kind of lighting, colors, and types of people.

This might not sound important, but it is.

On a cheaper site, you might be able to find one image here and another there that are of people who are 55 and older and gardening, but they will most likely be different gardens, different kinds of daylight, different people, etc. And what if you really like the style of that one image because you feel it fits your brand the best, but you can’t find any other images that look like it? Sadly, you’re pretty much out of luck. Contrary to some people’s beliefs, Photoshop can only do so much. You can’t always make images look the same, no matter how hard you might try.

Professional stock photography sites, on the other hand, offer series photos which come from a specific photo shoot. That means all of the images in the series were taken during the same shoot and have the same kind of lighting, people, etc. If you like one image from the series and feel that it fits the look and feel you are going for, then it is easy to find images that match and are of similar quality.

Instead of thinking of the internet as a way to cut back on quality and get things for cheap, we should be grateful that we are offered such an easy solution for great photography. You can get the quality of the images you would have received back in the day right at your desktop, without having a photo shoot. Back in the day, people had to pay upwards of $3,500 for a photo shoot every time they needed new photos for a brochure – and that didn’t include the cost of renting a helicopter, make-up artist, talent, and whatever else you needed. Now, you can even buy images according to the size you need! And that, my friends, is amazing.

I hope it’s more evident now why paying more for photography is a little extra dough. The recession has been hard for everyone, but we’ve all become so caught up in a penny pinching mentality that we have sacrificed quality in the process. As the economy takes a turn and things become better again, I hope we will not see ourselves clinging to bad habits just because we know we can save money. It’s important to go back to your roots and pay more attention to what that photo is saying about your brand instead of focusing on the cash.

My husband and I recently took a trip to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Scottsdale which was incredible. A seven day break, seeing one of the seven wonders of the world, hiking in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, and then relaxing in a posh hotel in Scottsdale.

With all of the hiking involved in the trip, we wanted to be sure we had great hotels in which to relax and rest up in each evening. So I turned to Trip Advisor reviews to find comfortable, clean, affordable, and quality hotels in each location. If a hotel had a low overall rating, I skipped it. If the rating was above average, I’d check out the first page of reviews.

I noticed that there are several Complainy Complainersons out there, especially online, who will take their negative attitude and subject it on the world wide web from the soapbox that review sites provide. (People complained about the high desk in the lobby of one hotel, since it wasn’t friendly enough for them to look over a desk that was chest height. I don’t know about you, but that certainly wouldn’t make or break my stay. We ended up staying there, and yes, the desk was high. Offensive? No. But high.)

But I also could tell the legitimate complaints that might may be problems I’d worry about. Mostly, if I read a lot of rational complaints, I’d move on. But some hotels had a secret weapon—a response each time a reviewer complained. It always included a simple apology followed by the hotel’s explanation for the situation—the issue was resolved with a credit at checkout, security was dispatched and the fighting couple was sent away, someone came and chopped the high desk in half to bring it to a more reasonable level, etc.

And this followup worked for me. I was able to read both sides of the story and assess if I thought the hotel was reasonable, and if I was dealing with a Complainy Complainerson.

It’s even possible the followup was able to bring the miffed reviewers back to the hotel—according to The Retail Consumer Report, which surveyed people who shopped online during the 2010 holiday season. Of those who posted a complaint, 68% received a response from the retailer. Of those people:

• 18% turned into loyal customers and bought more
• 33% posted a positive review
• 34% deleted their original negative review

The rest, we’ll guess, were Complainy Complainersons. They probably went on to examine desk heights at other shops.

What’s more, 61% of consumers interviewed said they would be shocked if a retailer responded to their negative reviews. So what do you say, why not go check out your company’s negative reviews and jolt some people a bit?

We recently helped a client, American Guardian Warranty Services Inc., bring their online reputation to par with their BBB rating. They have an  A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, but a lot of Complainy Complainersons were at work against them online. AGW didn’t have much online content and did not have the time to address the negative reviews they received on consumer forums. That’s where we came in.

We found negative reviews posted on forums. We then addressed complaints with AGW’s side of the story, and provided additional information about AGW to future viewers on the forum. We provided trackable links to direct readers to pages with more specific information such as the BBB report. Check out one such example below.

If you’d like us to help you take charge of your online reputation, contact us.

This morning the British tabloid The Sun reported that Apple is developing technology that will allow for an external transmitter to deactivate your iPhone camera at concert venues. Obviously, it could be a terrible marketing move — but not just for Apple.

First, let’s learn about the technology, which isn’t entirely evil. Apple filed a patent on June 2, 2011 to include infrared technology in their cameras. Infrared sensors, like the inexpensive ones included in your TV remote, transmit data via invisible light within line-of-sight. Infrared sensors are inexpensive, tiny and the idea to combine them with cameras is brilliantly simple. There could be thousands of uses for this.

As an example of this technology being used for good, Apple envisions museums could use this to lead tours or provide extra information. When a visitor points a camera at an object or display, a small transmitter hidden next to the object will send a data signal to the iPhone to play videos, display text or other information. It doesn’t take too much effort for me to envision the wonderful things this technology could bring. I could come up with about a dozen robust advertising and marketing uses right now.

Now for the evil part. Apple is also including the ability for an external transmitter to disable the iPhone’s camera. The example they use is theaters and concert venues. Some venues already employ wireless phone signal jammers to prohibit texting and phone calls. Now they could place small transmitters around the stage to render iPhone cameras useless. As well, virtual and invisible “watermarks” could also be applied to objects, printed images — or anything — rendering them un-photographable. Again, it doesn’t take too much effort for me to envision the worrisome things this technology could bring — like police officers and TSA agents buttoning the tiny watch-battery-powered transmitters to their uniforms to prohibit recording (something Rodney King would probably take issue with).

Civil rights issues aside, we’re both here to talk about marketing. You and I know that record labels and movie executives will be the two most enthusiastic supporters of this cell phone camera-disabling technology. But in my opinion, they’re some of the people who should dread it the most.

I recently saw the innovative cellist Zoe Keating in concert at the Evanston SPACE, a small urban venue, north of Chicago. Recording was officially prohibited, but around me sat several individuals holding up their iPhones and Android phones, quietly recording bits of the performance. The Evanston SPACE ignored them, as did Zoe Keating. [Please see the update below from Zoe Keating] Where did those videos and images wind up? YouTube. Facebook. Twitter. Their personal blogs. They will be seen by others and hopefully new people will become introduced to Zoe Keating, and the beautiful and intimate Evanston SPACE. Will those people feel satisfied that they no longer need to see Zoe Keating live, or see another live performance at Evanston SPACE because they saw a shaky video with poor audio? Of course not.

As an advertising and marketing agency, we’re constantly looking for opportunities to promote things. Social media is one of several powerful mediums to share information, and fresh content is always needed. Record labels, movie executives, theaters, concert halls, venues and the artists themselves should be embracing amateur photography and recordings (as long as they’re not distracting to others watching the performance) instead of fighting them and creating enemies out of those that support them the most. They should empower everyone in the audience to be what they already really want to be: motivated and happy advocates and ambassadors who want to share their experience with others — and help promote you for free.

Apple files patents all the time for things that they never make it into production, and there’s no word on whether or not this new technology will ever see the light (or infrared light) of day. Hopefully this camera-disabling feature will remain on paper in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and not in your pocket.

For now, look for ways you can empower your clients and customers to help spread the word about you. It’s the best kind of marketing move you can make.

UPDATE Zoe Keating isn’t just savvy about combining music and technology, she’s also pretty adept at social media. She actively engages with her fans on her Facebook page and Twitter. She wanted to clarify her stand on this and emailed the following note:

“In your story last week about Apple potentially blocking video recording, you mentioned a concert of mine where video was not allowed. The implication is that I didn’t allow the video. I want to set the record straight so that no one is confused: I allow and actively encourage video and photos at my shows. The only thing I ask is that mediatakers be aware of other members of the audience and not impede their experience of the concert (i.e. by holding a camera over your head and blocking other’s view.). At my concerts where video is not allowed, it is because it is venue’s policy that I cannot change.”
Thanks very much, Zoe