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Marl<eting Heatth Services

cAsEsTUDY11.1i.....,'.].. Vir:ginia Btood Services',Facebook Events ' 'when the tegal age for donating blood in virginia was lower-ed from rg to r5; virginia Blood Services (vBS) began to explore new methods of com m unicati n g with potential donors -= pa rticu tarly first-time d ono rs - and attracting them to blood.co[ection events. vBS consulted with a ma(eting firm on how to use social media to reach those audiences.

It quickty became apparent that using sociaI media was appropri- ate for reaching not:onty those as loung as'r6 but also college-aged students. upcoming blood dr:ives on colleg€ csrnpuses signaled an opportunity to market the events in a way that woutd be appticabte to both demographies. with a target population of high school and co[-

'lege studentsr the challenge of drawing interest and engagement was greater. i

VBS devetoped a strategy of using Facebool< Event to organize and promole a series of blosd drives on campuses across the state. The events were linked to vBS]s Faceboor< profite, which was ah,eady disseminating content and news. The success of this strategy was measured' thr.oughrthe RSVp feature, which indicated who and how

'many would be attendi,ng, might be attending, or would not be attend- ing a specific event., A related measure was the visibility of the feature. People without Facebook profiles coutd not see the event information untess it was mad,e available to the public. peopte with profites, in

'contrast, not on'[y could rsee the event but atso coutd become a ,,fan,

and RSVP to the event; the Newsfeed feaiure would then publiicize this intention to attend or participate. In a circle of friends, the more peopte planning to attend,lthe more peopte are influenced to attend or would knsw aboutthe event. ln the,iase of vBS, even if just r inlzo invited to the blood drlve says tiyesir 6r'"rnaybeil to participating (which endolses the activity), then hundreds- if not th,ousands-of peop!e who were not even invited would.find out and could sign up th,emselves; ln this way, the RSVP would [ikety tal<e on a tife of its own.

The immediate suceess of vBS's Facebook Event itrategy was,pa[- pable: ln iust one week, several hundred people had viewed the pro- rnoted events and more,than a thi'rd of them, responded using the RSVp feature. Fs-r a blood'd1ive'at the,univer:sity of Virginia; fol example, vBS received 165iyeses; 614 may,bes, 55 nos, and 247 no rd:sponses. More than 5oo people viewed the eve.nt page in less than 7 days.

But the real'results came after the blood'drives, when the initiative was evaluated.' Data were.compiled on people who actually attended

Chapter rr: SociaI Media and Heatthcare Marketing

ked fromirSi' ,fnethods:o-f,

le donors- tlteC with a Iciiences.'i. ,

ls appropri, btlege-aged bignaled an pplicabte to

irol and eot gement WaS

1to organize p ihe stale, pas already

[rategy was ho and how| .t... . I be attend. Ithe feaiure,, information

i profiles, in ome a "fan'll ublicize this inore people

nd or wouid ro invited to lch endorses

Iho were not , ln this way;

lgy was pal: red the p1o: ng the RSVP rampte, VBS

lnses Mole

the initiative

lly attended

,(as..oppo.S,ed'.to'thoii. who,m,ere.ty !a!d yei),, Who.,were viaUle, :donors, WhO i d o nated,,lld ou,b l€: ied iii':'(i.e,,, a,,, ce rt;in rtipe.'Ol,b[O Od),. an d w h o weip" new' donois:r'Becaus.e.I people, generatiy, uie ,the!i ,ieai, names on Faeebook':V,gg.,vv3l1 s[[e,,.to'develop.a,,srna[ iprog,rammlng,scr:lpt that matched d,o;ors ih',f h,e data,base with theiF-aiebool<'rveni,,,tog of ,names. The'.fina,l,tally.,.WaS,la lemaikable 28. percenl,ihcie,a3elin,n :dOnors, all ,solieited thr:o,ugh Faceb.ook.rFois-orne of theeventi., the aoub,te.red total

, r., What u,elnographic,aio VB,s seelrlto pen,etr:ite, ahd, whylaiO,,ii ttrinti ;1 ''6n,ipRsvative method.would,be,,requ,irid.to do so? ., ' '. ' 2,' fx 6dd if i o n to:iFacebooki wh at, othe,r f6 rm s to,f soc iat, m ed i al m i gtrt

, 3.-1 wh,at e ha6cter.isties.,of Face.booii,and othir. soiial ne-tworks make , ,, , them.ideatfor',this type'of earnpaigni ,, , ,.i ,i,1,, , ,. .ir I ,,

, 4. l1ow,eff0etiVe,,rara516e VBS campaign,,and howido the resulrs , tr .coffipE{elwi!,h what,mig'ht be:eipected, using traditio haI marketin g

methods?

A Modern Marketer's Medium

The grorvth and popularity of social media have revolutionizcd marketipg in all industries. The mcdiun-r continuallv exhibits to rnarkerers that target audi- ences (assuming the,v are "lvired,,) not only are highly accessible an1.r,r,here and at any time but also are a concluit rvho can rapidly a'd u,iclely sprcad a marketing campaign's message. Moclern marketers realize th:1t social rnedia are part of contemporary comnunications, ecosystem that includes TV, radio, and print; thus, most marketers have integratcd all these media to cap- ture consllmers with enjoyngls and seamless promotio,s that are

'isible on

the r,r.eb, o, mobile de-",ices, on TV a'cl the raclio, and in print. Social media marheting usuallv involr,cs creating content xnd

fbeding it to appropriate online cha,nels (e.g., social .et*,-orks, brogs, ,e'rs aggregators) to attract enough attention that it is u,illingly shared across plirtforms or it goes viral (i.e., a, epidemic-like dissemination of content). whe, a brand's corporate message is postcd and the. passed .n fiom user to Llser on a social network (by being reposted or retureeted, fbr extrmple), it presumabll' resorates because it appears to corne ftom a trustecl third-party

Social media marketing The promotion of an idea, a good, a service, or a brand using various types of social media

Virat The rapid, epidemic-tike dissemination of content on the I nternet