eHealth Articles & White Papers

Social Media and Its Impact on Brand

Ben Dillon - Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

Some aspects of an organization's overall brand are in our control, such as our marketing efforts and the direct experiences that health consumers have with us. Others, such as media coverage, have always been largely out of our control.

In recent years, however, the share of brand impressions over which we do have control has diminished. The reason: the explosion in health consumers' ability to share their experiences through online social media.

Brands began as simple marks of identification (as in "branding cattle") but as we think about brands today, they represent far more than a logo. A brand is the sum of the experiences consumers have with our organization and represents the expectations they have for the service you will provide.

As such, our brand emerges not only from our various marketing touch points with health consumers, but also from their impressions and experiences, the experiences others share with them, and media coverage.

Word of mouth, times a million

It's true: a consumer that has a bad experience is more likely to tell others about that experience than someone who has a good experience. In the past, this was limited to an individuals' personal network of friends and acquaintances - perhaps a few dozen people.

Today, through the magic of social media, that experience can be shared with thousands.

I recently searched online for a new dentist. The first result returned from Google included only one review. The dentist was given only one star with the single-word explanation of "ethics." It's an interesting scenario - I don't know the person making the claim. For that matter, I can barely tell what issue they may have had with this provider. Nonetheless, I skipped to the next choice without a thought.

This is the power of social media.

Understanding the power of a post

Posts allow visitors to submit comments - whether positive or negative - about the product, service, article, etc. Posts that are positive help to reinforce your brand. Posts that are negative, however, can have devastating effects.

In small communities a few negative posts - or even a stack of mediocre posts - tend to stand out and can damage your brand in readers' minds (consider my previous example using the dentist). In large communities, these negative posts aren't as dramatic. Large communities tend to self-police. Those who post comments out of sync with others' experiences are often rebutted and their individual bad ratings carry little weight.

The worst scenario is, in either community, when negative comments are reinforced by other posters.

So, what does this mean to you? What can you do?

Monitor your online image

There are a number of tools and services available to track the online mentions of your organization. Most commonly used is Google Alerts, a tool that emails you pages Google finds based on custom search phrases you define (it's free). Tools by The Nielsen Company, Brandwatch and others allow you to see the levels and disposition of online discussions about your brand.

Monitoring your online image allows you to keep tabs on discussions and identify false messages being released about you. For example, consider the false report that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack or Exxon Mobil's "brand jacking" incident earlier this year.

Evaluate negative claims by blogs or other social media outlets and determine how to respond

Just because a story is negative does not make it untrue. If the story has true aspects, you need to identify what your organization should do to investigate or correct the problem in the future. Make a determination if, and how, to respond only after you are armed with facts about the claim being made.

You may wish to respond:

• When the claims made are sufficiently egregious, such as those suggesting legal or ethical infractions
• When the community on which the claims are posted does not choose to self-police incorrect information.
• When the community on which the claims are posted responds to reinforce the negative

When you respond:

• Identify yourself as a representative of the organization
• Be open and honest - if there was an issue, do not deny it (the backlash can be even worse)
• Address the accusations rather than the accuser
• Communicate only about the elements of the story that you know as facts
• Be clear about the actions your organization is taking and emphasize that you take the accusation seriously and are addressing the situation
• Be consistent

Consider communicating with the posting individual directly

Often posters are more dissatisfied with customer service than they are with clinical services. Consumer-focused organizations are increasingly assigning customer service representatives to seek out discontented consumers on the Web and intervene.

Protect your brand in a Web 2.0 world

Social media leads to significant new challenges for marketing professionals. The most important step is to recognize that there are new rules to the game and your organization will need to devote time and resources to managing your brand in new ways.

Monitoring and participating in social media channels proactively will leave you better positioned to respond when serious issues hit.