A blog — ‘all the way up here’ — written by Marina promotes the introduction of the Missoni brand at Target. The doll writes about her porcelain skin and hollowed body. However, it seems as though the savvy social media minds at Target are behind this fashionable “it” girl who promoted the September 13^th launch of Missoni at Target.

The Tumblr account, which popped up in the blogosphere on April 5^th, is primarily devoted to sharing information about the Target- Missoni collaboration. However, Marina also blogs about her home country of Italy, her excitement in moving to the big city of New York and her favorite fashion trends (particularly stripes, the pattern which adorns a majority of the Missoni lines) –all seen from the eyes of a doll. These random “personal” blog posts, sprinkled throughout those promoting the new collection, are no accident. Rather, these fashionista- inspired, whimsical posts are a way for Target to promote and grow its desired image for the line.

On August 10^th, Marina received a gift from her new BFF Margarihta— better known as Margarihta Missoni, the brand champion and heir to the Missoni throne. The Tumblr account unveiled a number of pieces she had received in this “sneak peak” at the Missoni line. These looks were immediately shared by readers in the subsequent hours through Twitter accounts, Tumblr accounts and blogs.

Further, Margarihta Missoni, the face of the brand, has continued to keep the story alive by tweeting back and forth with her new best doll’s Twitter account (@marinawithstyle) and sharing Tumblr links.

During New York Fashion Week, Marina’s followers finally got a peek at the blogger, as the 25-foot doll, decked out in Missoni for Target merchandise with a giant smart phone in hand, made its way from venue to venue. As Fashion Week go-ers snapped pictures to upload to Twitter, Marina communicated back and re-tweeted images, further increasing followers’ excitement and engagement with the brand.

It only takes a little digging to learn Marina’s tweets don’t come from a “real doll,” but from Target’s marketing department, as a number of links utilize Target’s custom URL shortener, Tgt.bz. Some have commented on the shadiness in tricking consumers to believe Marina is a passionate fashion blogger. But we think that is taking things rather too seriously. As a consumer who anxiously awaited the launch, I can admit that even I have exchanged tweets with Marina about my excitement, knowing the marketing tactic is all in good- fun. Many readers either think giant, porcelain dolls can talk or, more than likely, of course, seem willing to suspend disbelief.

Either way, it’s working. With bloggers utilizing the “re-blog” feature of Tumblr and the real-time aspect of Twitter, Missoni for Target has spread like wild fire through the fashion, lifestyle and culture blogs on the internet. Target’s creation of a fictional fashionista to promote the brand through Tumblr has, thus far, proved strong. The highly anticipated collection created quite a buzz for the mass retailer/luxury brand collaboration – enough to crash its website with a clamoring mob of online shoppers.

While we cheer this growing acknowledgement of social media as a marketing tool, we wonder about the effectiveness of most hospitals’ efforts as they “dip their toes into the water.” Are they building engagement? Are they forming communities? Are they advancing their brand and differentiating?

Social media without a social media marketing strategy may help us develop Facebook “likers” or Twitter followers, but we’ll never get the kind of engagement that will build an engaged audience and meet our objectives.

So what do we do? Let’s look at what Media Logic is doing for one of its medical clients, a large multi-site radiology practice in New Jersey, Altantic Medical Imaging or AMI. Radiology is a highly competitive field with private specialty practices jousting for patients with large medical institutions and multi-specialty physician groups.

To position AMI as a technological forerunner and thought leader, Media Logic focused their social media efforts on building awareness of one of the hottest issues in radiology — potentially excessive exposure to radiation. Dr. David Dow, an AMI radiologist and an ardent spokesperson for low dose radiologic techniques, became a spokesperson for the practice through topical blog posts, supported by Twitter and Facebook submissions.  Through a carefully planned content marketing strategy, link-building and traffic generation, AMI now appears at the top of the list for local Google searches and has developed a growing community of loyal and engaged followers.

So what does this mean for larger, more diverse institutions? Most importantly, this is your opportunity to shine – but you’ll likely never find the spotlight with an all encompassing hospital effort. It will be too broad and, frankly, too “institutional.” Focus on one of your “centers of excellence” as a beginning. Then, while it may be politically difficult, you’re going to need to have a “voice” or “voices” — real, live people to spearhead the conversation and create engagement. Finally, you’re going to need to develop an ongoing source of fresh and relevant content. For AMI, Media Logic’s Zeitgeist & Coffee^SM process has helped scour the landscape for up-to-the minute topics, trends and commentary. On the backend, precise tracking and analysis will help you determine which topics and discussion items are doing the “heavy lifting.”

It’s taken medical marketers 10 years to realize the promise of the Web. The smart ones won’t wait so long this time around.

Without question, these efforts are in part attempts by banks and other financial institutions to generate some goodwill after being publicly flayed by consumers, the press, the federal government, state governments and on and on. But it is also related to what Katherine Fulton, president of the Monitor Institute, labels “Moral Hunger,” a nationwide uptick in empathy summed up this way by our own Paige Fleury:

What was a society of consumption, collection and live-for-today is now a more pragmatic, empathetic and forward-looking group whose behaviors ­from spending and saving to brand choice and outlook add up to a new moral hunger – a desire to do good.

But a question has been raised: Are the financial institutions that launch these cause-related marketing efforts being exploitative if they associate themselves with a cause for a fixed period of time to turn a profit? Constance Casey, the author of the Slate.com article concludes: if everyone wins, what’s the harm?

Sponsorships of course are as old as business itself. Companies and institutions have long given dollars to have their names attached to community events and good causes, or support and promote the volunteer efforts of their employees.

What has changed is the weight of cause marketing relative to an organization’s overall marketing budget? The AMEX Members Project is one of the company’s key marketing initiatives… The reason for the change can be summed up in two words: social media. And we think the answer to the question of whether a particular cause-related program is exploitative or not lies in its level of “sociability.”

Let’s compare the AMEX Members Project to the similar Pepsi Refresh Project.

(We can put aside the fact that the first is for a financial services company and the second for a consumer brand, as all these “projects” are intended to appeal to the general public.)

Both The AMEX Members Project and the Pepsi Refresh Project ask the public to submit suggestions for causes they feel should be funded. Proponents are encouraged to promote their causes through their own social media channels. The public is asked to vote. And the causes that get the most votes get a donation. But there is a subtle, and we think important, difference between these two initiatives.

The Pepsi Refresh Project simply sponsors a “cause marketplace.” It has set up categories. But critically, the content of that marketplace is entirely user-generated. The brand is there merely to manage the process. Pepsi doesn’t suggest, explicitly anyway, that it is like any of the causes it sponsors, only that it is like us in that it shares our “Moral Hunger.”

The AMEX Members Project on the other hand explicitly entangles the brand with the causes submitted to its website. AMEX’s kickoff video for example featured two causes promoted by individuals who just happened to be “cardmembers since …” Further, AMEX selects causes with “good optics” to feature on its Project home page.

Can we draw a line between these two initiatives? We think so.

Social media is driving cause-related marketing. But for social to be really social, the forum in which people socialize needs to be under their control, and not dominated by an individual or sponsoring institution. Otherwise, participants will begin to feel that they are not part of a cause, but instead part of “a crummy commercial.”

In social media, we may have found the goose that lays the golden egg. Hopefully us marketers won’t kill it by forcing it to lay more than it naturally can.

For ideas on how all this relates to financial service marketing, see Media Logic’s latest whitepaper, Fear not! How financial service institutions can put the “Big 6” social marketing strategies to work.

Even though the effort has just recently launched, we have used “best practice” social marketing techniques we have learned through our work with highly regulated industries such as banking and insurance to build-in security while optimizing engagement. Here are three key elements we believe are important in using social media as a marketing tool for medical practices.

Dealing with Risk

Medical providers are (rightfully) concerned about the risk of HIPAA violations on social media sites. Medical providers are also concerned about expectations that they will furnish diagnoses and treatment advice in response to fan queries. The safest way round these issues is to have a clearly stated policy (published as part of a bio or “about” section on all social media platforms) that outlines what may and may not be discussed in a public forum. For AMI, we also crafted a library of physician-approved responses to some expected (and potentially problematic) questions that would, for example, refer the fan back to his/her personal physician.

We also knew that we should be prepared to the “airing” of patient-service issues (for example, long waiting times, billing concerns, etc.). These types of issues need to be addressed quickly in the public space to show the practice’s concern and then moved offline for resolution.

Perhaps most importantly, Media Logic (via its Zeitgeist & Coffee social media management service) established a rigid approval protocol for all social media postings, including responses to fan queries and blog comments.

Establishing a Voice

One of the most critical aspects of establishing an effective social media presence is to differentiate your practice from the sea of medical information available online and in the social space. For AMI, we looked to do two things. First, we needed a persona (or a “voice”) that would speak for the practice. No one wants to have a conversation with an institution or a faceless practice. At AMI, this voice was the voice of Dr. David Dowe, an eminent radiologist and a rather forthright persona in his own right. Dr. Dowe’s voice personalizes AMI and makes it distinctive in the social space.

Second, we needed a point-of-view. Why should anyone care to read AMI’s blog or to follow the practice on Facebook or twitter? We found the answer in AMI’s adoption of an important new approach to CT-scans using low doses of radiation. It allowed us to position AMI as a thought leader and champion of an important cause – beyond being “just another imaging center.”

Being Committed

Finally, participating in social media requires a commitment. “In & out” attempts fail to build followers and can, in fact, produce a negative response. AMI, working with Media Logic, established firm expectations for participation (for example, number of Facebook posts per weeks, number of blog posts per month, etc.) to make sure that we were actively conversing with our target audiences. Using Media Logic’s Zeitgeist & Coffee dashboard as control central, a Media Logic conversation manager tracks the schedule, promotes topics of conversation, encourages client participation and handles the details of posting and follow up. Most social media efforts fail because they are just not anybody’s “real” job.

How much is a Facebook fan worth?

There has been a lot of discussion about this topic lately, among brands and marketers alike, that are struggling to quantify the value of social marketing efforts. Here in Albany, a local car dealership has been advertizing a $50 incentive to become their fan on Facebook. Another company has come up with a formula that they consider to be a scientific method of putting a dollar value on a fan, while other marketers rebut this formula as inaccurate.

So, who is right?

Honestly, I don’t think it matters.  And at the end of the day, will the perceived value of your Facebook fans help inform any meaningful strategic social marketing decisions?

Probably not.

To effectively use social media as a marketing tool, marketers must be able to demonstrate the value that a follower base delivers to their clients.  At Media Logic, we are taking a more qualitative approach to determining how social marketing is benefitting our clients’ brands and bottom lines. Using four metrics categories, we paint a valuable picture of the marketing impact we’re making through our clients’ social channels, one that delivers valuable insights and actionable conclusions.

Loyalty
Loyalty metrics look at the behavior of repeat visitors and the actions that caused people to become repeat visitors. By understanding the actions that encourage loyalty we can refine messaging, target promotions, and identify similar audiences.

Sample Metrics:

• Cross-pollination between different channels (Facebook to website, website to Twitter, etc.)
• Visitor recency (how long since the last visit)
• Comparing trends between new and returning visitors

Engagement
There are many different ways that visitors can engage with your brand. The goal is to determine which of these ways provide the most value in terms of conversions and loyalty.

Sample Metrics:

• Top-viewed and top-commented posts (so we know the types of content people find most interesting)
• Conversion rate and conversion efficiency (would be applied if we were driving people to a certain action)
• Raw author contribution (which measures the overall quantity of new content)
• Conversation rate (number interactions per post)
• Media consumption (video & photo views)

Authority/Reach
Authority and reach measurements help to gauge how widely content is being found and consumed. To measure authority and reach we take an outside-in view of traffic coming to our site.

Sample Metrics:

• Number of in-bound links from blogs and other sources
• Fans and fan growth rate
• Page views and page view growth rate

General KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure the overall performance and health of marketing campaigns. The metrics in this category are specifically chosen to measure success factors for individual businesses. In most cases, KPIs are measured against targets, which are pre-determined indicators for success or failure.

Sample Metrics:

• Demographic and geographic breakdown (to determine if we are hitting our target audience)
• Daily page view growth rate (measured against the number of followers to see if its keeping pace)
• Fan retention rate

To assign an arbitrary dollar amount to social connections, we would be underestimating the value of the very organic relationship between companies and their fans. And besides, every fan has significantly different levels of influence and engagement with brands and within their social networks. But by looking at patterns across the four metrics we’ve outlined, the real value of fans becomes much more evident, as we begin to understand why people choose to be a fan. And understanding what motivates consumers to action and advocacy on behalf of a brand is invaluable information for agencies and companies developing and refining social media optimization strategies.

Just as eMarketer was making this prediction in January, Media Logic was ramping up a strategic social marketing effort with Healthways SilverSneakers Fitness Program® that would help prove its validity and demonstrate how social media can effectively engage the older adult crowd. By implementing a collaborative marketing approach and launching a site specifically designed to encourage information sharing in a safe, supportive online older adult community, SilverSneakers witnessed active engagement on its Facebook page grow from fewer than 500 fans in December 2009 to nearly 12,000 fans today.

The success of our work with SilverSneakers supports the upward trend of social media adoption among older adults while highlighting the value of social media as a marketing tool enabling conversation-centric, two-way models of communication for membership-based organizations.

Working Social Marketing Into a Mature Network
As far as membership organizations go, the award-winning SilverSneakers Fitness Program was thriving – offered to Medicare Advantage plan members through their health plan clients at more than 9,400 participating fitness and wellness centers across the country, SilverSneakers provides an innovative blend of exercise classes, health education and social opportunities to help mature adults maintain active, independent lifestyles. Studies have even found that older adults who participate in SilverSneakers are admitted to hospitals less frequently, have lower overall healthcare costs and experience a significantly reduced risk of depression.

SilverSneakers was already a hugely popular program, but the strategic use of social marketing has provided the organization with new and effective ways of connecting with potential members, and perhaps more importantly, encouraging loyalty to the program, ongoing member participation and involvement.

“The program is an inherently social experience,” according to our client and Healthways’ senior manager of Member Engagement Marketing, Michelle Eckert. “Introducing social media has allowed our participants to further enhance their social connections by sharing stories, photos, tips and notes of encouragement to others. Our experience supports the research that shows older adults citizens will adopt social media and participate, provided they see content and groups dedicated to their needs and interests.”

Managing Social Media Without Breaking a Sweat
While SilverSneakers began experimenting with social media late last year, the program needed a systemic approach, guidance, and support to create stronger interest and active participation. In January, the organization partnered with us and deployed Zeitgeist & Coffee^sm, our social media management suite specially designed to help organizations ramp up their social media marketing efforts, making them more effective and easier to implement and sustain.

Since implementing Zeitgeist & Coffee, SilverSneakers has realized…

• A significant spike in Facebook fans
• A dramatic increase in fans’ levels of engagement
• More fans who are potential SilverSneakers members visiting the Facebook page to learn about the program
• Friends and family members of SilverSneakers participants are joining the Facebook page to lend support and enthusiasm

SilverSneakers’ experience with Media Logic and Zeitgeist & Coffee has meant the difference between having a Fan page and having an active community.  By providing the methodology, marketing expertise and technology to fully leverage social media as a marketing a tool, we’ve made it easier for organizations to engage older adults and foster a meaningful social presence with the mature audience.

Related Articles

• Engaging the Aging: Creating Conversation for SilverSneakers (logicaljuice.mlinc.com)

Watch as our conversation manager, Michelle, provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Media Logic and SilverSneakers are using social media as a marketing tool for collaboration and interaction with an active community of older adults.

Blackshaw does a wonderful job highlighting the dualities and absurdities (not to mention clichés) that emerge in any discussion of social ownership. I think these dualities emerge because what we have in social is one of those “duck/rabbit” or “vase/face” optical illusions which delight and frustrate us because, although we can see both things easily, our brains won’t allow us to see both at the same time. “It’s a duck! It’s a rabbit! It’s a duck!”

It’s the same with social.

Looked at one way, the “duck” way, social is the sum of social promotions – the games, viral videos and contests designed to trigger sharing. Ownership of the “duck” is a pretty easy call … it’s the marketing department plus the marketing department’s professional service partners (its “digital agencies” or whatever).

Looked at another way, the “rabbit” way, social is something entirely different. It is not a set of channels or promotions. It is a toolset, completely under individual user control, that allows us to connect selectively with the people, news and information sources and assistive technologies (like search) that we trust. We – both individuals and businesses – customize and use this toolset to make sense of, and fully exploit, the fire hose of information that pours into our lives and our businesses.

Questions of ownership of the “rabbit” generally spiral into infinities. It’s everyone. It’s no one.

But maybe it is not about ownership, exactly, but more the path of least resistance, or better yet: path of greatest value.

Blackshaw writes, “In my experience, the leader who gets the best (and most inclusive) listening dashboard or radar in place quickly accrues the most organizational legitimacy. Listening pipes, after all, feed many mouths and can drive unity around a common purpose.”

Our experience with Zeitgeist & Coffee shows us that while the marketing department cannot “own” the social “rabbit” (any more than it can own the telephone or people’s private conversations); it can rather quickly become kind of a super-smart “switchboard operator.” Using Z&C, marketing departments, in partnership with us, can confidently and productively connect all the departments within their organization to their respective “networks of trust” – key stakeholders, influencers, customers, and, of course friends and fans (both current and future).

And it gets better yet.

We have found that deploying Z&C toward the goal of creating content for social channels quickly leads to the development of “silo-piercing” circles of collaboration. These circles of collaboration then become entities of independent value, that empower marketing departments to become central to corporate strategy through the process of rationalizing, managing and extracting full value from the direct daily conversations that now take place between organizations and their customers.