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Are We Creating Left Handed Pencils?

Is it possible we are spending our time creating programs, communities, blogs, etc… that are just not needed?

I feel like we are still functioning inside a vacuum. If we look at the overall strategy of what a respective hospital is trying to accomplish are we adding value (in a digital way) to the overall strategy?

I wonder about this each time a new platform is launched. Some of these are great because the strategic objective is very clear:

  • Facebook = critical mass, user base (for hospitals) is largely female, ads can be targeted and tracked.
  • Pinterest = strong adoption rate, female user base, visual, time on site is very high (from what we can tell.)

In both of these examples (and others) I can see the case for spending time here and how they tie to a strategic objective of reaching women. Women are the heath care buyer and most hospitals have women’s health as  a key objective.

There are on the other hand ideas I am not sure makes so much sense:

  • Custom mobile apps for hospitals (there are obviously exceptions to every rule.)
  • Twitter – great for customer service and even interval communications, but for most regional healthcare providers I am not sure the time/benefit equation works out.
  • Message boards – should you have your own message boards? Or participate within existing communities?

I am kinda thinking out loud here… I would love your thoughts. When you think about this you have to use the 80% rule… disregard the 10% of top tier hospital brands and the bottom 10%. Look at the 80% in the middle most of which are regional providers without a national brand.

Thoughts?

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Author Info

Reed Smith