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I spent last summer and the start of this one working at a local tanning salon, giving an even tan to young teenagers.  I thought it was a good job but I was mistaken.  I was soon given the opportunity to work at Geonetric, which is on the opposite side of healthcare. Rather than potentially causing health problems by supporting tanning salons, I began working in an industry that makes people aware of how to fix health problems.  I had no idea how important this job was going to be to me. 

My only problem: I was terrible with computers.  I was granted the title of Internal Projects Intern.  I spent many days testing forms, adding content to Web sites, and answering phones.  Although my tasks seemed small, I feel like I helped a lot.  There are so many things to do and so little time to do it all.  Anything that would help, I signed up for.

I have never worked in a business setting, so my first week was rough.  Although all the employees were extremely nice, welcoming, and patient when they had to explain new projects two or three times over, I made multiple mistakes.  Within the first four days, I had run into a sliding glass door, died my hands red, and called all sixty-five Geonetric employees at once.  It was a mess.  But with all the continuous help and support from the employees, I survived and actually figured out what I was doing.  By the end of two and a half months, I can securely say I learned a lot. 

Geonetric was a great place to have my internship.  I was able to see how a business functions on a small, personal level and I dipped my hands into each of its aspects.  It was a great experience to have and especially in such a great environment.  I never worried about not understanding something or getting yelled at by an angry manager, it was lax and patient.  No dress code, no weird rules, and definitely no angry customers.  It was a step up from any job I have ever had and two steps up from my last job. 

I am very sad to be leaving Geonetric but college must be finished and volleyball must be played. However the lessons I learned from my time at Geo will never be forgotten.

Although most of us figured out that popularity was overrated as soon as high school was over, now that we’re all hanging out on the social media campus, it may be time for a reminder.

A recent (paraphrased) Doonesbury cartoon made the point perfectly:

Teenage son: “Cool beans! I just hit 1000 followers on Twitter!”

Dad: “Uh-huh. And which of these pals will help you move or loan you money?”

While the teenagers at my house share the son’s perspective, I tend to relate more to the dad’s perspective. Yes, a big group of friends and followers casts a great social glow, but would you invite any of these amigos to dinner, a movie, a study date? Heck, how many would even know where you live – let alone expend the energy to get there?

This view of relationships carries over to the business sphere. We’ve been talking a lot in this space about social media, and Ben Dillon recently posted about un-following hundreds of his Tweeps. Who, by the way, probably didn’t notice or care.

Why? Because they weren’t paying attention to begin with. They weren’t following Ben in the true sense of the word; they were simply along for the ride. It isn’t possible, even with the best intentions and latest tools, to actively follow and interact with hundreds of people.

My advice is to focus on the followers you can draw into your inner circle. If you’re a hospital, this means the people with whom you have the potential for a meaningful relationship. The folks who would trust you with their heart care or sick child, participate in your fundraisers, or choose to work for you.

I’m not recommending that you block followers, but that you focus on building authentic connections with people who can actually come over and do things with you. Building this core group starts with inviting them to do things that benefit you both.

Treat them to a free fitness assessment; tell them when the mobile mammogram van will be in their area; invite them to take a CPR class.

Make your invitation clear, concise and catchy. Here’s an example.

You’re offering something free and not asking for a big commitment. And, with pregnancy, you may be starting a relationship that could last for decades and extend to an entire family.

Next, be sure to link to a page on your site with a direct and simple call to action, like the one below. Too many times, I’ve seen linked pages with tons of text, but no clear way to get what’s offered.

Next, deliver. Make sure you follow-up quickly with something of value. Then, just like any friendship, keep it going. At this point, you’ve moved the conversation from Twitter to a more personal forum. There’s been a phone call or a mailing. You may want to invite them to attend a class or sign up for a newsletter.

These individuals have gone from being one of a cast of hundreds to potential BFFs – or “besties,” according to my daughter. Keep cultivating the relationship. Continue to use social media to develop new ones. Track the effectiveness of your invitations to learn which of them turned followers into lasting friends. Remember, popularity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It’s all about the friends who come over and keep coming back.

It’s well known that Geonetric is a uniquely great place to work. From free espresso and cereal, to the Geonetric walking club, I enjoy many perks that most companies don’t provide. These small extras eventually become routine, which makes it all the more impressive when Eric Engelmann, our CEO, manages to surprise us. 

I came into the office this morning to find my CEO cooking breakfast for the entire company, 64 people – that’s a lot to cook breakfast for.  It is no small task to cook pancakes, sausage and eggs for an entire company. That’s why Eric brought his 5-year old daughter Mallory to help. She counted the blueberries for the pancakes and cracked the eggs, while Eric cooked. In the end the food was fantastic, and having pancakes served by the CEO is a nice reminder of why Geonetric is a great place to work.

When asking hospitals what makes a good Web site, we often hear terms like “interactive capabilities,” “easy to use” and “has lots of content, especially educational content.” While these aren’t necessarily wrong, it’s what’s not on this list that’s disappointing.

Imagine asking Michael Dell about what it is that makes Dell.com “good.” Or Jeff Bezos about what makes Amazon.com a “good” Web site. Of course it has to be easy to use. But strategically, the thing that makes dell.com or amazon.com “good” is that the Web sites are intricately tied to executing business strategy. Both of those companies used the Web site as core, critical parts of how they delivered on their missions.

Dell couldn’t have grown as it did without allowing customers to configure the computers on the fly, with real-time inventory information. Amazon couldn’t have taken on the bricks-and-mortar booksellers without an incredible logistics capability enabled by Web technology, or a Web strategy that brought buyers and sellers together in new ways. The list goes on: travel agencies vs Expedia or Kayak.com, telephone-based account inquiries vs Vanguard.com, etc. 

This is where healthcare falls today. We wonder why marketing in healthcare isn’t valued as much it is in other industries, and I think this hints at why. If the big idea for a good Web site in healthcare is simply to make it easy to use, is it any wonder that healthcare seems so technologically backward, and healthcare marketing so far removed from our real mission? Virtually every other industry has been fundamentally changed by the Internet, while healthcare still uses phone calls for most transactions. The goals and sights of those in our industry need to be higher; they need to change the discussion to transformative business processes … to actually using the Web as a strategic weapon. 

Yes it has to be interactive. Yes it has to be easy to use. But those are simply the entry point. We do our industry a disservice by not seeking a broader role for the Internet in business strategy.

New Geonetric.com site reflects how much we’ve changed

Bullet-proof project management. Strategic guidance. A world-class Web presence.

Geonetric promises all that – and more – to clients. But over the past four years, we’ve been growing too fast to make our own site live up to those standards.

When Geonetric.com was last redesigned in 2005, we had a few dozen employees and a handful of loyal clients – and no one had ever heard of Web 2.0 or “meaningful use.” Four years later, we’ve tripled in size, we have clients all over the country, we’re creating dynamic social media strategies, and we’re building patient portals that extend the doctor-patient relationship far beyond hospital walls.

During all that phenomenal growth, Geonetric.com struggled to keep up. The number of pages increased rapidly, but with no strategy and little oversight, our own site gradually descended into something resembling chaos.

Now – finally – we’re practicing what we preach (or, as our eHealth Evangelist says, “eating our own dog food”). We did extensive research. We streamlined our navigation. We got rid of the technobabble and buzzwords. We’re integrating social media. We have a strategy. And, believe it or not, we’re even using our own software.

And the new design is quite nice too.

Take a look at the evolution of Geonetric.com (courtesy of the Wayback Machine) – and then check out our latest transformation. And wish us luck as we try to narrow down the long list of enhancements we have planned for the next round!

Healthcare organizations have been pinched by the economy in ways that they’ve not experienced in decades.  Shrinking service margins are causing overall caution in new investments in both marketing and information technology (I.T.).  Despite this caution, spending on online communications channels continues to grow.

These are the findings from our first eHealth Insights survey.  The full report is now available, “Proceeding with Caution: How Hospitals are Weathering the Economic Downturn”.

And keep your eyes open for our next eHealth Insights Survey on patient portals.

Customer service in healthcare is challenging.  The difficulty comes from hospitals in general being a complex system.  There are a lot of disconnected entities that need to work together in order to get something accomplished.  But when there are problems, it’s often tough to determine where the actual issue is hiding, let alone find someone who can sort it out and make it right.

Look at a typical surgery, for example.  In addition to the surgeons, who are likely not employed by the hospital at which the surgery is performed, you have nurses (who are employed by the hospital), anesthesiologists (who aren’t) and during recovery, you may be monitored by a hospitalist (who is).  Add to that the surgical suite itself, ambulance company (if used), and let’s not forget your insurance company… yeah, it’s getting a little crowded. 

So when you get a stack of unintelligible bills, none of which quite align with the others, where do you even begin?

There simply isn’t enough customer service staff within healthcare to cover the range of services and entities involved.  Even if there was enough staff, chances are they aren’t empowered to do much of anything to help a confused patient.

Many companies outside of healthcare, like Best Buy for example, provide excellent customer service.  So their recent announcement that they are creating a new customer service arm, Twelpforce to operate through Twitter, makes me wonder what the potential is for healthcare to catch up.

Best Buy’s CMO, Barry Judge, writes about Twelpforce in a recent blog post. 

There are a few interesting ideas that he shares which lead them to take this new approach:

• The service will be staffed by employees from across all operations, not by cross-functional customer service staff
• Customer service is now part of everyone’s jobs, not its own department
• Twelpforce will allow Best Buy to be proactive with customer service, seeking out issues rather than waiting for unhappy customers to come to them
• This highly personalized customer service approach plays a clear role in marketing and sales as well.  This has often been part of the Best Buy brand, but Twitter allows them to reach outside of the walls of their stores and do the same thing that they do in their stores.

So, could healthcare create a Twelpforce?  Can we reach across organizational boundaries and create a place where we help health consumers make better decisions?

Can we afford not to?

I’ve heard from several people as I prepare for this week’s Webinar “Building Real Relationships: Creating a Strategy for Your Social Media Efforts”, that I’m on the wrong path.  “You shouldn’t create strategies for a particular social network site,” intoned one co-worker, “strategies are for audiences.”

Of course, I understand this is the case, but I’m always fearful that once something is relegated to being “tactical” with little or no out-of-pocket cost to get started, it leads organizations to dive in without any plan whatsoever. 

On the one hand, strategy is something you apply to audiences (or occasionally campaigns).  You need to understand the audience and what messages you’ll use with them, and then you need to determine how you’ll connect with that audience.  That connection happens in some venue or channel and social media is dramatically expanding the number of channels available to have that discussion.

On the other hand, many social media channels only work well when you make a long-term commitment to them.  In addition to the formal network connections that you develop, you often need to earn credibility with community members.  And the only way to do that is to participate.

In other words, while you shouldn’t develop a social media strategy, it’s very hard to be successful with your social media efforts without a strategy.

I hope that you’ll join us for this month’s Webinar and join in on the Webinar discussion through twitter with the hashtag #Geonetric.

I just finished reading Why the healthcare system doesn’t want electronic medical records on Techdirt, and I have to say, I don’t buy it.  The article proposes that some vast conspiracy designed to fleece the public through deliberate inefficiencies is at the root of the pushback against going digital.

I’ve spent a more than dozen years now in various places within the healthcare landscape and I can tell you we’re not organized and coordinated enough to pull something like that off.

In all seriousness though, the problem is very real. But it just doesn’t derive from anything so pernicious as a raw profit motive.  It’s much more about misalignment of incentives.  Let’s look at this in a different way:

• This healthcare “system” of which you speak — it doesn’t exist (except in a small number of cases and markets)
• Hospitals have, for the most part, adopted electronic records.  Those that are large enough have the kinds of inefficiencies that make such a decision easier.

The pushback has come more from the physician community, so let’s look at why that is:

• We’ve largely asked the physicians to pick up the costs of these systems for their practices
• In many cases, they make the physician less efficient
• Other places in the system (the insurers, for example) see more of the benefit
• No one has reimbursed them for the trouble

Given, this isn’t as true now as it was in the past.  So what’s still standing in the way?

• The long-term goal of electronic records isn’t storing the data electronically, rather it’s to change the way that physicians practice medicine.

This is the concern.  Doctors value their autonomy.  They didn’t spend all those years in medical school so that some kid in IT could tell them how to practice medicine.

You don’t think so?  What do you think evidence-based medicine and pay for performance are all about?  They dictate how doctors should treat patients.  None of that can work without a system that captures data, delivers direction and allows for reporting for accountability.

When you look at the disparities in the way patients are treated from doctor to doctor and state to state it becomes obvious that this is the inevitable direction. 

So why are we looking at a growing list of financial incetives to go electronic?  Why should that be necessary to do what seems obvious from the start?

The reason is that no one gives up control willingly unless someone makes it worthwhile for them.  As that reality has been accepted, the tools have begun to fall into place to make that happen.