Facebook users are 24% more likely to view a brand positively if recommended or ‘Shared’ by a friend than users who hadn’t seen a recommendation but saw a News Feed update directly from the brand itself. Plainly speaking, if your friends Share, Like, Comment or Recommend a brand, product or service on a social network, you, as the consumer, are 24% more likely to take interest in a positive way. Many in healthcare marketing are taking notice of these statistics, released by Nielsen, and restructuring their marketing strategies to utilize the all-powerful Share.
Advertising Disguised as Sponsored Stories
There is no doubt in the world of SEO tht content is king. That phrase has been a staple for many years, and with Google’s Panda and Penguin updates, that phrase rings more true now then ever before. What’s astonishing is how many purposes unique, well-written content can serve; from SEO to brand growth to education to the possibility of going ‘Viral.’
A well designed blog or article in as a healthcare marketing strategy can be easily disguised as an advertisement to serve the purpose of directing traffic to a product, a service, or a website and thus increase brand visibility. Buzzfeed.com does a wonderful job of integrating ‘sponsored stories’ with informational blogs. The ‘sponsored stories’ are tinted yellow to make the reader aware that they are reading a paid-for advertisement disguised as an article.
With their ‘sponsored stories’ advertising strategy, Buzzfeed has been able to pitch advertising space well above the market rate, simply because the traffic results are overwhelming.
BuzzFeed says that ads on its site get an average of 40% additional views from people sharing them on social media and that readers are between 10 and 20 times more likely to click on them than on an average banner ad. (Wall Street Journal)
Sponsored stories are not a new strategy, being used by Forbes.com and Huffington Post dating back to 2009. However, the medium is the message, and in this case it’s the Sharing between social media friends that is changing everything. The medium is no longer TV, Print or web articles, it’s friends sharing with friends on Facebook.
As the medium changes, so to does the purpose of advertising.
Virgin Mobile thinks the approach is ideal. "We are not trying to route people to our content websites," says Ron Faris, the head of brand marketing for Virgin Mobile USA LP. "We want to own the water coolers. And Buzzfeed is probably the biggest water cooler that exists right now." (Wall Street Journal)
From Sharing between friends on Facebook to going Viral, a healthcare marketer’s advertising strategy must adapt to the new medium and the new message purpose. While adhering to the values of the brand, advertisers must consider trending topics and relevant events when creating Sponsored Stories. Healthcare marketing firms must consider not only trending topics, but images, ideals, quotes, jokes, and memes that are popular on Facebook at that very moment.
By integrating what people are Sharing and interested in, it is possible to create Sponsored Stories that very well may go Viral. And as technology changes, as healthcare marketing strategies change, going Viral will be the new trending technique and the new purpose for advertising to increase brand visibility.
About Quaintise Blog
At Quaintise, LLC, 'going Viral' is just part of what we can do for your healthcare marketing succes. And now with our QDigital offices in Los Angeles (10100 Santa Monica Blvd, Suite 300. Los Angeles, California 90067), as well as our Quaintise main headquarters in Scottsdale (7150 E. Camelback Road, Suite 444.Scottsdale, Arizona 85251), we can take your healthcare marketing to an entirely new level of precision and effectiveness. As strategies and trends in marketing and advertising change, both in LA and Scottsdale, Quaintise, LLC is always one step ahead of the curve, developing new QDigital strategies and creating our own healthcare marketing trends. If you're interested in learning more about how Quaintise can take your business Viral, give us a call at our Scottsdale headquarters (602) 910-4112 or LA offices (310) 736-1752.