How to Leverage PR using Social Media?

Public relations have seen huge change in the mode of communication strategies with the rise of social media marketing. Digital marketing has enabled new forms of communication tools which have enabled organizations in better engagement with stakeholders. Public Relation Agencies has also embraced this new form of communications, but the biggest difficulty remains on incorporating both these forms together. Here are few techniques which can help a PR Professional to adapt social media for PR. 

• Social Sharing with Press Releases: Rise of social media has enforced changes in press release to social media release, as press release communicates only to journalists. Social media release incorporates social sharing buttons in press releases as journalists rely a lot on this feature. This feature also helps to build credibility as journalists have a wide following of readers on social networks. Social Media release also enables ease of dissemination of release since it follows the principle of shares, so is less spamming. As social media release is targeted to the online content generators, it is preferable to share only information rather than PR Jargons. Also Social Media Release incorporates all the elements of social media, SEO along with press release, offering all required information for the reader. SMR is beneficial to target bloggers, journalists, content marketers, etc. When creating a news release for print, catchy headline works to attract attention, but when writing for an online audience have to include the keywords and search terms that you want to be found for. 
• Build Campaign around Case Studies: Case study helps to build story for engagement with journalists in much easy way to explain about products / services, since explaining about products is quite boring. Creation of visual case study has better impact than textual. 
• Journalist access and insights: Social media has greatly helped PR professionals to source information and likes about journalists, this helps to build better relationships with journalists. Social Media has also given rise to citizen journalism, which emphasis importance of bloggers, authors, content generators, etc. Further, journalists often search for sources of information and social media is the first place they update about their requirements. 
• Sharing is caring:  To be successful on social media it is important to be helpful and offer information, whether related to your client or information from market. Providing information to journalists and fans helps in developing engaging relationships. Social media is more about working collaboratively. 
• Managing Reputation: Reputation management is about reaching out to fans and clients through social media, rather than depending on journalists as the turnaround time is more. Social media is viral, usually one social media day = 8 hours, so response time for crisis has to be immediate. Also with social media is much easier to respond to crisis, as offline media takes time to respond. To avoid such situation engage regularly rather than when NEEDED. Even though social media gives the option to engage online, any negativity should be taken offline as high chances of hitting viral. Provide clear instructions which are helpful, don’t confuse. If you don’t know then assign person having technical knowledge

Marketing concepts explanation

Professor explained Marketing Concepts to a class:

1. You see a Gorgeous Girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very
rich. Marry me!"
- That's Direct Marketing.

2. You are at a party with a bunch of friends and see a Gorgeous Girl. One
of your friends goes upto her and pointing at you says: "He's very
rich.Marry him!"
- That's Advertising.

3. You are at a party and see a Gorgeous Girl. She walks up to you and says:
"You are very rich! Can I marry you?"
- That's Brand Recognition.

4. You see a Gorgeous Girl at a party. You go upto her and say: "I am very
rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face.
- That's Customer Feedback.

5. You see a Gorgeous Girl at a party. You go upto her and say: "I am very
rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband.
- That's Demand and Supply Gap.

6. You see a Gorgeous Girl at a party. You go upto her and before you say:
"I m rich, Marry me!", your wife arrives.
- That's Restriction for Entering New Markets.

Publicity of CMEs

Continuous Medical Education, in short CME forms an important part in a doctor’s career. They begin their career attending CMEs which is essential to update their knowledge and end up themselves as speakers at CMEs. According to ICMR a doctor has to attend a particular no. of CMEs per year to upgrade themselves on latest developments in their area of specialization.

Informing media about CMEs and getting publicity for the same is very difficult or just next to impossible using the traditional methods of Public Relations. Doctors & clients often demand media publicity for such programs.

I agree pitching for stories and inviting media for it, is very difficult, but possibility cannot be ruled out. The PR consultant can take few steps to understand the CME:

1. Meet the concerned doctor and understand everything related to the CME, its benefits for Doctors, Patients and Society.
2. Get all the details from Client on this CME like schedule, speakers, topics of discussion, case study presentation, etc.
3. Speak to other well-known and established doctors practicing in this area of specialization and understand the CMEs importance from their perspective.
4. Scan and track online (internet) for news featuring these doctors quotes, to understand the area of specialisation of medicine.
5. Check whether any news is available on that particular specialization of medicine and related to the CME.
6. Source unique case studies from the concerned doctor, which will prove helpful to pitch to media.
7. Now draft a note based on all the info available and sought approval from the client.
8. Based on this available information prepare a strategy for media coverage.
9. Pitch to media (preferably meet media personally) and discuss this story with them. E.g. pitch to two mainline and two vernacular publications for stories. It is quite easy to invite two mainline pubs for an interaction with the concerned doctor. For vernacular and other media press release can be disseminated.
10. Invite at least three trade media publications to attend this event.
11. Post the event get a small brief on all the topics discussed and presented. Also get the presentations. Pitch to all the trade media publications based on the info available.
12. Also send this detailed information to all the doctors who were unable to attend this CME.

A Communication Consultants job is not only to get coverage but also inform all the stakeholders. The hospitals newsletter should contain information on such CMEs which could later be sent to Health correspondents of publications as reference material. Mailing such newsletters also highlights the healthcare provider’s initiative to upgrade knowledge and inform about new developments.

How a doctor himself can promote his services

For a doctor to increase his business he will have to consult and treat more patients, without patients a doctor cannot survive his/her business. Also if you (doctor) get more patients you garner more experience resulting in more patients. For this the doctor needs to differentiate from the competition i.e. other doctors and create his/her own USP. There are variety of methods a doctor can maintain Public Relations/Patient Relations. I have listed some key strategies:

1. No patient likes to wait and waste time at Hospital/Clinic. So the doctor needs to maintain an appointment diary and one day prior needs to call/message the patient about confirmation. This creates discipline for doctors and patients as well. I have myself witnessed patients confirming the appointments with doctor and the same vice-versa but the problem arises when the doctor travels to more than 5 locations and the doctor is stuck in traffic jams, leading to not checking the patients on time.
2. A doctor needs to maintain all the records about the patient, so the patient need not carry his/her records. Also on the patients next visit the doctor can check/inquire on the health of the patient. This is for the patient’s convenience after all they are the Clients. There are a variety of free software’s available like Google Health which the doctor can use: https://www.google.com/health/
3. Whenever pricking any patient with a needle/injection a doctor/nurse has to say sorry because you are hurting the patient. This leads to a very positive impact on the patients and the patient won’t ever forget in their life that a doctor said sorry before hurting.
4. Speak to patients and listen to them, they are already frightened. Console the patients and ask them to be positive about the treatment. Most often more than medicines and treatments a positive attitude helps to get cured from the aliment.
5. Call your patients after a week or two to check how they are feeling? Post-treatment hardly any patients will remember you, a call will make the patient feel important and they will refer you to everybody who is suffering from any aliment or disease. A patient satisfaction is very important to word-of-mouth publicity.
6. Whenever a patient comes to you for consultation for the first time give them a disease prevention booklet. The booklet will contain information on different diseases related to your specialization, symptoms, healthy living suggestions, etc. The booklet will also contain information about you, clinic addresses, consultation timings, appointment contact no, and how to reach clinic map. A Pharma company can sponsor the booklet, and can give their courtesy at the end of the booklet.
7. Attend CMEs and built contacts with other doctors, networking helps to build refferals.
8. Read newspapers, incase you find any story on surgery, disease diagnosis or anything related to healthcare, write a reply mail to the journo on what you think about the story and if possible suggestions on how the journo could improve and get more information, don’t forget to signoff with your contact details. This helps to increase relation with journo’s and in future the journo might feature your quotes on a story related to this article.
9. If you feel you have treated a unique patient or the surgery done was a very difficult one. Prepare a brief case study and mail to a journo, if the journo is really interested they will revert. On the other hand get in touch with a PR Professional for press coverage of the story. PR professionals will help to garner the best coverage in different publications.
10. Get your self and your clinic listed in local area directory and online on Wikimapia, this helps when the patient is doing Google on doctors available in a particular area. http://wikimapia.org/
11. Attend seminars and be a speaker of those seminars addressed at community levels in Rotary clubs, Church conventions, etc. Also be a part of free check-up camps this helps to generate patient’s leads.

Last but not the least, please do not try to scare patients and be honest in treatments, it always pays.

Can somebody define Public relations

After working in Public Relations Consultancies, trying to understand the intrincities of communications, planning, execuating plans and discussing the true defination of Public Relations, have realised that everybody is defining PR the way they think of defining it. I personnaly tried to search the revelant defination from the web, and below is the list of my findings.

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations

Public Relations: Public Relations is a form of communication primarily directed towards gaining public understanding and acceptance. Public relations usually deals with issues rather than products or services, and are used to build goodwill with public or employeess. Examples of public relations are employee training, support of charitable events, or a news release about some positive community participation.
http://www.learnthat.com/define/view.asp?id=52

Public relations: The art or science of establishing and promoting a favorable relationship with the public.
http://www.answers.com/topic/public-relations?cat=biz-fin

Public relations include ongoing activities to ensure the overall company has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the public to understand the company and its products. Often, public relations are conducted through the media that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. As noted above, public relations is often considered as one of the primary activities included in promotions.
http://www.managementhelp.org/ad_prmot/defntion.htm

Public Relations practice is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
http://www.buildingbrands.com/definitions/07_public_relations.php

WHAT IS PUBLIC RELATIONS??? And how does it differ from ADVERTISING? It is really important to understand the difference…Public relations is the opposite of advertising (while it is one very important mode of publicity). In advertising, you pay to have your message placed in a newspaper, TV or radio spot. In public relations, the article that features your company is not paid for. The reporter, whether broadcast or print, writes about or films your company as a result of information he or she received and researched.
Publicity is more effective than advertising, for several reasons. First, publicity is far more cost-effective than advertising. Even if it is not free, your only expenses are generally phone calls and mailings to the media. Second, publicity has greater longevity than advertising. An article about your business will be remembered far longer than an ad.
Publicity also reaches a far wider audience than advertising generally does. Sometimes, your story might even be picked up by the national media, spreading the word about your business all over the country.

Finally, and most important, publicity has greater credibility with the public than does advertising. Readers feel that if an objective third party-a magazine, newspaper or radio reporter-is featuring your company, you must be doing something worthwhile.

The more you brainstorm the more differences you can list down, the list continues…

As your business grows, it naturally becomes a more prominent element in your community and your industry. PR is an excellent tool because it gives you exposure you don't have to pay for directly. Good PR rarely happens without effort. Getting good publicity usually requires careful planning, persistent effort, and, often, spending money for press release mailings, copywriters and PR consultants.
The good news is, as the founder of a growing company, you're in a prime position to be listened to by consumers and the news media. All you have to do is let others know you exist and that you are an expert source of information or advice about your industry. Being regarded as an industry expert can do wonders for your business.