LiveGO: LiveGO is a web dashboard that incorporates email, instant messaging and social media in one easy-to-use platform. After connecting LiveGO to your Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail/Yahoo!/AOL email accounts, users can get a combined view of all messages and updates in the dashboard screen, or they can choose each account individually to obtain the full functionality of each tool right there on the site. For each email account, the corresponding instant messaging platform is imported, as well, and then combined into one buddy list with icons distinguishing to which network each contact belongs. LiveGO allows users to engage with their entire social network in one place, instead of keeping several tabs or browser windows open at once.

Past Words of the Week

ifttt, Chaptur, SOPA, Social Television, Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Having worked both in business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communications settings, it’s evident many factors differentiate the two, but a lot of the guiding principles remain the same. For example, B2B in its definition requires a 100 percent complete understanding of a product or service, which in our industry is often rather complex. Whereas it’s often easier to describe a consumer product because of the personal connection. How do you sell potato chips? Taste them, describe them. How do you generate leads for your B2B client? Not quite as simple…

B2B requires relationship building at a higher and greater level, whereas B2C can often focus on quick, point-to-purchase decisions requiring less strategizing and more overt creativity. The underlying foundation for both is the same: targeting decision makers with an end goal to inform and influence action.

The following are a few important aspects of B2C communications to keep top-of-mind while entrenched in the B2B world:

1. Public Relations. Public relations in a B2B setting in its definition requires an extraordinary amount of knowledge both of your product set and also of the broader industry issues and trends. There’s less opportunity to not have the facts just right with a trade journalist, who usually also has a mastery of the subject. But don’t forget to take a look at some of the tactics B2C uses in your own strategy, such as an emphasis on creativity and tying in to trends outside of your industry, recent events and other opportunities. We’re all consumers exposed to the same issues every day beyond our jobs. With this in mind, it’s imperative to look at story ideas from the consumer perspective when moving beyond the trades to pitch at a local, regional, or national level. On the other hand, when looking at pitching to trade publications, a top level healthcare IT executive is still reading the news about the presidential debates, and if there’s a creative and smart way to tie in your story with news that affects us all, you’ll likely stand out from the crowd of other pitches.
2. Lead generation. The majority of B2B companies will say the most important part of their marketing initiatives focuses on lead generation. In B2B, companies have a tendency to lean on the conservative side when it comes down to the look and feel of their brands, and for good reason. With a subject matter so serious, there is concern about striking the right chord in a fiercely competitive environment. But there are plenty of ways to think outside the box and be bold with your brand while maintaining the strategic aspect of lead generation. For example, don’t be afraid to experiment with colors in marketing collateral that may be an unexpected choice for the industry. Again, keeping in mind the many aspects of the consumers’ lives that we are trying to reach is key to effective lead generation.
3. Social media. This is a facet of marketing that can easily get overlooked in a B2B environment, simply because many businesses working in this realm are still getting familiar with how social media initiatives can help reach their goals, and the jury is still out on how to measure results. It’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest news and trends being discussed—on Twitter, for example—no matter what the space. In fact, numerous trade editors and reporters sometimes go to Twitter first when in need of a story idea or source. As smart marketers we should use social media as another resource to form and maintain a relationship with media contacts at the very least. Just as trends get started among consumers talking about pop culture, food and the musical festival down the road on Twitter or Facebook, trends are also seen among people discussing niche markets like healthcare. And we should always be on the lookout for ways our clients can “come to the rescue” from a relevant thought leadership perspective when these opportunities arise.

At the core of these observations lies the one major point that both B2C and B2B marketing specialists must keep in mind: if you always “stay one step ahead of your brand” and remember to infuse smart strategies to take your company outside the box, you’ll be on your way to successfully meeting communications and lead generation goals in 2012.

ifttt: This simple acronym is a very unique and useful tool for the social media user trying to synergize. ifttt stands for “if this then that,” and this free tool allows users to create certain scenarios within their online presence. For example, “If a friend tags me in a photo on Facebook, add that photo to my Flickr stream,” or, “If I favorite a video on YouTube, share a link to it on my Twitter feed.” ifttt is compatible with almost 40 social media sites, or channels, and each channel has a number of actions, or triggers, that can be set in order create the desired result. ifttt can even contact a user via email or cell phone to alert him or her of a pre-set trigger. With just a few minutes of setup, ifttt creates seamless sharing and transfer of data among any user’s social networks.

Past Words of the Week

Chaptur, SOPA, Social Television, Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

In the latest installment of our HIMSS12 blog series, Gary Palgon of Liaison Technologies is interviewed. Gary serves as Liaison’s vice president of healthcare solutions. To view earlier installments click here.

Dodge: What do you think will be the theme of conversations this year at HIMSS?

Palgon: Three things:

• Cloud services and how they can help organizations
• Mobility and how it can facilitate better patient care
• Social networking, benefiting both the business and patient sides of healthcare

Dodge: How is Liaison approaching its overall strategy for HIMSS this year?

Palgon: Being the largest healthcare show of the year, beyond meeting with prospects, we see it as an opportunity to network with the journalists and analysts that are there. We also see an opportunity at the conference for brand awareness and business development with other companies that we do or should partner with that are attending.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most at HIMSS?

Palgon: We are mostly looking forward to creating more brand awareness and the opportunity to meet the mass amount of people that are there. Liaison Healthcare Informatics is one of the best kept secrets in integration and data harmonization.

Dodge: Cloud’s a big topic of conversation right now and will likely continue to be during HIMSS. As an expert in this area, what types of conversations do you anticipate hearing during the conference and how do they play into other trends in healthcare like care coordination, ICD-10 or Meaningful Use?

Palgon: In 2009, people were beginning to learn what the cloud was. In 2010 people were looking at the cloud, seeing the use, and beginning to take advantage of it. In 2011, we saw hospitals and other entities actually run production systems and applications within the cloud.  Here in 2012 we have the recognition for services beyond the basic applications, and how the cloud can speed up and improve the efficiencies of health systems and hospitals as they look to meet their goals. For us, Liaison plays in the integration and data harmonization areas, and our customers benefit from these services being run in the cloud. As a result of that, hospitals and other entities throughout the healthcare ecosystem can connect to one another and make sense of the information much faster because of this.

Dodge: Where can we find Liaison Technologies at HIMSS?

Palgon: We will be at booth #2375.

2012 is here! And that can only mean one thing—time for resolutions.

Aside from resolving to become better-looking, healthier, richer and more successful over the next 12 months—while also knocking off a few bucket-list items—January is also a good time to focus on goals for your professional growth.

1. Become more familiar with the latest industry trends. This is a larger task you can’t simply check off a list. It represents continual growth to become better, sharper and more proficient in your role. And with the whirlwind of change taking place in healthcare IT, it’s a definite “must do” no matter what position you hold in your organization. With busy schedules, it’s so easy to get lost in a niche bubble and overlook hot topics that can indirectly affect your business. Take this time this year to read, discuss, ask questions and read some more to gain a deeper understanding of what’s happening around you.

2. Focus on a project that you didn’t have the time for in 2011. Simple enough, right? Looking back over the past year, are there any projects or activities you wish you had taken the time to tackle, but just couldn’t seem to fit in? Make one of those your priority this year.

3. Embrace social media, and set out to accomplish an actionable task from it. Not to sound like a broken record (if you actually know what one of those sounds like!), but social media is transforming the way we interact personally and professionally; the way we get our news; the way we find out about new products, ideas, people; etc. As its uses continue to evolve, make it your mission to evolve with them. Designate 2012 as the year you embrace social media and work toward achieving incremental goals from it. Inspire a journalist to cover a story from a company tweet, set up a meeting with a prospect, make 50 new connections you actually interact with, etc.

4. Take the time to regularly de-clutter your inbox. Seems small, but utterly important. If you have hundreds—or dare I say thousands—of emails lurking in your inbox that you only quickly scan and do nothing with, things can easily get overlooked. Days get busy, but taking the time to organize your email inbox can go a long way. I use flags, folders, categories and the wonderful delete feature for everything, and keep only the emails “in the works” or that need action in my inbox.

5. Expand personal connection networks. Participate in more online groups, social networks and real-life events in the coming year to build your personal and/or professional networks, and individual standing as an industry expert.

6. Rely less on email or texts, and more on phone and in-person interactions. The ease and convenience of typing out your message in a text or email and simply hitting send makes digital the king of communication these days. But I don’t think we should ever discount the importance of actual conversation via phone, Skype or in person. It’s great to put a voice to a name or email signature, a face to a voice—and to just connect with people on more direct level. This is one of the aspects I really enjoy about tradeshows such as HIMSS, AHIMA, MGMA; we get to sit down and see the clients, partners, editors, etc. that we interact with all year long.

These are only a few ideas, but it looks like I’ve got a lot to do, so I better get to it!

Feel free to share any other ideas for business resolutions this year in the comments! We’d love to hear them all.

SOPA: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill that was introduced late last year in the House of Representatives that is aimed at protecting intellectual property on the Internet. Supporters of the bill cite its ability to improve the enforcement of copyright laws as well as protect Internet users against scams aimed at convincing them to purchase illegal or counterfeit goods. Opponents of the bill have a differing opinion about SOPA, claiming it violates the first amendment and will create Internet censorship. There is also the fear that, if made law, it could have a chilling effect on user-generated content. This is such an important issue that several major Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Yahoo! and Wikipedia, are planning a coordinated blackout in protest of the bill. They say this will give us “a taste of what we could expect from post-SOPA Internet.” This is quite the controversy, and regardless of what side you take, SOPA is a term we’ll be hearing a lot during 2012.

Past Words of the Week

Social Television, Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Social Television: Social TV, simply put, is the combination of watching television while simultaneously engaging in conversations via social media. Tweeting or Facebooking about the shows we are watching was a trend on the rise during 2011 and is expected to continue to thrive as we move into 2012. Twitter has already begun to leverage this trend in several ways. The microblogging network teamed up with the new show X Factor to implement live social voting during the show, and they have also published a guide on best practices for integrating TV with social media. We’ve also seen an increase in social check-ins – where a user checks in to watching a TV show, as opposed to arriving at a physical location – thanks to new social TV apps, which have been dubbed “second screen apps.” Other companies are cutting out the middle man completely, including Hulu, which is offering its Hulu Plus service as an iPad app.

Past Words of the Week

Flipboard, Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Flipboard: Flipboard is a social news app that integrates all of your social networks with the news that you want to follow. Released last year for the iPad and just last week for the iPhone, Flipboard provides a simple yet unique way to keep up with your social life and your news while seamlessly sharing between the two. Users can choose from hundreds of news sources in several categories to add to their board, along with their own Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Tumblr accounts. As the name suggests, users literally flip through headlines and images to quickly scan the latest news items within the topics that have been chosen. The Twitter portion of the app is fully functional, allowing users to tweet, retweet and follow their timeline, while also allowing simple sharing of any link read elsewhere within Flipboard. The app also connects with your phone’s browser to pull up full stories, and users can move between the app and the browser without having to close either one.

Past Words of the Week

Social Commerce, Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Social Commerce: Predicted to be one of the hottest trends in social media for 2012, social commerce can be defined as the use of social media to assist in the online purchasing of products or services. Many companies have integrated a store app into their Facebook fan pages, allowing users to purchase products without having to sign off their social network. Other examples of social commerce sites include the popular group-buying sites Groupon and LivingSocial, as well as ETSY, a site where users can create an online storefront sell their own products directly to consumers. Another use of social commerce is through mobile apps. Apple and Starbucks have leveraged this technology by allowing users with the app installed to complete the checkout process in-store without having to stand in line at the counter. Besides the main advantage, convenience, social commerce allows consumers to interact with each other, providing feedback and reviews on products, thus enhancing the overall shopping experience.

Past Words of the Week

Doximity, Troll, Healia, HealthTECH Live, Revolution Health, Buffer, Twilert, nptech, Taweet, MedicalCavity, DoAT, Turntable.fm, iMedix, Twylah, Masher, Proxlet, Geeje, Google+, SocialVisor, Scribd, Pinterest, Graspr, White hat, Screenr, dushare, MEDgle, PostPost, Deals, SPOT Healthcare, Evernote, dlvr.it, Bounce, iTriage, popurls, Trunk.ly, Dropbox, Storify, Newsvine, Layers, Thsrs, #tagdef, Check-in, MDJunction, Blekko, Healthline, Spindex, Vanilla, Twingr, Tweetbeat, Social Media Policy, infoMedMD, Health Care 3.0, Groupon, icyou, #MDchat, Quality 101, MedlinePlus, HITSphere, URL X-ray, Mashup, Blog Talk Radio, TweetedRanks, Ping.fm, Digsby, Qik, Posterous, Ning, API, Lifecasting, Crowdsourcing, Meme, Social bookmarking, Trackback, Twitter Grader, Authority, TweetBeep, Compete, Astroturfing, WEGO Health, BackTweets, PDR.net, socialmention, Twazzup, Health Exchange, Health Tweeder, DIDGET, Thoora, Google Buzz, bit.ly, E-patient, Alltop, mHealth, Augmented reality, OpenID, ROI, #hcsm, Medpedia, Almost.at, Hashtag, FollowFriday, Beta, Microblogging, Sidewiki, Meta tags

Join us for a free webinar on Tuesday, December 13 at 1 p.m. EST, with Pamela Moore of UBM Medica US for a discussion on how physicians are embracing mobile technology, social networks and the web in general. We will also examine how medical media brands are using social networks to drive traffic and engage audiences. Click here for more details and to register for the event.