June 2010

MassDevice.com visits Schwartz Communications

It was great to have Brad Perriello, executive editor and Brian Johnson, publisher of MassDevice.com out to our offices in Waltham to speak to our Healthcare PR Practice Team. As they put it, MassDevice.com is “telling the story of innovation from a business perspective” —with a comprehensive news site that gets more than 35,000 visitors monthly.

Don’t be misled by the name, MassDevice.com is not just about Massachusetts-based medical device companies, although it’s a great source of comprehensive information on the large and small medical device companies across the New England region. MassDevice.com is also reporting on all the news and events that impact the medtech industry, from the FDA’s review of the 510K process to healthcare reform to Medicare and more. Their medtech index, presented every Monday in a weekly check up, looks at the medtech industry in Massachusetts as well as Minnesota and California, two other medtech hotbeds. With a goal of becoming the premier business intelligence source for the medical device industry, they define med device to include device, diagnostics, HCIT, mobile/wireless, EMRs and lab tools.

Here are Brian and Brad discussing their new site and the top trends they are following:

Posted by Helen Shik on June 30, 2010 at 2:39 PM
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Facebook for the B2B

More and more, B2B companies are finding Facebook valuable for sales and marketing to facilitate communication with clients and prospects, and to help drive business forward.

About a year ago, long-standing client Margaret Mayer, marketing director of Boston Software Systems, attended one of Schwartz Communications’ seminars about social media and was intrigued as to how her company could benefit from these communications methods. Margaret decided to test the Facebook waters.

Boston Software Systems is a virtual company with 25 people, 23 of whom work in different locations. Although small, it does a big job helping hospitals and other healthcare organizations save hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars through its workflow automation tools.

Margaret set up Boston Software Systems’ Facebook page and added some links and information, but wasn’t very active on it. She wondered about the value of Facebook for her company and customers.

A member of the Boston Software Systems team at Schwartz, Kristen Perry, noticed that the page wasn’t set up for maximum impact. She suggested turning it from a Profile, as an individual would use, into a Fan Page, which has a more professional appearance and functionality and is geared toward businesses. There is also the question of setting up a Group.

Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause. Fan Pages are better for brands and businesses that want to interact with their fans/ customers without having them connected to a personal account, and that have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.

Kristen also outlined some reasons why it’s a good idea for companies to have a Facebook Fan Page:
• It improves search engine results. Facebook pages now appear among the top entries in Google search results.
• It’s easy for people to remember (particularly if it’s a shorter URL) and for companies to promote.
• It encourages discussions. Fans of the page, by nature, are interested in the company and are more likely to engage in discussions.

Setting up the Fan Page and moving the current fans and links would take time, but Kristen was up to the challenge, and Margaret was pleased and relieved. Kristen describes the process of setting up a Fan Page:

• Before setting up a Fan Page, the administrator needs his or her own Facebook account. Designate someone who can manage the Page and add content regularly. If you also have a solid and trusting relationship with an outside communications agency or marketing consultant, you could also give that person rights as an administrator to keep tabs on the Page’s status and to ensure it has fresh content. If you happen to end your relationship with that agency or consultant, you can remove them as an administrator.

• Recently, Facebook updated one of its most business unfriendly controls by giving page administrators the ability to remove other administrators, regardless of who created the page. This was announced late last week on the Facebook Page for Facebook Pages. Previously, the creator of a page had rights above all other admins, due to the fact that they could never be removed.

• Go to the page to set up a Username and click “Set a username for your Pages.” Be sure to check the Username that you select as you cannot change it. Many companies use Facebook pages to talk about an issue or technology idea. It is a good idea to choose a username that authentically represents your business or brand. You can have it link back to your website and improve search engine optimization.

• Fill out basic company info in the Info tab, including date founded, description of the company and number of employees. You can also start building content on the wall with messages and announcements. It is important to write the company description in the little “About” box with keyword-dense prose to enhance search engine optimization. This holds true for the Info section, where you can also add high priority links.

• One important SEO strategy that should be employed on your Facebook Page whenever feasible is placing keyword-dense prose as close to the top of the Page as possible.

• After you’ve set up your Fan Page, promote it by adding the Facebook icon link to your Web site for easy access. You can also add it to your boilerplate and email signature. Consider linking your Facebook page with your company’s Twitter handle and LinkedIn page. For an extra investment, you can set up an ad, although so far we haven’t seen great value in the ads from a customer adoption perspective.

• Populate your Fan Page with links to interesting content, company news, events or industry news, and start sending messages to your fans. You can load Notes, start a discussion, add photos of people, products, company events, trade shows and screen shots. It is important to keep the information fresh, updated and give your fans a reason to visit and interact.

• Build your Fan base by contacting friends and colleagues already on Facebook. You can also send a note to the fan base from the old site and ask them to get onto the new one. Once people start becoming fans of Facebook pages, their friends will see it on their status. This offers a possibility that they too will show interest and Fan the page. 

Once you have 25 or more fans, you can create a custom URL or vanity label for your Fan Page. Although not critical, it makes the page’s URL much more manageable. By adding links to their email signatures, promotional email and other outbound marketing efforts, Margaret and her team at Boston Software Systems are actively encouraging their customers to ‘Become a Fan’ of the Page.

Boston Software Systems is much happier with the company’s new Facebook Fan Page as it presents the B2B company in a more professional manner and allows easy interaction with stakeholders.

Posted by Davida Dinerman on June 21, 2010 at 1:54 PM
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