What Do The Lumineers, Our CEO and Social Media Have in Common?

By Stewart Gandolf, Chief Executive Officer

The Lumineers

The thing about social media is that its greatest value is in being social. A balanced, “sociable” mix of healthcare marketing posts—via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, G+, LinkedIn, and others—attracts, engages and connects with your audience.

It’s the mix (or variety) in social media where you can show your online “personality” and inspire continuing interest and interaction. Check yourself…how much of your social media efforts are:

Sharing information from others;
Providing educational/informative info;
Offering a commercial message (“selling” something); and
Posts that are “just for fun.”

There's no hard and fast formula about this mix, but we advocate that about 80 percent of your social media posts be in the useful information categories, 10 percent in the “just for fun” group, and no more than 10 percent be commercially driven.

The "just for fun" category actually has a serious purpose.

The casual or informal posts show the human face of a practice, hospital or organization. Personal—and personable—posts keep your social media efforts alive and interesting. (Monitor your social media policy to insure that posts don’t go overboard, but remain appropriate to the audience.)

The “fun posts” are often human-interest material, perhaps about people or something (tastefully) funny. Ideas can come from anywhere. Here’s an example:

You probably didn't know that our CEO Stewart and his family appear in the latest Lumineers video, Stubborn Love. (In case you have been visiting another planet, the Lumineers are a smoking hot, folk rock band. They are the VH1 You Oughta Know Artists who just played their hit song Hey Ho at the Grammys, where they were nominated in two categories.

It turns out Stewart's nephew Ben is the bass player for the group. A while back Stewart received an email from the band (another social media example) asking for extras to appear in an upcoming new music video. Stewart knew his wife would say "no," but he quietly replied with a photo of his family, Ben and Cosmo (the ridiculously-sized Labradoodle).

The Producer called and said the band loves family and friend connections, and thus Stewart and company were "in." (But he also asked, "Can you bring your dog, too?")

So after a day of shooting, and two months of waiting, how did Stewart know for sure that he and his family, (and Labradoodle) made it into the video? By social media of course. It was announced by VH1, and his wife saw the link on Facebook.

Naturally, Stewart then shared the video via social media with his friends, but ALSO posted it on the company Facebook and Twitter pages. And now we are blogging about it here.

Get the idea? Something fun and out of the ordinary—but with a good anecdote for readers. Even if you don't get the chance to appear in a rock video, what interesting things CAN you post that’s worth telling, and something your audience might share or retell.

BTW we share a link to the Lumineers video on our own Facebook page. Stewart, Cosmo and the rest of the family appear for two seconds (don't blink) at about 2:36 in the video.

And finally, our congrats to The Lumineers on your recent Grammy Nominations. Can we make you our official company band?