Twitter Must-do’s:
• Use a memorable Twitter name, also known as a Twitter handle.
• Customize the Twitter background so potential followers know what you do.
• To save time, use posting and information tools like Tweet Deck or Hoote Suite and synchronize Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn postings.
• Tweet several times a day; some experts suggest eight times, accounting for various time zones and viewing habits.
• Conduct searches for various terms, i.e., #infertility, #IVF, to see who is posting about them.
• Start following tweeters who are posting about infertility; professionals, patients, bloggers; and people/groups your followers follow.
• Have organizational twitter accounts, as well as individual employee accounts.
• Retweet relevant information; drive followers to blog or Web site; monitor complaints; promote events.
• Start #FF, i.e., FollowFridays, Twitter’s equivalent of “like.”

Blogging Must-do’s:
• Establish your vision, point of view and brand.
• Create a memorable, SEO-sensitive blog name.
• Use blogging platforms like Word Press or have a Web designer integrate a blog into your Web site.
• Have one or two main bloggers, but share blogging responsibilities throughout the organization.
• Blog at least once or twice per week.
• Use guest bloggers from other organizations to lessen the load and to strengthen connections.
• Tag each blog with pertinent keywords.
• Create a blog roll of your favorite bloggers.
• Use Facebook, Twitter and the News section of your Web site to promote your blog.
• Add your blog to blog lists.

Though an early morning was had by all, I hope everyone learned some new tips, had a few laughs and ate a yummy breakfast.

http://www.free-press-release.com/news-terri-davidson-speaking-on-succeeding-in-infertility-social-media-at-the-american-society-of-reproductive-medicine-1287756205.html

We have a few suggestions for how to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity. These ideas range from the simple to the sophisticated. Some will only take a few minutes to implement; others require more thought and expertise. So let’s get started.

Web site
Announce your award in the most prominent place possible on the home page of your organization’s Web site. Also add it to your biography as well as the News section. Then insert a photograph or two — RESOLVE will provide photographs of the winner with Executive Director Barbara Collura – and voila, you’ve made a simple but significant splash in publicizing this honor.

Email signature

Add this to your email signature: Recipient, 2010 Hope Award for ______ from RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. Consider how many emails you send daily and you’ll be impressed by the impact this simple act can produce.
Business cards, letterhead and brochures

If you have the space, try to add this designation to your business cards and/or letterhead. If you’re getting brochures printed, please be sure to mention the award in an appropriate, highly visible space.

Blog post

If you have a blog, congratulations! Get personal and describe what receiving the Night of Hope award means to you and your work. Also take the time to list and congratulate the other award winners.
Facebook and Twitter
Post and tweet about your award. If possible, have one of your friends or colleagues tweet during the awards ceremony. Also share and re-tweet your fellow award recipient’s posts. Be a good infertility colleague, Facebook friend and fellow IF twitterer.

Video
Leverage the power of video to tell the story of how you won this award. Get a colleague to video your acceptance speech and then post it on YouTube or another video uploading site. Let your night in the spotlight go viral.

Email blast or mailing
It’s always a good idea to communicate with your referral sources. This is a great opportunity to send an email blast or mailing to your referral sources and others on your contact list.

Distribute a press release

This is where it really gets interesting. There are many ways you can leverage press coverage. First, write a press release. RESOLVE will help you by providing a boilerplate, “swiss cheese” format release. (See template release) All you need to do is fill in the blanks. But also feel free to write a custom version.
Once you complete your release, you can post it on your Web site as well as distribute it through either a free or paid press release distribution site like www.freepressrelease.com (free) or www.prweb.com (paid).

But if you’re willing to go the extra mile or have a marketing or public relations professional who can help, you can also contact local or specialty media. This will be news if you can establish a connection to a particular media’s audience: a local newspaper, an alumni magazine, or your hometown radio station.

This award will last a lifetime. You’ll always be an award-winning recipient, but you only will have a finite time spam to take maximum advantage of its public relations potential.

Terri Davidson is an infertility marketing and public relations specialist who helped publicize award-winning infertility author Kristen Magnacca’s inaugural win of the Hope Award, Best Book, Coping. Learn more Terri and her services at www.fertilitymarketingmaven.com and www.terridavidsoncommunications.com.

Here are some basic and more advanced tips to help infertility clinics successfully participate in the social media revolution:

1) Set up Facebook and Twitter accounts and use them: Some experts suggest tweeting eight times a day. If you take the time to create a Facebook Fan page, make sure you engage your constituents in discussions in addition to posting updates and links to articles.

2) Get your Blogon: Convince a couple of physicians and other professionals like nurses, therapists and embryologists to start a blog. One person should be the lead blogger and the others can write guest blogs. Blogs are great for giving your clinic’s “point of view” and to position your brand (how your clinic defines success), and will also help with search engine optimization.

3) Go Viral: Create a social media campaign that people will talk about. Partner with your local RESOLVE group or other nonprofit to craft a unique campaign that will help both organizations get plenty of exposure and further the conversation about infertility.

Losing Control of the Message
But those were the days before self-inflicted wounds like Octomom, Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and the rogue agencies that excessively compensate egg donors and before controlling health care costs was on everyone’s mind. Now newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur, the media in general is veering towards tabloid sensationalism and the Internet allows everyone to express an opinion, whether informed or misinformed. Somewhere along the way a seismic shift occurred in both media and public perception that infertility treatment in general and infertility treatment insurance coverage in particular are actually problematic for society and are a cause of the rising cost of health care. The message of “joy about creating families,” (not to mention that family growth stimulates the economy and creates the next generation of workers to fund Social Security, etc.) has become lost. The tone has become decidedly unsympathetic. No, I don’t have statistics from a media watchdog organization and, yes, positive exposure still is happening in all parts of the country and on national outlets, but my gut feeling says that the amount of negative bashing is on the rise.

This is especially true in Massachusetts where the landmark, 22-year-old Massachusetts Infertility Mandate has been under attack in recent months from the likes of now Senator Scott Brown and with the recent publication of a front-page Boston Globe article about health insurers noticing a trend of individuals buying health insurance coverage a few months before they need “”…an expensive elective procedure that can be planned ahead, such as knee or hip replacements or fertility treatments.”

It is bad enough that the Globe article (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/04/short_term_customers_boosting_health_costs/) was full of holes and did not have any input from patients or professionals in the field, but what is even more disturbing are the very harsh public comments that follow the article. The posts ranged from calling infertility treatment a lifestyle choice to….. denying it is a medical condition to…..deriding how much it costs to….. making it seem like the health care crisis would be solved and all medical ethical dilemmas would vanish if society banned infertility treatments.  But these comments are not new. We have all seen them. What bothers me is that this is becoming the norm and that no other medical issue receives this type of derision.

So how did the infertility field go from being miracle worker to health care scapegoat? How can a group that represents only 1 in 8 people of reproductive age garner the support it needs? I have outlined the problem, but what are the solutions?

Evoking Empathy and Rallying the Public
There is a bright side to this public relations crisis. The infertility community, led by patient organizations like RESOLVE of New England, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, and the American Fertility Association, has organized and become connected in more ways than ever before. RESOLVE of New England has been on the forefront of leading the campaign to update the definition of infertility in the Massachusetts Infertility Mandate so that insurance companies do not use outdated language to deny coverage for recurrent pregnancy losses or to reset the clock that delays treatment for women over 35.This year’s National Infertility Awareness Week was a tour de force example of using the power of both social and mainstream media to let the public know that infertility is a medical condition deserving attention, resources and empathy.The AFA has broken new ground by publicizing infertility prevention awareness among 20-something women as well as GLBT family building. Countless bloggers and Twitter and Facebook participants have rallied to spread the word about infertility news stories and have willingly shared their own stories to make the public cognizant of their struggles. Fertility clinics, egg donation and surrogacy agencies and other fertility providers have been involved at both the local and regional levels. There is a lot to celebrate.

Internally our community seems to be more united and organized than ever before. But there are many concentric circles of support around us, comprised of individuals who may be waiting for us to ask them for help. We need to step beyond our usual comfort zone and reach out to them. How? First, let’s rally the men and women who have previously battled infertility. Many clinics keep lists of former patients, especially those who have succeeded in conceiving children. They represent the first group of individuals who would support the Massachusetts Infertility Mandate, which helped them build their families. Next, consider our family members, all those would be grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and dear friends. These are people who love someone who is experiencing infertility. Then among the population at large are the truly empathetic — those who understand that their children are their most precious gifts,  want others to be able to experience that same joy, and realize that putting families first is the best investment society can make. Support and advocacy groups for other medical conditions and diseases like breast cancer and HIV/AIDs are organized around this model of support for both public relations and fund raising.

So when we add the numbers, we are way more than 1 in 8. The support is there for the asking. We only need to mobilize what is already there.

April 2010, Sandwich, MA: Award-winning fertility author and life coach Kristen Magnacca is joining the nationwide movement to build awareness about the medical condition of infertility during National Infertility Awareness Week, April 25 through May 1. Ms. Magnacca will collaborate with leading fertility providers CNY Fertility and Village Fertility Pharmacy, as well as advocacy group RESOLVE of the Bay State to provide tele-workshops focusing on coping strategies to more effectively deal with the emotional strains of infertility while accentuating the positive aspects of springtime energy. She also will hold Focus on Flourishing: A Mindy, Body and Soul Celebration in her Sandwich offices, Time in Grace, on Monday, April 26, where she and yoga instructor Jill Sasso Curtis and massage therapist Kim Blanc will offer three mini-workshops to offer hope, encouragement and proven strategies for those trying to start a family.

Events and Appearances Throughout National Infertility Awareness Week

• Ms. Magnacca kicks off NIAW with a complimentary Love and Infertility Tele-Workshop, which is hosted by Village Fertility Pharmacy on Saturday, April 24, 1:00-3:00 PM, at 335 Bear Hill Road, Waltham MA.  The event is limited to 30 women. Interested individuals should contact mnair@villagepharmacy.com.  Magnacca will help participants celebrate their feminine energy and learn strategies for creation.

• The Focus on Flourishing: The Fertile Mind, Body and Soul Connection will take place on Monday, April 26 from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Time in Grace Offices, 68 Tupper Road, Suite 5, Sandwich, MA.  Kristen Magnacca and yoga instructor Jill Sasso Curtis and massage therapist and yoga instructor Kim Blanc will present three mini workshops. Magnacca will focus on the mind, helping participants learn how to develop a “Fertility Game Plan,” discover their and their partner’s unique communication style, and create a sense of control over their lives. Curtis and Blanc will focus on body and soul flourishing techniques like yoga and massage. Registration is at info@kristenmagnacca.com.

• On Tuesday, April 27 at 7:00 PM, Kristen will co-host a teleworkshop for RESOLVE of the Bay State members. Those interested should contact admin@resolveofthebaystate.org.

• Next Kristen will lead The Focus on Flourishing CNY Fertility Tele-Workshop on Thursday, April 29 at 6:30 PM with CNY Fertility Medical Director Robert Kiltz to share information and support to individuals and couples going through infertility. Dr. Kiltz will announce details of his IVF Giveaway during the call. To register, email Kristen@cnyfertility.com.

For more information about any of these events, please visit the calendar section of www.kristenmagnacca.com.

About Kristen Magnacca

Kristen Magnacca, author of Girlfriend to Girlfriend: A Fertility Companion (First Books Library, 2000) and Love & Infertility: Survival Strategies for Balancing Infertility, Marriage and Life (LifeLine Press, 2004), is the advisor, supporter, and friend infertile women need.  Love and Infertility is the inaugural recipient of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association’s Hope Award, Best Book, Coping.

Ms. Magnacca offers coaching services to individuals challenged with infertility, as well as works with clinics and other fertility providers to help them serve their patients more effectively.  She speaks at workshops and conferences around the country.

Kristen Magnacca has served as an expert on the emotional aspects of infertility, testifying before the US Senate in the spring of 2000 about the importance of government funding for fertility research and holistic treatment.  She has been highlighted in national publications and broadcast media including NBC’s The Today Show, Woman’s World magazine, PBS’ Health Week and The Boston Globe.  She also is a former board member and volunteer of RESOLVE of New England. Magnacca lives with her husband, Mark, and two children, Cole and Grace, in Sandwich, MA.  For more information about Kristen Magnacca, please visit www.kristenmagnacca.com.

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National Infertility Awareness Week is a great opportunity to showcase your clinic, highlight its successes, and educate the public about the advances being made in infertility treatment. It’s also a wonderful time to demonstrate appreciation for your patients and staff members. Congratulations if you have planned events or other promotions for NIAW!

But it’s not too late to put some plans in motion. Here are a few ideas you can use to positively promote your practice during this important week:
1) Participate in a local RESOLVE or AFA program by being a sponsor or volunteering one of your physicians as a speaker;
2) Organize a patient seminar, open house, teleseminar or Webinar that features one of your staff members and/or an outside speaker;
3) Send press releases to the local media with examples of real-life, local success stories;
4) Publicize NIAW among your patients so they know there is a week dedicated to their needs and do something special for them like giving a book to help them cope emotionally with infertility or a gift certificate for a massage or another nurturing service;
5) Mention NIAW on your web site, write a blog post about its significance, tweet about it on Twitter and start a discussion on Facebook; and
6) Use the resources RESOLVE provides on its dedicated

. You’re sure to find an idea that will meet your needs and budget.

But hyperbolic headlines condemning the marketing practice blared in British and U.S. media outlets: IVF Clinic Raffles Human Eggs, Human Egg Raffle Gives Birth To Controversy Between U.S. Infertility Clinic and European Law. In addition, opinions are flying all over Facebook and the infertility blogosphere about what has become a sensitive subject. So has infertility marketing and the drive for ROI stooped to new levels, breaching good standards and, perhaps, skirting the law?

A Cautionary Tale About Perception

I don’t purport to know the reality versus the hype behind the “Human Egg Raffle” scandal, also known as “Rafflegate;” I surmise those phrases were coined by the notoriously sensational British press.  I also am not trying to debate the ethics of IVF raffles/scholarship contests, their merits as marketing techniques or be a Monday morning quarterback.  But there is an important, teachable marketing moment we can learn from this situation: American clinics must thoroughly vet the social, cultural, ethical and legal implications of conducting a marketing campaign in another country. What plays in Peoria may not turn out so well in Paris.

This American clinic’s experience is a powerful example of how the media, public and authorities in another country may have entirely different perceptions of marketing infertility services than we do in the U.S., especially when they are not accustomed to it (the British have a national health service), and when using the marketing technique is considered flouting or mocking the law, though not breaking it. Though I do not represent it, I am sure this was not the clinic’s intention. Even in the United States, health care marketing is a relatively new professional discipline that is often criticized. And let’s not forget that the British press has a well-earned reputation for savoring the sensational.

Flashback to the 1990′s

In 2010, IVF and donor egg cycle raffles are pretty much the norm in the United States. Clinics and nonprofit organizations often use them as promotional tools or as ways to serve their members and fund raise. Many families have been created as a result. Please read AFA Development Director Corey Whelan’s very thoughtful blog post about a happy ending for one of the families who was a raffle winner, as well as her views about this issue.

Personally, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with raffles ever since I first heard of a competitor holding one 10 years ago. My initial reaction was mixed; I was concerned it would be perceived as a gimmick that transformed infertility treatment into a commodity, such as a television or trip, but a small part of me wished I had thought of the idea first because I knew the lure of a free cycle for couples who were struggling to pay for treatment would be very compelling. Fast forward a decade and I had not really thought much about the ethics of raffles since. They have become commonplace and, save for the occasional critic, no one blinks at them. But recalling my initial thoughts on this marketing tactic, I can’t say I am too surprised by the British reaction.

Would a Raffle By Any Other Name Smell Just as Sweet?

Though I don’t necessarily subscribe to the notion of any publicity being good publicity, I don’t think the American fertility clinic in question will suffer any irreparable public relations damage from this event. For most people, it’s already yesterday’s news. But the rest of the infertility field, especially those providers marketing to overseas patients, can take away some valuable lessons from this experience, one of which is that our actions in the infertility field — including how we advertise and position our brand — are highly scrutinized, making it difficult to stay under the radar.  The second lesson is that each customer group is unique, deserving its own marketing plan and consideration.

Use the 80/20 Rule to Your Marketing Advantage

In the early 1900′s, an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto formulated this concept from his observation that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by the wealthiest 20% of the population. Later he found he could apply this rule to many other aspects of life, including his passion for gardening. Since then his theory has made its way into business management principles as the 80/20 rule, i.e., 80% of business revenue comes from 20% of customers or 20% of books published yearly (the best seller list) generate 80% of total book revenues.

In fact, once you start looking at life through the 80/20 prism, it’s uncanny at how relevant and omnipresent it is. You’ll be surprised at how many “best seller” lists you uncover!

Applying the 80/20 Rule to the Infertility Marketplace

Most fertility providers can apply the 80/20 rule to their best advantage, especially as it applies to marketing. In reality, the rule is nothing more than a means to clarify the most profitable or successful aspects of your organization and to help you focus on further maximizing the potential they offer. It also can be a wake-up call for not putting all your eggs in one basket and to start diversifying referral sources. But don’t obsess about mathematical accuracy. The 75/25 or the 60/40 rule can be as meaningful.  Remember, it’s only a metaphor for streamlining your business and marketing operations.  Let’s start with a few examples of how this plays out.

Referral Sources

One of the most helpful applications of the 80/20 rule for your marketing efforts is in the evaluation of how patients learn about your services. If you consistently analyze these referral sources, you will probably discover that the majority of your patients come from a small percentage of categories, such as physician or patient referrals.  Delving further, you also might determine that 20% of the physicians who refer account for 80% of the patients. Or if you conduct search engine marketing like Google pay-per-click, you might find that 20% of the keywords produce 80% of the clicks.

Making the 80/20 Rule Work for Your Marketing Plan

If your practice has a marketing plan, you are probably using a variety of strategies and tactics to attract and retain patients. So if only a few types of referral sources bring in the bulk of your patients, should you bother using the rest or should you further concentrate your limited resources on the top players?

The long and short answer is that you need to do both, but be realistic about the expectations and results. Here are a few points to consider:
1) Smother your best customers in goodwill: Are you showering your best customers with the appreciation they deserve? It is easy to take a referral source for granted if it seems like they have always referred to your practice. But remember, the competition is probably lurking in the shadows watching for an opportunity to serve it better.
2) Circumstances change: What if your best referral source could no longer refer to you because of a change in its parent hospital’s affiliation or due to insurance carrier restrictions (if insurance coverage is applicable)? Have you cultivated other referral sources to make up for the current and future decline in patients? Have you established your brand sufficiently so patients self-refer or suggest your practice to their physician?
3) Patients are an untapped resource: Most likely, current and former patients are referring patients without any prompting or request from you or your staff. They are happy that you have changed their lives, so they are spreading the word about their experience with your practice. But imagine if you consciously harnessed the power of the patient referral — what I call WOMB, word-of-mouth business? Then you have established a marketing team that can help grow your practice.
4) You still need to spend part of your budget on advertising and other tactics: Yes, I suggest that you employ the full arsenal of marketing tools as part of your plan. For most practices, physician and patient referrals are like the main courses of a meal. You still need and want dessert, however, so investing in your Web site, search engine marketing, patient seminars, social media and public relations are also necessary to establish brand awareness and bring in referrals.
5) Referring physicians and patients also respond to advertising and branding efforts: You understand how long it can take some patients to finally feel ready to start infertility treatment. This is why reinforcement from a variety of sources is crucial to a successful integrated marketing plan. It will help spur patients to take the action they need to resolve their infertility. So unless you ask patients in your surveys about the variety of ways they heard about you, you might not realize that it took many “references” before they made the first appointment. These references could have been their OB/GYN, their best friend’s neighbor, the post they read on a discussion board, and the radio ad they heard on the way home from work. A synergistic, integrated marketing plan is a beautiful thing — at least to marketing mavens.

Have Fun with the 80/20 Rule

So take some time to look at the world and your marketing practices with the 80/20 rule. It’s a fun exercise that will have beneficial and tangible results.

Has the Web Killed the Fertility Patient Meeting?

Over the last several years, attendance has faltered at some seminars and many clinics have stopped holding them altogether. Has the Internet, with its proliferation of sites with infertility-focused information, negated the need for live, patient-oriented events? There are several good arguments supporting this. Fertility patients, already reticent about exposing themselves in public, can get all the information they need about their diagnosis and treatment options while relaxing in the privacy of their homes or offices, saving time and effort. Instead of attending a support group, they can form a community on a patient forum or discussion board. These and other options are available 24/7 from a variety of free, convenient, abundant and anonymous Internet sources.

What Comes Around Goes Around

On the other hand, the spot in front of a computer can be a very lonely place. Nothing can replace the feeling of camaraderie when meeting people who are experiencing the same issue or emotion. Patients can read a physician’s biography on a Web site, but they are able to get a real sense of who the doctor is when they meet him or her in person. Although it is empowering to have so much infertility content on the Web, some people are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of information or they may never make it to your Web site. So don’t write off the patient seminar as a holdover from the last century; rather, adjust your strategy to meet the changing times. Here are some tips to recalibrate patient seminars for now and in the future.

It’s All About the Patient

1. This should be a given; it is all about the patient — it is not about you or your practice. Focus on the problems and solutions the attendees are seeking. Allow time for each attendee to have a mini-consult with one of your physicians. Remember, people are not attending to learn about the subject of infertility; they are attending because they want to learn how your center’s physicians can solve their individual fertility problem.
2. Invest in a marketing strategy to build momentum and brand recognition. First, take the time to craft well-formulated content and structure for the seminar. Then develop a strategy to promote it.  If you are planning a series of seminars or want to hold an annual conference, give your plan time to build awareness. Your second event will be more successful than the first and so on and so forth.
3. Use the Web and social media to your advantage. Promote your event on Facebook and Twitter. Consider advertising on Google, Facebook or some of the new infertility-focused Web sites. If your budget allows, don’t forget some of the traditional media like radio.
4. Mix up seminar topics and forums. Hold introductory seminars for people who are new to treatment, but also offer topics to attract more targeted groups, i.e., egg donation and surrogacy, the environmental affects of infertility, mind-body practices, secondary infertility, or gay family building.

5. Invite a guest speaker who will be a draw. Though you want the seminar to showcase your practice’s own talents, sometimes a well-known outside speaker can be just what you need to build attendance and demonstrate how you put patients first.
6. Hold seminars at a variety of locations and/or get a co-sponsor. Try local hospitals, large physician practices, or wellness centers.  Patronize hotels or conference centers near your satellite offices. Collaborate with your local chapter of RESOLVE, the American Fertility Association or other nonprofit and help them while you are helping your own practice and patients.
7. Provide a financial incentive. This will encourage attendance, especially in non-mandated states. Offer a drawing for a free mind-body workshop — it does not need to be a free IVF cycle — or another product or service that will help build excitement about the event.

If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: Produce a Webinar

Since the Web is such a powerful tool, consider producing a webinar, especially if your marketing plan includes reaching out to potential patients outside your “normal” geographic area. Webinars have all the qualities that have made the Internet captivate a huge audience of fertility consumers. There is a learning curve to developing, coordinating and hosting them, but it will be well worth the effort.