Video and Social Media in Health Care Communications, A Conversation with @MarkRaganCEO

Social media is transforming the way companies communicate to its internal employees and to the public. Many organizations have changed their marketing and communications strategies and tactics by launching company Wikis and blogs, official Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, YouTube Channels, internal video contests, podcasts, and endless conversation channels. I spoke with Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications, at the Health Care Communicators Summit last month held June 8-9 at Kaiser Permanente's Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center, about how social media is revolutionizing corporate communications and PR. The event featured speakers from The Health Care Blog, Kaiser Permanente, and social media strategists from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other prominent health care communicators.

@MarkRaganCEO described how employee communications have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Since his father started the Chicago-based PR firm in 1968, employee communications consisted of an employee publication, press releases and C-suite communication cascading down from the top executives to the employees. Social media has changed the rules, and opened up avenues of engagement that never existed before. Now corporate communications sits in the very center of influence within their company, creating conversations and communicating directly to employees and consumers, shareholders and stakeholders, through social media.



According to @MarkRaganCEO, there are no intermediaries, you can go directly to the source:

"What social media does is create a conversation and ideas flowing back and forth from the C-suite to front line employees, middle managers and then back again. The whole idea of social media is to remove the middle man, and get everyone to connect in this one huge knowledge-base. Through conversation, through sharing, through searching, meta-tagging – it's a wonderful tool, and 5-6 years from now everyone is going to be doing it."

Video occupies an important aspect in social media as @MarkRaganCEO said:

"People just don't read as much anymore, we see this in statistics all the time. So if you're good at shooting tight videos, if you're good at making those videos both informative and entertaining – and I do believe there's an expectation of entertainment in social media – then those videos are going to be cherished by employees."

He calls it "information snacking' – videos and bits of information here and there, short messages that communicate training, missions, change management – that's the way people like to consume information today.

But what about the companies that say it's too hard to get into social media, don't know how to get started, or don't have the resources to produce a video?
@MarkRaganCEO suggested that companies pick one thing, take your time and do it well. For example, start a company blog around an event or topic, write compelling content and people will get involved and join the conversation.

Do you need a broadcast quality video production or will a $200 pocket video camera do the trick for you? 
Flip, Kodak or any other pocket video camera and cell phone cameras provide an immediacy of your subject matter. With the evolution of the UGC-generation we've accepted a lower quality threshold. Things that are little rough around the edges are seen as more authentic. (Shameless plug) I was a featured speaker on a webinar hosted by Ragan Communications on best practices for using Flip Video cameras. Check out this post: How to Produce Flip Videos that Inform, Engage and Entertain Your Employees - Update from Ragan Communications Webinar, May 14, 2010. Ironically, I recorded this interview with @MarkRaganCEO on Kodak Zi8 with an external lavaliere microphone.

What about social media in health care communications? 
@MarkRaganCEO noted:

"Good social media is about people and content, and storytelling. And there are a few industries that have more and better stories to tell than health care. Think about what you're doing, you're talking about saving lives – you're talking about heroes on your nursing staff, you're talking about people trying to overcome disabilities and challenges – all of that makes for good storytelling, and good storytelling makes for good social media."

About Ragan Communications
Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. publishes corporate communications, public relations, and leadership development newsletters. The company provides the professional communicator and executives with timely, practical, and relevant information. It offers targeted newsletters in the areas of employee communication, organizational writing and editing, sales and marketing, media relations, and motivational management. In addition, it also produces several communications conferences, workshops, and senior-level forums in the United States. The company was founded in 1970 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Follow @MarkRaganCEO on Twitter
Ragan Communications | Facebook
Ragan Communications - Company Profile | LinkedIn
Check out YouTube - ragancommunications's Channel


Kaiser Permanente and Ragan Communications present:Health Care Communicators Summit (Link to Event Recording)

Read more about the event on the KPNewscenter: Leading Health Communicators to Share Best Practices, Practical Tips at Kaiser Permanente/Ragan Communications Summit

See this related post by Ted Eytan, MD, Kaiser Permanente physician and blogger: Still about listening: Health 2.0 DC and Ragan Health Care Communicators Summit

How to Produce Flip Videos that Inform, Engage and Entertain Your Employees - Update from Ragan Communications Webinar, May 14, 2010

Last week, I was a featured speaker on a webinar hosted by Ragan Communications on, "How to produce Flip videos that inform, engage and entertain your employees." I wore my day job hat for this event, as a multimedia professional for Kaiser Permanente, and was joined by my colleague Elizabeth Schainbaum, a staff writer in our Corporate Communications department. We discussed how we're using Flip and Kodak pocket video cameras to capture important employee news to post on our company's Intranet portal. Liz shared her experience as a writer turned video producer, who really hadn't used a Flip camera before but was charged to produce a short video, rather than write a story about how one of our medical team's from South Sacramento were conducting a trauma response training at our Sidney Garfield Health Care Innovation Center. The medical team ran a series of simulations on how to respond to gun shot wound victims and other severe injuries to prepare for the opening of Kaiser Permanente’s first Level II trauma center. Liz's manager thought it would be a great opportunity to use video to tell the story.

In preparation for the video shoot, Liz asked me for a few pointers on how to capture the story using a Flip camera. Her boss handed her a Flip without any instructions and only about a day or so to prepare. I had previously led a Flip 101 training session for some of her colleagues in Media Relations and Corporate Communications, who also were given Flip cameras as part of KP's growing use of social media within internal and external communications.

Liz and I had a brief hallway conversation, and I shared a few important tips that I thought would help her produce a better end product - such as,  use a tripod or hold the camera steady, interview a few people, make sure they introduce themselves and keep their answers concise, also have them include your question in their answer for context, try to have an interesting background, stay close since the microphone is built in, shoot some B-roll so you can edit in some cut-aways, just to name a few.

After her video shoot, Liz worked with one of our Sr. Web Developers to both edit the video and post it to our Intranet website. The completed video got rave reviews and she went on to produce several videos which were even better the first as she learned more and got more comfortable with the medium.

It turned out to be a great case study for using video in corporate communications and a perfect fit for the Ragan webinar audience. The webinar itself was very well attended with over 200 paid attendees. You can buy the CD from Ragan for $99 here, but below you'll find our webinar slides for free.

How to produce Flip videos that inform, engage and entertain your employees

View more presentations from Online Video Publishing [dot] com.

The topics we covered included: 

Shooting tips:

• How to frame an interview to give your speaker enough head room
• When to use a tripod and why you should avoid zooming
• How to select the best background for your interview
• Tricks to make sure your video is always sharp and in focus

Lighting:

• What kind of lighting conditions you need for good picture quality
• How to avoid producing grainy video
• Ways to light your subject, without buying expensive equipment

Audio:

• How to avoid distracting background noise
• Why you need to stay close to your interview subject
• When to use an external microphone

Editing:

• Why shorter is always better
• Types of free software you can use to create your video vignettes—and optional equipment you can buy if you want to kick it up a notch
• A step-by-step process to edit your Flip video, including transferring the video, creating a timeline and uploading it to your intranet or YouTube

How to produce stellar employee videos:

• What types of stories are best told with a Flip camera
• How to produce videos that your audience will want to watch—over and over again
• Why clips produced on a Flip can be more engaging that polished, professional videos

We were also joined by CEO Mark Ragan during the Q&A, who shared some tips of his own on how you can use a Flip camera at events to record simple "man (or woman) on the street" interviews. At a recent conference in London, he shot an number interviews with attendees ad asked them all the same question, "What British communicators hate about jargon?". He was able to get a range of spontaneous and often humorous answers. He also recorded a brief introduction of himself to give it some context, by handing the camera to the last person he interviewed, then edited it all together in Windows Movie Maker on the plane ride home.

Some of they take-aways from the webinar to keep in mind are that you really have to consider have to consider your audience when you produce a video. Is your audience online or on mobile devices? Will the video play a big screen or little screen? Do you need a broadcast quality video production or will a $200 pocket video camera do the trick for you? Flip, Kodak or any other pocket video camera and cell phone cameras provide an immediacy of your subject matter. With the evolution of the UGC-generation we've accepted a lower quality threshold. Things that are little rough around the edges are seen as more authentic.

A Few Parting Tips

• When you're shooting your video don't forget to get a variety of shots as good B-roll.
• Anticipate any action, take charge and remove any obstructions that are in your way, rehearse your interviewees and do a couple takes. 
• Don't be afraid to ask them to start over if you need a shorter take or if they say too many "Umms". 
• If you're using a Flip, try to use a back up audio recorder that has an external microphone. There's a slide in the presentation with a few makes and model numbers you can try, or if you have more than one Flip, set one closer to your subject and splice the audio together when you're editing. 
• What's important though, is to have a compelling story that can be told in 90 seconds or less, good audio and lighting, and a steady camera. That will help not only hold your audiences attention, but also as the title of the webinar says, inform, engage and even entertain them.

Upcoming Klessblog Sightings - Webinars, Meetups, Streaming Media East, Oh My!

It's been an extremely busy year so far in the online video industry and in my own personal and professional life. I admit that I haven't been able to keep as current on this blog with news and information, and to that extent, I've been focusing my energy on other areas, including: webinars, meetups, and travel to new places. I recently attended the Streamy Awards in Los Angeles and ended up in the front row of the now infamous award show. I saw a lot of familiar faces, met many great new friends and shared some of those highlights in the last several posts. I have a lot more video that I may post to my YouTube channel, but for now, I wanted to share a few upcoming events over the next several weeks where you can catch me in the wild, so to speak.

You can catch me next week on the Encoding Video For The Web: Free Webinar on May 5th, which is produced by Reel SEO and sponsored by vzaar. I'll be joined by Robert Reinhardt, creator of the online video service videoRx.com, VP of the multimedia consulting company [the MAKERS) and noted author of a number of Wiley and Adobe Press books, including Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional StudioTechniques. See this related post of Robert's Flash Encoding Resources: Bit Rate Calculator and Optimal Aspect Ratios. Also, joining the webinar as moderator is my good friend and 2010 Streaming Media All-Star, Mark Robertson, Reel SEO Founder and Publisher. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit-rates and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear what the pros have to say about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264encoding to your video. Register for this FREE webinar here!

After that, my next big trip is to New York City in two weeks for Streaming Media East on May 11-12th, where I'll be moderating a panel discussion on Video Publishing Platforms. For that session, I'll be joined by Bismarck C Lepe, President, Products at Ooyala, Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura, Daniel Webster, SVP of Media at Synaptic Digital and Jason Liebman, CEO and Co-Founder of Howcast. A number of vendors offer video publishing platforms, the features and functionality-not to mention cost-vary widely. Some vendors focus their solutions on content management and monetization, while others are geared towards enabling syndication and interactive advertising campaigns. Adding to the confusion is the fact that different platform vendors have different metrics for billing, and costs rise as content owners become more successful.

This session builds on the program that Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen and I put together for the Online Video Platform Summit and will lay the groundwork for content owners to better understand what type of publishing platform they need and what they should expect to pay for managing content.

Following Streaming Media East, on May 14th, I'll be a featured speaker on a Ragan Communications webinar on How to produce Flip videos that inform, engage and entertain your employees. I'll be wearing my day job hat for this session discussing how at Kaiser Permanente, our employees are using Flip cameras to capture important employee news to post on the company's intranet. This 60-minute webinar will offer practical tips on how to use your Flip, Kodak or other pocket camera—and find out what kind of stories are best told with this camera. This session is not a free webinar and you can find out more about it and register here.

I'll be joined by my colleague Elizabeth Schainbaum, Staff Writer, Corporate Communications, who was handed a Flip camera and found herself learning how to do photo essays and video on the job. Instead of writing an article about a group of employees that were conducting a critical events trauma training at our Health Care Innovation Center, Elizabeth produced a video instead. Since that first piece on the trauma center, she has worked on two other videos.

Some of the topics we'll be covering are:

Shooting tips:

• How to frame an interview to give your speaker enough head room
• When to use a tripod and why you should avoid zooming
• How to select the best background for your interview
• Tricks to make sure your video is always sharp and in focus

Lighting:

• What kind of lighting conditions you need for good picture quality
• How to avoid producing grainy video
• Ways to light your subject, without buying expensive equipment

Audio:

• How to avoid distracting background noise
• Why you need to stay close to your interview subject
• When to use an external microphone

Editing:

• Why shorter is always better
• Types of free software you can use to create your video vignettes—and optional equipment you can buy if you want to kick it up a notch
• A step-by-step process to edit your Flip video, including transferring the video, creating a timeline and uploading it to your intranet or YouTube

How to produce stellar employee videos:

• What types of stories are best told with a Flip camera
• How to produce videos that your audience will want to watch—over and over again
• Why clips produced on a Flip can be more engaging that polished, professional videos

Finally, I'll be a guest speaker on May 18th at the Eastbay LocalPreneurs Meetup Group giving a presentation on how to Quickly and Easily Master Online Video Promotions and Watch Your Sales Skyrocket. Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities. I'll share tips on how to use video to become your own online TV to promote You, Your Products or Your Business!

If you're in the Bay Area and you're an entrepreneur, it's crucial to understand how to make the right connections, get the tools and inspirational education in order to grow your business. Eastbay Localprenuers Meetup brings you fresh speakers, monthly training and networking to jump-start your projects and dreams. This Meetup group is organized by my friend and local entrepreneur, Jonathan Fleming. Join this Meetup group here or sign up using Facebook.

Some subjects I'll cover include:

• Creating a powerful video pressence using Flip Camera, HD, etc... 
• The Importance of video online, Do's and Don'ts for your business 
• How to use video effectively to market your product, company and increase sales 
• Tools needed to get started 
• Best practices for newbies and small business owners

Learn how to make and produce attention getting video for "Low Cost" that jump starts your marketing efforts to help you get attention for your product, service, business or venture!
Learn how to to get attention online using video on Facebook, Google, blogging and other social networks! In this fast paced hour,  I'll deliver low cost tips of how you can rocket up the ladder to get noticed and produce professional winning videos to help your business today!

Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

That's all for now! I want to thank you all for reading, subscribing, retweeting, sharing, commenting and supporting me here on this blog. Stay tuned for more upcoming Klessblog sightings in the near future and more online video news and information.