Social Media Marketing Digestives from Seattle's Health Care Journalism Conference

Jump on the social media bandwagon
Originally uploaded by Matt Hamm

Searching for an open coffee shop on an early Saturday morning in Seattle is like having to go out of your way to find a martini in San Francisco or file gumbo in New Orleans or taco trucks in Los Angeles. After a few visits, I'm learning and loving this town, but still figuring out whether its character is coming or going. More on that in Facebook.

At the Association of Health Care Journalists conference here, exploring the social media universe left the same impression. When Monica Guzman of SeattlePI.com (the digital leftovers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) reminded the audience of journalists, thank goodness, that it's social media, which invites writers to use an informal tone and not shy away from personal touches when posting on social media platforms, you could hear the mandibles clench. In healthcare, an informal tone is as elusive as this morning's first caffeine kick. And to journalists, getting personal is anathema to their "Hippocratic" oath. Both converged here to explain why so many people in the room resist social media as a platform for their work as well as self-marketing ideas like branding to help them compete. "I'm an investigative reporter! No way!" "I'm from the old school; advertising is still the dark side." "Twitter and Facebook are just a big waste of time."

I hope the humbling experiences bravely candidly shared by the new reluctant freelancers at this conference opened their minds because most of the folks I met were in or threatened by some sort of job transition. For the first time in my entire media relations career, the esteemed writers/reporters were questioning their place. Luckily, enough journalists had gracefully lept the social media divide and, while not all secure in their jobs, at least demonstrated the dignity and professionalism with which social media can be accomplished.