1.
Tweeting, Blogging, SEO,
and Strategy:
Online Content Planning
for Medical Editors
Brande N. Martin, MA
American Medical Writers
Association Conference 2013
Thursday, November 7, 2013

2.
Goals of Today’s Sessions
• Learn about
o The Changing Role of Editors in the
Online/Digital Space
o What is Content Strategy?
o Ways to Plan Online Content
o Integrated Communication Strategies
2

3.
About Me: Brande Martin, MA
Content Strategy, Communications, & Editorial
Management Professional
• The College of American Pathologists
• Medscape/WebMD
• Northern Illinois University
• American Dental Association
• American Medical Association
• Rapid Science Publishers (now part of Wolters
Kluwer)
3

4.
The Word is Out!: Content, Content Is Everywhere…
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5.
The Changing Content Spaces
5

6.
The Traditional Role of a Medical Editor
6
• Working for
o news outlet (Reuters Health),
o online medical journal (JAMA), or
o other online sources (Medscape)
• Edit and fact check content
• Understand and use style manuals
• Write/Rewrite content

7.
• Identify and prioritize topics to cover
• Give assignments to writers/editors
• Maintain an editorial calendar
• May oversee/train writers and other editors
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 7

8.
Our New Editorial Responsibilities
• All of the traditional tasks plus…
o Web Content Strategy
o Marketing Strategy
o Social Media Strategy
© 2013 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved. 8

9.
Online Content Planning
• Step 1: Plan a content strategy
• Step 2: Focus on your audience needs
• Step 3: Write/Edit/Deliver Good Content
• Step 4: Repurpose/Integrate content for social and
email (and mobile) channels
• Step 5: Measure and manage the content
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 9

10.
Content is King!: Content Strategy
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 10
•Can user find the content?
What is the content that meets
the audience’s needs?
Up-to-date content
Editorial Calendars
Content Owners/ Subject
Matter Experts

11.
Our Audiences
• Consumers
• Patients
• Healthcare Professionals
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 11

12.
Patients’/Consumers’ Online Use for Health Info
• 81% of US adults use the internet
• 59% say they have looked online for health
information in the past year
Source: Pew Research Center, Health Online 2013; Jan. 15, 2013
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online.aspx
• 52% of US adults gather health information on their
smartphones
Source: Pew Research Center, Mobile Health 2012; Nov. 8, 2012
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Health-online.aspx
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 12

13.
• 33% of consumers use social media sites for health-
related matters, including seeking health
information…
Source: Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group, Rising Use
of Social & Mobile in Healthcare: Inforgraphic; 2012
http://thesparkreport.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/SparkReportHealthcareGraphicLarge.jpg
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 13

14.
Content Development Strategy
• Who is the audience you trying to reach with your
content?
• What are the goals for the content?
• What topics are of most interest to my audience?
• What type of content should I plan to add
(write/edit) to the Web site?
• What content should I remove from the Web site?
• How should I plan the editorial calendar?
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 14

15.
Writing the Content
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Definition:
SEO is the process of affecting the visibility of a Web
site or a Web page in a search engine's "natural" or
unpaid ("organic") search results.
Write Quality Content!
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 15

16.
Keywords
o Determine best keywords for your landing pages
or pages where you want users to visit
o Add to page – headlines/titles/descriptions
o Meta-data: page title and description
o Use Google Adwords
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 16

17.
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 17
http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo

18.
Social Media Strategy
• Use Twitter or Facebook
o promote content on your site
o encourage audience engagement
• How to do this
o Repurpose content from your site
o Come up with questions on the topic that
engage readers
o Use graphics/clever copywriting content
Goal: Drive audience back to the Web site
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 18

19.
Example: Cleveland Clinic Web site
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 19
234 FB
likes
Posted
4/17/2013

20.
Example: Cleveland Clinic Facebook
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 20
846 Likes
346 Shares
Posted today
11/7/2013

21.
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 21
Example: Cleveland Clinic Twitter Feed

22.
• Blogging
o Have doctor write a blog about the topic
o Have a patient write a blog telling a personal
story about the topic
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 22
Source: http://thesparkreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SparkReportHealthcareGraphicLarge.jpg

23.
Example: Cleveland Clinic –
Featured Expert Bloggers
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 23

24.
Informed Decision-Making for Content Plan
• Follow the trends
o What topics are most popular <<stress>>
o What are most common patient health concerns,
illnesses, conditions
o What events are happening (breast cancer
awareness month, heart healthy month)
• Follow your best judgment
• Assess competition (what are others covering)
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 24

25.
• Work with your business intelligence, digital team,
or Internet services team
• Assess and review your analytics (statistical trends)
o Unique page views
o Conversion Goal Rates <<sign ups/order>>
o Referrer pages
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 25

26.
Case Study
• You write patient health education materials and
post the following on your organization’s Web site:
o Fact sheet on weight loss (HTML page, not a
downloadable PDF)
o Call-to-action for audience to sign up for a new
monthly newsletter on weight loss <<Pilot
newsletter>>
• Goal: You want users to come to Web site to sign up
for the monthly newsletter
• Topic: Weight Loss
• Audience: Women 18-55 years old
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 26

27.
Content Plan/Editorial Calendar
• What types of content from the weight loss fact
sheet can you repurpose for other channels (ie,
Twitter, blog, or print)?
• Recipes
• Fad Diets
• Weight Loss Plans
• Exercise Tips
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 27

28.
Editorial Calendar
• When will you plan to release the content on weight
loss in the different channels (editorial calendar)?
• Fall: College Semester Begins
• Winter: Holidays
• Spring: Wedding
• Summer: Swim Suit Season
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 28

29.
Keyword List
• List the top keywords (groupings) that a user may
consider when searching for the topic on weight
loss
• Weight Loss
• Obesity
• Dieting
• Fad Diets
• Quick weight loss
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 29

30.
Tracking/Analytics
• Did you have good conversion with signs up for the
newsletter?
o Track for 3 months or more to get decent trend
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 30

31.
• Never report standalone metric in your data trends
Track at least 2 metrics for comparison
o Goal Conversion
o Visits
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 31

32.
Key Points
• Medical editors must consider new content
strategies
• Online content planning includes web, social, and
mobile strategies
• Always remember your audience’s needs
• Always write quality content
• Track, measure, and analyze your data for best
content results
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 32

33.
Resources
• Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson
http://contentstrategy.com/
• Aha Media Group – Content Strategy
http://www.ahamediagroup.com/index.html
• Search Engine Land: SEO
http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo
• How to analyze, interpret and report data trends in Google
Analytics
http://www.seotakeaways.com/analyze-interpret-report-
data-trends-google-analytics/
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 33

34.
QUESTIONS?
THANK YOU
Follow me on Twitter: @brandemartin
Email:
brandemartin229@gmail.com
Website: http://brandemartin.com
© 2013 Brande Martin. All rights reserved. 34