The Definition of Social Marketing

March 5, 2009 — themedianetwork

The advent of social media has been a welcome addition to the communications world because it allows us to interact with our audiences in a peer-to-peer way like never before.  However, it has brought new challenges to the lexicon of communicators.  So-called “social media experts” like to use the term “social marketing” when referring to the buzz marketing that is common practice using social media tools.  However, many of these people are not communications professionals and do not realize they are conflating the term “social marketing” with “social media marketing.”

Social marketing has been around for decades and refers to the practice of using commercial marketing techniques to effect behavioral change.  Examples include anti-smoking campaigns, safe sex education messages, and other public education efforts mostly (but not exclusively) in the health communications world.  It is important to make a distinction and spread awareness of the correct lexicon within media circles.  It should also be noted that social marketers are increasingly using social media marketing (including us) to promote the public education efforts of our clients.  So fear not, the two are not mutually exclusive practices.  In fact, there is much social marketers can gain from using social media marketing to connect with target audiences.

For a lengthy and annotated definition of social marketing, see here.

Posted in community outreach, health communications, health marketing, hispanic marketing, internet, marketing, media, multicultural marketing, public education campaign, public relations, social marketing, social media, social networking. Leave a Comment »

TMN Sponsors Government 2.0 Camp

February 12, 2009 — themedianetwork

TMN is proud to announce its sponsorship of Government 2.0 – an “unconference” of social media leaders in government at the Federal, State, and local levels.  The sold out event will be held the weekend of March 27th in the Washington, DC area.  For more information about the event, see here.  We look forward to seeing many of our current, as well as future, clients there!

gov-20-again

Posted in CDC, CMS, DOE, Department of Transportation, EPA, HHS, NHTSA, community outreach, health communications, health marketing, internet, marketing, media, public education campaign, social media. Leave a Comment »

NHTSA’s 2008 Holiday Media Planner

December 4, 2008 — tmndesign

The Media Network worked with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to launch the 2008 Holiday media planner.

NHTSA’s web page provides the following explanation:

This Holiday media planner provides communications tools and marketing materials to underscore the importance of not driving after drinking alcohol. It includes earned media materials and posters that seek to change the behaviors of Spanish-dominant Hispanics, a segment that has been slow to embrace the dangers of impaired driving. The materials can be customized depending on the needs of your programs.

The media planner includes both behavioral and enforcement messaging. Go to Holidays 2008 section of www.stopimpaireddriving.org to view the full planner.

nhtsa_holidays_2008-preview2

Posted in Department of Transportation, NHTSA, health communications, hispanic marketing, hispanic media, marketing, media, public education campaign, social marketing, traffic safety. Tags: , , , , . Leave a Comment »

TMN Research Published in The Journal Of Women’s Health

October 14, 2008 — themedianetwork

The Media Network’s project for the CDC to develop culturally competent and effective outreach materials to promote daily folic acid consumption among Spanish-speaking Hispanic women of childbearing age for the prevention of neural tube birth defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly, has been published as an article in the latest issue of The Journal of Women’s Health.

Our formative research findings from studying 132 Latina women indicated the need for a new brochure targeted at mothers to correct their misperception that the birth of a healthy child reduces their risk of having subsequent children with birth defects.  As a result, materials tested positively with all three audience segments using pre-post test design which demonstrated a statistically relevant increase in knowledge and intent to take folic acid.

The article in The Journal of Women’s Health can be found here.

Posted in health communications, hispanic marketing, hispanic media, hispanic public relations, public education campaign. Leave a Comment »

Reaching Special Populations with New Media

July 22, 2008 — themedianetwork

New media has become entrenched in the mainstream public relations campaigns of major corporations such as Pepsi and Microsoft but only recently has it begun to enter the government communications arena. The health sector seems to be ahead of the curve, with the CDC and HHS already adopting several Web 2.0 strategies. The question of exactly which populations are being reached with these strategies is still somewhat unclear, though a new study is beginning to shed light on the answer.

According to a new study by Synovate, part of the Aegis Group, YouTube is experiencing difficulty in attracting female Hispanic and African-American adults at the same rates it attracts their male counterparts. This gap differs from the “general market” population, where YouTube is equally popular among men and women.

Facebook and MySpace are also experiencing similar difficulties with Hispanic females. In contrast, African-American men and women are equally likely to visit the social networking website.

The study findings are significant for any health communications expert trying to reach special populations through Web 2.0 strategies. More information on the study can be found in the MediaPost article describing the findings.

Posted in health communications, hispanic marketing, media, public education campaign. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

TMN Enters the Social Media Era!

May 27, 2008 — themedianetwork

Welcome to the new TMN blog! We’ve been proudly unveiling social media initiatives within our company and this post marks our first foray into the blogosphere. Our blog will be written collaboratively by our staff on various topics that relate to our line of work, which is primarily social marketing and communications. Our service offerings range from Research & Evaluation to Clearinghouse Management to Strategic Communications Planning so expect our posts to cover a wide range of topics that fall under the broad realm of “communications.” We’ve pre-populated our blog with posts written by Felipe Benitez, one of our account executives – I hope you enjoy their informative nature. Please do not hesitate to contact us or comment on our posts. Thanks for reading!

Nhora Barrera Murphy, President & CEO

Posted in community outreach, cultural adaptation, health communications, health marketing, hispanic marketing, hispanic media, hispanic public relations, internet, marketing, media, multicultural marketing, public education campaign, public relations, social marketing, social media, translations. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

MultiVu Launches Interactivo (Hispanic) Multimedia News Release

April 15, 2008 — themedianetwork

My good friends at MultiVu annonced today a new service to reach the growing on-line Latino community. No doubt it will be a great tool to complement any U.S. Hispanic PR effort. Cheers Peter (McCulsky)!

¡Felicidades!

New York, April 15, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — MultiVu™, PR Newswire’s multimedia and broadcast PR company, in conjunction with its newly-formed Hispanic division, MultiVu Latino, today announced the launch of the Interactivo Multimedia News Release, the first-ever social media press release targeted to the U.S. Hispanic audience.

The Interactivo MNR (IMNR) is a Web 2.0 interactive multimedia platform that is unique among multimedia press release offerings because it features distribution and placement of video, audio, photos and text in Hispanic social network and news sites. From language translation to content development to web distribution, MultiVu Latino works with each client to create dynamic news announcements that are tailored to a Hispanic audience and delivered directly to news and online sources that are valued by the Hispanic community.

“The Interactivo MNR is the first communications platform designed specifically for companies and organizations looking to deliver high-quality, targeted multimedia content to the Hispanic market,” said Manny Ruiz, president, Multicultural Markets & Hispanic PR Wire for PR Newswire. “The IMNR’s strength comes from the unique combination of MultiVu’s industry-leading MNR production and delivery capabilities and the breadth of Hispanic PR Wire’s media distribution network, enabling organizations to take their messages to general web audiences as well as to influential media outlets and content providers that cater to the Hispanic community.”

All Interactivo MNRs are delivered over PR Newswire’s vast distribution network to thousands of media outlets, thousands more website and online databases, and nationally to Hispanic PR Wire’s network of more than 3,000 unique Hispanic news outlets. Additionally, IMNRs will receive placement on over 100 Hispanic media websites. Video content from Interactivo MNRs is further uploaded to more than a dozen Hispanic-related video sites including MiGente, MyGrito, starMedia, and Tu.TV, Hispavista, as well as mainstream video portals, including YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo!Video, Metacafe, and Blinkx.

Headlines and photos from IMNRs are also posted in Spanish for the first time ever on the 7,400 + square foot Reuters Digital Billboard in New York City’s Times Square. All Interactivo MNRs are also optimized for search engine visibility and enhanced for Web 2.0 distribution through embedded HTML links and social media tags, such as del.ic.ious, Digg and Technorati.

“The booming U.S. Hispanic Market is right now one of the most significant emerging markets globally and the best part of that for companies large and small is that this market is right in our backyard and ready for the taking. MultiVu Latino created the Interactivo MNR to provide companies with a simple, yet dynamic medium for communicating with the Hispanic community in a manner that is both compelling and understanding of the unique attributes that make the Hispanic culture so vibrant,” Ruiz said.

In addition to its flagship Interactivo MNR, MultiVu offers clients the ability to supplement any regular geographic distribution over Hispanic PR Wire with an Interactivo Basic. The Interactivo Basic includes press release and photo posting on more than 80 of HPRW’s 100 Hispanic online news partner sites such as LatinaStyle magazine, Catalina magazine, Diario Las Americas, Vida Nueva and El Latino de San Diego, among others; press kit posting in PDF, including fact sheets, biographies, newsletters, brochures, calendar of events, registration forms and more; a full screen, live preview of the Web site related to the press release providing easy navigation through a client’s Web site from within the HPRW press release page; text hyperlinks to relevant, search engine-friendly keywords such as company, product and service brand names; and a quote box, spotlighting a significant quote or sentence from a client’s story that best highlights what the story is about.

For more information on the Interactivo MNR or Interactivo Basic, please call the dedicated toll free “bilingual” number 866.580.5326 or send an email to MultivuLatino@multivu.com.

 

Posted in hispanic marketing, hispanic public relations, marketing. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Update: Cinco de mayo NHTSA planner (Friends don’t let friends drive drunk)

April 11, 2008 — themedianetwork

NHTSA just launched the General Market campaign for Cinco de Mayo, an interesting element is that the famous slogan “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” was adapted to the holiday as “Amigos don’t let amigos drive drunk”…nice touch!

See the full planner here.

Posted in health communications, hispanic marketing, marketing, public education campaign. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Cinco de mayo NHTSA planner (Friends don’t let friends drive drunk)

April 8, 2008 — themedianetwork

Let me begin by saying that it is me in the poster below on a bad photo shoot day. The campaign was created by The Media Network, Inc. for the National Highway Traffic Safety Admistration (NHTSA) to promote among U.S. Latinos sober driving after Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

NHTSA’s web page provides the following explanation:

Cinco de Mayo has become a big night out for many, particularly young adults. But it is also a very dangerous night out because of alcohol or drug impaired drivers. Those celebrating this year should be sure and designate their sober driver in advance – before the festivities begin.

From 1999 to 2005, an average of 43 percent of all highway fatalities each year on May 5 and overnight into the early morning on May 6 were caused by impaired drivers with blood alcohol content (BAC) levels of 0.08 percent and above, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“I am the designated driver”

This poster/print advertisement represents a very common way among Hispanics to make sure an individual is sober: “make the number 4 with your legs and don’t fall”. Placement of this creative would be most appropriate in restaurants, local bars, supermarkets, street fairs, parades, retail establishments that sell alcohol and publications targeting adults

Posted in health communications, hispanic marketing, marketing, public education campaign. Tags: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Understanding Latino Boomers

April 7, 2008 — themedianetwork

Source: Marketing Charts

Focalyst, a reseach firm specialized in seniors and boomers, presented the results of a new study that provides valuable insights on one of the most complex segments of the U.S. Hispanic population: seniors 

Hispanic Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) represent approximately 10% of the US Boomer segment – over 7 million consumers – but cannot be segmented by language alone, a Focalyst study concludes.

“Marketers need to look beyond language and understand the demographic, attitudinal and behavioral differences within the Hispanic Boomer market in order to reach this target,” said Jack Lett, executive director of Focalyst.

Two in three Hispanic Boomers are “more acculturated,” considered either “Bicultural” or “Acculturated,” Focalyst said:

•Bicultural Hispanics – 24% of Hispanic Boomers – are US-born or foreign-born and have lived many years in the US; they are bilingual and consume both English and Spanish media; they identify with aspects of both cultures.
•Acculturated Hispanics - 41% – are US-born and English-dominant; they consume English media; and they identify strongly with American culture, but still keep ties with their Hispanic culture.
•Unacculturated Hispanics – 35% – are foreign-born and speak Spanish in the home; they consume more Spanish than non-Spanish media; and they identify strongly with their native culture.

Demographic Profile

The study found that Bicultural Hispanic Boomers…
•Earn 23% less income on average than General Market Boomers ($56,607 compared with $73,921) – though they are equally likely to be employed (77%).
•Are more likely to be married or partnered (75%) than both Acculturated (64%) and General Market Boomers (69%).
•Are less likely to be college educated – 55% of them have a college education, compared with 69% of Acculturated Boomers and 73% of General Market Boomers.

Family

Hispanic Boomers live in larger households (3.3 people per household vs. 2.9 for the General Market), often made up of younger children, adult children, or older relatives. Bicultural households have the largest household composition (3.6 people):

In addition…
•Acculturated Boomers are the most likely to be a caregiver for a family member, with 14% recently taking on this role.
•Besides supporting larger households, one in four Hispanic Boomers are providing substantial financial support to someone outside of their homes.
Future Plans
Acculturated Hispanic Boomers are more likely to aspire to continue their education (28%), whereas Bicultural Hispanics have more entrepreneurial desires – 32% said they want to start a new business, compared with 17% of General Market Boomers:

More findings:
•More than half (51%) of Bicultural Hispanic Boomers said it is important that their family think they are doing well:
•Fully 86% of Bicultural Hispanic Boomers agreed that they have been fortunate in life, and 80% said they have accomplished a great deal – more so than General Market (77%) and Acculturated (76%) Boomers.

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