Author: Meg Palmer

Health Challenges At Work: Can They Actually Work?

Key Post Highlights

> Health challenges at work are possible, but you might need to get creative.

> Health is not about “good” & “bad.” It’s about making choices that work with your body.

> How we talk about health can impact how successful a wellness challenge is.

From Valentine’s Day parties to putting together the CareContent Cookbook to organizing a book club (check out our current book!), our Office Fun Team does its best to bring good vibes to the CareContent Team. We love finding new, meaningful ways to engage.

As a company that serves and supports a range of healthcare and healthcare-adjacent organizations, health is always top of mind. So participating in a health or wellness challenge might feel like a logical next step for Office Fun.

Done wrong and a health challenge may become overly competitive and team members may feel discouraged from participating.

Done well, a health challenge at work can bring teammates closer together. It can encourage people to get out of their comfort zone and try a new activity — or make a new goal for their health. 

So if you are thinking of starting a wellness challenge at work (like for American Heart Month), here are 4 things to keep in mind to help your team be successful.

1. Think Outside the Box About What It Means to Be “Healthy”

There are many ways you can still focus on health in the workplace — it might just look different from a traditional step per day or even a weight loss challenge. When thinking about what might work for your team, consider their personalities and what kinds of activities they respond to.

Are they always down to try something new? Have you heard people saying they wish they had more time to prepare meals? Are they already super fitness conscious and love to push each other? Many different factors can influence what kind of challenge you organize, and it can be good to ask your team about their goals.

You may need to get a little creative about how you approach your challenge, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Water Challenge

One challenge we’ve conducted at CareContent is a Water Challenge. I’ll be honest though — in thinking about our language around health, we didn’t call it that. We called it ABC Water Goals (All ‘Bout CareContent Water Goals). Our approach was simple. Everyone decided for themselves how much water they wanted to drink each day. Our spreadsheet for tracking was each team member’s name, the date, and two completion options for the question “Did you meet your goal?” Yes or not quite! We focused on individual goals, team accountability, and just one way of focusing on our health for 2 weeks.

Mental Health Challenge

In addition to your physical health, mental health is a great focus for team activities as well. A mental health challenge might be something you formally organize — or it can be something that simply becomes a part of your workplace culture.

For us at CareContent, we make reflection a part of who we are. When life gets busy and hard, you can find us in our team chat with the prompt, “What’s something good that’s happened recently, and what are you looking forward to?” When we come back from winter break, everyone is asked to share “The best gift they got this year AND the best gift they gave.” 

These might not seem like a traditional “health challenge,” but they can help your team slow down, focus on the positive, and even cause a shift in perspective — all of which can be good for mental health.

Health Literacy Challenge

Health isn’t just about what we do with our bodies or brains each day — it’s also about how much we know about our own health. Another wellness challenge you could do at work could have a goal of everyone learning and sharing something new about health. Ask everyone to learn more about one aspect of health, healthy choices, or a health condition that interests them. 

At CareContent, this is something of an “unofficial” part of the job. We are always sharing health news we find interesting and shouting each other out in the editing process if we learn something new from reading someone’s piece. You can also make this approach more formal, by having each team member put together a 5-minute presentation that can be shared all at once or at a series of meetings. This can help boost your team’s health literacy, and in turn, their overall health.

2. Good Health Is Not A Moral High Ground

Whether we mean to or not, when we think about health, we often think about morality. Some foods are “good” and some foods are “bad.” Some activities are “good” and others are “bad.” People either have “good” health or “bad” health. This way of thinking takes something neutral — the way our bodies function — and turns it into an issue of right or wrong.

In reality, different foods help your body do different things. Different bodies do different things. You aren’t a bad person if you can’t bench press your body weight, and you’re not a good person if you only eat green things on Tuesday.

We have to disconnect health from morality and recognize that health has many different facets. Everyone — including medical practitioners — has a different definition of what healthy means for them and everyone’s health goals are different.

If you’re creating a health challenge at work, these are inner biases and assumptions you will have to challenge yourself — and may need to present to your team. Taking into consideration other people’s thoughts about health can help you approach a potential wellness challenge thoughtfully and with an open mind.

3. Remember: Language Matters

When it comes to the way we think and talk about health, language matters. This is especially true when it comes to the way that we talk about health at work. Many of the words and phrases we use around health can be packed with shame, guilt, and negative associations.

Even just the phrase “health challenge” might set some team members on edge — because for many people with chronic illness or pain, their health may already feel like a challenge.

Be conscious of the words you are using when you talk about health, food, and physical activity. Talking about dieting for example can be difficult for someone who struggles with disordered eating habits or an eating disorder.

Think about how you want to talk about your wellness challenge, and how your messaging can be interpreted. It takes time to be intentional about your language, but if you want your health challenge to be a positive experience, it’s definitely worth it.

4. Team Activities Fun Should Be Fun

It might sound obvious, but if a wellness challenge is a part of your office fun, it should be fun. It should bring people together and help them achieve their goals.

Organized health events are not something you can throw together overnight and hope for the best — it takes thoughtful planning, reflection, and maybe even some unlearning to be successful.

CEO Vitamins: 4 Digital Marketing Influencers I Follow

Key Post Highlights

> Ross Simmonds and strategic content creation

> Andy Crestodina and the value of organic search

> Blippi and creating a recognizable brand

> Pauleanna Reid and the power of storytelling

 

In the past couple years, we’ve seen so many personal, professional, and business interactions move online. With 2023 already here and happening, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we all are continuing to hopefully cope and innovate around these never-ending digital changes. 

It’s important for all of us to stay on top of the way that the marketing industry, trends, and best practices are evolving. With the launch of CareContent’s new-and-improved blog, I’m going to be sharing some of my thoughts in bite-sized, packing-a-punch posts as a part of the series “CEO Vitamins.” 

Like a vitamin, I hope this series supplements your regular learning diet and can give a boost to what we all think is possible.

I thought I’d kick these posts off by sharing 4 of my favorite digital marketing influencers. 

1. Ross Simmonds​

The first digital marketing influencer is Ross Simmonds. He recently launched his own podcast — which I’m really excited about — about the power of content creation. I’m looking forward to digging into his episodes.

He gets content creation. He understands that it’s a strategic asset, not just something you drop on a treadmill and start pumping out.

My goal is to always be looking at how we can help our clients meet a goal. How can we help them do something that matters to their business as well as to their audience? Ross Simmonds provides great insight and understands the power of content as the centerpiece of any digital marketing effort. There’s something we can all take away from his expertise.

2. Andy Crestodina​

The second digital marketing influencer I follow is Andy Crestodina. Andy Crestodina is a thought leader on content marketing and web design who I have admired since I started this company. I love his 13 point guides to a homepage and a newsletter and stuff like that. I like him because he gives such actionable steps for how you rank well in organic search.

Your healthcare organization needs its web presence to reach patients, providers, and healthcare professionals.

I’ve unofficially adopted him as a mentor. I used to do office hours with him when I was really starting out, and he basically helped develop the templates we use and the rules that we follow around SEO.

I call him every now and then and have meetings with him just to pick his brain. His company, Orbit Media Studies, is up in Ravenswood in Chicago, but he’s a nationally known keynote speaker at international conferences. I’m honored he still takes my phone calls.

3. Blippi​

The third digital marketing person isn’t in healthcare and he’s not corporate, but I’m just amazed at what he’s done and how well he’s done it — it’s damn Blippi.

If you have a child, then you have heard about Blippi. Blippi is a Hollywood exec turned children’s YouTube character who generated $20 million in revenue off his YouTube channel, affiliated merchandise, and live shows — just by creating a bunch of videos on YouTube that kids are basically addicted to.

This is a man who knows what he’s doing, and I loved reading the story in Forbes about how meticulous he was when crafting his persona so that kids would know how to easily say his name. A name like Blippi — it works. Kids don’t stumble over it, they memorize it. It’s very recognizable.

Blippi was deliberate with everything, from how he crafted the colors of his clothing to the cadence of his voice. I am amazed at how his presence has grown. He has a very sticky factor among children that has allowed him to branch out into merchandise, book bags, toys, downloadable content on his website, and even live shows.

Plus he has like a billion followers. He’ll make a video — like “Everything Kids Should Know About Dump Trucks.” This video will be 2 hours long, and these kids will sit there and watch this for 2 hours and literally become experts on dump trucks. They’re not just idly watching; they can recap key messages and retain the information. It’s very fascinating how he’s managed to do all of that.

4. Pauleanna Reid​

A fourth digital marketing influencer — who’s actually very new to me — is Pauleanna Reid. She writes about women leaders for Forbes, but she also has her own agency called Writer’s Block where she ghostwrites for celebrities. And not just ghostwriting books, but also speeches and presentations.

I’m really interested in her take. I follow her YouTube channel where she shares videos ranging in length (from one minute to one hour) and content. She covers everything from making sure that content creation becomes a brand asset to how you tell your story and drive your brand. I’m loving her so far.

Why Follow Influencers In 2023?​

There are a lot of influencers online that I just don’t understand — and don’t plan to follow. It seems like anyone with a smartphone and a pretty face can get famous on Instagram. I’m not here for the people who are influencing me to buy the newest skin care product or TikTok-trending leggings.

I’m here for the people who are really influencing the marketing industry. Whose expertise and guidance can help us connect people with the content that can change — or save — their lives.

Digital marketing influencers are the people to watch when it comes to how trends are changing and where the field is going. By keeping our eye on what these influencers are doing, we can all learn something and push the envelope on what is possible.

The Race Box: Let’s Unpack Survey Demographics

When filling out forms, I have always dreaded the infamous “race box.”

You know, the one that gives you a standard list of choices to pick from? This guy? ↓↓↓

Please select your race:

☐  White

☐  Black or African American

☐  American Indian or Alaska Native

☐  Asian

☐  Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Source: The United States Census Bureau

For some people, this box is just another field they fill out on forms. But for others, it can represent something of an identity crisis.

As a biracial woman, I never know what to put in that box. My mother is white, and my dad is Vietnamese. A million thoughts run through my head when I’m asked to fill out that box — especially on medical forms.

“Do I just put white? Do I just check Asian? Do I check both? Can I check both? What if there’s a really specific disease specific to one of those races, but I put the other one and they don’t test for it?”

(I tend to overthink in general, if you couldn’t tell).

It took me a long time to realize that these are valid questions — and they may be ones your patients ask themselves as well. But as healthcare marketers and professionals, a better question might be: Does it have to be this way? And, can we be doing something better?

We Unpacked The Race Box: What Happened

In the fall of 2021, CareContent partnered with a client who, like us, was pushing back on the idea of the race box. They were interested in attracting a diverse audience to their residency program. Like, a genuinely diverse audience, not just one that looked diverse on paper.

In order to accomplish this, our partnership included many different points of growth and development. It included strategies like revamping their website, putting their commitment to diversity front and center, showcasing their already diverse graduate students, and focusing on SEO so the right candidates could find them.

Another element of this focus on inclusion was to reconsider the race and ethnicity questions on one of their interest forms. Potential applicants would have the opportunity to chat with a current resident in the program, and they wanted to know a little bit about the individuals who were interested.

Rather than just do what’s always been done, both their team and ours saw this as an opportunity to rethink some of those questions we take for granted — including the questions about race and ethnicity.

What We Did

To get a better sense of who was considering applying — and to communicate to them that the program was committed to accepting those residents’ whole identities — we decided to rewrite the race data-collecting question entirely.

When we went about crafting this question, our first goal was to remove the burden of the options. In making this question open-ended with a text entry box — instead of a checkbox — applicants could feel empowered to provide an answer that felt more accurate and authentic.

We also considered potential results of making the question encompass race, ethnicity, and cultural identity — instead of making these separate questions. In doing so, the question recognizes that our identities are not made up of disparate variables, but rather that we sit at the intersection of multiple identities that are all pushing and pulling on our sense of self.

Lastly, we wanted to communicate our intentions for making the choice we did. When collecting demographic data, there can be a lack of transparency. “What do you need my race for? Are you immediately going to sell my email to the highest bidder?” In deviating from the expected, this form chose to explain why.

What We Found Out

By asking this question in this way, we opened ourselves up to the wide range of responses we might get. Over 100 potential applicants filled out the “Chat With a Residency Leader” form — and of those, nearly 75% answered the question on race, ethnicity, and cultural identity.

Open-Ended Identity Question Findings

10% indicated their status as first, second, or third-generation immigrants or college graduates.

6% shared the ways religion impacts their identity.

65% responded with two or more identity markers.

Others spoke of the places they were born or the places they call home now. Many spoke about their parents, the languages they speak, and how their identity drives their desire to pursue medicine. Some even expressed their gratitude about being asked this question in this particular way.

The results blew us away — we could not have expected the breadth of responses, and we couldn’t replicate them again if we tried. Each individual response encapsulated a specific person at a specific time, reflecting on their identity in a specific way.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Ultimately, what we sought to do was to remove the burden of a different box — the “other” box — where maybe you’re not 100% sure what to select, so you choose the write-in option under “other.” By reframing this as an open-ended prompt, we were able to address this “othering” of the other box.

As we continue to grapple individually and societally with questions of race and identity, there are many things we might come up against that could use some reimagining. How we ask people about their identity is just one of them.

The case shared here is just one potential approach — and it might not be the best one for every single situation. For example, if you want to know how many people receive a blood pressure screening at your hospital this quarter — and how many belong to a certain racial or ethnic minority — it may not be the best data-collecting option to ask people to identify in this open-ended way.

But if you’re running a grief support group — and you want to bring in experts with fitting cultural expertise — then maybe it does make more sense to ask group participants to answer an open-ended prompt instead.

Very rarely is there one “right answer.” More often, there are simply many potential approaches that offer different insights depending on the information we’re actually looking for.

When it comes to demographic data collection, the way you ask this question might be impacted by anything from geography to what data you’re trying to collect. But while there may not be one right way to ask this demographic question, how we ask it is worth questioning.

Are you looking to attract more diverse residents, physicians, or patients? CareContent can help you get there.

Guide To A Great Provider Directory

I’ve moved a lot in my adult life, leading to a pretty common list of Google searches upon settling into a new place. Those “The truck is unloaded and you’ve eaten half a pizza and are wondering if you made the right choice” kind of Google searches. You know the ones.

Megan’s Post-Move Search History

• Primary care providers in “Insert City Here”
• Ice cream shops near me
• Thrift stores in my area
• Birds in my state

While all of these searches are equally important — to me at least — one of them probably has more relevance to your healthcare organization. (It’s the birds, of course.)

Okay, it’s the search for providers. Potential patients looking for a new provider might come upon your healthcare organization through a Google search or a word-of-mouth recommendation to check out your practice.

To get that potential patient to make an appointment and get in the door, your healthcare website is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Yet no matter how much work has gone into making that journey happen for a user — to them, it has to feel effortless.

If they’re looking for a primary care provider, they should be able to find one. If they’re looking for a specialist, that information should be at the tip of their fingers.

That’s where your provider directory comes in — and why it needs to be a good one.

A Good Provider Directory Should Be Usable

This might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many provider directories are not easily usable.

For most people, unusable can mean a clunky interface, a slow loading time, or a search and filter function that is unreliable at best — and nonexistent at worst. All of these small inconveniences can create big patient frustration. Each is a ding against your healthcare organization and your credibility.

But usability isn’t only for the people using your site. Your provider directory is also under yet another scrutinizing eye: Google.

While keeping Google in mind might feel like just another task on your to-do list, it’s actually a pretty exciting one. With the right information, you can have a big impact on your visibility on a Google results page.

You need to make sure your pages are filled with the right information — and that that information is tagged correctly for Google to find it. Physician information comes with its own tag schema that can boost a page in Google’s local search.

Become familiar with the kinds of info you need to include, and make sure to collect it for each individual provider profile.

Top 3 Qualities Of A Good Provider Directory

1. Valid data that is kept up to date — like location, phone numbers, and insurances accepted
2. Information for patients to make a decision (depends on organization goals, intended user interaction)
3. Good search and filter function to easily find the providers that are relevant to a user

Your Provider Directory Is About Your Providers

On the backend of creating a provider directory, there are a lot of moving pieces. There may even be some office politics, too.

But for your patients and their user experience, it has to be all about the providers.

Your provider directory — done well — gives a human face and personality to what otherwise would be simply a name on a screen. Credentials and specialties alone won’t tell potential patients what a provider is actually like, but simple additions to a provider’s page can.

Consider including things on a physician’s profile page like:

• A warm and welcoming headshot
• A short bio explaining their background, medical, or educational journey — even interests or hobbies
• A provider video that shows them talking about themselves and in their own environment

Google also rewards longer content, so including more information can have exponential benefits in addition to increasing the amount of time a user might stay on a particular page.

Wondering what this could look like? Here’s a provider profile from one of our awesome clients!

Provider Directories Aren’t One And Done

While many healthcare website trends ebb and flow with time, one thing that probably won’t change is users coming to your website and wanting to find a physician. This makes provider directories a worthwhile long-term investment.

But just because provider directories as a tool aren’t going out of style any time soon, that doesn’t mean you can create it and forget about it.

Data clean-up is an area that a lot of organizations underestimate in terms of time and effort. Though it may not be something you do until after your directory is set up, it’s actually a critical step in ensuring a good directory.

“When it comes to provider directory longevity, it’s important to have a clear process for data governance, ownership, and maintenance. Without a detailed and agreed-upon process, data can become out of sync and stale over time.”

Crystal Choi, CareContent Operations and Project Manager

In one study conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, they found that more than half of the provider directory locations assessed had at least one inaccuracy. This alone is a good reason to double-check the information in your provider directory.

• Does a provider currently practice where your directory says they do?
• Is the contact information for each provider accurate?
• Is a provider actually accepting new patients if it says they’re accepting new patients?

At the end of the day, bad data in equals bad data out — and a poor experience for users. If your directory says Dr. Smith is a physician at your practice but moved out of state 2 months ago, it doesn’t matter how beautiful or welcoming their page is. It’s still out of date.

The Power Of Your Provider Directory

Depending on the size of your organization, building or revamping your provider directory might feel like a Herculean-sized undertaking. You may be thinking, “We have thousands of providers — I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

But isn’t that all the more reason to make sure potential patients can find someone quickly and painlessly?

Or maybe you’re thinking, “We’re a small healthcare organization — we don’t have that many providers to comb through, anyway.”

But isn’t that a good opportunity to show patients you offer the same high level of quality as larger institutions?

No matter the size of your healthcare organization, everyone can benefit from a more efficient provider directory — and CareContent is here to help.

Does your provider directory need some love? Here’s how CareContent can help you figure out where to start and create something that WORKS.

What’s Your Social Media Style?

Social media style is like fashion style — everyone has one. You may have a few statement pieces, or maybe you’re a thrift shop queen. You might know your signature colors, or maybe you’re just making it up as you go along.

When it comes to the actual clothes you wear, knowing your personal style can help you choose the outfits that make you feel your best.

Social media style is no different — figuring out what your style is can help your digital presence look its best, too. With the right tools (clothes) and approach (how you put your outfit together), your social media style can help you achieve your business goals.

Is your social media presence trendy? Vintage? Business Casual? Artsy?

Take this quiz to find out!

Think we’d make a great team? Then shoot us a message, and let’s chat!

How Healthcare Organizations Can Leverage TikTok

As a mid-90s baby, I sit at the intersection of Millennial and Gen Z. We had a landline at home, and I had a couple of Razr flip phones before the widespread adoption of the smartphone. I’m a digital native, but I still took a typing class in school. I learned cursive and slipped out of public education just before Common Core. I remember Vine.

I’m a part of what experts call a “Cusp Generation” or a “Cusper” (being born within a few years of the end of a generation), and I tend to feel a bit nomadic — not-quite-belonging to either generation. And this is only exacerbated by the massive digital boom that happened alongside my own coming-of-age.

Despite not fitting perfectly into either category, I have a few years left of being the resident young person — meaning I get to write about the thing that almost 30% of teens say is their favorite social media platform: TikTok.

A Good Reason To Invest In TikTok

In 2019, the average session length for a user on TikTok was 10.85 minutes — more than double the amount of time compared to an average session on:

• Pinterest: 5.06 minutes
• Facebook: 4.82 minutes
• Twitter: 3.53 minutes
• Instagram: 2.95 minutes

Source: Statista

Producing content on TikTok means learning a new language, a new set of references, and new rules. Trends catch on fast and land in a digital graveyard just as quickly. For a seemingly simple video platform, there can be a bit of a learning curve.

But TikTok can also be a digital land of opportunity.

Here are 4 ways your healthcare organization can leverage TikTok to meet your business goals.

1. Reach A Wider — And Younger — Audience

TikTok boasts having over 1 billion users globally. In 2020, approximately 65.9 million of those users were American, a figure that is expected to increase by 22% each year.

This is a huge, and potentially untapped, market — especially when  47% of US TikTok users are under 30 years old.

By expanding your content strategy efforts to include TikTok, you can reach younger audiences. TikTok users in the Cusp Generation like myself are just about to or have just turned 26. We’re navigating the healthcare system in a different way, thinking about our medical and financial futures, and we are some of the newest consumers on the market.

With the challenges this period of life presents, trust me — I would LOVE a TikTok to walk me through the difference between a premium and a deductible. By jumping into the healthcare TikTok scene, you can make a younger market aware of key information — and your brand identity.

2. Share Important Health Information In A Bitesize Package

Health information can be complicated, and sometimes the language of the medical industry leaves the everyday person drowning in jargon.

TikTok’s short videos can have a big impact on your content strategy. Sometimes, you just need a new angle — or a new platform — to help you think about your content in a different way.

TikTok videos can help you focus on:

• Accessibility: Easily add captions to videos so anyone can view your content.
• Creativity: Share health information in a dynamic way — you’ll have to think outside the box.
• Search and Scrollability: Use hashtags to show up in relevant searches — more people will see your content.

Note: In 2021, TikTok expanded its video length limit from 60 seconds to 3 minutes.

3. Create A More Personal Digital Persona

TikTok is driven by people, individual users, content creators, and influencers. It’s not only about the content, but the personalities behind the content. If you’re looking for ways to humanize your digital presence, TikTok might be the answer.

TikTok can give a face to your healthcare organization. A short video could include a provider reminding users to wear a mask or get vaccinated. Or your system’s dietician could discuss the dangerous nature of fad diets. With a face to your brand, you can boost your online reputation and personalize your image.

But, while making TikToks with your team can be a lot of fun, it’s important to remember that it also opens up the door to liability and scrutiny.

As a healthcare organization, your TikToks should be created with the same care and attention as the rest of your content. You might want to include a provider as the face of your TikTok, but it may not be the best idea to let them run wild — especially when just starting out.

Take some time to watch TikToks like the ones you want to create to help you avoid pitfalls that can be misinterpreted. Checking out the comments on a video can also help you know what users respond positively and negatively to in different videos.

4. Understand Current Trends And Issues

Even if TikTok isn’t the right platform to add to your content strategy, you can still utilize the video app as a listening tool.

One way to use TikTok without even making a video is to search for a common disease or specialty at your healthcare organization. Watching videos where people talk about their lived experiences can give you a new perspective on a specific chronic illness, for example.

TikTok can also provide insight into different forms of disinformation. This can direct future campaigns, whether on TikTok or your other content channels. Knowing what’s out there — and the beliefs or assumptions your patients may be coming in with — can help you provide accurate and compassionate information to the people who may need it most.

TikTok As A Part Of Your Content Strategy

There are just as many reasons to be on TikTok as there are reasons not to be. As the token young person writing a blog about TikTok, even I feel conflicted about what goes on there.

As an individual user, I’m wary of the way my friends lose hours scrolling through a never-ending content rabbit hole. But as a content writer who believes in the power of digital media as a tool to connect important information with young people, I’m captivated by its social value.

As the social media landscape evolves and different platforms mature, TikTok will continue to be one to watch — and invest time, energy, and creativity into.

Need help with your content strategy? From creating video content to expanding into new social media channels, we can help. Contact us today.

Goal Setting 101: 3 Different Ways To Set Goals In 2022

As the new year approaches, you may find yourself thinking about your personal resolutions. Maybe you want to eat more veggies. Or spend more time with your family. Or read 15 books.

When it comes to your healthcare organization, setting goals can encourage you towards positive change throughout the year. By taking the time to set meaningful goals, you’re able to make more strategic decisions when you’re faced with new challenges.

You may write these goals in a journal, or on a sticky note placed where you’ll see it often. You may set organizational goals over lunch or over Zoom. There are just as many ways to set goals as there are goals to make.

So, what approach will work best for your healthcare organization?

Here are 3 different approaches to goal setting that can help your team be successful in 2022.

1. Set SMART Goals and OKRs

Possibly one of the most common goal-setting approaches is the SMART goal. From elementary school on, SMART goals can be found wherever goal setting is mentioned.

“S.M.A.R.T” stands for goals that are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Actionable
• Relevant
• Timely

SMART goal mostly refers to the structure of the goal — and this can be a helpful tool alongside the writing of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Like a SMART goal, OKRs should be measurable and actionable. Typically, with OKRs, you have a general objective and 3 to 5 key results you want to see related to that objective. SMART goals can help you with framing these results.

Example SMART Goals For Healthcare Organizations

It can take time to make sure your goal hits all the elements of a SMART goal. Try piecing your goals together bit by bit to ensure that they are well-rounded.

Here are 3 SMART goals that might be beneficial for your healthcare organization’s content strategy needs:

• Increase overall average monthly traffic on the new site by over 25% in the first 5 months after launch through rebranding and redesigning.
• Get 500 downloads on each of our top ten podcast episodes this year by producing high-quality content with expert thought leaders.
• Increase organic search referrals by over 500% in the first quarter by producing 40 new pages of content with a focus on SEO.

2. Find Your One Word

While SMART goals work for some people and organizations, others find them restricting. If setting specific goals makes you feel anxious, then SMART goals probably aren’t for you.

This doesn’t mean you’re a “bad” goal-setter — it just means that another goal-setting process may be more productive.

A different way of thinking about your goals is with the “One Word” approach. With this method, you don’t have to set all of your goals right now. Instead, choose one single word to guide your year.

This word acts as your compass. When it comes time to make important decisions about programs, priorities, or projects, you only need to ask yourself which choices would help you and your organization fully embody the word you chose.

My One Word for 2022

“My one word for 2022 is RESULTS. This means I’m only focusing my energy, time, and resources on the actions, clients, and team members that are helping to achieve a shared goal.”

Kadesha Thomas Smith, Founder & CEO, CareContent

Example One-Word Goals For Healthcare Organizations

There are many word banks online that you can use to choose your one word. Try this exercise where everyone chooses their own one word, and then you try to come up with one word for the whole team, department, or organization.

Here are some examples of one word goals:

• Grow
• Imagine
• Joy
• Simplify 
• Collaboration 
• Inspire 
• Challenge 
• Maintenance 
• Innovate

3. Design A Vision Board

With all of the stress and burnout you may be experiencing— especially in the healthcare field — setting goals for 2022 might be the last thing you want to do. This year might be a great time to make goal setting a little more creative. That’s where the vision board comes in.

A vision board is a visual (and sometimes physical) representation of your goals. You can make your vision board digitally with a design tool like Canva or Photoshop, or you can make your vision board more traditionally with scissors, a glue stick, and some old magazines.

To create a vision board, find words or images that represent the things your healthcare organization is working toward. These can be literal 1:1 representations like the words “Create A Provider Directory“ or abstract representations like an image of a camera to represent a focus on video production.

Vision boards are especially helpful if you’re a visual learner or if you want your goal-setting approach to be more free-form and exploration-based.

Example Vision Board For Healthcare Organizations

When putting together your vision board, you can be as artistic as you want. Whether you create a digital vision board or a physical one, let your creative side shine, like in this hypothetical board.

Source: CareContent

Make Goal Setting A Team Sport

Often when we think of New Year’s resolutions, we focus exclusively on ourselves. The mantra “New Year, New Me” puts the focus inward, and the goals we make tend to be all about us.

But when you’re setting goals for your organization, your team should be a part of that work, too. This can look like a workshop or time set aside during a meeting — or even a hands-on collage session.

How you bring your team into this process might depend on the size of your team, the kinds of goals you might want to set, or what approach to goal setting you plan to take. But no matter how you go about setting goals for your healthcare organization, your team’s expertise is invaluable.

From content strategy to website overhauls and everything in between, let CareContent bring those goals to life.

What Is UX, Really, And Why Does It Matter For Your Healthcare Website?

Imagine you’re stepping into an elevator on your way to the 62nd floor for a big interview. Maybe you’re running a few minutes late, and you’re extra nervous. You have a coffee in one hand and your portfolio in the other.

You go to push the button for floor number 62 and find … Instead of going in an order that makes sense — 1 … 2 … 3 … — with the higher floors at the top of the panel, all of the numbers are out of numerical order.

Thankfully, elevators don’t work this way. We have expectations for how an elevator is set up, and these expectations allow us to get in and out effortlessly. And when there are changes, we hope that they make our experience easier — not harder.

In general, people want to be able to get things done — to accomplish the tasks that they set out to do. This is true whether they are trying to get to their interview on time or to make an appointment with a provider through your healthcare website.

Making these tasks easier is where user experience comes in.

What Is UX — Or User Experience?

So, what actually is user experience? Also called UX, and user experience design, you may have heard a wide range of terms and buzzwords attempt to explain this field.

When trying to understand what UX is, it can be just as helpful to understand what UX is not.

User Experience (UX) Is Not:

• Visual Design
• Graphic Design
• Customer Experience
• Service Design

User experience isn’t just making stuff pretty. It also isn’t even just making sure everything “works.”

At its simplest, user experience is how a person experiences a specific product, like your healthcare website. User experience design is when we center that user experience — the users’ abilities, limitations, needs, and values — in our design processes from beginning to end.

If you’ve read some of our other posts on the CareContent blog, you’ll know we love a good bee metaphor. Queen bee roles, anyone? That’s why we love the honeycomb model of user experience.

There are seven facets that make up the user experience honeycomb. Your healthcare website should be:

• Useful
• Usable
• Accessible
• Findable
• Desirable
• Credible
• Valuable

In this model, it’s important that good UX goes beyond our ideas of just “usability.” User experience is made up of multiple parts— like a honeycomb. When fit together, they provide a strong foundation for user experience.

But they are also worth examining on their own, meaning with limited resources or budget, you can still choose one meaningful facet of UX to focus on and see meaningful results.

Why UX In Healthcare Matters

Understanding UX is one thing, but being able to understand why it matters — and express that to the powers that be — can be a little harder.

Bad UX is Bad For Business 

In a 2020 survey, 50% of healthcare consumers said that their whole experience could be ruined by a bad digital experience with a provider — and 26% would switch to a new provider if it meant a better digital experience.

Source: Accenture

The elevator example is easy to understand, especially because it’s a task we do often enough to be able to see where a breakdown in ease or experience happens. But we take a lot of what we do for granted with digital tasks. Digital technologies have become so sleek (and minimalist) that we don’t always reflect on how they’re actually working.

Except we do notice when they’re not working.

You notice when an online form is hard to fill out — even if you can’t put your finger on why. You may get frustrated if a website loads really slowly or if the colors are particularly harsh on your eyes. Your whole experience with a healthcare organization can be defined by one bad experience with their online scheduler.

“User experience is understanding the business needs, user needs, and the data, so you can play with tangible variables to obtain the desired results. A UX designer understands those business needs and user needs — and is able to find the sweet spot in that Venn diagram to create the best user experience.”

Cris Romero, UX Designer & Web Designer, CareContent

Having a good user experience is key to any product, service, or website — and this is even more true when it comes to healthcare.

People who come to your healthcare website may be looking for health information or a provider. They may want to feel comforted or assured. The appointment they’re making may be something they need to get done on their short lunch break or it may be something that they’ve been building up the courage to do for a long time.

Whatever the case may be, ensuring a good user experience will help them accomplish their goals.

Make Good User Experience A Healthcare Priority

While incorporating user experience design into your digital strategy can feel like a big task, ultimately, it’s important to remember that — like anything else — it’s a process. It takes time to get things right. Just making changes that you or your organization think will create better UX  solely for the sake of making changes won’t get you where you want to go.

It’s important to leave room to ask yourself questions about the changes you’ve made and to measure their impact.

Are people clicking on the buttons you’ve designed?

Are users accomplishing tasks more efficiently — and have you asked them?

From testing to designing to measuring results, centering users and their experience at the heart of your work will lead to better outcomes for you and your patients.

At CareContent, we eat, sleep, and breathe user experience. We believe that centering users is the best way to get results. Learn how CareContent can help you with your UX needs.

Choosing A CMS: Drupal, Sitecore, And WordPress Review

From online shopping to social media to news sites, we are constantly on the web for work, fun, and information. The list of websites we all engage with every day is long — but the number of websites in existence is even longer.

There are an estimated 1.88 billion sites that make up what we know as the world wide web. But how often do you think about the behind-the-scenes activity that allows these sites to exist in the first place?

Probably not that often unless you are a web designer or developer. But if you’ve been tasked with choosing a Content Management System (CMS) for your organization, you may be unsure of what makes one CMS better than another.

What To Consider When Choosing A CMS

• Ease Of Use — Don’t pick a tool you can’t use
• Cost — Don’t pick a CMS you can’t afford
• Learning Curve — If your team can’t master it, it’s not worth it
  Transferability — Choose a CMS that can still be used if your team of developers changes

As with any choice you make for your healthcare organization — like branding colors, organizational values, or what to include in your newsletter — what’s “right” is entirely up to and dependent on your specific organization.

Here’s a review of three common content management systems to help you choose what will work best for you.

WordPress — The CMS For CareContent

WordPress runs nearly 40% of the internet.

That’s not a typo — 39.5% of websites are powered by WordPress. Among them are the popular TechCrunch, Variety, and Yelp. The CareContent site also uses WordPress and is in good company with some tech, news, and culture giants.

So, why is WordPress so popular? What about this tool makes it ubiquitous to the very nature of “websites” nowadays?

• It’s easy to get started. WordPress prides itself on being user-friendly and intuitive for content creators and designers. Even creators with limited website or CMS experience can get the hang of WordPress quickly and produce a simple site in just a few hours.
• It’s highly customizable. WordPress’s content editor is straightforward but allows you a large range of flexibility. From themes to widgets to plugins, WordPress offers editors a lot of choices.
• It’s mobile-friendly. Responsive, accessible design is important for allowing users across a range of devices to access your content. WordPress has many options for plugins that can ensure your design adapts to screens of all sizes.

Without wanting to wax poetic, WordPress isn’t the only CMS out there — and it’s not the only good one either. The platform you choose to host your website will depend on your business goals and needs.

“Once you get over the learning curve, WordPress is super user-friendly — this makes it easy to pass along knowledge for how to use it to clients and teammates. Collaboration is key, and WordPress makes that easy.”

Crystal Choi, Operations and Project Manager, CareContent

Sitecore — Powerful, But Burdensome

Sitecore is another incredibly powerful content management system that runs popular sites for businesses and organizations such as Xfinity and Mayo Clinic.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of this particular CMS?

• Make robust analytics reports. Sitecore’s native analytics allow you to look at the quantity of views, but also the quality of interaction with your site. Using a metric called “Engagement Value,” you can better see how your site is performing.
• Present content in multiple languages. If you’re looking to natively present content in more than one language — without using a tool like Google translate — Sitecore allows you to do so.
• It’s cost-prohibitive. Sitecore can do a lot, but it also comes with a sizable price tag. Compared to other similar CMS options on the market, the upfront cost is considerably more expensive.

The majority of concerns with Sitecore is its burdensome installation and implementation process. In other words, it simply takes too long to get going.

Sure, it comes equipped with all the bells and whistles you could ask for, but this leads to it having a pretty steep learning curve. Many users who choose this platform do so with the intention of using those said bells and whistles —  but never do.

Drupal — Free and Community-Driven

Another CMS worth exploring is Drupal. Drupal is a free, open-source platform, and you probably interact with it without even knowing it. To see a site build in Drupal, you can check out sites for the University of Oxford, the World Wildlife Fund, and Drupal itself.

“A free CMS?” you might be asking. “What’s the catch?” All told — if it’s a good choice for your organization — there isn’t one.

Here’s some of what Drupal can do:

• It’s pretty powerful. Drupal is capable of managing just about any amount of content, and any scale of site. With a variety of content types, modules, and themes available, the only limit is your imagination (or your skillset).
• It’s highly secure. Drupal is a particularly secure CMS, making it the choice for many government agencies and security-oriented organizations. Drupal highly prioritizes privacy and security with regularly installed updates.
• A strong community. Because Drupal is an open-source platform, it does not come with the same level of customer service or IT support as other CMS options. But what it does have is a strong and supportive community that creates, uses, and improves the software.

While the common theme of Drupal reviews is that it can do just about anything you could possibly want it to do, it is worth mentioning that not just anybody will be able to do it.

Drupal necessitates a higher level of coding knowledge than a site built on WordPress, meaning you need to know how to code or you need a web developer on your team. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, but it is important to keep in mind when reviewing the capacity of your current organization or your client.

“Content management systems have come a long way over the years, but at their core, all CMSs are created equal. It’s your goal that makes a difference. Whatever the goal of your website is, that will determine if and how a specific CMS benefits you.”

Cris Romero, UX Designer/Web Developer, CareContent

The Bottom Line

So, is one better than another?

At CareContent, WordPress is the best content management system for our needs. It lets us easily post new content, embed new media like quizzes, and communicate our services clearly with potential clients.

WordPress also, in turn, works for many of our clients’ own websites — but certainly not all.

If there were one right way to do things, it might be easier, but we’d all also probably be out of a job. While the choices might feel overwhelming at times, start by asking yourself what your organization needs, wants, and can manage. Then make the CMS choice that makes sense.

At CareContent, websites are our bread and butter. Learn how we help our clients leverage theirs for more reach, engagement, and return on investment.

Is Your Healthcare Website Consistent With Your Organizational Values?