ghg Introduces Digital Dx™: New Methodology Measures, Tracks and Improves the Online Health and Reputation of Companies, Brands and Issues

NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Global healthcare communications agency ghg has introduced Digital Dx—a new methodology for measuring, tracking and maximizing the power of brands, companies and market issues across all online media.  Companies can use Digital Dx to assess health and reputation across all digital channels, including web sites, social media, search engines and mobile—or perform targeted analyses to address specific areas of concern.  The Digital Dx model is designed to inspire creative concepts for proactive marketing, as well as to support effective issues management during market events.   It works in four phases to evaluate and optimize the impact of digital programs, as well as to reveal and protect against potential vulnerabilities:

1. Discovery, reviewing existing data and identifying relevant corporate, branded, competitive and negative keywords and phrases.  Discovery includes both manual and automated searches to build a map of the ecosystem that affects the brand, company or issue.
2. Diagnosis, assessing conversations and determining the potential reach and influence of their authors.  During this phase, ghg also uncovers the opportunities and challenges in the social media framework.
3. Prescription, creating customized recommendations and specific plans of action.  The Prescription phase provides potential scenarios, next steps and anticipated results. 
4. Check up, tracking the results of implementing action plans and continuing to refine approaches based on findings to drive continuous improvement.

"Digital channels are not only vital components of the marketing mix, they are often the glue that holds a program together—the most powerful tools for reaching and interacting with target audiences.  As companies direct an increasing share of promotional dollars to digital options, it is essential they have reliable ways to assess and strengthen their impact and ROI," says Erin Byrne, Managing Partner and Chief Engagement Officer at ghg.  "There has been a lack of effective solutions for ensuring digital investments are delivering optimal return—and driving ongoing improvements in their outcomes.  Digital Dx™ fills that market gap, with a best-practice approach that gives companies a complete evaluation of their total digital presence—and concrete steps they can take to boost  results.

"The need to measure and maximize digital's influence is particularly acute in healthcare, where a soaring number of both professionals and patients are seeking health information online and managing health conditions digitally. Recognizing the crucial role digital plays in shaping treatment decisions, ghg custom-made Digital Dx to meet the unique requirements of healthcare marketers.   We've combined our extensive experience in healthcare marketing with our deep knowledge of digital applications to create the first assessment and tracking methodology specifically for the healthcare industry."

Measuring Social Media Advocacy Drives Brand Opportunity

As part of the Digital Dx process, companies can choose to focus on their social media strategies, using ghg's unique advocacy model.   The ghg model defines advocacy as creating a compelling experience that audience members pass on to their personal social networks, ideally with a personal recommendation that strengthens the message's credibility and impact.  It allows users to identify the universe of potential advocates, predict their possible actions and calculate the impact of their activities on the brand, including providing an ROI number to support social media investments.

"While the concept of brands participating in social media isn't new, ghg's approach to measurement is," says Byrne. "Typical metrics such as Facebook likes or Twitter followers aren't enough to assess impact.  It is too easy for someone to like a page and never visit again, adding no value to the brand.  The true opportunity for brands lies in advocacy—whether the action is as simple as a patient re-tweeting a brand's web site link or as valuable as a physician writing a blog post mentioning the product.  Our model predicts the behaviors that will most effectively drive results.  We then identify the best social experiences for engaging target audiences and motivating them to take those optimal actions."

About ghg

ghg is a global healthcare communications company, headquartered in New York, with offices in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.  It is a member of the WPP group, a global provider of advertising, branding and marketing.  It works with companies to build world-class healthcare and pharmaceutical brands among medical professionals and consumers, with a transmedia storytelling approach that covers print, digital and television broadcast media, medical education, sales force presentations and managed access strategies.

SOURCE ghg