Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Canadian Blood Services
A4 Assignment
Raj Sandhi, Daniel Margarit, Clarissa Collakoppen
MRKT 3311
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To:
Bob Basil
From:
Raj Sandhi, Daniel Margarit, and Clarissa Collakoppen
Date:
December 11, 2012
Re:
Social Media Marketing Plan
After carefully analyzing the marketing operations of the Canadian Blood Services, we have determined
the level of their success and therefore what needs to be addressed for future progress.
Traditional marketing has long been the main marketing channel for the organization. They have been
successful with these marketing initiatives and currently receive consistent blood donations from across
Canada. However, their online marketing is lagging behind when measured with their sheer
organizational size and importance. The official website is effective but their social media platforms
aren’t succeeding.
The purpose of this report is to examine the current position of the Canadian Blood Services and
recommend a series of online initiatives that will help create more awareness about the importance of
donating blood.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Raj Sandhi
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Clarissa Collakoppen
Daniel Margarit
Table of Contents
1.0 Canadian Blood Services Overview ......................................................................................................... 4
2.0 Current Marketing Activities ................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Traditional Marketing Activities .......................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Online Advertising............................................................................................................................... 4
2.2.1 Canadian Blood Services Website ................................................................................................ 4
2.2.2 Online Advertising ........................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.3 Facebook ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.4 Twitter .......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2.5 LinkedIn ........................................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.6 YouTube ....................................................................................................................................... 6
2.2.7 Flickr ............................................................................................................................................. 6
3.0 Current Analytics..................................................................................................................................... 6
4.0 Strategy and Planning ............................................................................................................................. 6
5.0 Industry Comparison ............................................................................................................................... 7
5.1 Hema Quebec...................................................................................................................................... 7
5.2 American Red Cross ............................................................................................................................ 8
5.3 United Blood Services ....................................................................................................................... 10
6.0 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 11
6.1 Serious Games- Long Term ............................................................................................................... 11
6.2 Blogs & Wikis- Medium to Long Term .............................................................................................. 11
6.3 Q & A Forum- Long Term .................................................................................................................. 12
6.4 Mobile Application- Long Term......................................................................................................... 12
6.5 Viral Marketing- Short Term ............................................................................................................. 12
6.6 Event Management- Short Term ...................................................................................................... 13
6.7 Front Line Promotion- Short Term .................................................................................................... 13
7.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................. 16
Appendix A Current Marketing Activities ............................................................................................... 16
Appendix A.1 Canadian Blood Services Website and Search Engine Results ..................................... 16
Appendix A.2 Online Advertising ........................................................................................................ 17
Appendix A.3 CBC News ...................................................................................................................... 17
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Appendix A.4 Facebook....................................................................................................................... 17
Appendix A.5 Twitter .......................................................................................................................... 18
Appendix A.6 LinkedIn ........................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix A.7 YouTube ........................................................................................................................ 19
Appendix A.8 Flickr ............................................................................................................................. 20
Appendix A.9 Bloomberg and Financials ............................................................................................ 20
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1.0 Canadian Blood Services Overview
Canadian Blood Service is a not-for-profit organization that operates nationally, with the exception of
Quebec. The organization’s primary objective is to help Canadians who need blood transfusions and to
encourage other Canadians to make blood donations.
Currently, Canadian Blood Services operates in 42 permanent locations across Canada. In addition to
the 42 locations, the organization runs mobile clinics, eight OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network
field sites and more than 22,000 donor clinics annually.
Canadian Blood Service employs 4,700 employees across the country. These employees include nurses,
directors, executives, administrative staff, and various other management staff. In addition to its
employees, Canadian Blood Services functions with the help of volunteers who manage clinics, social
media sites and perform various other services; thus reducing the organizations operating costs. In 2011
alone, there were 225,000 hours that were contributed by volunteers. While no volunteers actually
handle or collect blood, they are an integral part of the organization.
2.0 Current Marketing Activities
2.1 Traditional Marketing Activities
Currently the Canadian Blood Services relies on traditional advertising in the forms of television
commercials, radio commercials and pamphlet distribution. Commercials are intended to encourage the
Canadian public to donate blood; however, the messages for each are delivered uniquely. Television
commercials encompass human emotions and personal stories as a persuasion technique; while radio
commercials are direct and merely state the need for blood. Unlike the other two media sources, the
Canadian Blood Services utilizes pamphlet distribution as a form of raising awareness and educating the
public about the need for blood, however, unlike the other sources, pamphlet distribution is solely
distributed at mobile Canadian Blood Service clinics and centers.
2.2 Online Advertising
In addition to traditional marketing, Canadian Blood Services utilizes an official website, magazine, social
media tools and earned media in its marketing strategy.
2.2.1 Canadian Blood Services Website
Canadian Blood Service’s primary online marketing source is its official website. The website provides
users with all information regarding the organization. This information includes: donation booking
options, financial reports, volunteer and job information, clinics and locations, articles regarding health
and awareness as well as the organization’s news updates. In addition to providing the public with
information, the website is actually designed to generate leads and encourage the public to get involved
in volunteering and donating blood. The website features social media, a toll free hotline and other
contact options in which the public can learn more about the organization on a more personal level
(Refer to Appendix A.1).
The Canadian Blood Services is one of two Canadian blood donation centers, thus, when comparing
search engine results, it is evident that the organization’s website is relatively effective. According to
Google.ca, if one was to search “blood donation”, the first page of search results would predominately
reveal Canadian Blood Services’ website and links to various other website pages related to the
organization. These search results indicate that the website sufficiently uses effective content, html
codes, headings, and simple- well-structured layout and design (Refer to Appendix A.1)
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2.2.2 Online Advertising
The Canadian Blood Services owns Pulse Magazine, which is available online for readers to enjoy and
learn from. Featured in the magazine are real life stories regarding the contributions of blood donors
and the impact it made in the lives of recipients, as well as lifestyle and health awareness articles. By
providing the public with relatable stories, the organization is implementing an emotional persuasion
technique. The technique encourages individuals to donate blood, which is achieved as individuals are
made more aware about the necessities of it and the possibility that they or a loved one may require
blood at some point. Thus, in addition to providing these awareness articles, the magazine includes a
section with information on how to get involved within the organization; either through blood donations
or volunteering (Pulse, 2012). (Refer to Appendix A.2).
CBC News
Canadian Blood Services’ community involvement has earned them recognition on the CBC news site.
Online CBC news permits the organization to upload their television commercials, onto the news
website. This earned media affords the organization access onto an internationally recognized platform,
which in turn enables the organization to raise awareness and request donors more regularly and across
the globe at no added cost (Refer to Appendix A.3).
Unused Media
With their current marketing strategy, Canadian Blood Services does not utilize any form of mobile
marketing or ecommerce. The reasons for not utilizing mobile services is unknown, however, due to the
organization not selling any products online, they do not include ecommerce features.
2.2.3 Facebook
In order to encourage individuals to donate blood, Canadian Blood Services maintains a Facebook page.
The page’s layout and design is consistent with the organizations colour palette and theme, with posts
emphasizing the uses of blood and the need to donate. Presently, Canadian Blood Service’s Facebook
page boasts 1617 “likes” with only 110 individuals having spoken about the organization on Facebook;
although this may appear impressive, the statistics on the page indicates that their most active month
online involved 35 people participating on the page. For a national organization, 35 people is not a lot,
especially when considering that blood effects every person in the country at some point in theirs or a
loved one’s life (Facebook, 2012).
2.2.4 Twitter
Canadian Blood Services manages a Twitter account for the purpose of encouraging individuals to
donate blood. Like its other social media platforms, the Twitter account follows the colour design and
layout of the organization. According to their Twitter feed, the organization has sent 1289 tweets, all of
which promoted that Canadians donate blood and provided recognition for individuals who have made
a great contribution to the organization. Furthermore, Canadian Blood Services has 3686 followers and
2657 accounts that it follows. Canadian Blood Services only follows individuals and organizations who
are actively involved in the industry, as well as only responding or recognizing tweets in which those
followers tagged them in (Twitter, 2012) (Reference Appendix A.5).
2.2.5 LinkedIn
Canadian Blood Services maintains a basic LinkedIn account. Apart from the logo there is no relation
between this social media platform’s layout and that of the organizations colour scheme and design.
The organization utilizes this site for the purpose of: raising awareness, requesting blood donations,
listing job availabilities, and informing the public about its recent achievements. Although relatively
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ineffective, this page has a high search engine optimization, as it is the first link to show up in
Google.com when searching “Blood Services LinkedIn” (LinkedIn, 2012) (Reference Appendix A.6).
2.2.6 YouTube
In order to target online users, Canadian Blood Services maintains a YouTube account, under the name
“18882Donate”. The layout of the account is in keeping with the organization’s theme and colour
design, thus creating consistency across its advertising platforms. At present, Canadian Blood Services
has 219 subscribers with their videos having been viewed 190,855 times; of these viewers
approximately 15 individuals commented on the site. Since the commercials are graphically appealing
and interesting, individuals may be inclined to watch them online and share them with friends, thus
contributing to the organization’s videos going viral. However, considering it is a national organization
important to all Canadians, the number of comments is substantially few; indicating the videos have
little impact in creating online relationships between the public and organization (YouTube, 2012)
(Reference Appendix A.7).
2.2.7 Flickr
Flickr is an online photo management and sharing application website. The website has two main goals,
which are to help people make their photos available to others who matter to them and to enable new
ways of organizing photos and videos (Flickr, 2012).
This website is used by Canadian Blood Services to help promote its corporate events and awards to
sponsors and donors. Looking at the website, if you want to locate pictures from blood donor clinics,
you will need to click on “sets”. Through these sets it’s easier to see pictures from blood donor clinics.
To improve the website, it is recommended that CBS integrate more variety of photos on their home
page (Reference Appendix A.8).
3.0 Current Analytics
In order to analyze Canadian Blood Service’s online presence, Social Mention was utilized. According to
Social Mention, Canadian Blood Services has an online “Strength” of 3% which indicates the likelihood
that people are mentioning the organization on online and through social media sites. Social Mention
also indicated a 7:1 ratio for “Sentiment”, which indicates that for every negative reference or comment
associated with Canadian Blood Services, there are seven positive ones. Furthermore, Canadian Blood
Services has a 26% “Passion” rating. The passion rate measure the likelihood individuals talking about
this organization will do so repeatedly. Lastly they had a 30% “Reach” which is the measure of range of
influence. Although the organization has a relatively positive reputation, as indicated on Social Mention,
it is evident that a majority of individuals discussing the organization are a standard few. This is apparent
as the passion and reach percentage are very close; which suggests that the organization is not reaching
larger markets.
Social Mention further states that the top 5 keywords related to Canadian Blood Services are photo,
donation, donor, transplant and donors. The top online user was themselves, 18882DONATE. The main
online sources for activity were Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Picasaweb, and Flickr.
4.0 Strategy and Planning
Canadian Blood services’ main goal is to recruit donors to give blood in order to help save lives. So this
not-for-profit organization will need to recruit donors through a series of informative advertisements;
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which will help promote and increase awareness for the importance of blood banks. Increases in
awareness will in-turn increase blood bank supplies.
Strategy
Canadian Blood Services has an objective to increase blood donors; it is necessary that they therefore,
extend their operations and raise awareness amongst young persons, between the ages of 18-35years
old, as they are deemed healthier to donate blood. Based on current marketing strategies utilized by the
organization however, it is apparent the Canadian Blood Services is currently not successful at reaching
out to younger generations. Canadian Blood Services will therefore need to expand operations from
traditional marketing to a stronger online presence through social media and mobile marketing, as these
are tools utilized by younger generations daily. Although Canadian Blood Services currently utilizes the
major social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, it is necessary to identify opportunities to
enhance their presence in generating more traffic is, thus the following plan of action is suggested:
Action Plan
The action plan for gaining a stronger presence to attract more donors will consist of traditional and
digital media marketing. Canadian Blood Services will need to focus its efforts through TV Commercials,
radio advertisements, volunteer/recruitment kiosks. These traditional mediums will provide informative
marketing to attract a larger audience base to donate blood. Through social media, the potential for
attracting a larger audience base increases as most people have a social platform that they use.
Generally, individuals use social media at least once a day. If Canadian Blood Services makes their social
media platforms more user friendly and informative, this will generate more traffic and more possible
donors.
How Will We Facilitate The New Donors?
The organization will provide safe, clean and consistent facilities for donors to comfortably give blood.
Through social media, the organization will raise awareness and provide information regarding the
donation process and the steps conducted in donating blood. Moreover, through social media,
individuals will be able to find: facility locations and approximate wait times.
5.0 Industry Comparison
Canadian Blood Services are in direct competition with Hema Quebec in Canada. With the United States,
The American Red Cross and United Blood Services are the major competitors in the industry. When
comparing the organizations, three major platforms were used. These platforms are Facebook, Twitter
and YouTube.
5.1 Hema Quebec
Hema-Quebec’s mission is to efficiently provide adequate quantities of safe, optimal blood components,
substitutes, human tissues and cord blood to meet the needs of Quebecers (Héma-Québec, 2010).This is
a provincial level organization solely meeting the needs of residents for Quebec only. The following is an
analysis of the current online social media platforms used.
Facebook
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Hema has an effective Facebook presence with 10,164 likes. When compared to Canadian Blood
Services, the provincial presence is stronger for Hema compared to the national level for CBS. The
Facebook homepage for CBS currently has 16,188. This is a strong indicator that Hema Quebec is
focusing its efforts effectively through Facebook harnessing a strong following.
Twitter
The Twitter account for Hema has a strong following with 1,253 followers. Since Quebec’s population
size is 7,903,001, this means that Hema Quebec has a 0.016% grasp (through Twitter) of the entire
provincial population (Census Profile, 2011).
Canadian Blood Services currently has 3,608 followers on its Twitter page. When you look at the current
population of Canada at 34,880,500, the organization only has 0.010% grasp of the entire population of
Canada (Statistics Canada, 2012).
So when comparing the two organizations online presence through Twitter, Hema Quebec is currently
reaching a larger audience.
YouTube
Hema’s online presence through YouTube is currently minimal. They only have 33 subscribers with only
34,782 views. This is a strong indicator that not many videos and marketing strategies are used for
YouTube.
Canadian Blood Services has 220 subscribers with 190,230 views. This is larger than Hema’s YouTube
presence mainly because of the viral marketing campaigns. CBS uses Jackie Chan to help promote the
awareness of donating blood. So the competitive advantage goes to the Canadian Blood Services for
attracting a larger audience on YouTube.
5.2 American Red Cross
The American Red Cross exists to provide compassionate care to those in need. Their mission is to
prevent suffering through providing disaster relief, support to America’s military families, lifesaving
blood, health and safety services, and international services (American Red Cross, 2012). This
organization has a worldwide reach but mainly conducts operations in the United States.
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Facebook
The American Red Cross have a strong following on Facebook. They currently have 490,073 likes which
suggests that they have a substantial impact online. When comparing this organization to Canadian
Blood Services, the difference is quite significant. As stated previously, CBS only have 16,183 likes on
their Facebook homepage. The difference between the two organizations is 473,890. This indicates that
the American Red Cross are attracting users of this social platform to their page. They are engaging
them through pictures and real life stories of how people’s lives have changed through relief efforts.
Twitter
According to the American Red Cross’s Twitter activity, this is the major platform that generates the
most amount of traffic. This social media platform currently has 834,413 followers. With only 2,717
tweets, this platform has provided the organization with awareness it initially set out to target. This
means that the organization has a significant amount of followers with minimal tweets.
Canadian Blood Services have a minimal presence on Twitter. The background image of the blood drop
should be changed as it isn’t appealing to the eye. However, the American Red Cross have a stronger
online presence than CBS.
YouTube
The American Red Cross have 11,526 subscribers on YouTube with over 4 million video views. This
indicates that this organization is targeting its efforts through this social media platform heavily. The
videos showcase international relief efforts, food and clothing drives, blood donations and other
charitable events. The amount of traffic generated by the American Red Cross is through linking their
YouTube account with their website and other social media platforms.
Canadian Blood Services only have 220 subscribers with just over 190,000 video views. In order to gain
more potential for their cause, they will need to link their YouTube account with other social media
platforms. Currently, their YouTube account is only linked to their website. Once all platforms have been
linked, it will be easier for individuals to find more information and follow the organization.
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5.3 United Blood Services
United Blood Services is a non-profit community blood centre, providing blood and blood products for
local area hospitals throughout the United States (United Blood Services, 2011).This organization runs its
services at the state and city level as opposed to a national organization.
Facebook
When you search for United Blood Services, they don’t have a national page. The pages that are
available for this organization are done through the different states and major cities in the United
States. This indicates a smaller portion of traffic to each page because only those individuals living in the
surrounding area will want to follow the organization. As you can see above, the New Mexico branch
only has 1,150 likes with 56 people talking about them. By breaking down the organization this way,
United Blood Services aren’t reaching their full market potential.
Canadian Blood Services runs as a national organization and are still better online than United Blood
Services.
Twitter
As stated earlier, since the United Blood Services operate under different states and cities, their online
presence is minimal. According to the Las Vegas location, only 78 followers follow their Twitter page.
One of the main reasons for this is the lack of tweets with only 6. If more tweets were sent, the potential
for attracting more traffic would increase.
Canadian Blood Services are better off in terms of tweets and followers. By continuing to engage
individuals in discussions, CBS will increase its market potential even further.
YouTube
The organizations online presence with YouTube is in relative comparison to Canadian Blood Services. As
seen above, only 41 subscribers for United Blood Services compared to 220 for CBS. However, their
YouTube account is for the national level of the organization.
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6.0 Recommendations
6.1 Serious Games- Long Term
Serious Games is an interactive platform aimed at engaging younger audiences and attracting potential
future donors. This platform is meant for mobile devices. There will be learning stages that provide the
user with important information about topics like Stem Cell research, Blood and Plasma and Platelets.
The purpose of this game is to build community clinics and campaigns to attract blood donors to your
facility. Upon building up your blood bank supplies, accidents will be occurring locally resulting in
emergencies where patients need immediate blood transfusions to live. The accidents will vary in type
thus providing cause awareness to the gamer. Players can post scores and compare completion
percentages with others through Facebook integration. By integrating the app with Facebook, users who
have not heard about the app will be inclined to join.
The action plan for this recommendation will require Canadian Blood Services to work with our software
contact in Vancouver, James at Pleasant Solutions who works in the Software Solutions department. He
advised that the process of this project involves specific scope, design, platforms needed,
documentation, team input and stage development which can take a few weeks to be completed. The
estimation of cost can vary from $20,000 to $50,000 and can take 3 to 6 months to design and a further
2 weeks to test software before completion.
There is a financial risk associated with this plan as the software associated is expensive. In order for this
to succeed, CBS must heavily promote the app over multiple channels to create a buzz.
6.2 Blogs & Wikis- Medium to Long Term
Blogs serve a real and valuable purpose online. There are millions of people using blogs within Canada
and blogger communities are a force in their own. We recommend that Canadian Blood Services create
a blog with WordPress and post about industry news releases from Pulse Magazine and related prints,
updates regarding procedure changes, advice about donating and compelling stories from donors about
their life saving blood transfusion. This platform is meant to interact and inform on a personal level with
current and potential donors about the practice of donating blood and how important it is to all
Canadians. This blog can be made within one to two days and will require 3-5 hours per week of time for
a designated staff member within the marketing department. This blog will be connected with all other
online platforms. There is no financial risk associated with Blogs as they are free. This blog is meant for
corporate use only and cannot be used for staff member’s personal views.
It is recommended that Canadian Blood Services utilize wikis in their current operations. The
organization has clinics and operates throughout the country, with the exception of Quebec. Thus, it is
recommended that they utilize wikis as a project management and communication tool. Should
computers crash or disaster strike a particular location, the organization’s information will be online and
accessible from any location, enabling users to request blood or access their information online.
Furthermore, wikis will enable individuals within the organization to plan and structure fundraising
activities online and instantly, thus saving time commuting to meetings and enabling staff to work at any
hour.
We recommend Bloomfire be used as a wiki platform as it enables individuals to access the platform and
make changes from a mobile phone, sends email alerts as well as provide all standard wiki features
expected of a corporate wiki (Bloomfire,2012). (Refer to Appendix A.9)
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Since individuals within the organization will need to be trained in using wikis, the platform will be
implemented within 3-6months, with the backing up of data being done within 6-12months. (Refer to
Appendix A.9)
6.3 Q & A Forum- Long Term
After analysing the need for expanding Canadian Blood Services’ presence online, we determined the
need for a quick-and-easy platform for public questions and answers. Even though there is a toll-free
number available, we would also prefer to see an online version for this. Lefora is a free forum service
available to businesses and individuals. It is easy to use for beginners as the website creates the forum
for you within 10 minutes. Lefora integrates with social media platforms and will be connected from
their website. There is public membership open to anyone interested in joining the forum. This allows
Canadian Blood Services to open their forum to anyone with concerns. Multiple staff members in
administration will perform daily checks monitoring this forum and respond to questions and concerns.
The BBC said that, “Lefora is awesome because it allows even the least technical people to start their
own community with a form-based editor to set up your forum.”
6.4 Mobile Application- Long Term
The Canadian Blood Services does not currently use mobile media in their marketing strategy. Mobile
Web Marketing is the fastest growing channel for businesses to reach their consumers online. Since the
introduction of the smart-phone, the advertising industry has witnessed a surge of consumers increasing
their online habits over their mobile devices.
We highly recommend that Canadian Blood Services create a mobile app for their target market.
Majority of mobile users have access to online apps and take advantage of free useful resources. This
app should be simple and effective by providing clinic locations and operating hours, details regarding
mobile clinics (locations, dates, and times) and tips for donors who are planning on giving blood. The tips
will include what to do before and after donating, guidelines to being a donor and health and safety
initiatives. We recommend Pleasant Solutions in Vancouver to build and maintain the app for Canadian
Blood Services.
The average iPhone app costs around $6,500 and we estimate this particular app to be similar due to
GPS software. The timeline for a medium complexity app takes approximately 6 to 10 weeks which
includes the project scope, design and graphics, requirements, documentation affects, integration with
third party systems, testing the app and app changes and maintenance.
The risk associated with making a mobile app is that the public won’t use it. We recommend CBS
prepare for this by mentioning the app with all other advertisements scheduled to be rolled out.
6.5 Viral Marketing- Short Term
Viral Marketing has proven to be a force over the past few years with videos going global. For example,
the new pop song “Gangnam Style” was performed by a Korean artist that hit the internet and blew-up
on a global level. The artist now experiences global fame and more earnings then he ever expected. This
is one of many examples of viral marketing and how it can increase awareness levels.
Our goal for an online video is to recruit All-Star hockey player Trevor Linden for a promotional video.
The video will have Mr. Linden giving blood and talking about how important it is to donate to blood
banks. We have chosen Mr. Linden because of his national popularity as a hockey player, he is an
ambassador for health/fitness and he is an avid charity supporter. This will play a key role in targeting
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potential donors such as young to middle aged men who are working professionals with an interest in
health and fitness. The video will be displayed over their website and YouTube account. Other social
media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will promote the video.
The marketing department will be responsible for creating the video which will be filmed within a very
short time-frame while Mr. Linden donates blood. Editing and completing the video shouldn’t take
longer than the week it was filmed and will only incur production costs. The production costs will be low
as camera equipment and staff are already owned resources.
6.6 Event Management- Short Term
We suggest that Canadian Blood services promote their Mobile Clinics as “Blood Donating Events”. The
promotions will be conducted over their Facebook and Twitter accounts which reach their social media
users. The promotion will direct the public to download the mobile app and check for mobile clinics
nearest to you via map location (GPS). As mentioned before, the app explains the locations, dates, and
times of mobile clinics as well as the important information needed to know for donors.
This is a short-term promotion but it will happen regularly as mobile clinics are a consistent business
operation for the Canadian Blood Services. By interacting with donors online and promoting their mobile
app, we trust the online interaction will increase and these recommended platforms will grow in
popularity. The current Facebook and Twitter administrators will deliver the promotions regarding the
mobile clinic events. The app will be up-and-running in order for this recommendation to be processed.
The posts and promotions should run the entire time that mobile clinics are in operation. This will have
zero cost impact on Canadian Blood Services as the social media platforms will already be active and so
will the mobile app.
6.7 Front Line Promotion- Short Term
It is highly recommended that staff members and volunteers at the clinics talk about online interaction
with blood donors. We suggest that these staff mention that online engagement through Facebook and
Twitter is important to help spread awareness within online communities. This will result in greater
online interest and knowledge of the importance of blood banks. This will pose no cost to the
organization as it is word-of-mouth promotion and relies entirely on interaction.
7.0 Conclusion
The Canadian Blood Services is a national organization which is crucial to the Canadian Medical System.
Both currently and in the past they have relied heavily on traditional marketing to spread awareness and
the importance of donating blood. These efforts have indeed made a large difference in increasing blood
supplies. Although Canadian Blood Service uses online marketing, it is clear that their reach is not nearly
significant as it could be. The industry comparison indicates that they aren’t representing their true
potential online as a country-wide organization.
Our recommendations are to expand their online efforts in the attempt to keep up-to-date with the ever
changing marketing industry of today. These unique recommendations will assist with increasing online
awareness and help recruit new blood donors.
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http://www.bloomfire.com/?seg1=ppc&seg2=gog&seg3=free-trial&_kk=bloomfire&_kt=cca32181-ce7b46ce-8f81-912b87c21878&gclid=CK3w5aG1i7QCFSXZQgodslUA5A
Canadian Blood Services Official Channel - YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube. Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://www.youtube.com/user/18882DONATE/videos?view=1
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"Canadian Blood Services - Société canadienne du sang - Home." Canadian Blood Services - Société
canadienne du sang. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.blood.ca/centreapps/internet/uw_v502_mainengine.nsf/page/Home?opendocument>.
Canadian Blood Services. (2009, June 12). Facebook. Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
https://www.facebook.com/CanadianBloodServices?ref=ts&fref=ts
CdnBloodServices. (n.d.). Twitter. Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
https://twitter.com/itsinyoutogive/following
Home Page | Pulse Magazine. (n.d.). Home Page | Pulse Magazine. Retrieved December 6, 2012, from
http://pulse.blood.ca/
Sexton, J. (n.d.). 6 Powerful Social Media Persuasion Techniques | Social Media Examiner. Social Media
Examiner: Social media marketing how to, research, case studies, news and more!. Retrieved December
6, 2012, from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/6-powerful-social-media-persuasionsite, u. t. (n.d.). Canadian Blood Services | LinkedIn. Canada | LinkedIn. Retrieved December 6, 2012,
from http://ca.linkedin.com/company/canadian-blood-services
About Flickr. (2012). Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/about/
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Appendices
Appendix A Current Marketing Activities
Appendix A.1 Canadian Blood Services Website and Search Engine Results
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Appendix A.2 Online Advertising
Appendix A.3 CBC News
Appendix A.4 Facebook
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Appendix A.5 Twitter
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Appendix A.6 LinkedIn
Appendix A.7 YouTube
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Appendix A.8 Flickr
Appendix A.9 Bloomberg and Financials
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