For many healthcare marketing teams, social media can feel like a constant battle against changing algorithms, shrinking attention spans, and pressure to produce more content.

But for the team at Optimum Healthcare IT, LinkedIn has become much more than another marketing channel. It’s a business development engine, a thought leadership platform, and one of the primary ways they educate healthcare organizations while showcasing the expertise of their team.  

That approach has helped Optimum grow its LinkedIn community to more than 220,000 followers and recently earned the team the 2026 Swaay.Health Award for Best Use of Social Media.

I recently got to sit down with Larry Kaiser, Chief Marketing Officer, and Dani Patterson, Director of Marketing Operations and Events at Optimum Healthcare IT to get a behind the scenes look at how they transformed the company’s social presence over the past decade and why their strategy is about far more than simply posting more often.

Here are a just a few of the biggest lessons from the conversation.

Rather than treating LinkedIn as a place to simply promote services, Optimum focuses on answering the questions healthcare leaders are already asking.

Whether it’s advice on an EHR implementation, cloud strategy, ServiceNow, or another healthcare IT challenge, their content is designed to give the audience something useful. Blog posts become infographics. Whitepapers become checklists. Subject matter experts share lessons learned from real-world experience.

As Larry explained, “We’re really just taking our experience across the industry and presenting it in a way that makes sense.”

The goal is to create the kind of content someone can actually use, something they can save, share with their team, or put into practice.

Dani describes it as giving people “tools in their toolbox” that they can pull out when they need them. And increasingly, that educational approach has another benefit: it aligns with the way people are searching for answers through ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and other AI-powered platforms.

One of the biggest mistakes marketers can make is spending hours creating a great piece of content, sharing it once, and moving on.

Optimum takes a very different approach: A single blog post might generate six or more social posts, each highlighting a different idea, question, takeaway, or audience. Podcasts can generate weeks of content. Existing whitepapers can be transformed into entirely new campaigns. Dani describes the strategy as “reduce, reuse, recycle,” explaining, “We usually put something out there 8, 9, 10, 12 times in totally different formats.”

That doesn’t mean copying and pasting the same LinkedIn post over and over. It means finding new ways into the same valuable content so it has multiple opportunities to reach the right people.

For Dani, the repurposing also happens while the content is still fresh. When she creates the initial social post for a blog, she often creates four, five, or six additional posts at the same time and immediately adds them to the content calendar.

Optimum’s strategy also extends far beyond its corporate LinkedIn page.

The marketing team actively works with employees and subject matter experts to help build their individual presence on LinkedIn—particularly around major industry events. As Dani put it, “People perform better than a faceless organization.”

Ahead of large healthcare IT conferences, the team begins planning months in advance, identifying subject matter experts who can contribute to the conversation and helping them create content for their individual networks. Instead of simply telling employees to post, the marketing team helps develop the messaging and strategy alongside them.

That approach gives Optimum access to something its corporate following alone can’t provide: highly relevant audiences that its experts have already spent years building relationships with. It’s also helping position those employees as recognizable thought leaders in their areas of expertise.

Of course, hearing that Optimum sometimes posts once or even several times a day can be intimidating for marketers working on smaller teams. Dani readily admits that maintaining that cadence requires planning.

Optimum generally plans its social content at least one month ahead and, when possible, two or three months in advance. But that calendar isn’t meant to lock the team into a rigid plan. Their philosophy is simple: fluidity over flexibility. As Dani explains, “You may have a goal to post every day. You may have a goal to post twice a week. Whatever that goal is, it’s okay if you miss something.”

The important part is continuing to work toward consistency while leaving enough room to respond to what’s happening in the industry.

For Larry, the results have reinforced the importance of simply staying visible. “When we started posting every single day, that’s really when our growth shot straight up because we’re staying in front of people.”

Perhaps the most important takeaway from Optimum’s story is that there wasn’t one viral post or campaign that suddenly changed everything.

When Larry joined the company in 2016, the company had just over 4,000 LinkedIn followers. Roughly two years later, that number had doubled to 8,000.

The growth accelerated as the organization invested in more content, earned executive buy-in, involved more subject matter experts, and continually adjusted its strategy.

Today, the company has more than 220,000 LinkedIn followers, a LinkedIn newsletter with approximately 70,000 subscribers, and an average engagement rate Kaiser says is significantly higher than broader LinkedIn benchmarks.

But Kaiser is quick to emphasize that their success took time. “It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s a process.” The team kept experimenting, adjusting, and learning until they discovered what worked for their company and their audiences. And that may ultimately be the most useful lesson for other healthcare marketers.

There isn’t one LinkedIn playbook every organization needs to follow. Know your audience. Create genuinely useful content. Give that content more than one opportunity to succeed. Empower the people inside your organization. Stay consistent, but stay fluid.

And most importantly, give the strategy time to work.

Learn more about Optimum Healthcare IT.

Taking your healthcare brand into a new country is never as simple as recycling your domestic marketing playbook. If you try to enter Australia without understanding its hybrid funding models and regional care challenges, your brand will fall flat. Swaay.Health sat down with Peter Birch, Host of Talking HealthTech, at the HIC conference in Sydney to break down the realities of the Australian digital health ecosystem. Birch shares essential advice for foreign vendors, details how national interoperability initiatives like Sparked are uniting the industry, and reveals what it has been like producing more than 620 podcast episodes. You will learn why local presence matters and how to position your company for success in Australia.

Making the leap from an in-house marketing leader to a fractional executive is a big decision, especially in today’s healthcare landscape. For Alex Ferraro, founder of ABF Marketing and Swaay.Health’s 2026 Community Member of the Year, the move was fueled by a desire to help more organizations avoid common marketing pitfalls while building something of her own. “Fractional means flexible,” Alex explains. “It allows me to meet my clients where they’re at.” Rather than simply acting as an advisor, she combines strategy with hands-on execution to help healthcare organizations invest in the right marketing initiatives at the right stage of growth.

In our conversation, Alex shares the lessons she’s learned from launching her own business, the importance of building genuine relationships, and the mindset shifts that have helped her grow both personally and professionally. Here are three takeaways that stood out to me before you dive into the full interview.

Takeaways from Our Conversation

If there was one theme woven throughout our conversation, it was this: community is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your career.

Alex shares how mentors, former colleagues, and the broader Swaay.Health community gave her the confidence to launch her own business, and how one relationship from a job she didn’t get eventually led to one of her very first clients. “You never know who someone knows or can connect you to,” she says. “It just comes down to being a good human being.” It’s a reminder that meaningful relationships aren’t built around transactions, they’re built on trust, generosity, and consistently showing up for others.

Alex offered practical advice for marketers navigating career changes, entrepreneurship, or personal growth. Running a business, she explains, means wearing two hats: delivering great work for clients while also managing everything that comes with being a business owner. From pricing and processes to staying focused on priorities, success requires discipline.

One lesson that really resonated with me and one that shifted Alex’s mindset as well—came from a recent productivity book she had been reading (Procrastination Proof). One question stuck with her: “What can you get done in the next hour?” Rather than getting overwhelmed by a never-ending to-do list, she focuses on the next manageable step. It’s something I’ve been trying to implement too, and I honestly find it helps. Breaking big projects into smaller, actionable chunks makes it much easier to get started and once you get started, the momentum usually follows.

Whether you’re considering launching your own business, growing your personal brand, or simply looking to build stronger professional relationships, this conversation is packed with thoughtful insights and practical advice you can put into action today.

Want to learn more about ABF Marketing or connect with Alex? Visit ABF Marketing to learn more about her fractional marketing services and how she helps healthcare organizations grow.

Bringing two agencies together usually results in operational chaos. The leadership team at KNB Communications and Roketto prioritized cultural alignment and employee job security over sudden workflow changes when merging to create Sovyn. Discover their secret to a smooth merger + rebrand.

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When someone is diagnosed with cancer, an incredible support system often springs into action around the patient. Friends deliver meals. Family members check in. Healthcare teams focus on treatment plans.

But as the weeks turn into months (and sometimes years), one group quietly fades into the background.

The caregivers.

For Charlotte Bayala, founder and host of The Cancer Caregiver Podcast and winner of the 2026 Swaay.Health Podcast of the Year Award, that reality became deeply personal after her husband was diagnosed with incurable thyroid cancer more than a decade ago. Suddenly thrust into a role she never expected, Charlotte found plenty of information about caring for the patient but almost nothing about caring for herself.

“There is plenty of information about cancer and treatments and how to support the patient,” Charlotte explained. “But very little spoke directly to what I was experiencing and what I needed.”

That experience ultimately inspired her to create The Cancer Caregiver Podcast—a community dedicated to helping caregivers feel seen, supported and less alone.

During our conversation, Charlotte shared powerful insights that extend well beyond cancer caregiving. Her lessons apply to anyone supporting a loved one through illness, disability or life’s most difficult seasons.

This conversation hit especially close to home for me. My mom is a full-time caregiver for my stepdad following a brain injury, and my brother is currently undergoing cancer treatment. I know our family isn’t alone, millions of caregivers are navigating similar challenges every day. Charlotte’s advice is for all of them.

Take moment to to hear the four of the biggest takeaways from our conversation.

One of the biggest misconceptions Charlotte encountered and hears is the belief that taking care of yourself somehow takes away from the person you’re caring for.

Instead, she encourages caregivers to think differently. “Self-care isn’t a reward for getting everything done. It’s maintenance.” In fact, Charlotte prefers another phrase entirely. “I love using the word self-preservation because self-care is overused. The goal isn’t to become less caring when you care for yourself. The goal is to remain well enough to continue caring the way you’d like to.”

Many caregivers tell themselves they’ll rest later. They’ll ask for help later. They’ll take care of themselves once things calm down.

But, as Charlotte points out, later rarely comes. Sometimes self-preservation starts with something as small as five uninterrupted minutes and learning that those five minutes aren’t something to feel guilty about.

Throughout the interview, Charlotte returned to one recurring theme: caregivers often feel invisible.

Not because people don’t care. Because people don’t know what to say.

One of the most powerful moments of our conversation came when she described how discouraging it can be for caregivers to finally open up about their fears, only to hear responses like: “Just stay positive” or “Everything will work out.” Instead, Charlotte says caregivers often need something much simpler. “Sometimes we just need someone to say, ‘That really sucks. I can’t believe that happened.'” Validation (not solutions) is often the greatest gift we can give.

Her podcast creates space for caregivers to acknowledge emotions that are often hidden: fear, guilt, resentment, grief, exhaustion and loneliness. As Charlotte puts it: “The connection starts when people realize they don’t have to pretend.”

It’s one of the most common phrases we offer someone going through a difficult time (I do it myself!). But it’s also one of the least helpful.

Charlotte explained that asking caregivers to tell us what they need unintentionally creates another task on an already overwhelming to-do list.

Instead, make the decision for them. Rather than asking what they need, try saying:

Small, specific acts remove decision-making and make accepting help much easier. She also reminds us that support shouldn’t disappear after the initial diagnosis. “You get this wave of support in the beginning,” she said. “Then six months later, everyone goes back to their lives but the caregiver is still caregiving.”

Sometimes the most meaningful gesture isn’t a grand one. It’s simply sending a text months later that says: “I’m thinking about you.”

For someone who has just become a caregiver, the pressure to do everything (and do it perfectly) can feel overwhelming. Charlotte encourages caregivers to let go of the idea that they need to become experts overnight. “You don’t have to figure everything out on the first day,” she said. “You’re going to feel pressure to become an expert overnight and to do things you have no skills to do.”

Instead, she encourages caregivers to focus on the next step rather than trying to solve every challenge at once. Being present in the moment not only helps reduce anxiety, but also allows caregivers to experience the meaningful moments they are working so hard to protect. As Charlotte put it: “Caregivers give up being able to care for themselves… so they can help the person they love live. But then, as they’re doing that, they lose the ability to actually live the life they were trying to fight for.”

Her advice is simple but profound: care deeply for your loved one but don’t forget that your own life, your own joy, and your own well-being matter too.

At Swaay.Health, community has always been about more than just professional networking. It’s about recognizing the people whose work often happens quietly, behind the scenes, and making sure they know they aren’t alone.

Charlotte Bayala has built far more than an award-winning podcast. She’s created a community where caregivers can put down the weight they carry (even if only for a little while) and hear something many of them desperately need: We see you.

Are you tired of your sales team complaining they were not invited to pitch a major deal? The problem usually points to a broken go to market strategy and a leaky customer retention bucket.

The temptation to let AI do all the heavy lifting is incredibly high when you are a solo marketer. But relying on quick prompts yields empty-calorie content that your audience will ignore. To truly move the needle, solo marketers need to stop trying to be a content factory and start behaving like a knowledge translator. Swaay.Health sat down with Jennifer Lazarz, Director of Marketing at Medical Informatics Corp, to discuss how to survive and thrive as a solo marketer. She shares how smart boundaries and a clear focus on quality can help marketers navigate an automated landscape without losing their creative voice.

Patients are already skipping your beautifully designed website navigation to ask AI directly for healthcare answers. If your digital front door isn't rebuilt for conversational search, your content might as well not exist. Adeline Ashley from Sitecore sat down with Swaay.Health to discuss the reality of AI in healthcare search. She breaks down the core concepts from her new book, “The Agentic Loop: How Humans and AI Build Experiences That Can Learn”, and explains why marketers must change focus to designing experiences that AI agents can read and learn from. She shares a framework you can use to keep your brand visible and avoid the trap of setting and forgetting your tech deployments.

Healthcare and the aerospace industry share a lot more airspace than you might think. We always hear about the regulations and the high stakes. What happens when you look at how these massive industries handle marketing? Swaay.Health sat down with Wayne Barringer, CEO of Jaro Group. Barringer spent years working in the communications and creative teams at Boeing and now consults in healthcare. He breaks down why finite markets force a shift from lead generation to deep sales support. He also explains how infrastructure lock-in dictates the buying committee. Barringer shares why marketing teams need to stop saying yes to every sales request and start helping their business partners think.