Off the Page with Matthew Fisher
David McCarthy
In his Off the Page interview, Carium’s and HealthcareNOW Radio’s Matthew Fisher shares what he considers to be premiere content in digital health and healthcare IT and reveals the biggest challenge he faces in content creation.
Meet Matthew Fisher
Matthew Fisher has something that most content marketers in healthcare don’t have—a JD. And that gives him a point of view and subject matter expertise that few content marketers have (and wish they had easy access to).
General counsel at Carium by day, Matthew also hosts a bi-weekly online radio show with HealthcareNOW Radio called Healthcare de Jure, where he focuses on trending topics in healthcare, ranging from privacy and security to population health and patient engagement.
Learn more about his perspective on content in his Off the Page interview below.
What recent piece of content made you jealous?
The four-part series on information blocking published by Brendan Keeler was very well done and extremely comprehensive. The breadth of what Brendan covers as well as the ability to make it easier to understand is a presentation style to emulate.
Beyond the amount of information packed into each article, I am also always impressed when people incorporate engaging images, whether substantive or just fun. It's a good way to break the text up and help ensure that all of the content is actually digested.
What content marketing skill or tool are you learning this year?
I'm hoping to learn how to do short video this year.
I have not dabbled in that area at all, but see that others can drive good engagement with video. It will also take overcoming my distaste of listening to myself talk.
Which other brand’s content do you admire most?
I admire the content from HIMSS.
The media team does a good job of creating content across a multitude of channels along with utilizing the material produced by the organization's members. The team also balance a wide array of perspectives since the organization represents pretty much all facets of the health IT industry.
From the tactical to the inspiring, they do a great job of weaving in a consistent perspective and adding value through all of their content.
If you could recommend one book to every content marketer, what would it be?
I don't necessarily have one book to recommend, but do suggest that everyone read what appeals to them.
If you don't enjoy what you're reading, then it will feel like a chore and that is unfortunate for such a fun activity. There's nothing better than getting lost in a good book to inspire ideas. For me, Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors.
Which individual or organization would you love to collaborate with on a content project?
I would love to collaborate with either the HHS Office for Civil Rights or the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT to help spread good educational material and drive better understanding about HIPAA, information blocking, and other related regulations.
What don’t non-content marketers understand about content?
I think one of the hardest things to understand is how hard it can be to establish a consistent voice in content creation.
“One of the hardest things to understand is how hard it can be to establish a consistent voice in content creation.”
It can be very easy to develop an inauthentic voice or one that does not adequately convey the tone intended.
What part of the content-marketing workflow do you wish went faster?
The feedback process.
It can often feel like many pieces are put into the wild without much response coming back. Seeing positive or negative notes come back more quickly would help refine the process more quickly.
What do you consider the most underrated type of content?
I don't have a good answer as different audiences will have different perspectives.
For some more written content is necessary whereas others need more video. If only one or two forms of content are being created, then opportunities are clearly being missed.
What type of content marketing do you secretly hope goes extinct soon?
Very short videos.
Videos that are ten seconds or less do not really have sufficient time to develop a complete thought. The quickness is reflective of the downward spiral in attention spans that is not necessarily beneficial.
Which content marketing talent would you most like to have?
I would like more graphic skills. I can handle writing, but image creation is very far outside of what I will tackle.
What is your most treasured content marketing tool?
Blogging. I like the ability to write in shorter chunks and using a stream of consciousness approach, both of which are well aligned with the blogging form.
I also like to digest information from others in that form. At the same time, it is important to vet the source to minimize the likelihood of getting bad information.
What do you most value in your teammates?
Being inquisitive and open to suggesting different ideas. I find the best outcomes can be developed when different ideas and perspectives can be meshed together.
When you hang up your content-marketing hat(s), what one word do you hope colleagues and clients will use to describe you?
Authentic.
About the Off the Page series
Legend had it that Marcel Proust, a French novelist, had a list of twenty questions that could reveal a person’s true nature. Vanity Fair later adopted and popularized the questions for a series of interviews with cultural figures and celebrities.
Off the Page (probably) won’t reveal any of these have-to-follow marketers’ true nature. But it hopefully uncovers attributes, points of view, and experiences worth learning from.
Who else should Off the Page Feature?
Recommend a content marketer for a future edition of Off the Page.
