Submissions will be accepted until 12/23/10. The winner and their story will be featured in our next e-newsletter in January 2011.

Last week, Texas Health launched a social media initiative to make staff and the public aware of a major initiative, the implementation of electronic health records at their hospitals.

This news is huge for the organization, and the viral nature of social media makes it an ideal vehicle for widely disseminating the information. Social media also makes sense as a way to talk about cutting-edge and technological innovations at a hospital.

Texas Health is using the most popular channels, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to drive traffic to a specially created website. Here’s what I love about most about the initiative:

• They’re not collecting many metrics
• It’s easy to re-use the campaign elements
• They’ve adopted “a more permissive attitude toward social media”, which isn’t easy for many hospitals

Ferdinand Velasco, MD, vice president and chief medical information officer advises other organizations “give it a whirl. Just try it…and then watch it grow.”¹

¹Source: InformationWeek, November 1, 2010.

The Strategic Social Media for Health Care conference, which was held on July 26-28, 2010, educated hospital marketers on how access to this virtual world can connect with and attract current and future patients-consumers.

Although the word “healthcare” may cause apprehension and uncertainty during these times, tactical communication strategies can transform the way healthcare is viewed today, while broadcasting health information on a much larger scale.

Since June 2009 there has been a 400% growth of hospitals using social media. Using these tools will help humanize the organization. Employee morale will go up as well, as positive comments from patients can serve as encouragement for the importance of health care jobs.

Nowadays, many people are seeking medical information through search engines online. Hospitals with this type of admission can assist in making sure the content is being accessed effectively.

Most hospitals do not have a blog, yet blog entries are emphasized as the centerpiece to any social media strategy. According to Ed Bennett’s Found in Cache, only 95 out of the approximately 4,000 hospitals in the U.S. have blogs.

As the growth of online content continues, having a blog with correct medical content is becoming more and more important, especially when blog titles can be matched with content being searched online.

Blogs help people build trust while allowing patients to have a better connection and improved relationship to the hospital.

Social media has changed the way health providers and pharmaceutical companies communicate information to the public. Social media tools, such as Twitter and Facebook have a dominant role in the way healthcare is being transmitted.

Having a vast understanding of how these networks can act as a strategic tool is essential. In order to connect to the public, build up a reputation and continue to increase potential opportunities, healthcare communicators must know where their audience is and incorporate the social media tools that fit best with their goals.

The positive attributes that come out of using social media tools are apparent: it’s low cost makes a big impact within the social community, allowing immediate access and direct communication to the public. However, there are some risks that also need to be taken note of.

There are legal and privacy concerns when dealing with health information. Hospitals have become hesitant when using social media tools because of privacy and confidentiality concerns. A well-defined, publicly posted policy will minimize risk. Also, social media networking sites have included customizable privacy settings so users can control who is accessing their information.

Reputational risks are another concern. As a healthcare or pharmaceutical professional, there runs a risk of users complaining online about unfavorable events. This will happen with or without your involvement, and if a predicament does arise, social media gives the opportunity to react in an appropriate manner. In the long run, the positive contributions that the social networks can provide outweigh the risks.

Medical practices, too, are benefiting from the power of the social media presence. Special offers and discounts, which are advertised through the networks, have been well-received and shared by viewers. This type of marketing-based benefit attracts current and prospective patients, and has proved effective.

Allowing new forms of communication to patients, sharing important medical information and humanizing healthcare, have all become positive contributions and proved a cost-effective solution when compared to conventional media.

Let the Local/Social Connexion meet each and every one of these points for you! Among those points are:

Deliver consistently or don’t deliver at all

Dr. Vartabedian says you’ve got to be consistent!

“You can argue about what represents consistent content but if you can’t deliver twice a week for the next 12 months you need to consider whether you have the proper resources to take the leap.”

Get beyond the ROI question

Rather than ask what the ROI on a hospital blog would be, a better question might be how much will it cost you to remain alienated from your patient base, Dr. Vartabedian says.

“You might call over to the Mayo Clinic and launch the question to social media director Lee Aase.  His stories of piano playin’ seniors and viral health videos filmed on $100 flip cams have landed his facility on Good Morning America and just about every other mainstream outlet I know.  I’m guessing that the Mayo Clinic is beyond the ROI question.”

Yes…tweets. As in Twitter. As in even hospitals are now realizing the myriad of ways they can use social media to their advantage.

According to the article “Tweeting Their Way to New Patients,” on Portfolio.com, “consumers are relying less on word-of-mouth referrals and looking more to social-media outlets to choose the kinds of products and services they use, INCLUDING health care. In response, hospitals have ramped up their online marketing campaigns.”

LifeBridge Health, based in Northwest Baltimore city, has five different social media platforms, with a blog and Twitter account updated regularly that provides health care information to patients. Its Facebook page is used as a job and career board.

Baltimore Washington Medical Center has a Twitter account and Facebook page which are both updated daily, a Flickr account that is home to event photos, and a YouTube channel that features interviews with physicians about heart disease.

“By actively engaging in social media, we have the opportunity to reach audiences on a platform where they feel comfortable,” says Kathy Smith in the article. Smith is the Director of Marketing for Johns Hopkins Medicine, also in Baltimore.

Indeed.

Why Should Hospitals Use Social Media?

“Social media has some type of influence on nearly 40% of recent hospital or urgent-care center patients, with more than half of 25-to-34 year olds reporting they are influenced by it.”
(source: Spring 2009 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey from Ad-ology Research)

As more and more patients are searching for doctors and hospitals online and seeking information about health, social media has become another marketing tool to reach customers where they are and build relationships with the community.

Hospitals are Using Social Media in Various Ways

Hospitals are jumping on that opportunity, using social media to become more trusted and appreciated by their community. They are using it to run their organization better, to encourage more one-on-one doctor-to-patient interaction, propel their latest news and findings, for public relations, and even recruitment.

-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CEO Paul Levy has taken to blogging in order to show current and potential patients exactly what he and his hospital are up to. He touches on his address to the local union trying to unionize hospitals, a dinner held with a team of prostate physicians and patients, and even their journey into Kaizen (a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous lifelong improvement).

-Scripps is using Twitter to put out PR fires, and being rewarded with horrible reviews being retracted and replaced with stories of great customer service:

“Scripps uses Twitter to turn angry patients into loyal ones. Its basic approach of “try new things, be nice to people and don’t say anything that our legal department would object to” has yielded “little instances of gratitude that make what we’re doing worthwhile. Raging angry fires put out, people passing around our wellness stories, horrible reviews retracted and replaced with stories of great customer service.”

-Many hospitals are educating patients and making themselves ultra-accessible by using Twitter during live surgery:

Aurora Health Care, a 13-hospital integrated delivery network in Milwaukee, Wis., has mastered Twitter. The health system has more than 6,000 followers (@Aurora_Health), when many other hospitals have hundreds. They “live-tweeted” during a double-knee replacement surgery to help promote its orthopedics service line.

What Can Lo/So do for Hospitals?

Social media programs can benefit hospitals in many ways: protect and promote your brand, extend the impact of your traditional marketing programs, and create brand champions. Hospitals are using social media to recruit, communicate during a crisis, manage their reputations, fundraise, educate and to humanize their organizations.

Successfully using social media as the hospitals mentioned above do is no easy task. It takes time, resources and dedication. Lo/So can accomplish all this…making you accessible and helping you stay connected.

An Extension of Your Marketing Team

Allow Wainscot Media to manage your social media program. We’ll work closely with you to send out your messages and information through a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, AND a blog.

The Lo/So service package will build a highly effective social media platform for your hospital on your terms. You’ll rely on our expertise in working with hospitals. We’ll work closely with you as an extension of your marketing team to generate content, obtain necessary approvals, review and monitor all comments.

Hospitals need to use social media to engage in conversations with their staff, patients and residents of their communities. Nothing can accomplish that more easily than a social media platform developed specifically for you by Wainscot. We’ll work with you to make sure all your efforts are made known to your followers immediately, promoting a relationship that customers will reward.

With one in three hospitals now having a formal social media plan in place (something researchers say is key to using such media successfully), don’t get left behind.

Be sure to visit the Wainscot Media booth (#133) at CONNECTIONS 2010 to find out more about the importance of social media to hospital marketing and how we can develop a platform for you easily and effectively!

While you’re there, enter to win a brand new Apple iPad!

Also, plan on attending Publishing Director Deborah Barrow’s round-table luncheon discussion on social media trends in healthcare on Monday at 12:30 p.m. at table 44.

Learn more about Hospital Social Media Marketing now on our web site. More information about the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development 2010 Conference: http://www.shsmd.org/shsmd/conference/index.html

See you at the show!

1)    First, keep in mind that Facebook is open to everyone, including children who may “fan” your page without meeting your personal, legal criteria. A recent example is a failed Dr. Pepper marketing campaign, where the company was granted permission to change fans’ statuses as a part of our viral networking craze. A 14-year-old Glasgow girl’s status was changed to a pornographic quote, causing her mother to admonish Dr. Pepper online. Dr. Pepper’s parent company, Coca-Cola ended the campaign all together. Bottom line: If you think something is funny, keep in mind that it must be family friendly unless age verification is required.

2)    Limit your status updates to a couple times a week. No one wants to see your company “spamming” their news feed with too much information. Even if your content is well intentioned, remember that it only takes one click for a fan to remove your page.

3)    If a fan asks a question your page’s wall, be sure to respond in a timely manner. The attention to detail and customer service will only help boost your company’s image. If you’re unable to answer the question, give the fan a number or e-mail of someone who can help them out.

4)    NEVER TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS! Typing in all caps comes across as yelling online. This can indicate a false importance to your message. It’s also harder to read without differentiating caps.

We hope these tips help you!

- Marc Phillips

As if that’s not enough, some of your actual blog readers are posting racist, profane, or harassing comments. You’re overwhelmed and don’t know what to do.

First, you need to understand that you are probably not doing anything to attract the spam; it just has a way of finding victims. Do not ever click the links in a spam comment as they often contain malware, spyware, keyloggers, or viruses.

Regarding trolls, or readers who purposely post malicious comments, keep this in mind: do not feed the troll. Ignore all of his or her comments by deleting them. A troll is simply looking for attention. What’s more, many blogs allow anonymous comments, which only adds to this problem. Ban the troll if you have the administrative abilities to block certain IP addresses.

Here are some rules and tips to help maintain your ever-important company blog:

1)    Set blog comments to be approved by the owner—you—to avoid unnecessary spam from being immediately posted. Accumulated, published spam shows actual readers that your blog is not seen as a priority. This method of approving comments also works well to prevent troll comments.

2)    Do not allow anonymous comments. Most blogging websites have realized the havoc that can be wrecked by an anonymous Joe in his basement. For example, Blogger.com requires users to login to their own website, GMail, or OpenID, before posting comments. Anonymity is quelled by requiring an identity.

3)    You do not need to allow comments on every blog post. Not every blog post topic lends itself to comment. The New York Times disables comments on controversial or smaller news pieces to prevent trolls from posting obscene statements. This method also works well regarding spam comments.

4)    Sometimes blogs have the option to make readers type random alphanumeric characters to prove they are not spambots. These boxes, known as CAPTCHAs, are becoming more popular around the web. Spambots do not usually have the ability to type something like “AH2K4BC” before posting links.

5)    Make a blog post regarding how you govern the comments section of your website. Trolls love to complain when an administrator deletes their hurtful or irrelevant comments “for no reason!” Setting rules lets you justify your actions to your blog readers.

Allowing readers to comment can help the blog owner—you—interact in a positive manner. The people who abuse the open forum have ruined the fun for the majority of innocent web users.

However, an increasing number of blogs such as The Huffington Post, now require “connecting” with social networks, before posting comments. Merging Facebook and Twitter identities in the blogging world helps combat disrespectful comments because actual users are associated with the statements.

Accountability and identity must be used in order to maintain a professional company blog.

- Marc Phillips

What can you do to raise awareness?

Consider BP’s tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; the animals who live in the water, and on land, are affected by this unfortunate catastrophe. The International Bird Rescue Research Center has dispatched volunteers and specialists to wash the oil off muck-covered birds. But the question still remains though, how does this tie into social media?

According to The Washington Post, Procter and Gamble has utilized Facebook and Twitter to advertise their new environmental campaign for Dawn dish soap. These two social media platforms have conveyed P&G’s exciting new ways to help the wildlife, one of which is the company’s promise to donate $1 to the wildlife for every bottle of Dawn sold.

Keep in mind, this is in addition to the 5,000 bottles of donated Dawn already sent to the Gulf. 7,000 more bottles are on the way to help clean the birds.

How is P&G garnering support from its consumers? By providing up-to-the-minute updates regarding the state of the Gulf, more followers are committed to help the company. Consumers can purchase special edition Dawn at their local grocery store and feel compassion about indirectly helping the Gulf’s animal victims.

After all of the positive PR, P&G is expected to raise $500,000 in wildlife donations by the end of June.

The DawnSavesWildlife Facebook page has 243,709 fans and the @DawnDishSoap account on Twitter has 1,019 followers—both as of June 18. Clearly more users are on Facebook, which explains the disparity between the two platforms. Even so, spreading the word online is free and the return on investment can be substantial.

Helping your company succeed is all about timing and goodwill. In an era of economic frauds, corporate responsibility tries to set a better tone and woo more potential consumers.

Reaching out and helping, even it means losing money in the short-term, is often worth it in the long-term. Jump at the chance to flex your company’s strength in a time of need; a favorable view of a company is never a bad asset.

- Marc Phillips

OPENforum.com says it’s about finding good stories, videos and blog posts about your subject matter and providing links to these sources. Here are four methods of finding them:

StumbleUpon. When signing up for this service, you choose the subjects you’re interested in, so “stumbling” only takes you to pages that other users have liked on those topics.

SmartBrief. This company has subject matter experts who search every day for good online content. Visit the website or subscribe to its email newsletters to benefit from their efforts and expertise.

Interns. Hire someone to comb the Internet looking for good content.

Alltop. This company aggregates news into 900 topics and presents the 5 most recent stories from the best websites and blogs about a subject. And it’s free!

The final test: do people find your posts fascinating? The answer is yes if they retweet it, share it and email it, and with these resources, they surely will.

Read this article at OPENforum.com