Social Networking Comes to Health
In case you are not aware, social media has invaded our web space. Transparency is popular and public health information is being shared. I find it amazing that the Internet is the number one source for educating one’s self on health related topics, even more popular than asking your own doctor! Wow, we have become an empowered bunch of know-it-all’s. Well good for us! We are, in fact, a generation of web savvy multi-taskers, able to simultaneously watch TV, surf the web, listen to music and talk or text on our cell phones. (Well, not me but the rest of you people out in cyber-land). We make decisions based on our network of friends, not traditional ads which is good because studies have shown that “groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.” (Surowiecki J.) So, we are, therefore, at the very least, know-it-all populaces in training.
Because of this societal change, more people are seeking social networking virtually, either in lieu of on in conjunction with live, face-to-face networking. Blogs, vlogs, vodcasts, discussion boards, forums, RSS, wiki, Facebook, Twitter, avatars, Flickr, Second Life, Technorati … overwhelming and seemingly never-ending. Yet, despite its monster type appearance, social media is worth taming and incorporating into your hospital strategy. Here’s why – MySpace, 100 million users, Twitter, 2 million tweets a day, Wikipedia, 2.4 million articles. So many people to reach, so little time. Are you ready?
Nice post. I think it will be important over the next year that hospital marketing and public relations teams have a plan for their social media forays. This is not something to be tentative with but it is also not something you want to jump into without thinking about it. Authenticity should be key component of all plans.
We have recently begun offering social media planning due to the rise in interest, so I agree that a plan is significant for hospitals to complete before implementing an assortment of social media tools. The plan should align with the overall Web site strategy and hospital’s business strategy. Otherwise, hospital efforts to create a more exciting Web site may result in adding little value for the user and less ROI for the hospital.
This is so true. People have been talking about their health experiences and needs for a couple of years using social media. The problem is traditional health organizations are coming tardy to the table, so there is not lots of misinformation floating around and not very may experts willing to get in there and dispel the myths.
It is true that developing a strategy is important, but that strategy should not only include training your communicators. Getting buy in and participation from your physicians, nurses and experts is also essential.
I completely agree and to your point, you must have buy-in from not only the stakeholders of the hospital but also from those who actually do the work. I believe education is the key when attempting to change the opposing attitudes and culture in an organization that has a bias toward social media.
In some cases fear is driving responses, or lack thereof, which is never good for any industry. Social media tools are not scary, only a different way of communicating. In fact, if leveraged properly, it can be an effective way of reaching your target audience, accomplishing hospital goals and meeting patients’ needs.
http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/
This is a great example of how social media can help shape, promote and protect a brand. The Mayo Clinic does an excellent job of ‘sharing’ while properly supporting their internal professional (Lee Aase). Well done!