Mayo Clinic: A Natural
Progression in Social Media
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
February 5, 2009

Mayo Clinic’s Origin
http://tinyurl.com/32xbjx

Brand Preference
• Thinking about healthcare institutions
such as hospitals, medical centers and
clinics -- suppose your health plan or
personal finances permitted you to go
anywhere in the U.S. for treatment of a
serious medical condition which
required highly specialized care such as
neurosurgery, sophisticated heart
surgery or complex cancer treatment...
• To which one institution would you prefer to
go for treatment?

Top-of-Mind Brand Preference
U.S. Consumers
Mayo Clinic 11.7
Hospital E 3.1
2006 Study
Hospital D 2.3
Hospital C 1.8
Hospital B 1.3
Hospital A 1.0
Don't know 40.9
0 10 20 30 40 50
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Sources of Information Influencing
Preference for Mayo Clinic
Word of mouth 84
Stories in the media 57
MD recommendation 44
Advertising 27
2006 Study
Internet/Websites 26
Personal experience 24
Mailings to home 18
0 20 40 60 80 100
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Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications
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Mayo Clinic Social Media Progression
• Reach people directly
• Started with Medical Edge
• Produce economically to fit each
medium
• Provide platforms for sharing
• Create outposts on popular sites
• Energize word of mouth
• Leverage social media with mass
media and vice versa
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First Foray in New Media
• Existing Medical Edge radio mp3s
• Launched Sept. ‘05; Downloads up
8,217 percent Oct. vs. Aug.

Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts
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Step 3: podcasts.mayoclinic.org
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YouTube Channel
• Brand study confirmed benefit
• “The world has voted, and we want
to watch videos on YouTube.” - Andy
Sernovitz, President, Blog Council
• Use YouTube to serve videos for
blogs
13

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Key Tool: Flip Video Camera
• Affordable for all campuses (and you)
• Recording interviews (with tripod)
improves existing processes
• Authenticity without writer’s cramp
• Provides potential blog resources
• Audio of full interview
• Video excerpts
• Limited group of video editors to
ease adoption, ensure quality
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Two Case Studies of Mainstream
Media Facilitated by Social Media
• Wall Street Journal Health Blog
• Pitched via Facebook
• Previewed on News Blog
• Embedded from YouTube
• CBS Radio Network
• Flip audio downloaded from news
blog made national network air
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Next Step: Launched Jan. 22
Sharing Mayo Clinic
• Gathering global Mayo community
• Patients telling their stories
• Employee bloggers recruited from
throughout organization
• Video profiles of patients/staff
• Hub to integrate Mayo social media
• Interactive companion to print edition
• sharing.mayoclinic.org
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Sharing Mayo Clinic
Content Sources
• HR/Recruitment identifying employee
bloggers to write 2X/month
• Enhanced stories from print edition
• Flip video from patients on campus
• Question in MD news Flip interviews
• Transplant Picnic, NICU reunion
• Highlight employee service awards
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Benefits of Sharing Mayo Clinic
Monthly Open Thread
• Patient stories most popular on .org
• Outlet for grateful patients who want
to tell their stories
• Prompts patients to think about
sharing stories
• Alerts us to great stories we may
want to feature in publications,
Medical Edge, media pitches
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Retroactive Roadmap and
Philosophy for Future
• Start with current activity extensions
or high-probability pilot
• External consultants and case
studies help build internal buy-in
• Build on success step-by-step
• Take advantage of cheap technology
• Facilitate with small core team, but
make social media everyone’s job
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Contacting Me
• Google Lee Aase or SMUG University
to find SMUG
• Twitter @LeeAase or @SMUG_U
• Friend me on Facebook
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
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