Using Social Media and
Storytelling: Personalizing the
Passion
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
AOPO Annual Meeting
St. Louis
June 18, 2009

About Lee Aase - @LeeAase
• B.S. Political Science
• 14 years in politics and government at
local, state, national levels
• Mayo Clinic since April 2000
• Media relations consultant
• Manager since 2004
• Media Relations/Research Comm
• Syndication and Social Media
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Behold the power of Facebook...
• Evelyn’s existence
• Video to her grandparents
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Unprecedented Opportunity to
help meet an Unimaginable Need
• 101,931 people are on transplant lists
• About 75 transplanted daily, but
• 100 added to the list each day
• 18 die awaiting an organ every day
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Not all Deaths are Created Equal
• H1N1 vs. “Expected” Flu deaths
• U.S. “Swine Flu” deaths to date: 44
• Avg annual U.S. flu deaths: 40,000
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Mainstream Media and the NASA/
U.S. Aviation Syndrome
• Planes landing safely aren’t “news”
• “Routine” transplants aren’t either
• Compelling human interest stories
can help attract attention
• Blaming media not a path to success
• Mainstream media have own issues
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Every Transplant or Listing is
News to Someone
• Mainstream media need to build a
large audience so advertisers can
interrupt with marketing messages
• Social media enable you to gather
thousands of micro “audiences”
• These groups can be caring
communities instead of passive
viewers
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10 Ways You Can Use Social
Media to Personalize the Passion
STARTING TODAY!
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Developing a MacGyver Mindset
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1. Create OPO Facebook and
MySpace Pages
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2. Create an OPO YouTube Channel
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3. Start an OPO Twitter Account
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4. Create an OPO Blog
• Platform to let you publish to the
world
• More in-depth content than Twitter
• Embed your YouTube videos
• Enable sharing
• Profile and personalize your staff and
volunteers
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5. Encourage Patients to Form
Facebook Groups
• Groups provide opportunity for
patients and their support groups to
connect
• Long-lost friends develop passive
awareness that could spring to
action
• Doesn’t just put a face on transplant:
puts a familiar face on transplant.
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Total Cost for Steps 1-5
$0.00
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6. Get a Flip Video Camera to
Gather Multimedia Stories
• Standard definition Flip is $150
• HD available for $230 or less
• TV Studio in your pocket
• Other brands and models available
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HD: Worth the Investment
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7. Take Advantage of Events to
Gather Stories, Promote Platforms
• Transplant reunions
• Transplant Games
• State Fair
• Any place communities gather
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8. Don’t Just Pitch the Media.
Be the Media
• You can combine these resources to
create your own TV station, radio
station, and newspaper, with free
distribution.
• Telling your own story, getting it right
is valuable in itself.
• It can help you pitch stories to
mainstream media, which can be
even better.
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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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Enhancing Distribution of
Patient-Generated Content
• Alerted to interesting video of 90 y.o.
couple playing piano in Gonda atrium
• Embedded in Sharing Mayo Clinic,
posted to Facebook, Tweeted on 4/7/09
• Video had been seen 1,005 times in six
preceding months since upload
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The next day...
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Six days later...
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April 22
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Sunday, May 3
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May 4
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Cinco de Mayo
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May 6
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May 10
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May 11
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May 15
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Early Morning May 26
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May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America
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May 28, 2009
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Lessons
• Your mileage may vary, but...
• You’ll go a lot farther if you get a car.
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Summary
• Twitter, Facebook, YouTube: $0
• Sharing Mayo Clinic blog: $75
• Bringing joy to the world
through music: Priceless
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9. Don’t Just Be the Media.
Build the Network.
• Social media work best when they
are.... social
• Build a network of OPO sites
• Blogs
• Facebook pages
• Twitterati
• YouTube channels
• Link among each other and with
patient/donor sites
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10. Train the Team to Be Like Bob
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Resources and Next Steps
• Scott Meis - http://scottmeis.com/
• See Mayo Clinic guidelines for
employees on http://
sharing.mayoclinic.org/guidelines/
for-mayo-clinic-employees
• Become a SMUGgle
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Contacting Me
• Google Lee Aase or SMUG U to find
Social Media University, Global
• Twitter @LeeAase or @mayoclinic
• Friend me on Facebook
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
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