My presentation to the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators on applications of social media in government, delivered in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 19, 2009.

1. Putting Social Media to Good Use
in Government Communications
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
#MAGC
November 19, 2009

2. 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

3. A Grandpa who appreciates the
power of Facebook

6. Disclaimers
• These results not typical
• Use as directed
• Read and follow label directions
• Side effects may include vertigo, watery
eyes, crackberry thumb and iPhone
application addiction
• Social media tools are an essential part of a
balanced communications diet
• If insufficient media coverage persists,
consult your communications doctor
• Batteries not included
• Some assembly required
• Your mileage may vary

7. Disclosures
• No financial interest in any product or
service mentioned in this presentation
• Full-time salaried employee of Mayo
Clinic

8. Today’s Goal:

10. Demonstrate that social media
tools are...
• Immensely powerful
• Consistent with your organization’s
values (or should be)
• Free (or ridiculously inexpensive)
• and...

17. Thesis #1: Air was the
original social medium

22. Mayo Clinic and Word of Mouth
• 91 percent of patients surveyed say
they have said “good things” to an
average of 40 people after a Mayo visit
• 85 percent say they recommended
Mayo to a friend
− Advised an average of 16 to come
− 5 actually came

23. Sources of Information Influencing
Preference for Mayo Clinic
Word of mouth 84
Stories in the media 57
MD recommendation 44
Advertising 27
Internet/Websites 26
Personal experience 24
Mailings to home 18
0 20 40 60 80 100

24. #2: Electronic tools merely
facilitate broader, more
efficient transmission by
overcoming inertia and
friction

26. #3: The mass media era was
a temporary anomaly

27. Evolution of Community
• Local: Pre-1930
• National: 1930-2005, made possible by
mass media
• Global: Post-2005, individuals members
of multiple communities of interest
without regard to geography
• Succeeding levels build upon earlier
stages without completely supplanting

29. #4: Social media are the
third millennium’s defining
communications trend

31. The Most Important Word
in Web 2.0

33. Intro to Today’s FREE Tools
Blogs RSS
Podcasts Social Networks
Skype YouTube
Wikis Twitter
Slideshare uStream

34. Intro to Blogs
• Just an easy-to-publish Web site that
allows comments
• Blogs in Plain English - Lee LeFever
• You read them all the time without
even knowing it

35. RSS = Really Simple Syndication
• Lets you easily track dozens of blogs
or other Web sites without surfing
• Truly opt-in “email”
• RSS “baked in” to IE 7, Safari
• Google Reader a free Web option

36. Podcasts
• TiVo for Audio (and now video)
• Don’t need an iPod to use
• Series of segments to which you can
subscribe via RSS
• iTunes free for PC or Mac
• Create your own FREE podcast (listed
in iTunes) through SMUG

37. Social Networking Sites

38. Wikis
• Collaborative editing tools
• Wikipedia the most famous
• 2.9 million articles in English
• Definitive stories quickly on
− 35W Bridge Collapse
− Virginia Tech shooting

40. YouTube
• World’s second largest search engine
• Google bought for $1.65 Billion
• “The world has voted, and we want to
watch videos on YouTube.” - Andy
Sernovitz, SocialMedia.org

42. #7: Hand-wringing about
merits and dangers of social
media is as productive as
debating gravity.

43. What else do patients
know about you?
 Copyright 2009, Health Grades, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

44. #9: Mass media will remain
powerful levers that move --
and are moved by -- social
media buzz.

50. #10: Social media strategies
can’t compensate for an
inferior offering or bad service

51. United Breaks Guitars Breaks United

53. #15: You can hear a lot just
by listening

54. A Story from Twitter

56. Ensuing Conversation

58. #17: Social media are free in
any ordinary sense of the
word (or at least ridiculously
inexpensive)

61. Total Cost for Mayo Clinic
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
$0.00

62. In England, based on current
exchange rates:
£0,00

63. In the European Union:
€0,00

64. Cost for a Standard Definition
Flip Video Camera
$149.99
HD available for an additional $50

66. podcasts.mayoclinic.org

67. newsblog.mayoclinic.org

68. sharing.mayoclinic.org

69. Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

70. Cost for Your Global TV Station
and Publishing Platform
$300.00

71. #18: As I approaches zero,
ROI approaches infinity

74. #19: MacGyver is the model
for social media success

75. The MacGyver Mindset

77. Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

78. First Foray in New Media
• Existing Medical Edge radio mp3s
• Launched Sept. ‘05; Downloads up
8,217 percent Oct. vs. Aug.

79. Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts

81. #20: Social media enable
authentic communication if
you don’t purposefully
complicate things

83. Key Tool: Flip Video Camera*
• Affordable
• 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

85. Case Study: Simple Storytelling
• 8:45 a.m. Colleague mentions article
coming off embargo at 3 p.m.
• Interviewed M.D. via Flip at 10:20
• Edited video, had password-protected
post on blog by 11:55 for pitching
• Uploaded files to YouTube channel
• WSJ Health Blog used video

87. #24: Compelling content is
much more valuable than
advertising time or space

88. The Octogenarian Idol Story
• Alerted to interesting video of elderly
couple playing piano in Gonda atrium
• Video shot by another patient and
uploaded to YouTube by her daughter
• Video had been seen 1,005 times in six
preceding months since upload
• Embedded in Sharing Mayo Clinic,
posted to Facebook, Tweeted on 4/7/09

89. The next day...

90. Six days later...

91. April 22

92. Sunday, May 3

95. May 4

96. Cinco de Mayo

97. May 10

99. May 11

100. May 12

101. May 15

102. Early Morning May 26

103. May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

105. Results to Date
• More than 4.8 million views on YouTube
• >1.4 million views on Sharing Mayo Clinic
• From 200 views/month to 5,000 views/hour
• Validation of Thesis #26

106. #26: Your mileage may vary,
but you’ll go a lot further if
you get a car.

107. If getting involved in social
media doesn’t excite you...

108. #28: Paying for advertising
while not taking advantage
of FREE social media tools
isn’t particularly astute

109. A Story from Facebook...

113. Tamiko says...
“I’ve had lots of people ask me about the
YouTube video and I’ve told at least 30
people they should go to Mayo. ”

116. The most harmful TV show in
U.S History?
• Married with Children?
• Baywatch?
• The Survivor series?
• The A-Team?

119. “Kids will take a chance.
If they don’t know,
they’ll have a go.”
-- Sir Ken Robinson, TED 2006

120. #29: Your kids aren’t smarter
than you are. They’re just
not afraid to look dumb.

121. #33: Social media will
decrease diffusion time for
research and innovations
(and crisis communications)

123. Thesis 9 and 33 Combined!

124. Mayo Clinic/USA Today #kidsflu
Twitter chat 8-9 p.m. ET last night

125. An example from last night...

127. #34: Challenges of
introducing social media in
healthcare (or government)
are not unique

128. Businesses Already Revolutionized
• Music - iTunes vs. Tower Records
• Classified Advertising - eBay, Craigslist
• Bookstores
• Movie rentals - Local, Blockbuster, Netflix
• All mass media
• Video cameras
• See The Innovator’s Dilemma; TI Solution
and TI Prescription - Clayton Christensen

129. #35: Social technologies will
transform government

130. How can you accelerate the pace?
• Free/low-cost practical experiments
− Twitter
− Blogs
− YouTube
• Suggest data practices statutory language
to your favorite state legislators:
− “Nothing in this section shall be construed
to prevent government units from
interacting with citizens through general-
purpose social networking sites.”

131. If you have an iPhone, Let’s Bump!

132. If not, contact me by...
• Googling Lee Aase or SMUG U
• @LeeAase on Twitter
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
• Continue conversation at #MAGC, or
via SMUG comments