Why Social Media are Essential
to the Future of Health Care,
and How You Can Get Started
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
#Reshape09
October 9, 2009

The One Percent Solution

Help you shoot down arguments
that social media tools...
• ...aren’t worth your time and money
• ...are too risky for your organization
• ...are beyond your capability to
implement, either because of cost or
complexity
• ...are optional

Help you make the case that
social media tools are...
• Immensely powerful
• Consistent with your organization’s
values (or should be)
• Free (or ridiculously inexpensive)
• and...

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

A Grandpa who appreciates the
power of Facebook

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
• Your mileage may vary

Answering Your
Questions
• Why should I care?
• What are social media?
• What is Mayo doing?
• How can I get started?

Reasons to Care about Social
Media: Risks are Unavoidable
• Anyone (especially determined
detractors) can
− Start a blog
− Launch a YouTube channel
• A significant portion of your
employees are in Facebook now (e.g.
>5,000 at Mayo Clinic)
• ROI = Risk of Ignoring (Hat tip: USCG)

This Might Not Happen to You,
But...

The Most Important Word (and
Book Recommendation) in Web

No genius necessary...

The MacGyver Mindset

Cutting Edge Circa 1989

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

Intro to Blogs
• Just an easy-to-publish Web site that
allows comments
• Blogs in Plain English - Lee LeFever

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

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

Social Networking Sites

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

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

Other Important Platforms
• Slideshare.net: YouTube for PowerPoint
and Keynote
• uStream.tv: Your own global television
channel
• Mix and Match

Twitter Case Study #1: Listening

Ensuing Conversation

Twitter Case Study #2:
“Tweetup” in Baltimore
Me: Are you based in Baltimore?
Me: I’m going to be there Tuesday for this conference.
(asae.center.or/hcc) on a panel RU available late pm?
Me: I’m flying out Tues at 6:45 p.m. Any avail in the later
afternoon? I think my panel is done about 2:30

Twitter Case Study #3:
Journalist Interactions

Hospitals Using Social Media
(via @EdBennett)

Growth of YouTube vs. Twitter

Mayo Clinic’s Social Media
Experience

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

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
43

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

Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

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

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

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

Cost for a Standard Definition
Flip Video Camera
$150.00
HD available for an additional $80

HD: Worth the Investment

podcasts.mayoclinic.org

newsblog.mayoclinic.org

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

sharing.mayoclinic.org

Complying with Privacy
Regulations
• Comments moderated to prevent privacy
breaches
− Patients can divulge own info in
comments
− When comments aren’t from patient, de-
identify
• Get HIPAA releases for special
comments or video we shoot and upload

Where Sharing Mayo Clinic Fits
• News Blog - Breaking research news;
“Hard” news - Like U.S News, Time
• Podcast Blog - Evergreen “news you
can use” - Like Prevention
• Sharing Mayo Clinic - Features; behind
the scenes at Mayo Clinic, and stories
from patients in their own words - Like
People

Other Blogs...
• Health Policy Center Blog
• Physician Update Blog - For referring
MDs but not limited to them
• Diversity in Education Blog
• Advancing the Science - Medical
science blog - our medical version of
Scientific American

Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

Answers to Objections
• “But what about the cost in staff time to
maintain all of these social media
platforms? They’re not really that
cheap!”
− AT&T free phone service in 1969
− Pitney Bowes free fax machines and
supplies in 1989
− YouTube, Facebook and Twitter free in
2009

“8th Habit” Opportunity
I can go to any group, and I do it all the time, all over the world, and I
ask a simple question: “How many honestly believe that the vast
majority of the workforce in your organizations possess more talent,
more intelligence, more capability, more creativity, more resourcefulness
than their present jobs require or even allow them to use?” Literally,
almost everyone raises their hands…. Think of the loss of what we could
call “voice,” of people’s intelligence, capability, creativity. And yet I
can ask the next question: … “How many feel pressured to produce
more for less?” and you know what, the same amount of hands go up.
Now just put those two questions together: Here there’s this enormous
capability and talent and intelligence, and also this great pressure to
produce more for less, and they’re not able to even use it.
-- Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey’s “8th Habit”
Going beyond effectiveness to greatness
“Find your voice and inspire
others to find theirs”

Giving Voice to Some Stories...

Affirming our Employees
Dear staff,
This 4 minute video actually made me tear
up…the patients mentioning our Judd
Sessions, classes and pamphlets…in relation
to their satisfaction with their care. How
wonderful to hear.
The patient/family testimonials reminded me
how we are making a difference through patient
education in the lives of our patients/families.

Jillayn Hey’s “Remarkable” Story
“One statement has stuck out above
all of the medical jargon written by
the surgeons and various nurses who
cared for me, and that is this:
‘patient's stay was unremarkable.’
Well, although things went fairly
smoothly after a difficult surgery, I
would like to say that there was
nothing unremarkable about my
experience with Mayo.”

Therapeutic Storytelling...
“I recently read an (Utne Reader) article ... (which said) that
through telling our personal stories of illness and disease, we
assist in creating a new story of wellness that facilitates
healing and in turn directs a person towards recovery. This is
just one aspect that Sharing Mayo Clinic provides. It is not
only an opportunity for many patients and perhaps future
patients to tell their unique stories to work their way towards
health but it also provides a voice for its employees to share
parts of their daily work which I know must include joy and
sorrow as some of us become well and some of us
unfortunately do not. In my opinion, this is just another area
that Mayo is ahead of the curve in caring for its patients and
obviously their employees as well.”

Old-Style Online Newsroom vs.
MacGyver Online Newsroom
• Web 1.0 Online Newsroom
− Typically purchased from a Vendor
− Costly - up to $10,000 + monthly fee
− Password-Protected Access
• “MacGyver” Online Newsroom
− DIY
− $45/year or $0.12/day
− Open to customers/patients/links

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

Don’t (just) pitch the
media.
Be the media.

The Next Big Thing:
Radio Syndication

Healthline becomes Medical
Edge Weekend
• Host is Mayo Clinic M.D. with 20 years
local radio experience
• Previous syndication not feasible
− 1999: Unlikely profitable
− 2008: $20K/month unavailable
• Opportunity for creative application of
social media tools

The MacGyver Syndication Plan
• Production continues at KROC-AM
• Segments delivered to affiliates as
mp3 files for next week’s broadcast
• Topic for live production posted to
blog, promoted via Twitter
• Listen live through audio stream from
flagship station
• Podcasts posted 9 days later

Official Launch Last Month
• Already a “win”: formerly local
program now on >10 stations,
including international
• Gradual growth is practical because
costs are nearly $0.00
• Unbridling a physician’s passion
• Significant new social media content
• Questions “tweeted” from four
continents

Follow Medical Edge Weekend
Progress
• radio.mayoclinic.org
• #mayoradio
• @mayoclinic

Enhancing Distribution of
Patient-Generated Content
• Alerted to interesting video of elderly
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

The next day...

Six days later...

April 22

Sunday, May 3

May 4

Cinco de Mayo

May 10

May 11

May 12

A sampling of the comments...

May 15

Early Morning May 26

May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

May 28, 2009

Results to Date
• More than 4.6 million views on YouTube
• More than 1.4 million views on Sharing
Mayo Clinic
• Before posting to Sharing Mayo Clinic:
1,000 views in six months
• After posting, Facebooking and
Tweeting: 5,000 views per hour

Lessons
• Your mileage may vary, but...
• You’ll go a lot farther if you get a car.

Summary
• Twitter, Facebook, YouTube: $0
• Sharing Mayo Clinic blog: $75
• Bringing joy to the world through
music: Priceless

Immense Potential
• Marketing we couldn’t buy at any price
− 500,000 annual unique patients,
50,000 employees as ambassadors
• More efficient care delivery
− Patient support groups
− Chronic disease management
− Workplace Collaboration
• Free versions let you prove concept,
gauge readiness

Tips on Personal Steps to
Explore
• Establish a permanent personal email
• Get profiles in Facebook, LinkedIn
• Get a Twitter account
• Get a Flip camera (or iPhone 3G S?)
• Create a personal YouTube account
• Start a personal Blog

Visit Mayo Clinic Social Media
Sites
• Follow, subscribe or “Fan”
− http://twitter.com/mayoclinic
− http://www.youtube.com/user/mayoclinic
− http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/
− http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mayo-Clinic/
7673082516
• Consider sharing your Mayo Clinic story

Starter Steps for Organizations
• Claim your Twitter “handle”
• Create a Facebook “fan” page
• Create a YouTube channel
• For Extra Credit: If you have
organizational commitment, create a
multi-author blog

The Social Media
Pyramid

Maslow’s Hierarchy

A Well-Balanced Social Media Diet

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

“Your kids aren’t
smarter than you are.
They’re just not
afraid to look dumb.”