Healthcare & Social Media: 2009 Trends & Strategy

Healthcare and Social Media: 2009 Trends & Strategy 03/11/2009 Scott Meis | Sr. Project & Social Media Director

Carolyn Grisko & Associates Inc.
Chicago-based strategic communications firm working with a variety of corporate, government and nonprofit clients.
www.grisko.com
Healthcare and Social Media

The Big Shift Healthcare and Social Media

Social Media Defined
Communications using online technologies to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.

Popular Types of Healthcare Social Media
Blogs – DiabetesMine , HealthMatters , WebMD , NYT HealthBlog
Microblogs – Livestrong , Stupid Cancer
Social Networking – OrganizedWisdom , PatientsLikeMe , DailyStrength , NursesRecommendDoctors
Podcasts – Johns Hopkins Medical Podcasts , Mayo Clinic
Social Sharing – Flickr , YouTube , ICYou
Forums – Revolution Health Groups , Google Health Groups

How America Searches Health Information
36% want to see what other consumers say about medication or treatment
34% using social media, 46% using health portals, 67% using search engines
21% using Wikipedia

Why Consumers Are Attracted to Social Media
People trust “a person like me” more than authority figures from business, government and media
Seeking ongoing dialogue, not one-way advertisement
Trust, transparency, openness, honesty

Current Trends
41% of users read blogs
70% of users watch online video
Over 175 million users on Facebook
Over 6 million users on Twitter
Share! Connect! Comment! Engage!

The BIG Question
Should My Organization Be Using Social Media?

Start By Listening
Get Busy Monitoring!
Google Alerts
Google Reader
WhosTalkin , Twitter Search , Technorati

Choose Your Audience
Internal Communications?
External? Patients? General Public?
Research!
Social Technographics Profile
Establishing Your Social Media Network

Set Your Objectives
Increase public reach of message, proactive media relations?
Increase patient traffic, reputation?
Drive traffic to Website?
Develop new avenue for patient care?
MOST IMPORTANT …
Make your message resonate!
Establishing Your Social Media Network

Define Your Strategy
Set a timeline and focus on reasonable, practical goals
Be consistent
Analyze, measure and assess frequently
ADAPT!

Choose Your Tools
Is your target audience already talking to one another?
Focus on building long-term relationships
Remember:
- People meet in different online spaces
- They comment, share and influence
- They want to tell THEIR story – let them

Sample Social Media Platform Healthcare and Social Media Your Website

Measurement & Results
Embedded analytics on tool sites
Example: YouTube Insight
New patients?
Website analytics ( Google analytics )?
Video views & subscribers?
Expanded network?
Quality blog comments & subscribers?
Google search rankings?

With or Without You . . .
...the conversations are going to take place.
Are you going to engage and embrace?
Smartly save time, money, staff in connecting with patients to build lasting relationships?

What It Will Take
Do you have top level and employee buy-in?
PR/Marketing staff member that can commit to being a Social Media Manager?
Commitment and desire to engage?
At least 1-2 hours to devote each day?
Small content creation budget?
Time and patience – it WILL NOT happen overnight

What It Will Take - Graph from Beth Kanter Healthcare and Social Media

The Big Takeaway
10 Steps to Get Going TODAY
Sign up for Google Alerts or Google Reader , add news and blog RSS feeds
Assess your needs and purpose for social media
Narrow your target audience and plan tie-in with current or future outreach initiative

The Big Takeaway
4. Find 3 professional blogs, 3 personal interest blogs and follow regularly, comment
5. Start a Facebook profile – set up a practice group, page and cause
6. Start a private blog on Wordpress and practice!

The Big Takeaway
7. Join Twitter and Flickr , try it out!
8. Join YouTube’s Nonprofit program , search and comment on videos you like, try purchasing a Flip camera
9. Protect your brand , soak up username URLs

The Big BIG Takeaway
10. Get going! Be patient and stay active.

Case Study – Mayo Clinic
Online Newsroom
Podcasts and Blogs
YouTube Channel , Facebook Page
Sharing Mayo Clinic

Questions & Comments
Scott Meis
[email_address]
312-335-0100
www.grisko.com
Suggested Reading: Blogs – Beth’s Blog , SMUG , Social Media Snippets , Groundswell

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Healthcare & Social Media: 2009 Trends & Strategy

by Scott Meis

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