Bringing the Social Media
Revolution to Health Care
Lee Aase (@LeeAase)
Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
#MCCSM
December 7, 2010

Health Advisory for
Patients with Epilepsy:
This presentation does not use
strobe lights, but with 108 slides
in 30 minutes (one every 16.7
seconds) it may seem like it.

Agenda:
Encouragement
Inspiration
Argumentation

Six Magic Words
and
Four Reasons Why
They’re True for You

“I’ll bet I
could do
that!”

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

2009 Brand Preference Summary
Healthcare Decision-Makers Aged 25+
Total
Mayo Clinic 13 5.4
18.4%
AMC 1 4 2.5 6.6%
AMC 2 2 1.5 4.8%
AMC 3 2 1.4 3.4%
AMC 4 2 1.1 2.8%
AMC 5 1 1.3 2.3%
AMC 6 2 0.8 2.3%
1st Mention
2009 US Consumer Brand Monitor, n=3336 Add'l Mention

My First Blog Post on
Lines from Lee

Thesis #1: Air was the
original social medium

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

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

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

Gutenberg: Global Mass Literacy
Zuckerberg: Global Mass Publishing

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

You already have all the risks of
social media...
Why not get some of the benefits,
too?

If you think blocking is a viable
long-term option...

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

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

The next day...

Six days later...

April 22

Sunday, May 3

May 4

Cinco de Mayo

May 10

May 11

May 12

May 15

Early Morning May 26

May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

Results to Date
• More than 7.4 million views on YouTube
• >1.4 million views on Sharing Mayo Clinic
• From 200 views/month to 5,000 views/hour
• National TV coverage in U.S. and Japan

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

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

In the European Union, based on
current exchange rates:
€0,00

MSRP for HD Video Camera
$149.99

What’s wrong with this picture?

newsblog.mayoclinic.org

sharing.mayoclinic.org

Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

#18: As I approaches zero,
ROI approaches infinity

Three More Magic
Words:
Try Free Stuff

#19: MacGyver is the model
for social media success

The MacGyver Mindset

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

Thesis #22: Social Media are
an essential part of a balanced
communications diet

SMUG Social Media Pyramid

#33: Social media will
decrease diffusion time for
research and innovations

Discovery by Richard Berger, M.D., Ph.D.
Ulnotriquetral (UT) Ligament Split Tear

Jayson Werth’s Experience

USA Today
Nov 12, 2009
3031031-7

Last Friday
3031031-9

Less than 24 hours after my initial appointment, I not
only had a new diagnosis - a UT split tear - but had
surgery to correct the problem. As I write this, my
right arm is in a festive green, but otherwise
annoying cast. The short-term hassle, however,
should be more than worth the long-term gain - the
potential for a future without chronic wrist pain. A
future, that without Twitter and those in the medical
community willing to experiment with new
communications tools, might not exist for me.
3031031-10

The 37th Thesis
Applying social media in health care isn’t
just inevitable: it’s the right thing to do in
the interest of patients.

Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
• Mission: Lead the social media
revolution in health care, contributing
to health and well being for people
everywhere
− Grow social media use by Mayo Clinic
− Create resources for use at Mayo Clinic
that can be shared with organizations
wanting to use social media in health
and health care

http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/

Social Media Health Network
• Membership group associated with
Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
• Open to organizations and individuals
wanting to use social media to improve
health and health care
• Dues based on organization revenues
• Industry members, but no industry
grant funding

What do you get?
• Access to resources to speed your
organization’s adoption of social media
− Curriculum/Training materials
− Guidelines/Policies/Job Descriptions
− Technical services and support
• Free and discounted conferences,
webinars, member meetings
• Community, blogging platform options
• Member site for sharing, learning

Charter Members
• Mayo Clinic
• Bon Secours Health System
• Inova Health System
• Mission Health System
• Radboud University Nijmegen Medical
Centre, Netherlands
• Swedish Medical Center (Seattle)

For Further Interaction:
• Google Lee Aase or SMUG U
• @LeeAase on Twitter (or keep chatting
at #MCCSM)
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
• http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org