Social Media and Healthcare Providers - Getting Started

Last time, we discussed how healthcare organizations should manage employee use of social media sites. Interestingly, my daughter just started working for a hospital, and I asked her if they talked about what she could and could not say on Facebook related to her job. She said they told her she can’t do anything. Good for them.

This time, let’s focus on a few things healthcare organizations should do before posting their first item on a social media site. This is not rocket science, but doing the right things up front can maximize the effectiveness of your efforts, and probably save you some headaches too.

1. Social media should be part of the overall online marketing strategy, which should be part of the overall marketing strategy. Don’t get so enamored with the buzz around social media that you lose sight of the big picture.

2. Do your homework.
1. Identify the social media sites your target market visits.
2. Research what the competition is doing in social media.
3. Use Google Alerts or another tool to see what your target market is saying about you.

3. Don’t be afraid. Many organizations are paranoid that if they have a Facebook page, or tweet, or put a video on YouTube, it will invite negative comments. The fact is, if somebody has something negative to say about you, they are going to find a way to say it on Yelp or a similar site (that’s why you use Google Alerts or some other tool). Using social media, you can become aware of these criticisms, and you can take important steps to address them and/or regain control of the conversation.
1. Specifically for Facebook, if someone posts something negative about you on your page, it takes about one second to delete the post.

4. Have a social media plan. That may be part of or separate from your overall marketing plan. But include things like objectives and target markets. Also put together a calendar of what you are going to do, when you are going to do it, and who is going to do it. Then stick to it (yes, obviously, there should be some flexibility to leverage the spontaneity afforded by social media). Part of this plan should also include how you are going to use other social media and other marketing channels to support your social media efforts.

5. Do it right the first time. For example, while it is easy to set up a Facebook page, it is also easy to set it up wrong. What is not so easy is to fix it. While Facebook has different types of pages you can set up, it is pretty inflexible once you have decided what type of page to set up. So hire somebody that knows what they are doing to initially set up the page. The minimal investment will be well worth it.

6. Use technology to help you leverage your time. For example, LinkedIn posts can automatically be tweeted. And tweets can be posted to Facebook pages, etc. Get the technology right up front, and you will be able to spend more time on content, and less time on the mechanics of distributing the content.