Last week I attended a social media panel discussion moderated by Carol Dobies at the KCHCS Fall Conference. The three panelists, who represented two hospitals and a local firm that monitors, measures and analyzes digital content, shared their experiences and expertise with online patient interaction. Together they provided some important takeaways for healthcare organizations looking to expand their online presence. Highlights include:

Listening should be a key part of your social media strategy, and your efforts should go beyond the content you generate. It’s easy to know what people say directly to you online, but are you also watching what they say about you? “Sites like Facebook and Twitter are great for engagement, but that’s not where Google searches send people,” according to panelist Aaron Weber of Spiral16. “It’s critical to know where people land and what language they encounter when you come up in a search.” A valid point, considering 92% of adults online use search engines, and nearly 60% report using them daily, according to recent research by Pew Internet.

Healthcare-specialized SEO and marketing firms understand that patients search and read content from multiple sources (Yelp, YellowPages.com, Wikipedia, etc.) in addition to the messages you’re putting out there. The key to establishing meaningful patient engagement online is an effective mix of SEO tactics, highly targeted direct marketing and social media strategies that encompass your entire digital presence. Read more about the importance of listening to patient comments from HealthLeaders.

Back up your strategy with social media policies. Social media policies govern your use of social media, from employee access to procedures for triaging patient comments (negative and positive). Front-line employees are the face of your organization, so if you’re comfortable letting them post and interact with patients online, it’s your choice to allow it. In order to protect your brand image and ensure total compliance with all patient-privacy laws, however, usage policies should be clearly articulated and enforced.

In fact, panelist Shawn Arni of Children’s Mercy Hospital advises two separate policy documents: one for page admins/hospital use and another for employee use. For example, staff members are not allowed to post or share anything during work hours. Regardless of how well-intended any given post may be, if it’s made by patient-facing staff in the middle of a shift, it can be perceived as interfering with patient care.

Needless to say, there are many factors to consider when developing social media use policies, but having the right rules in place is well worth the effort. Panelist Belinda Rehmer of Lawrence Memorial Hospital (LMH), agrees. As the hospital’s Community Relations Social Media Lead, she speaks from experience, and LMH’s social media policy has been used as a best practice example by many other hospitals in Kansas.

Studies show that people with the low levels of social interaction have high rates of mortality. With so many networking tools now available online, the obvious question for healthcare providers is how can we use social media to engage patients in ways that improve health? We welcome all input on the topic, so if you have insight to share about patient engagement and social media, let us hear from you!

Later this week, I will moderate an interactive panel for Kansas City Healthcare Communicators Society.The topic: How to Deploy Social Media to Improve Patient Engagement. With expert input spanning a wide range of social networking tools and best practices from our healthcare marketing panelists, the session promises to provide an eye-opening look at what it takes to continuously engage patients online.

Here are highlights from colleagues in the healthcare social media field:

Two-fifths of adult internet users in the U.S. have read someone else’s online commentary about health. Many thanks to Susannah Fox and her colleagues at Pew Internet & American Life Project, who published a report earlier this year revealing that 80% of internet users search online for health information, and a growing number rely on the internet to connect peer-to-peer. Among the findings:

• Symptoms and treatments dominate health searches (66% and 56% respectively).
• 44% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.
• 25% of adult web users look online for people with a chronic illness.
• 24% have consulted online rankings of doctors and hospitals.
• 20% look online for people with similar health issues.

There are 140 uses for your 140 characters if your healthcare organization tweets. Phil Baumann, a social media strategist and advisory board member for Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, studied the challenges and opportunities available for providers via Twitter. In the end, he identified 140 different healthcare uses for Twitter – an oldie but goodie for those in need of ideas when it comes to tweeting for and about health.

More than 1,200 U.S. hospitals are now actively using social media sites. And that number is climbing every day. Thanks to Ed Bennett, web operations manager at the University of Maryland Medical Center (and also an advisory board member for Mayo Clinic social media), we have better insight into the scope of social media use among hospitals. Here’s the latest breakdown of the number of hospital accounts/pages per social networking site:

• Facebook: 1,068
• Foursquare: 946
• Twitter: 814
• YouTube: 575
• LinkedIn: 566
• Blogs: 149

If so many healthcare providers are putting it out there on so many sites, it must be simple, right? Wrong. We all know representing an organization via social media is much more complex than managing personal accounts, so it’s important to know what you’re doing behind the scenes. Fortunately, help is out there, like this list of 20 Excellent Social Media Networking Resources for Health Professionals, compiled recently by HealthWorks Collective.

I’m looking forward to a thought-provoking discussion by our panelists this week. We will update you with the biggest takeaways and lessons learned next week.

In our last post, we talked about word clouds and their practical uses beyond the blog. This week, we’ll continue that discussion in lieu of our recent discoveries at SHSMD Connections 2011, an annual conference hosted by the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development. The event was a meeting of the minds from all levels of hospital communications, and the word cloud was our way of learning more about what’s on their minds.

SHSMD attendees participated by entering today’s hot topics into our word cloud app. You can view the results here. But what do the results tell us about the directions and challenges hospital marketers face as we head into 2012?

The most commonly used phrase was “physician strategies,” with “social media” coming in close behind. Many hospital strategists are looking for effective ways to engage with physicians and patients. While social media continues to grow as a cost-effective way to expand reach and frequency, strategists are struggling with how to reconcile professional relationships with online social platforms—and even how to get people to “Like” or “Follow” their hospitals in the first place, let alone leverage that affinity. It’s a challenge many of today’s healthcare marketers must untangle, and clearly engagement is the name of the game.

Other issues taking center stage for healthcare marketers include:

• Direct marketing – promoting what works to grow market share.

• Brand building – on-target messaging in the midst of health reform and ACO debates.

• Market-driven plans (and plans that drives markets) – thinking strategically and delivering creatively.

• Better returns – demonstrating improved ROI and ROE as direct results of marketing efforts.

If your marketing initiatives don’t include solid strategic planning in the areas described above, you’re missing opportunities to enhance relationships, grow in volume, improve your brand and more.

What about you—what’s on your mind in healthcare marketing today? If you didn’t share with us at SHSMD, feel free to do so in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you.

After I purchased my first smartphone more than a year ago, it wasn’t long before it became an invaluable part of my daily life. So when I ran across an article asking how healthcare workers ever lived without their iPhones, iPads and other portable, “smart” technologies, I was far from surprised.  But while I mostly use my smart phone for news updates, Google searches and social media, many healthcare providers are using mobile devices to improve their practice. 

A recent survey found:

• Among physicians currently using mobile devices in their practice, 56 percent said the devices expedite decision making.
• Nearly 40 percent said the use of mobile devices decreases time spent on administration.
• Forty percent of physicians said they could reduce the number of office visits by 11 to 30 percent by using mobile health technologies like remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients.

The study also found patients are eager for mobile healthcare as well:

• Thirty-one percent of consumers are willing to incorporate an application into their existing mobile phones to be able track and monitor their personal health information.
• Forty percent of consumers are willing to pay for a device and a monthly subscription fee for a mobile phone application that would send text and e-mail reminders to take their medications, refill prescriptions, or to access their medical records and track their health.

As a healthcare marketer, I welcome this trend as it provides yet another vehicle to help physicians reach patients where they live, work and play.  As a patient, it seems it’s only a matter of time before I’m using my smartphone to manage my health in addition to my social life.

We’ve all done it:

We suffer from a sniffle that lasts a bit longer than usual and we’re off to a search engine to self-diagnose our mystery illness.  Depending on the search results (and our levels of persistence and paranoia), either we are comforted that we’ve simply contracted the common cold…or we’re convinced that we’ve developed a CSF leak and the fluid that surrounds our brain is escaping through our nose!

Those of us who believe the second diagnosis are likely falling victim to cyberchondria:

“… the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomatology, based on the review of search results and literature on the Web.”

And as health content on the Web continues to grow, we risk becoming cyberchondriacs with every Google or Bing search query.

To help curb cases of cyberchondria, some believe it is the responsibility of the search engines to provide results the public can trust.  While I agree the search engines play a role, I believe the solution begins with healthcare marketers and Web writers.  We have the responsibility to work with physicians, nurses and other medical professionals to produce complete, accurate and understandable information for the search engines to deliver to the online community. Studies show this kind of quality information is not always available for certain conditions, which leads medical experts to warn against relying too much on the Internet for education.

Ultimately, however, it falls to healthcare consumers to do their part.  While it is important to be vigilant advocates for our health and make an effort to educate ourselves, we must be prudent in our research, both online and off, and remember to balance our findings with the first-hand opinions of medical professionals.

In the wake of the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, social media is proving once again to be a powerful tool for sharing information and raising funds in times of crisis.  Check out these stats:

• Three days after the earthquake, 3% of all blog posts were related to Haiti’s earthquake.
• By January 15, the American Red Cross’ Twitter account had gained more than 10,000 followers.
• By January 22, 42% of Facebook users in the United States had donated money or goods to aid Haiti relief  -  23% of these donors did so via text message.  
• More than $25 million has been raised for the American Red Cross’ relief effort in Haiti through $10-donations made by simply texting HAITI to 90999.

These figures help reinforce the belief that people turn to social media not just to consume information, but also to connect and engage in meaningful ways with organizations and each other.

Now that we’re a full month into 2010, I wonder how many people have given up their New Year’s resolution to get healthy and fit. After seeing a story on television about an incentive-based weight loss Web site, I was curious to learn if they had discovered a new way to help people stay on track. Turns out, Healthywage.com helps people make healthy choices – and the best part is they reward those who succeed!

After analyzing each participant’s health history, goals and preferences, Healthywage.com designs a personalized health program that includes weight loss goals, nutritional information and guidelines, and overall wellness goals. There is no cost to participate at the basic level but those who want to enhance their motivation and super-size their reward can choose to invest $150 or $400. Those who reach their annual goal by following the proposed program and program rules receive up to $1,000 depending on their investment. How cool is that? 

From a marketing perspective, the new Web site’s late January launch is perfectly timed to capture the attention of those who have lost interest in their weight-loss resolution. Sometimes, timing (and now, reward) is everything. What a great way to get healthy and fit!

In 2009, the potential negative consequences of text messaging became a dominant hot topic in tech news.  From the dangers of texting while driving (or even walking!) to the serious implications facing teens who send explicit photos via cell phone, it might seem like this convenient method of communication has been causing more harm than good.

Thankfully, however, some have discovered ways to harness the positive power of the text message.  For example, researchers in New York have discovered that sending medication reminders via text message to young liver transplant patients can improve the rate of adherence thus reducing the chance of organ rejection.  Another study found that people were more likely to wear sunscreen if they received a daily text message reminding them to do so.  And public health programs in California are using text messages to educate teens and young adults about STDs and sexual health.  We’ve even recommended the use of texting to help our clients reach out to Gen Y moms-to-be.

As texting continues to grow in popularity (an estimated 4.1 BILLION text messages are sent/received EVERY DAY, double the number from 2008), I’m hopeful we’ll find more and more ways to use this simple, low-cost technology to encourage healthy habits.

Several weeks ago I received an email from a friend who recently applied for an amazing job at a California winery.  This innovative winery is looking for a “Social Media Whiz.”  It’s a temporary (6 month) position that calls for wine tasting, exploring vineyards, learning about winemaking and then reporting off on these experiences online.

The vineyard must have known there would be applicants lining up among the grapes, because they added a unique twist to the application process:  instead of sending a resume to apply, every candidate creates a video about why they are the right one for the job. This means every wine-loving ‘twit’ out there is sending their video to everyone in their email, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter contact lists and asking each to vote for them. Out of hundreds of videos that will be submitted, only ten videos will be chosen by the public as the best. The ten candidates will then be interviewed for the job.

At the end of the voting period, potentially thousands of people will be checking the winery Web site to vote for their favorite candidate. Talk about a great marketing strategy! The selection process becomes a promotional vehicle before the real promotion (blogs, etc.) even begins!  I’d like to see their Web stats after this promotion is over! 

It is our job as marketers to find these kinds of ‘guerilla marketing’ opportunities for our clients, especially in a down economy. Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive – just creative and memorable.  Before receiving the email from my friend, I had never heard of this winery. But now I find myself researching them online, browsing their Web site and checking out their wine selection. Oh and P.S. I did go back and vote for my friend!