A Word From Our CEO About Healthcare 2.0

Earlier this week I attended the 3rd annual Healthcare New Media Conference (#hcnm).  This event, located in Evanston, IL, was devoted to the pursuit of social media for healthcare marketers.  I was impressed with what many of the presenters are doing to engage their patients, physicians and peers using social media.  I was inspired to share some of the key learnings from the conference as well since we partner with several healthcare organizations. Below are the 6 tactics I learned that impacted my thinking the most:  

Identify the Players

• If drawing from existing resources, identify how much time key people should be allocating to social media and what their roles will be
• If hiring, research similar job openings and identify the requirements and expectations for the role

Get Creative!

• Schedule a reoccurring, internal brainstorming session on a bi-weekly or monthly basis
• Whiteboard all ideas and create a priority list with rough timelines to begin filling out your social media editorial calendar

Plan Ahead

• Create a social media policy which outlines rules of engagement, escalation procedures, HIPPA guidelines, terms & conditions, and crisis   procedures
• Research and identify proper monitoring, publishing and moderating tools for team usage

Establish Social Channels and Identify Strategy and Goals for Each Channel

• Facebook and/or Twitter
• YouTube for videos (Free channels available for non-profit companies)
• Flickr for photos
• LinkedIn for recruiting and professional networking
• Four Square or Facebook Places for check-in’s at hospital or medical group locations

Start Listening

• Tools like SocialMention and Google Alerts offer free monitoring of your brand, competitors and industry

Join the Conversation!

• Facebook can be used for building an online community, also for donations/fundraising, event management and contests and quizzes
• Twitter can serve as a platform to connect patients, physicians and community members.  Use hashtags to help people connect