Trends in Social Media for Hospitals & Health Care Organizations – notes from Blog Talk Radio

Today I listened in on a show on Perspectives in Health System Transformation on Blog Talk Radio hosted by Gregg Masters. Today’s topic was “Trends in Social Media for Hospitals & Health Care Organizations”(Listen here). The speaker for today’s topic was Ed Bennett of “Found in Cache: Social Media resources for health care professionals.”

Notes taken during the show:

• What is social media? – position it to be something undramatic, many engage in it and use it as a communication tool (email, phone, fax, etc.) and social media is yet another tool for us to use appropriately as a communication vehicle.
• Positioning it as a matter of fact…..is how to make it less scary.
• Conversations like this (about social media) are going on, and if we are not involved we don’t know what others are saying of us and more importantly we can’t participate either.

• Where is it being leveraged within organizations? – Majority seem to be those that are already in the communications area or marketing (public relations, web team, marketing, etc). Already have an awareness of their organizations public image….a way to reach outwards to their public (sees them in the best light).

• What impact on the organization is there? – types of messages posted about hospitals tend to be positive or neutral. Once in a while they are negative, but typical (wait times, menu, etc.) However, they are not usually about more serious events (i.e. lawsuits) although we should be aware these may exist.
• If an organization tends to become more engaged they often then thank the public, direct them to other resources, assist them.

• 540 Hospitals total (across all platforms – blog, twitter, facebook, etc.) – best in class?
• Ed’s List – Hospital Social Media List
• (real interesting stats here on his blog) “Over 1,000 Hospital Social Media Sites“
• State Hospital association or American Hospital Association. – Henry Ford Health, Mayo Clinic…..he has a list posted
• Look at the hospital’s twitter feed and if there is more than just there news feeds that you have found an organization that is doing it right.

• Mystery Shoppers in the health care space – an idea to perhaps explore.

• Justification for using resources in this topic – Ed tries to take this off the agenda, does not keep metrics, it just something we should do. More and more people go to the internet first to find out about health care. Many then turn to social media tools to talk to friends, relatives, family members to reach out to them for advice, assistance and resources during a health crisis.
• Hospitals then need to be a part of this. What’s the ROI of using a phone? A phone is “a part of breathing air”, social media should be just another extension of our communication.
• 3 types – very negative, neutral, very positive – Positive – @CandidCIO very worth of following. Views all employees as brand ambassadors. Now these employees are on social media as well. It is up to as as and organization to embrace this and guide and help the employees to be greater brand ambassadors to our public.
• If you are in a neutral environment – then position this only as a another communication tool.
• If you are in a positive environment – then start embracing this and use it more.

• Do you know of a closed loop social media system? – there may be some (i.e. socialcast, ning, facebook group). There is a place for that but Mr. Bennette focus is more so towards the public. YES – Basic information, public updates, assisting. NO – touching of patient information – advising – diagnosing.

• Take on outsourcing social media consultants – There are some slick outsourced initiatives, but hospitals need to realize that the public are looking for more authentic, real people, conversations through these tools and this will be better recieved. Make this part of your normal business process.

• 2 or 3 recommended resources to stay current on trends – Lee Aase (Mayo Clinic) @leeaase facebook, twitter & best practices. Phil Bowman, RN (blog) – nature of social media as it realtes to health care, Sunday Nights – healthcare social media twitter chat (#hcsm)
• Get in, start participating. Best way to learn and know what’s really going on out there.
• Birthday of the first Healthcare Social Media twitter chat this Sunday Night. (#hscmBDay)