Ed Bennet compiled a wonderful list of how Hospitals are using social media. As can be seen on the graph below, of 540 Hospitals that have a social media presence, there are 227 YouTube Profiles, 419 Twitter Accounts, 316 Facebook Pages, and 67 Blogs. While some hospitals are on multiple social media platforms, others are on none. More often than not, a Hospital with a Facebook page, YouTube profile or Blog also has a Twitter account. The opposite is not necessarily true, as having a Twitter account does not indicate that Hospitals will also have other social media assets (like Facebook and Twitter).
Number of Social Media Accounts by Hospitals.
Does this mean Twitter is the best place for Hospital to be? No – but Twitter is the easiest. In fact, Twitter’s explosive growth is in large part due to its ease of adoption and ease of use. Also, a tool like Twitter does not allow other users to post content (like health care advice) on hospital Web assets, which potentially can leave the Hospital open to Regulatory scrutiny. Twitter has also been receiving a huge amount of press, partly due to posts like this from Phil Baumann who wrote about ‘140 Health Care Uses for Twitter‘. You can click through the presentation below to learn more:
Undoubtedly, all social media platforms have a place to supplement, and even augment, existing campaigns (advertising, PR, training, patient care, etc.). However, even with its popularity, abundant use-cases, and relative ease of adoption and use, Twitter is not necessarily the best choice for every hospital. Before deciding where to focus your time and energy, step back and first ask – what do you need to accomplish to be successful? Than, take a good hard look at your social media strategy (I recommend this post from Chris Brogan to learn more about establishing your social media strategy).
Once your strategy is cemented, then identify the best social media platform. From a high-level, the following are great for different use-cases:
- Facebook: Sharing things (thoughts, pictures, discussions, etc.) with people your organization cares about, and with people who care about your organization.
- Twitter: Share and discover what’s happening in the world, right now.
- YouTube: Broadcast what your organization feels is important to your target audience
- Blogs: Publish information and receive comments
Not sure if social media is right for your hospital? Check out these relevant statistics by Ad-ology Research and its Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey:
- 1 in 4 hospital, urgent care patients influenced by social media
- Of social media types, forums and discussion boards had a significant influence on 20% of 25-to-34 year olds who recently made a visit for maternity reasons
- Women accounted for approximately 60% of those who researched family doctors online
- Hospital/urgent care websites had the most influence on 18-to-24-year old patients (53.8%)
- Comparatively, TV had the most influence on all respondents (22.3%), followed by newspapers (21.9%)
According to C. Lee Smith, president and CEO of Ad-ology Research. “Urgent care and maternity provide excellent opportunities to connect with younger consumers, and social media is the way to engage this group,” Smith said.
What do you think? What social media platform offers the best ROI potential for hospitals?
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That rss feature on your site here is amazing, you should tell more folks about it in your upcoming post. I haven’t noticed it a first, now I’m using it each morning to check on any updates. I’m on a real slow dial-up connection in Brazil and it’s quite hindering to sit there and wait for such a long time ’til the page loads… but hey, I just found your rss page and added it to the Google Reader and there you are… I’m always up-to-date! Well buddy, keep up the good work and make that rss button a little bigger so that other people can enjoy that as well
Interesting blog you got here but I can’t seem to find the RSS button.
Thanks for stopping by, Scott! Sorry that you didn’t find the RSS feed – you can click on the ‘follow me’ button on the left side, or on the little RSS icon on the upper right. You can also gran the feed directly from this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ActionThroughInteraction
Nice post Mark! Here is a great article/case study (http://j.mp/bHbERn) about the University of Maryland Medical Center social media efforts, one of the first hospitals to embrace twitter. Their foray into the space have been very successful and cost effective.
Thanks for stopping by, Stein – Interesting post indeed! While it looks like it has been effective, it looks like they didn’t assign a ROI figure to the campaign, nor did they explain how the social media activity helped achieve certain goals. I do find the following comment on ROI interesting: “One of the top questions Chris Lindsley (Web site editor) gets asked from healthcare communicators is: ‘What’s your ROI?‘ His response: ‘If you’re not spending anything, it’s pretty unlimited.’ ” While using the technologies is (in most cases) free, content development, and the hours to properly maintain presence across multiple networks certainly comes at a cost. And what added benefit has it actually provided? Number of followers and number of videos is, at the end of the day, immaterial unless it results in progress towards the Center’s goals.
In this case, however, it looks like Twitter has helped them obtain valuable feedback, while YouTube and Facebook have made the institution more appealing, “human”, and approachable – all good impressions for the University of Maryland Medical Center to have. Like in any communication campaign, its important to first identify what you are trying to accomplish. This case study offers valuable insight for others. If you want client feedback, Twitter is a great, and Yelp can be useful, too. Want to make your institution more approachable? Try Facebook or Youtube. Need to create focus groups and get patient and provider input? Try a community site (like Ning) or enable discussions on the Facebook fan page (but make sure to understand the regulatory landscape, first!).
Some other great sites to consider when debating how your hospital should use social media:
1. What Hospitals Are Doing in Social Media – Update to Social Media Case Studies Superlist – Read more.
2. Hospitals Social Media -A Healthy Look at Social Media –
3. Twitter Brain Surgery? How One Hospital Uses Social Media – Read more.