Three Types of Social Media Content Your Hospital Needs

September 9, 2016Leave a comment

Over the years, I’ve had many successes and failures with engaging audiences on social media. Through trial and error, I’ve learned that three basic types of social media content (when well-written and accompanied by great photography) always perform well, earning likes, shares and comments galore.

Boost engagement on your social media channels by posting the following types of content:

Warm and Fuzzy. People want a hospital that’s friendly and compassionate. Show off your warm and fuzzy side through patient stories and photos, thanking donors or sharing stories from employees. Don’t make these posts about your marketing; keep the focus on the person doing the talking. People love a good story and love to see good things happening at hospitals.
Truly Helpful. With the gobs of bad health information on the internet these days, it’s vital for hospitals to share reliable, useful health information. Again, don’t make these posts about you; these posts are about truly helping your patients with a problem they are facing. Maybe you post a blog about how to manage chemo side effects; maybe you share a video of how to properly swaddle a baby. Find out what questions your patients are asking and give them the answers, free of overt advertising.
Behind the Scenes. People find the medical field fascinating, even when it is a little gross. Find ways to bring your followers behind the scenes. Share what music your surgeons listen to. Show them what the rods inside a broken arm look like. Explain exactly how small da Vinci robotic tools are and make a video of your surgeon painting someone’s nails with the machine. People want to feel included and like they’ve learned a secret.

This content stands out among the sea of wellness blogs, articles about various studies and announcements about new doctors or certifications. Remember, social media marketing is about writing what people want to hear, not about what you want to tell them.

10 Great Social Media Contributors Already at Your Hospital

August 3, 2016Leave a comment

If you’re the only person who works on social media at your hospital, you’re not alone. You may not realize it, but there are great social media contributors roaming your hospital halls.

To keep your social media fresh and buzzing, it’s important that you find the contributors scattered throughout your health system. Though the people who will make good contributors varies from hospital to hospital, these 10 people are good place to start to find great content:

Key service line marketers. Social media should highlight the warm and fuzzy side of your key service lines. For instance, if your hospital is known for great cancer care, you need to connect with the cancer service line marketer to find inspiring patient (and staff!) stories that humanize your care.
Volunteer director. People love to see other people doing good things. Your volunteer director may know of volunteers with special stories or help you get pictures of volunteers in action. If your volunteers include pet therapy dogs, then you definitely need pictures of those volunteers.
Director of development/fundraising/your foundation. If you have a large fundraising event coming up, let people know. Stay close with the person in charge of fundraising to find ways to promote upcoming events or highlight donors.
Community outreach coordinator. Your community outreach coordinator knows how your hospital is involved in the community. Try to get pictures from community events, promote the events and share tips from community education classes.
Diabetes educator/dietitian. People love great advice about living well. Your diabetes educator or dietitian has a treasure trove of great advice and recipes you can turn into infographics, blogs and more.
Athletic trainer/physical therapist. The other key aspect of living well is moving well. Ask your athletic trainers or physical therapists for exercise-related topics for your blog and Facebook posts, whether it is quick and easy exercise, stretches to relieve pain or tips on improving running technique.
Director of nursing. Nurses work hard; give them some love! Your director of nursing can help you tell a nurse’s story every month, congratulate Daisy award winners or feature photos from department events. Your employees will love being recognized online and be more likely to follow you on social media.
Doctors who volunteer. Many doctors are too busy to contribute to social media, but you can always ask if any of them are interested in helping out. If a few respond yes, work with them to come up with ways they can help you create content.
Your chaplains/social workers. Your chaplains and social workers understand better than anyone the stress your patients are facing. They can help you write blogs about handling hospitalization and be on the lookout for inspiring stories. If you are a religious hospital, you may also want your chaplain to contribute prayers or Bible verses.
Your medical school marketing department. If your hospital is partnered with a medical school, work with their marketing department to highlight students and residents in your facility.

After you get the help of the 10 people above, your job will be a lot easier! You’ll also find that your social media channels are more active and engaging.

Need help with social media training or content? Let me know!

What Your Hospital Can Learn from the HONY Memorial Sloan-Kettering Posts

May 20, 2016June 21, 2016Leave a comment

If you haven’t seen the beautiful photography and heart-wrenching stories from Memorial Sloan-Kettering on Humans of New York’s Facebook page, do yourself a favor and go check them out now. I’ll wait.

Now that you’ve cleared the tears from your eyes, it’s time to take a look at how your hospital can learn from the success of these posts and find new ways to connect with your patients and community online.

Besides benefiting from HONY’s massive following, these posts succeed because of:

Gorgeous photography. It can’t be said enough. Beautiful, original photography does extremely well online, receiving more likes, views and shares than any other type of post. If you don’t have a lot of photography of your hospital, it’s time to bring a professional in.
Truthful storytelling. Social media marketing is not so much about claims, but stories. The stories of doctors, nurses, administrators and families in HONY’s posts are honest and touching. They seem unedited by a marketing team. Consider letting your hospital show all aspects of care. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes treatment is really hard. Don’t shy away from these truths.
Doctor involvement. Your doctors need to be engaged in your marketing, period. Show off their humanity. They aren’t just robots writing prescriptions and removing gallbladders. They got into medicine to help people; tap into this altruism and let it shine.
Short posts. Sure, you can write a 900 word patient story, but a great photograph and a quick paragraph or two can be read quickly and often jumps out at people from their newsfeed. Consider breaking up your patient stories (even those you already have) into easily-digestible posts to boost engagement and promote your services.

Need help writing a patient story or managing your social media? Contact me and let me see what I can do to help!

Should Your Hospital Have an Instagram?

May 6, 2016May 11, 2016Leave a comment

The short answer? If not now, then probably very soon.

Instagram skews to younger users, leading many hospitals to discount the social networking site. After all, 19-year-olds don’t tend to spend a lot of money on doctors and hospitals.

In addition, photography at hospitals can lead to privacy issues, and good photography can be expensive.

However, if you are targeting new mothers or young adults (for instance if you are a children’s hospital, have women’s services or offer sports medicine services) you can really benefit from using the site right now. Over half of Internet users ages 18 to 29 use Instagram, and those users tend to be women.

Social media acts similarly to word of mouth, the number one way that a person finds a new doctor. Even a simple tag can be an endorsement of your services to that person’s friends and followers, who may be looking for the same services. A flyer in mother/baby rooms, admissions packets or at sports medicine gyms with your Instagram information is a simple way to help you get tagged.

Of course, if you are tagged, always congratulate your new mom or young athlete and thank them for sharing with you.

As Instagram grows and its users get older, the network will allow you to reach more and more healthcare decision makers and all hospitals will have to start paying attention. Instagram offers a valuable way to show off your brand, display your technology, humanize your doctors and celebrate your patients.

Even if you don’t have time to add content to the site now, it’s a good idea start collecting those photos and get the HIPAA consents ready. Your time on Instagram is coming.

Want help managing your social media accounts? Let me know!