The following post is a point/counterpoint piece addressing the potential benefits Google+ may offer hospitals and health systems. Should hospitals jump in now, or simply observe for future consideration? Is Google+ the next big thing in healthcare, or just one more social network to manage?  I will make a case for getting involved right away,  while Mark Miller (@mmiller20910 / +Mark Miller) from Children’s National Medical Center will argue a “wait and see” approach.  The purpose of this post is simply to provide both sides of the argument to help others weigh the pros and cons.  The thoughts reflected in our arguments do not necessarily represent our own personal views, as we both see opportunities as well as unanswered questions.

GROWTH

Point:

With an estimated 20 million users in the first three weeks, the Google+ project is making a strong case for social media relevancy.  Google’s leadership is clearly committed to adding (and supporting) a social layer to their existing products.  Hospitals and health systems already invested in social media should allocate some of their existing resources now in order to benefit from the early growth of Google+.  Is there a risk those resources will ultimately be wasted on Google+?  Of course, but it’s a calculated risk.  Google+ is worth the attention and poised for long-term growth.

Counterpoint:

This isn’t a question of whether Google+ may have value for hospitals – it surely will for some, if used strategically. But many hospitals and health systems have created Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts that are not being used strategically – many are still communicating one-way instead of truly engaging their constituents (patients, employees, partners, and others). And Ubicare estimates that 68 percent of hospital pages have fewer than 1,000 fans, and 44 percent have fewer than 500. For hospitals that have a grasp on social media and know what’s working and what they want to do, Google+ may fit into their strategies right away.  But for many others, now is a good time to evaluate your current efforts. First, determine what’s working, what’s not, and how you’re measuring your social media efforts. Then ask, who do you want to reach, and how do you want to engage with them? That will help shape your strategy for Google+.

SEARCH

Point:

Social search is real and Google+ is likely the best opportunity to make an impact on SCO (social content optimization).  When it comes to search, Google is still “king of the hill” and any opportunity to positively impact search results must be taken seriously.  A hospital’s online content, social relationships and the conversations those relationships foster are paramount to the success of the overall online presence – not just social media presence.

For some time now, Google has been working towards more personalized search results.  This includes search based on existing online relationships and real-time search rankings.  In fact, the impact of the +1 button, Google+ connections and Google+ shares is already impacting search results.  These two articles from SEOmoz and Search Engine Land are just two examples of the impact of social search.

Counterpoint:

If there’s one area where Google dominates, it’s search. For that reason alone, it’s hard to ignore the potential of Google+.  But it’s one of many tools that can enhance search results.  Hospitals and health systems should first tackle SEO basics – such as optimizing content, keeping content fresh, naming and designing pages appropriately, keyword analysis, link building, using Google Ad Words, and measuring results – before thinking Google+ will instantly push them to the top of search results. See “Social Media Marketing Vs SEO – Which Is Most Important?”  by Pam Lawhorne (@PamLawhorne) and the latest on search ranking factors from from SEOMoz (@SEOMoz).

BUZZ

Point:

Businesses (motivated by social search/analytics) and news media (motivated by real-time search and the absence of a 140 character limit) will likely drive more consumers to Google+ fueling growth.  Google has promised to “fast track” the launch of business profiles and when that happens there will be a frenzy of activity.

The overwhelming success of Facebook and Twitter can be partially attributed to the immense amount of free advertising businesses and news media dole out daily.  You can no longer peruse a magazine, read a print ad or listen to a news cast without some mention of Facebook and Twitter.  Due to the aforementioned search opportunities, it’s logical to expect similar advertising for Google+ with compelling consumer incentives attached.

Counterpoint:

The +1 button is already gaining in popularity and soon may be as omnipresent as that familiar “f” and the blue bird. But just because users can click +1 doesn’t mean they will. The key is providing content that users want to share. Now’s the time to do some analysis – based on your website, Facebook, and Twitter data, what types of content are your audiences responding to? What types of articles, videos, or photos do they click on, comment on, or share? Adding the +1 button is a good way to get started with Google+ while you wait for the launch of business pages, but focus on giving your users a reason to click.

MOMENTUM

Point:

Google+ is already relevant.  With an invite-only launch, Google+ has experienced explosive growth.  However, the most promising indication of future success is the public support it has garnered from a wide variety of social media thought leaders such as +Chris Brogan, +Steve Rubel, +Robert Scoble and +Brian Solis.

Another thing to consider is the inevitable integration of other Google products.  Lurking beneath the surface of Google+ is a whole host of technologies waiting their turn for Google engineers to integrate.  These are products millions of people already use such as Voice, Calendar, Analytics, Translate, Adwords, Docs, Reader, Music and more.  Treating Google+ as a “social layer” on top of these products puts it in a unique position among other social networks.

Counterpoint:

While the numbers for Google+ in such a short time are impressive, 20 million is a lot less than 750 million on Facebook.  Many people and organizations that have spent years building Facebook and Twitter followings are asking: “Does Google+ mean I need to start all over?” Not surprisingly, there is early momentum on Google+ among thought leaders in technology, social media, and health care. It’s already proving valuable for sharing ideas, comparing notes, and networking. But the real value will come with the mass adoption by “regular” people, which I don’t see happening quite yet.

FOCUS

Point:

Google+ is different.  It offers a better platform than Twitter for communicating your message by allowing for threaded comments, inline photos/video and no character limitations.  It also delivers better control than Facebook of your social relationships and the opportunity to easily craft a specific message to a targeted audience.

Counterpoint:

It’s great to be able to craft a specific message to the people you choose to send, but social media should empower recipients to choose what they receive, how they receive it, and what form they receive it in. One function I’m hoping to see in business pages that’s not currently offered on individual pages is the ability for people to “opt in” to the kind of content they want. If Google makes this a priority, Google+ will provide a valuable service that Facebook and Twitter do not.

I have some concern when I hear health care professionals talk about how great it will be to be able to create “circles” of patients. Physicians have generally been reluctant to connect with patients online, but that cautious approach is often thrown out when people discuss Google+. Health practitioners need to remain vigilant against privacy violations. Through human or technology error, many “private” or “limited” messages on Google+ will surely be shared more widely.

BUSINESS PAGES

Point:

Healthcare organizations are already getting involved.  According to the preliminary data collected by Ed Bennett (@edbennett), there are several hospitals already using Google+.  Presumably these accounts are temporary as they await business profiles but in the meantime, they are busy building connections on a social platform with tremendous potential.

Counterpoint:  Google has specifically asked businesses and nonprofits to refrain from creating organizational accounts, but the positive reception to Google+ makes me think it will be worth the short wait. In the meantime, hospitals and health systems should discuss how they will use Google+ — relative to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media channels – and prepare content so they’re ready to hit the ground running when Google launches business pages.

SUMMARY

Point:

Although Facebook is not likely to be dethroned any time soon, the potential Google+ promises has a good chance to level the social media playing field.  Historically, early adopters taking calculated risks are rewarded with recognition as industry innovators.  Sure business profiles haven’t been launched yet, but jumping in and getting a head start is not a bad idea.

Will your hospital be the first to answer patient questions as you live stream a Google Hangout with a handful of surgeons?  What about live-streaming a surgery with expert commentary?  It’s an opportunity to innovate.  In the worst case scenario, Google+ flounders and your organization gains valuable insight into the future of social search.

Counterpoint:

With the use of any new technology, there are advantages to being first. There are also advantages to letting other people work out the kinks while you learn from their experiences. The question isn’t whether all hospitals and health systems should or should not invest time and resources into Google+ — the question is whether Google+ is right for your organization. Who are your priority audiences? Where are they? How do you want to engage with them, and (perhaps more important) how do they want to engage with you?

Recent storms are a reminder to update crisis plans

We’ve had a particularly violent storm season this Spring in the St. Louis area, but this past weekend it turned destructive.  For the 4th time in a week the local warning sirens were blaring on Friday night while I was at a local retail store.  All customers in the store were quickly herded to the back as rumors spread of the impending storm.  Phones were buzzing with text messages and mobile data users were checking on Facebook to gather information.  It turns out we were directly in the path of a storm that had just caused severe damage at Lambert St. Louis Airport.

Fortunately, the storm passed – sparing the store and it’s occupants.  On my short drive home, I squinted through the dark to see if anything in town had been damaged.   I didn’t see anything that was cause for alarm and was relieved to find my house seemingly unscathed.  It wasn’t until early the next morning I realized how close the town came to a catastrophe.

It turns out, just east town a tornado had touched down causing widespread damage in the rural surroundings.  I couldn’t help but think “what if”?  What if it had touched down right in the middle of town where it is densely populated with residential homes and commercial buildings.  Our hospital, which had moved patients into the hallways, lies straight west of the most damaged area.  So does the fire department/EMS building.  With no disrespect to those affected by the damage, we were very lucky.

Looking back on the incident, I’m reminded of an article I read some time ago on Ed Bennett’s blog.   Ed had detailed an example of how Innovis Health in Fargo, North Dakota used social media in it’s crisis communications efforts when flood waters reached historic levels and caused extensive damage.  For several days, Innovis was the only hospital in Fargo fully operational and had the added responsibility of overseeing helicopter evacuations.

Every hospital has a crisis communications plan. Does yours include social media as a tool? – Ed Bennett

In this case, a firm managing the Innovis social media presence used a Wordpress blog and Twitter feed to communicate with the press and fellow Fargo residents.  These efforts allowed the hospital to inform the public while keeping the phone lines open for medical emergencies.

When I started writing this article last night, I was unaware of the violent storms wreaking havoc across several southern states.  As of 5:30 EST, CNN is reporting the storms have caused nearly 300 fatalities – most of which have been in Alabama.  You can imagine what challenges local hospitals are facing as their own crisis communication plans are being implemented.  Only time will tell what role social media may have played.

With the right tools in place, I don’t think there’s any doubt social media can play an important role in crisis communication.  The rapid growth of mobile applications only increases the potential for reaching a large audience in a very short period of time.  The quicker accurate information is delivered to a broad audience, the better.  Do you have a social media crisis communication story to share?  If so, please feel free to leave relay your experiences in the comments section.

Other Crisis Communication Resources:

From Twitter to Megaphones: 9 Lessons Learned About Crisis Communication

Expert Roundtable on Social Media and Risk Communication During Times of Crisis (pdf)

For several years now, I have been actively involved in issues related to reputation management for physicians.  It’s an issue I’ve discussed at length with clients and offered thoughts on this blog.  Through my research, I have come across some pretty interesting examples of the challenges physicians face in a world where there are dozens of online review sites.  However, last month I stumbled across a very interesting situation where a doctor’s decision to sue the son of one of his patients for a negative review resulted in a reputation disaster.

After the lawsuit was detailed twice in a Minnesota newspaper, a local resident took action by posting a critical comment and link (screenshot below) on the social news site, Reddit.   With a user-controlled ranking system Reddit features the most popular posts to an audience generating over 1 million page visits per day.  As you might expect, negative exposure on a site like this leads to undesirable consequences.

I have no interest in offering insight into the specifics of the legal matter as my knowledge of how this all transpired is limited to the information provided in the newspaper articles.  However, the fallout from the lawsuit certainly warrants exploration.  There is something to be learned from this for those in a position to advise physicians about appropriate responses to negative reviews.  It’s necessary to have an understanding of the potential backlash if your response is not well received by the general public.  This situation also illustrates the need to have a strategy to help prevent a scenario that may lead to irreparable harm to the physician’s reputation.

Screenshot of the post on Reddit

Timeline and Consequences

June of 2010 – A doctor from Duluth, Minnesota files a lawsuit against the son of a former patient claiming the son made defamatory statements about his father’s care.   The statements were allegedly posted on a physician review site in addition to complaints lodged with the associated hospital and other third parties.  The local paper publishes an article reporting the lawsuit where the defendant’s lawyer admits his client posted the negative review but later requested successfully for it to be removed from the site.

February 2011 – The local newspaper publishes a follow up story regarding the lawsuit with an update of the legal proceedings.

March 2011 -  A regular user of the social news website, Reddit, posted a link to the story on March 21st, 2011 while suggesting the Reddit community should post poor ratings for this doctor on various physician review sites.

A simple Google search reveals this is exactly what happened.  After examining some of the top search results for the doctor’s name, it is clear the Reddit post triggered a large number of negative reviews – many of which are clearly fabricated.  The following is just a sample of what I found.

Google Place Page – Since Google pulls in reviews from various sources, my focus was only on those reviews posted through the Google Review service.  There were 33 reviews (all of which were negative) and every one was posted on March 22nd or later.

Vitals – There were a total of 39 written reviews.  32 of the reviews were posted on March 21st or later and each one was negative.

Healthgrades – There were 34 patient ratings on Healthgrades (mostly negative).  In this case, the dates of each review are not posted so it’s unclear how many of them are a result of the Reddit community response.

I’m not all that surprised by the backlash – especially considering the story gained considerable traction on Reddit.  It’s just another good example of the viral power social media possesses.  One the other hand, the situation raises some interesting questions.

1. Will the existence of physician review sites ultimately improve the bedside manner of providers?  Given the risk of potentially harming a professional reputation, will doctors actually change the way patients are treated?  There is a solid argument it will have some impact especially if the review sites find more ways of encouraging patients to post.
2. Should healthcare organizations be educating physicians so they can gain a better understanding of the online space?
3. Filing a lawsuit against a patient for a negative review is a very slippery slope – even if the statements are defamatory.  What alternative actions exist for dealing with a harmful or misleading review?  This question is generic and does not imply the patient in this case made any defamatory statements.  That is for the courts to decide.
4. Should review sites have tools in place to prevent backlash scenarios such as this?  I’m a little puzzled about the apparent lack of action on each of these sites.  If a page on their site suddenly sees a HUGE spike in activity from IP addresses all over the US (presumably the world), shouldn’t that raise a red flag?  I don’t think it’s too much to ask for review sites to examine the situation when a physician listing goes from zero reviews to 30+ reviews in 2 days – all negative.

Please respond with your feedback on this issue.  I believe the review sites have a place in healthcare, but both the review sites and the physicians need to have a better understanding of how the process can improve healthcare.  After all, this is really about the patients having access to reliable information when they are making their own healthcare decisions.

Twitter chats for doctors

Phil Baumann (@philbaumann), creator of the popular #RNchat Twitter hashtag, recently announced a new Twitter hashtag specifically for doctors.  A growing number of health care industry insiders have been participating in various Twitter discussions for a couple of years now.  However, this is the first organized Twitter chat targeting physicians.  In my opinion, it’s a great idea and it fills a void in the Twitterverse for physicians looking to find a community outside of the traditional healthcare discussions at #hcsm, #hcmktg, etc.

According to Phil, the basic idea is for physicians to benefit in the following ways:

• to be more involved online
• to understand and use social media
• to network with each other
• to cross pollinate with others in health care

The chats began in early October and participation has been promising.  Both the volume of participants and the quality of conversation has improved over time.  Transcripts from previous Twitter chats can be reviewed by visiting the MDchat website.   The next scheduled chat will be tonight 10/26/2010 at 9:00 EST so please help spread the word.

To give you an idea of what you can expect from #MDchat discussions, I pulled the topics of a previous chat on 10/12/2010 from the transcripts.

1. What media technologies do you use most often?  Why?  What would you like to see come to market?
2. In reference to a New York Times article, are examination basics being lost? Or improved?

At the moment, the topics are chosen in advance by Phil or through submitted ideas.  Occasionally, spontaneous topics emerge due to the fact Twitter chats are an open forum.  If you would like to suggest a topic for future #MDchat discussions, simply fill out the available web form.

Ultimately, the goal is to grow the #MDchat discussions over time and find physicians willing to moderate the conversations.  This may lead to multiple chats per week in order to accommodate busy schedules and even the potential for specialty specific chats.

Phil hopes #MDchat will attract more physicians to Twitter creating an environment where they address issues such as physician led innovation, reliable sources of medical content, discussing research with patients, health care reform and more.  Twitter chats can be confusing – even for people with a strong understanding of Twitter.  For those physicians new to Twitter or Twitter chats, the use of  a service such as TweetChat.com goes a long way in making the process simpler.

Other resources from Phil Baumann:

RNchat

Health is Social

Phil Baumann Blog

I recently had the opportunity to discuss some issues related to dermatologists and social media with a writer from the Dermatology Times, John Jesitus.  The resulting article of our conversation is available as a full website version, abridged version or the digital publication.

Like many medical specialties, Dermatology practices stand to truly benefit from a strong social media presence.  In addition, Dermatologists have some additional opportunities utilizing various social platforms because of the fact they typically offer some cash-based services.  For example, aesthetic and other procedures not covered by insurance can be discounted unlike most medical services.

Dermatologists have unique social media benefits

Why is the ability to discount important?  Special offers are very well-received and often shared in the social environment.  This added benefit is strictly marketing based but it’s measurable and effective.  Dermatologists can incentivize patients or prospective patients through social channels by offering special discounts.  Furthermore, they can leverage their existing social connections to announce these types of offers.

Marketing alone is definitely not the only benefit dermatologists receive from embracing social media.  Opening up new lines of communication with patients, sharing valuable medical information and humanizing healthcare among many other benefits outweigh the perceived risks.  Done properly, it can be a much more cost-effective solution than conventional media.

The following post is an excerpt from an upcoming article in a journal for the Association of Staff Physician Recruiters.  It’s the first in a series of articles addressing the opportunities of physician recruiting through social media networks.

Utilizing Social Media in the Physician Recruiting Process

For the past two years, many hospitals and health systems have been gradually implementing various aspects of social media into their marketing and communications strategy.  The healthcare industry has learned a variety of ways to leverage these platforms for a multitude of organizational benefits.  One of these emerging benefits is physician recruiting.

When it comes to recruiting physicians through social media channels, there are two primary functions.  First and foremost, social media offer excellent channels to communicate available physician openings.  Second, a strong social presence can assist in selling that opportunity.

Social media has created a dramatic shift in the ways people now communicate – physicians included.  Despite the fact physicians are generally busy and difficult to reach, they are becoming increasingly active on mainstream social networks.  Reaching out to physician candidates via social media is a good long-term strategy.

Four Mainstream Social Networks You Can Leverage

Although there are a handful of social networks solely intended for physicians, the opportunities for recruiting on such networks are limited or expensive.  Mainstream social networks offer a cost effective alternative for savvy physician recruiters.  In today’s online climate there are four such networks worthy of recruiting attention.

1. Facebook

The exponential growth and usage of Facebook is very well documented.  The number of hospitals creating and managing Facebook pages is also growing rapidly.  Organizations have learned how to improve the quality of the Facebook experience and connect with patients or other members of the community.  Consequently, many well-managed hospital Facebook pages have evolved into powerful communication portals.

By nature, Facebook fan pages offer an environment where hospitals can address many of the typical recruiting challenges.  Promoting the community, opportunity, differentiators and healthcare climate of a hospital should be a priority on these pages.

Effective hospital Facebook pages encourage user generated content.  This almost always contains unsolicited testimonials from users of the page.  It also serves to increase the volume of traffic to the page providing more opportunity to recruit.

2. Twitter

Twitter offers many communication benefits to hospitals and physician recruiting can now be counted among them.  Recruiters are beginning to understand how to connect with other healthcare professionals directly and through Twitter hashtag communities.

Utilizing Twitter search can allow recruiters to find medical professionals by region or by specialty.  When recruiters build a large, targeted list of followers their tweets are made available to a broader audience and are more likely to be shared with others.  Another benefit of Twitter is the ability to integrate tweets with Facebook and Linkedin – expanding the audience even further.

Physician recruiting on Twitter

3. YouTube

Although YouTube doesn’t provide a dedicated space for posting job listings, it can be an important component of social media recruitment.  Video creation, editing and uploading have become a very simple process and if a picture is worth 1000 words, a video is worth 10,000. Video can be used to promote the hospital, practice and community makingYouTube an excellent complimentary recruiting tool.

YouTube is also very search friendly.  Physicians looking to research an opportunity are likely to find videos that recruiters have posted to YouTube and like Twitter, YouTube videos can be easily shared or embedded into other social platforms.

4. Linkedin

Perhaps the most natural recruiting fit of the mainstream social platforms is Linkedin.  This is because its primary function is to connect professionals.  Within Linkedin, there are a variety of groups related to doctors and healthcare, allowing for strong networking possibilities.  In addition, Linkedin has a built-in job posting service leveraging the various degrees of connections on the network.  The site claims that a single job listing is shared an average of 11 times with colleagues.

Third Party Services

Social media engagement is not a simple process.  It requires a detailed understanding of each platform used.  It also requires time and resources which is why many hospitals have turned to third party services to assist with their social media efforts.  There are several services available, but two of them in particular are being used actively by healthcare recruiting pioneers.

1. Tweet My Jobs

TweetMyJobs.com works by tweeting your job listings to a targeted group of prospective job seekers.  They have 9,500+ job channels broken down by region or job type.  These job types do include a wide variety of physician specialties.  One of their newer service offerings, JobBurst, adds a layer on top of their core tweeting service in order to promote listings on Linkedin and Facebook as well.

In an effort to automate the listing process, Tweet My Jobs can electronically scrape current job listings posted by their clients and then tweet the listing to the targeted group of Twitter followers.  Gary Zukowski, CEO of TweetMyJobs.com says, “Hospitals and healthcare in general have been surprising and progressive users of the service.”  In fact, they have more healthcare clients than nearly any other industry.

TweetMyJobs.com Service

2. Jobing Technology Services

Jobing Technology Services enables you to integrate your hospital career center within a Facebook fan page.  This allows physicians and other healthcare professionals to research your hospital, find a position and apply for a position within the Facebook framework.

The service is made possible with a custom application called Jobs on Facebook. It can be used on a page dedicated to recruiting or the application can be added as a tab to an existing hospital Facebook page.

Physician job listings using the Jobing Tech application

Social Recruiting in Practice

The number of hospitals already using mainstream social media to supplement their physician recruiting efforts is clearly growing.  One such organization is St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix which is a member of the Catholic Healthcare West system.

De Anne Russell, a human resources recruiter for St. Joseph’s points out they are still learning the nuances of social media, but “our social recruiting efforts have been a huge success – especially in increasing community awareness of St. Joseph’s as a desirable employer.”

Their progressive approach to social recruiting, which began in May of 2009, was well planned and clearly defined.  Not only are they attracting strong candidates but the organization views their social media effort as a way to demonstrate the St. Joseph’s career experience.  By communicating expectations upfront, they expect to further decrease an already impressive first year turnover rate.

Recruiting on Facebook

The HR team at St. Joseph’s utilizes both of the third party applications mentioned in this article.  When it comes to Twitter, each of the recruiters has their own Twitter account broadening the scope of potential followers and there is also an account specifically for St. Joseph’s jobs.  For Facebook, they chose to integrate their recruiting efforts into the primary St. Joseph’s Facebook page.  This allows them to take advantage of the existing traffic to the page and present a seamless process to the user.

Despite the fact some of their social efforts are not being tracked, they are still able to determine that Facebook and Twitter rank among their top traffic sources to the jobs section on the St. Joseph’s web site.  The volume of traffic continues to increase over time.

Due to the success of their Facebook and Twitter recruiting efforts, St. Joseph’s intends to increase their efforts on both YouTube and Linkedin.

A Look to the Future

Online advertising has long been a strategy for staff physician recruiters.  The addition of a strong social presence enhances the possibilities and opens up another line of communication with prospective physicians.

There are many online marketing indicators suggesting content will be increasingly customized for the individual user.  This means the more connections your organization makes on social media platforms the more often your content will be viewed.

Social recruiting is certainly in its infancy but the results are noticeable and encouraging.  Hospitals taking a proactive approach to physician recruiting through social media stand to benefit just as they have from embracing social media for marketing and public relations.

The bottom line is, I don’t have time to be writing this article.  I should be working on a proposal for a client and finalizing slides for an upcoming presentation.  Instead, I chose to take a break from my preparation and unfortunately discovered the delightful time waster – xtranormal.com.  The following video is the result of my procrastination.  It’s a little thing I like to call, “Michael Scott Does Hospital Marketing.”

Maybe I should feel good about the fact that the topic of my video is relevant to what I should actually be working on.  After all, this whole thing started when I took a breather from detailing the non-marketing reasons for hospitals to embrace Facebook.  Back to the grindstone.

Recently, I wrote a series of articles regarding the best hospital Facebook fan pages.  While preparing for that project, I reviewed hundreds of pages of which one in particular seemed to stand out – Children’s Hospital Boston (Children’s).  Since that time, I have had the opportunity to discuss the specifics of Children’s Facebook history and strategy with their Social Media Specialist, Ryan Paul.

In this post, I discuss 17 elements Children’s uses to make their page a shining example of what hospitals can accomplish on Facebook today.  The process started for Children’s less than 1 year ago. In order to better understand the impact the page has had in such a short period of time, I have provided a timeline accompanied by some compelling page statistics.

Timeline of the Children’s Fan Page (11 months):

151,000 fans and counting

• August 2009 – A Children’s fan page is started by an unaffiliated Facebook user from the United Kingdom and gains its first fan
• September 2009 – Children’s merges the unofficial fan page with a new fan page recently started as a 50/50 collaborative effort between the marketing department and Children’s Hosptial Trust (giving department).
• November 2009 – Ryan Paul is hired as a Social Media Specialist in the marketing department and inherits about 10,000 existing Facebook fans
• February 2010 – The Children’s fan page is named as one of the Alert Presence Best Children’s Hospital fan pages while exceeding 90,000 fans
• July 2010 – The fan page surpasses 151,000 fans

Current Stats:

• 151,546 fans
• 45,101 “likes” and 8,257 comments on 377 posts
• 2,409 wall posts by fans
• 337,239 page views
• 696 fan photos
• 34,720,101 impressions (reflects data from 12/14/09 to present)

As you might expect, these dramatic results are not a matter of chance.  They are the direct result of a comprehensive social strategy carefully executed by qualified and well-trained employees.  In order to understand what has made the Children’s page so successful, I will break down many of the visible elements of the page itself and then examine some of what goes on “behind-the-scenes” at Children’s to make this page one of the clear leaders in the industry.

10 Visible Elements of an Effective Hospital Fan Page

Custom URL – This may seem like a simple step, but I was surprised to find a large percentage of hospital fan pages lacking a custom URL.  Simply put, custom URLs make it much easier to market your fan page through non-digital means.  Promoting a fan page in print (newsletter, postcard, flyer, etc) would be awkward and difficult without a custom URL since the default URL for a fan page includes a string of numbers irrelevant to the user.  The current requirement for claiming a custom URL for a fan page is only 25 fans.  Page admins simply need to visit facebook.com/username in order to claim a custom URL.

Well-designed profile picture – Not only is the Children’s profile picture creative, but they make great use of a 200 x 500 footprint (Facebook’s maximum size 200 x 600).  Strong visual appeal with a profile picture can often times buy a few more moments of a visitor’s time and attention before they decide whether to explore the page or move on to something else.  Profile pictures are a key element in setting your fan page apart from others and giving it a unique quality.

Fan activity on the wall – It certainly helps to have 150,000 fans of the page but without thoughtful and engaging posts from the page admins, you wouldn’t see such an active response from so many fans.  In the example below, a simple post generates 157 likes and 32 comments in only 2 hours.  For the record, the best response received was from a simple Valentine’s Day post that read “Happy Valentine’s Day” accompanied by a picture of a teddy bear holding a heart.  This garnered 1761 likes and 255 comments!  Every time a page gets a strong response from fans like this, it exposes the page to potentially thousands of additional Facebook users who may otherwise have never seen the post or the page.

Screenshot of the Children's fan page wall. The profile picture displayed has since been updated.

Customized tabs – Getting creative within the limited framework of the Facebook fan page environment can sometimes be a daunting task.  Successful fan pages find ways to customize the page experience in order to make the page stand out.  Unfortunately most fan pages on Facebook are almost identical (with the exception of a custom profile picture).  Customized tabs provide a way for page admins to deliver a unique experience – even if the tab content includes very basic applications such as a YouTube feed or Twitter feed.

Creative use of FBML – Along with customized tabs, Facebook allows page admins to create completely customized layouts bypassing the restrictions of status updates, notes, events, etc.  In the example below, Children’s uses FBML (Facebook’s equivalent to HTML) to create a tab layout with information on their other fan pages, fan badge downloads, e-books and a Twitter accounts.  In addition, they have FBML tab layouts for donations and a few viral Facebook applications created in-house by another department.

Screenshot of the customized Children's "Connect" tab

Post frequency – Children’s posts updates about twice per day to their wall (once per day on weekends).  These frequency patterns are not arbitrary.  They have been determined by testing different frequency variations and observing the results.  It’s important to note that determining the frequency of posts and analyzing the impact of fan response differs from page to page.  Page admins should determine their own frequency guidelines based on experiences from their own individual pages.

Screenshot of the Children's "Interact" tab featuring their own Facebook apps

Promotion of other social media accounts - Not only does Children’s link users to their other Facebook fan pages, but their page helps promote their various Twitter accounts, YouTube channels and blog.  An important element of social media strategy is tying together various accounts in order to deliver a unified presence.

Variety of post types – If you navigate through the history of Children’s wall posts, you will find a wide variety of updates.  Not only does this assist in keeping the page interesting and fresh, it opens up the possibilities for a large number update choices in order to maintain their 2 post per day rate.  You will find announcements, videos, pictures, links, events, interviews and more regularly mixed amongst their posts.

Clearly defined social media policy – I strongly believe any fan page for a healthcare provider should include a clearly outlined policy.  Children’s does a very nice job by including a link to their social media policy in the pull-down tabs.  Furthermore, Children’s provides both an “English” version and a version full of the necessary legalese.

Quantity of fans – I have saved this for last since the quantity of fans is an important consideration of effectiveness, but it is probably one of the least important of all the page qualities listed.  150,000+ fans is certainly nothing to overlook and it speaks to the commitment and marketing of the Children’s page.  However, the volume of fans is largely due to a combination of the other elements listed in this article.

7 Invisible Elements of an Effective Hospital Fan Page

Social media management – The Children’s social media team is made up several qualified professionals.  Ryan Paul is responsible for the management of the marketing department’s half of the page while Charlie Schick spearheads the efforts of the Children’s Hosptial Trust half.  In addition, they collaborate with each of the department and program page admins to help develop their subpages.  As you might expect, management and co-workers have been extremely supportive in helping develop content and aid in keeping the positive energy going.

Erin McColgan in the marketing department is responsible for Children’s primary Twitter feed and there is a team of bloggers led by Matthew Cyr and Melissa Jeltsen responsible for Thrive which produces a lot of content for the Facebook efforts.  Last but not least, Ryan has access to an in-house videographer to post videos for YouTube.

Analytics – The Children’s team uses a combination of Google Analytics, Google Docs and Facebook Insights in order to measure the success of their efforts.  Without analyzing the available data, it can very difficult to optimize your fan page efforts.  While Facebook Insights have improved over time, they still do not offer enough data for savvy page admins.  Ryan Paul was kind enough to provide an example of how Children’s uses Google Docs to measure the success of each post they add to the page wall (see image below).  By measuring the response of each action, Children’s is ultimately able to determine the nuances of effective posts.  Then page admins can key in on the types of post their fans appreciate.

Google Docs spreadsheet measuring results from individual posts (click to enlarge)

Promotion – The Children’s Facebook presence is promoted in a variety of ways.  The following 2 images are examples of print promotions utilized by the Children’s team.  Note how the postcard promotion specifically addresses reasons to become a fan of the page.  Beyond their print campaign, Children’s has long been promoting the Facebook page on their closed-circuit television system, website and the Children’s blog.  This ensures most patients and visitors will at least be aware that a page exists.  Furthermore, Children’s offers a liberal in-house social media policy which encourages participation from their 8,500  employees and strengthens word-of-mouth efforts.  For more examples of how their social media presence was promoted in their recent summer magazine, Dream, click here.

Advertisement displayed in a Children's newsletter

Postcard promotion for the Children's Cleft Lip and Palate page

Monitoring – When it comes to social media monitoring, Children’s uses a combination of Google Alerts, Facebook “Posts by Everyone” search and Meltwater BUZZ.  Ryan considers Google Alerts to be the most effective for daily monitoring as Facebook search is limited to public posts and Meltwater BUZZ is more a specialized tool that helps identify important information such as top influencers on Twitter.  These tools enable the social media team to keep tabs on discussions related to their brand throughout the web.

Long-term strategy – Children’s has started to launch additional pages for specific departments and programs. It’s a bit of a delicate balance in that they don’t want to take anything away from the main page. This same approach is  also being applied to  Twitter.   So far they have found it to be successful and hope to expand it so that the main Children’s fan page and feed becomes a place to highlight the “best of the best” content from the related subpages.   To see a complete list of these subpages along with a list of their accounts on other social networks, you can visit the Children’s website.

Project management – As the social media presence at Children’s has grown and become more complex, the need for managing work flow necessitated the use of a project management solution.  Their solution to this problem is the popular web-based collaboration tool, Basecamp.  This allows everyone on the social media team to be aware of the status of multiple projects.  They also upload weekly status updates and important files so they have a record in one consolidated system.

Ideas and testing – Truly effective fan page admins never stop testing new and creative ideas.  This is precisely why the previously mentioned analytics are such an important factor in success.  If you can’t measure the results of a test , you’re just spinning your wheels.  For example, Children’s recently launched a “photo of the week” series which encourages fans to upload their own photos to be selected for repost on Friday afternoon.  The results have been fantastic.  The number of fan photos has increased to nearly 700 (many of which have great stories attached) and they have proven to be some of the most popular posts.

Summary

Without a doubt, Children’s is helping lead the way with respect to hospitals on Facebook.  It’s refreshing to the see their commitment to social media despite a fear that still seems to permeate throughout the industry.  The team at Children’s has demonstrated that well-defined policy combined with educated professionals can create an environment where the benefits of Facebook clearly outweigh the risk.

The Illinois Hospital Association (IHA), which represents nearly 200 hospitals statewide, has recently made huge strides in online transparency.  Just last month they launched IllinoisHospitals.org which reports on the quality, patient satisfaction and services of their member hospitals and health systems.

“The web site not only shares in one convenient place a description of the hospitals’ services, but measures their progress in improving quality and safety and patient satisfaction, thereby demonstrating their commitment to help Illinoisans become more informed consumers of health care.” – IHA President Maryjane A. Wurth

This effort to reveal and compare statistical performance among Illinois hospitals is likely a response to the Illinois Department of Public health launching HealthcareReportCard.Illinois.gov last November.  Both efforts aim to assist patients in making better informed decisions regarding their own healthcare.

New IHA website embraces transparency

When the Illinois Department of Public Health site was launched last year, some folks in the medical community expressed concern the data didn’t accurately reflect differences in the types of patients hospitals attract and how seriously ill they are.  However, supporters of the site argued the risk adjustment methodology was developed and tested by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality.

At first glance, the new IHA site appears to have much of the same data.  What’s interesting here is the IHA’s willingness to accept some level of online transparency as inevitable.  It may seem like a little thing, but I think this is another sign suggesting the industry is beginning to understand how the online space is impacting healthcare.

July 26-28, 2010 New York, NY

I‘m excited to announce an upcoming speaking engagement at the Strategic Social Media for Healthcare conference this summer in New York.  Attendees for the conference will be senior level decision makers from health systems, hospitals and clinics involved with furthering their organizational mission using social media platforms and other Web 2.0 tools.

The conference agenda is focused on providing an environment for attendees to learn from industry visionaries on how to take their online presence to the next level, integrate new media efforts with traditional approaches, and effectively engage with current and future patient-consumers.

Transforming the healthcare industry’s online presence into an engaging marketing, communications and PR strategy

My presentation abstract

Facebook Anatomy 101: Does Your Fan Page Have a Pulse?

With over 400 million users and counting, you don’t need to be sold on the power of Facebook. Healthcare organizations have already staked out their space, but the real challenge remains: how do you transform your presence attracting occasional web traffic to a powerful portal where your health branding and organizational message truly stands out. Details will be focused on policy, strategy, appearance, customization and management of Facebook pages with consideration of the unique challenges in the healthcare industry.

In this session, participants will learn about:

• Benefits and risks of embracing Facebook for hospitals and medical practices
• Examples of successful Facebook implementations in healthcare and the anatomy of a
• Best practices and tips for attracting and engaging fans
• Discover ways to launch or improve upon your Facebook page

Other conference speakers inlcude…

Lee Aase – Mayo Clinic

Mark Miller – Children’s National Medical Center

Susannah Fox – Pew Research Center

Bradley Jobling – Columbia University

and more…

If this sounds like something you or your organization would find beneficial, hopefully you will consider attending.  I look forward to connecting with even more health 2.0 advocates in New York and discussing innovative ways to improve healthcare communications.