Social Media can be difficult for any business with minimal resources and/or federal regulations. But if planned out properly there are ways to succeed through these issues. We have pulled together some answers in hopes to help you be successful in creating your social media strategy.
Let us asssist you in how to get started:
- Understand stakeholders insights
- Do a companywide media audit
- Start monitoring & benchmarking for corporate/brand conversations
- Take your time establishing a digital presence
- RSS feeds
- Patient Videos
- Indentify influential bloggers & key contacts
- Vet out concerns with legal, regulatory, commercial & other key internal functions
- Build up trusted relationships; create friendships
- Engage on social media platforms of companies that align with your initiatives & goals
- Participate in social media conference & events
- Be sure to be honest, transparent, share & talk about all things that people might be interested in, then offer resources, guidance & education where appropriate
And provide a plan for you to get started:
- Organize internally to execute externally
- Acknowledge the need for quick turnarounds
- Establish the “VOICE” of your hospital/healthcare organization
- Adapt your Communications
- Transparency is critical
- Create & update policies regularly
As well as direct you as you start building your social media internally:
- Start at the top — “If the CEO can blog, why can’t you?” Creating clear, uniform policies for employees outlining what is & is not acceptable
- Advocate that employees create internal social networks by providing tools & creating a safe environment for them to use those tools
- Create the behavior inside that you want to project outside
Even support you as you navigate the regulatory concerns in social media:
- Use current regulatory guidelines as a baseline for how you interact in the space & seek guidance from the subject matter experts in your organization
- Be clear about what information you do and do not monitor, & what you are and are not responsible for (leverage the use of: disclaimers, privacy policy and terms of use)
- Know the platform on which you are engaging, the technical limitations & be aware of planned changes to layout that could affect compliance
- Know your current company policies & be clear how to apply them to your social media endeavors
So why do you want to engage?
The majority of American adults are turning to online resources to answer questions about many topics, for example: their health and treatment options.
- 38 % of American Adults turn to the internet for information about fitness & weight loss
- 61% of American Adults look online for health information
- 41% of e-patients have read someone else’s comment about health/medical issues on an online news group, community, website or blog
- More than 62% of health inquires are conducted by someone other than the patient
- 60% of e-patients said that information found online affected their decision about how to treat an illness or condition
With the information above we know you can start building a foundation. In planning your strategy it is a good idea to decide what your audience would be interested in, by pulling a committee together from each of your centers of excellence and PR/Communications department(s). This group will become your subject matter experts who will start helping you build your topics content list for a couple months out.
If you have questions about any of the information or need help executing on any or your social media stategies email us at info@mgdservices.com
