Dose of Reality: Do You Tweet?
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Written by Jill Rose   
Sunday, 01 November 2009
Dose of Reality: Do You Tweet?
Editor-in-chief Jill Rose has sound advice for healthcare executives trying to wrap their brains around social media outlets.
Executives everywhere are trying to wrap their brains around various social media outlets such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. That task is particularly tough for healthcare execs who have grown accustomed to handling consumer communication with great delicacy.

How far hospitals should venture into the social media space will depend on their reputation in the community, comfort level with individual mediums, and so on. But many are wading in (some are even wearing their swim suits), so I offer thoughts from two hospitals using social media to good advantage.

Nancy Cawley Jean of LifeSpan (five affiliated hospitals in Rhode Island) says with all the choices disgruntled consumers have for relating their experience (tell their friends on Facebook, blog about it, or share on Twitter), hospitals can no longer afford to avoid social media.

In an October 5 column on Hospital Impact (www.hospitalimpact.org ), Jean writes that hospitals must at least be aware of negative conversations taking place about their organizations. LifeSpan’s goal goes further to include engaging in personal conversations to build loyalty. Jean, a communications expert, notes that more often than not, the comments posted about the group’s hospitals are positive.

The group’s Facebook fan pages have become a place for people to share their stories about the hospital. Although these are potential testimonials for marketing, that’s not the main reason for the pages, says Jean. “The point is to reach out on a personal level to connect with people near and far and build loyalty and trust.”

Twitter posts are more immediate, and LifeSpan communications personnel use the site’s search function to look for mentions of their hospitals. Tweets from those visiting a patient get a direct tweet back wishing them all the best. It’s important to strike a personal tone, Jean says, and to remember that your “conversation” may be read by thousands of Twitter users.

Most often, visitors are amazed that the hospital is on Twitter. And Jean says they are appreciative of a response, especially in the case of a woman who tweeted that she was late for an appointment because she was having trouble finding her way in the hospital—and received an apology for the confusion with a link to a campus map on the Web.

Bill Ferris is manager of Web services and chair of Henry Ford Health Systems social media committee. He told Aaron Shearer of Press Ganey that he became determined to introduce Twitter to the Detroit-based health system after a personal tweet about buying a car got him a reply from GM. “It was pretty much right at that moment I saw the possibilities in healthcare and sign up for a Henry Ford Twitter account to protect our property and hopefully engage in similar conversations.”

Ferris stresses the intimacy of healthcare as a reason to participate in social media. “While you want to respect a patient’s privacy, any chance you have to help the patient feel more connected to the hospital, clinic, or doctor…both sides can really benefit.”

Today, social media goes beyond a tool to reach out to patients at Henry Ford. For example, Ferris and his team find sites like LinkedIn more useful for recruiting than traditional media. He goes so far to say that in the world of Web 2.0, it is “almost marketing malpractice” to stick with traditional media, like print, radio, TV, and billboards.

New mediums are often intimidating, but I encourage all of you to at least dip your toes into the water of social media. You have little to lose and a lot of patient goodwill to gain.
 
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