Mar. 1, 2010 at 4:19pm

To engage, or not engage – is that really the question?

Posted by Guest Blogger in Care Line Marketing, Community Relations, Planning and Strategy
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(Debra Carnes is a senior advisor at JayRay Ads & PR)

If hospitals are still determining whether to play in the social media sandbox, my suggestion would be to get your bucket and shovel, and join in.

I believe the question has shifted from whether you should engage, to whether you can afford NOT to engage. Despite all the resistance around the lack of resources, loss of control and no measurable ROI, today’s consumers are a powerful force that demands engagement, with or without you.

Don’t worry; if your organization hasn’t established a YouTube channel or joined the ranks of Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you aren’t alone. Surveys indicate that about 550 hospitals participate in social media, which equates to a little more than 10 percent of the nation’s community hospitals. Now’s the time to join that growing list of the engaged. Here’s why:

Consumers need to hear your voice - The one scenario you don’t want is having your competitors engaged in social media and your organization is nowhere to be found. Make sure you’re not allowing one dominant health care voice in your market, even if it’s a virtual one. According to the Pew Research Center, more than 60 percent of adults seek health information online, making it even more critical that you are reaching people wherever they may be, whether it’s the Web, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Media depend on social media sources - A recent national survey claims that an overwhelming majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching stories. By providing the media even more sources for current health information through your social media participation, you position yourself as even more relevant, progressive and credible.

You can communicate in real time – No longer do you have to wait for the monthly newsletter to feature a new medical procedure or talk about the latest advancements in heart surgery, you can share information and engage in conversations daily, and even by the minute. Instead, of showing photographs of the new knee replacement procedure in your publication, now you can live Tweet about it while it’s happening. Or, promote tonight’s health information forum on Facebook and Twitter to help ensure a full house. Today’s world is all about instant information, and it’s critical to find ways to be a part of that world.

It provides opportunities to improve customer service – The ability to update social media sites can be a positive and a negative. When consumers can post updates from mobile devices it may mean that an angry patient sitting in your waiting room is tweeting about his frustration with your service. Remember, social media is about engagement and conversations. A tweet of that nature gives you an opportunity to fix the problem and then tweet about the fix. This shows you’re responsive, and oftentimes when people have their problems addressed in a satisfactory way, they are more apt to share that experience with others. While you don’t have control over who says what, you do maintain control of how you address patient and consumer complaints.

You become more searchable – Both Google and Bing have agreements with Facebook and Twitter to include them in their real-time search results. This means that any updates to your Twitter or Facebook page will also come up in searches for you. That’s the good news. The flip side is that it becomes easier for people to find negative tweets about your hospital. Essentially, it elevates your need to keep an eye on what people are saying about you online.

It offers another avenue for promoting your service lines – It’s critical you integrate social media into existing marketing plans. If you’re opening up a new cardiac care unit, use your social media tools to promote it and enhance consumer interest.

It gives you tools to use in a crisis ­ ‑ By having social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in place, if faced with a crisis, you can use them to disseminate critical information and updates. The Red Cross and FEMA are two organizations that have effectively used social media tools to provide real-time, accurate communications during disasters.

There are at least 20 more reasons why your organization should jump into the social media sandbox, if you haven’t already. If you choose to join soon, which I would encourage, the most important thing to remember is to have a plan. Facebook, Twitter and the likes are tools. They need to be incorporated into your overall communications plan and strategies, so you know what you’re trying to achieve by using them. In only takes a few minutes to register for a Facebook and Twitter account, but it’s more important to spend an hour or two mapping out where these tools fit in to your overall plan before ever signing up.

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