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Archives For Social Media

Know Your Audience: 3 Things to Remember When Networking

December 3, 2012 — 4 Comments

Yesterday I received this comment though the contact page on my blog:

Message Body:
Hi!

I just visited your website and I’m quite impressed! I was wondering if you have a Twitter account for your business? If you do, can you let me know your username?

I just posted a link to your site on my Facebook wall to encourage others to have a peek. As a word of advice, I would suggest you to utilize social media sites to get more visits. I’ve personally been promoting my business and blogs on Twitter and Facebook and getting a lot of traffic from that. I’ve also been using a company called Famepack: (link was here) to increase my followers and likes. Have a look, it might be valuable to you as well.

Anyway, If you have a Twitter account, let me know so I can follow you and give you a shoutout on my Twitter page.

Thanks!

Andy Moore

The obvious here – he is “quite impressed” with my website but wondered if I have a Twitter account. Anyone who has known me, even a little bit, know how absurd this is.

Here are 3 things to remember when trying to network:

Never automate your communications – don’t auto DM new followers on Twitter, don’t send ridiculous messages though websites like the above, etc. The exception here is of course eNews that people have signed up for.
Volume doesn’t win – Just because you have thousands of Twitter followers (you can get 25k for $100 from the company above) doesn’t mean your successful. The goal is meaningful conversations not numbers.
Make it personal – People want to read/watch/respond to what is personal and meaningful to them.

- Reed

In Communications, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy heatlhcare social media, hospital marketing, hospital social media, networking

Upcoming eBook – 6 Secrets of Social Media Superstars in Healthcare

October 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

I have not been blogging as much here lately… I have two projects working that both are launching in the coming days, that have consumed my time. First is an infographic based on the Hospital + Facebook study I have been doing with help from Greg Matthews over at WCG. Second, is an eBook I am collaborating on with Ahava Leibtag.

The eBook is tentitavely named, ”6 Secrets of Social Media Superstars in Healthcare: Best Practices for your Hospital’s Social Media and Community Engagement Programs.”

I’m excited about this project and look to have more to share with you in the coming days. The 6 sections of the ebook include:

Understand the audience on different channels
Focus on the content
Follow the rule of 70 listen/20 share/10 self-promote
Manage in teams for cross collaboration
Include stakeholders often
Provide analytics to validate time, energy and effort

This eBook will hopefully give you some ideas and new thoughts to tackle social media at your organization. I look forward to announcing the eBook’s launch and getting your feedback!

More to come!

In Blogging, book review, Hospitals, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy ahava leibtag, collaboration, content marketing, ebook, hospital social media, monitoring, social media analytics

Social Media… Operations?

October 22, 2012 — Leave a comment

Below is an excerpt from “Social Media… Operations?” – my contribution to Bringing the Social Media #Revolution to Health Care. You find out more about the book here.

Instead, I challenge you to look at social media in terms of operations. If you really want to engage administrators, talk about social media in their terms. How could social media help (to name a few):

Internal communications

Physician sales

Shift change handoffs

Patient discharge process

Team building or reward and recognition programs

Crisis communications

If your facility works or has worked with the Studer Group, the Baptist Leadership Group, or others, think about how:

Current Baldrige criteria ask for feedback on how social media and web-based technologies are used to listen to customers.

Social media could have an impact on senior leader rounding.

Discharge follow up calls could reduce readmissions.

Social media could help your employee “bright idea” program.

In sum, do not get stuck in the rut of wanting to do social media for marketing only. Be sure you look at the bigger picture and organizational goals. You currently sit in a place at a time when you can truly make a difference with the technologies available.

Question: How do you use social media outside of marketing?

In book review, Hospitals, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, Reed Smith, Social Media baldrige, blogging, discharge calls, operations, rounding, social media operations

Book: Bringing the Social Media #Revolution to Health Care

October 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

Social Media participation, in healthcare, has come a long way in the past few years. For the authors involved this has been a labor of love. I am truly honord to be involved and continue to be inspired by the others who contributed. I look forward to seeing what thoughts comments and discussions come from the articles within and continuing this journey with so many more.

If you want to know more about the book there is no one better to tell you about it than the Medical Director for Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, Farris Timimi, MD -

To learn more about the book:

MCCSM Blog post: http://mayocl.in/MCCSMbook
Amazon: http://amzn.com/1893005879

In book review, Expert Interview, Reed Smith, Social Media #MCCSM, book, center for social media, farris timimi, lee aase, Mayo Clinic, operations

Conversation vs Definition

October 9, 2012 — Leave a comment

via flickr

What is the point of a website?

Most take the assumption they are there to answer questions… I would argue we need to focus more on conversation than on definition.

Take for example most hospitals. If you focus on definition (answering questions) then you have chosen to compete with WebMD, MayoClinic.com, etc. If you choose to compete on conversation then you have a chance to be of valve in your local community.

The exception to this of course is being definitional around content specific to a local community. Things like maps, phone numbers, services offered, etc. It is important, of course, for your consumers to be able to find you and know what it is you specifically offer.

Much more impactful are conversations. In addition conversations become transactional in my mind.

Question: how are you adding conversations to your online presence?

In Communications, Hospitals, Social Media, Strategy, Tips content strategy, search, seo, website content

What Types of Facebook Posts Should Hospitals Focus On?

October 3, 2012 — 2 Comments

(This is a small sample of what will be available based on an upcoming study by the Social Health Institute and WCG on Facebook + Hospitals – special thanks to Greg Matthews for all his help.)

Ever wondered what types of posts hospitals make? We have taken a group of 12 hospitals and studied a number metrics around their usage over a three month period of time. The full report will be out soon but today I wanted to share how “Type” breaks down.

When posting on Facebook you have a few options on what you plan to share:

Status
Photo
Video
Event
Milestone
Question
Offer

The 12 hospitals included in the study accounted for a total of 1589 posts over the three month period of the study. Here is how the types broke down (Not represented below were 1 Question and 1 Offer that were posted in this time frame):

So if “link” and “photo” posts dominate most hospital’s Facebook page is this good? Those 1589 posts accounted for 41,664 engagements (Engagement = Like, Comment, Share.) Looking at each type of post and specifically looking at the number of engagements each produced we pulled the engagement ratio. Based on each type here is their performance metric:

Photos far our weigh any other type of post based on engagements per post. Across the board they produce many more likes, comments, and shares.

There is much more to this, and the whitepaper will expand on this idea along with many other topics – data related and even some that are not. Would love some initial feedback to know if things like this are helpful?

In Hospitals, Marketing, Social Health Institute, Social Media, Strategy facebook, greg matthews, hospitals, social health institute, social media and hospitals, WCG

Slides: Clemson mini MBA for Healthcare Professionals

October 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

Clemson mini MBA for Healthcare Professionals from Reed Smith

In Marketing, Social Health Institute, Social Media, Strategy clemson, slides, think.clemson.edu

5 Tips to Become Efficient at Blogging

September 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

As I work to train content creators “the blog” continually becomes the focal point of their effort. This only makes sense, because as Michael Hyatt has framed it a blog is your homebase. A place where you control your content 100%. This is unlike social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook of which you have no control of what they do tomorrow.

Based on this – I talk a lot on what makes a good blog post and how to structure content online. Below are five elements of blogging that when done right will make you much more efficient and consistent.

Find your voice. The first and most important part of blogging is figuring out how you want to deliver you messages. It is always good to mix it up but content creators will ultimately find a way they like to communicate. Examples:
1. Question and Answer
2. Narrative
3. DIY
4. Tips and Tricks
5. Lists/Resources
6. Video
7. Photography
Understand your audience. Understanding who you are trying to reach and how they want to be communicated with is key. If you are trying to reach me then short post with bullets that I can scan is best….and I am not unique in this way.
Pick a frequency and stick with it. Your readers will start to expect your content on the frequency you set forth. Plan far in advance to and capture blog ideas continually so you have a good number of drafts working at any given time. Here is a recent post I wrote on capturing blog ideas on the fly.
Use Creative Commons. I always suggest including a picture, graphic, or video with each post. One of the easiest ways to do this is to pull pictures from the Creative Commons section of Flickr.
Interlink to other posts on your own blog. If you have captured a readers attention don’t lose out on pointing them to other post they might find interesting. This is a great way for users to explore your content. An example of this is the two links I added in #3 above.

Question: What tips can you share that have made you more efficient?

In Blogging, Social Media, Tips blogging, blogging efficiency, efficient, Healthcare marketing, hospital social media, Tips

4 Things to Consider Before You Subscribe to a Social Media Marketing Platform

September 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

via flickr

Over the past couple of years I have demo’d a number of social media marketing platforms including: Shoutlet, Spredfast, Vitrue, Buddy Media, Argyle Social, Hootsuite, and others. Each has great features and might be a good fit for many of you. With that said they are all enough different that, besides the obvious considerations, you have to ask yourself a few questions:

Do I work in a regulated Industry? – If the answer is yes then make sure you cover this with the vendor and check references of current customers who are in the same boat. This will help you hurdle some objections or concerns that might come up.
What features do you need vs what would be nice? – There are some killer features in many of these platforms. Of course they also come with a price. Really think through your objectives and goals then compare the platforms based on needs. One thing I did was list out my goals and for each platform I assigned the features to a goal. I found that some features were great but really had no short-term application.
Who will use the tool? – This is a big one. Again many of these platforms have really robust features but based on who within the organization is using it there could be overkill. This goes back to your goals and what you are trying to accomplish.
How do I measure success? - Make sure the platform you choose will fit with you measurement goals. Make sure you spend time on the reports and analytics they show so you can best determine how you show ROI for both the tool and your social media efforts.

I did actually pick one of these tools that we use with clients on a daily basis. Who I picked is not really the point of this post (ping me privately and I will tell you) because they are all great tools, but have a wide spectrum of cost and features. Once I realized they were all good tools and met the basic need of efficiency then I had to start looking at what works right now for me.

Question: Have you used any of these tools (or others)? What made you pick the one you did?

In Marketing, Resources/Tools, Social Media, Tips argyle social, hootsuite, hospital social media, oracle, radian6, salesforce.com, shoutlet, social media marketing, spredfast, vitrue

Contest: Top 10 #HCSM Blogs

August 6, 2012 — 14 Comments

via yoppy on flickr

What is your favorite blog? Better yet what is your favorite healthcare social media blog?

I want to know. I am putting together a list of the top 10 #HCSM blogs anyone who works in hospitals/healthcare should read. More to come on where is list will live but for now I want to know your thoughts.

How to Nominate Your Favorite #HCSM Blog:

Nominate your favorite blogs in the comment section.
Please include the web address of the blog.
Spread the word.

Each submission will count as one vote. I was strong at math in school so I should be able to pull this off!

- Reed

In Blogging, Hospitals, Social Media, Tips blogging, blogs for hospitals, healthcare social media, top 10 list

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