Does Facebook-in-the-News Matter to Healthcare Social Media?

May 23, 2012 • By Jean Kelso Sandlin, EdD, Senior Strategist

In the same week, GM announced that it would stop advertising on Facebook (they spent $10 million last year), Facebook’s IPO made history at $38 per share (3^rd largest in history), then made news again when the stock price began to drop. Then, to add to the already hyped-up hype, Mark Zuckerberg gets married.

It’s hard to avoid the Facebook news, and CEOs are paying attention. If you are in hospital marketing, you should be ready to discuss, and possibly defend, your Facebook engagement. Even if you do not spend advertising dollars with the social network, be ready to defend the staff time your department spends engaging with online communities through Facebook or other social network sources.

Here are a few suggestions to ready your defense:

Use research

Even though those participating in a recent Associated Press/CNBC poll said Facebook was a fad, 40 per cent of them checked their Facebook accounts at least weekly. To me, that’s the more important statistic.

Pew Research Center has compiled a tremendous amount of information that helps understand how Americans use the Internet and social media in health-related decisions. Even though it is a few years old, one of my favorite go-to pieces is The Social Life of Health Information. It offers a nice overview of the last decade, and then you can scroll down or search for more current reports and updated statistics related to social media and health.

Not all companies know how to use Facebook well

When GM comes up as an example, point out that not all companies know how to use Facebook well, and mention that GM may have not been using the social network in a manner that was sufficiently engaging.

For entertainment and information, read B.L. Ochman’s insightful article Doing it Wrong: 11 Boring Things GM Posted on Facebook. You may also want to note that although GM stopped advertising, they still maintain a presence.

Share an inspiring story

If possible, use a story from your own hospital’s social media engagement. However, if you need to go outside to find one, Susannah Fox of Pew Research shared the Internet’s impact on one man’s life that relates to his health diagnosis.

Marc Santos also wrote an inspiring account, How the Internet Saved My Daughter and How Social Media Saved My Family. Rohit Bhargava inspired my post on the power of storytelling and its contribution to a hospital’s likability. It also contains a few examples.

Condense your social media strategy into an elevator speech

Two of my previous posts may be helpful as you structure your pitch for retaining resources dedicated to social media:

Trust Me. Hospitals Should Adopt Social Media.

A Kinder Gentler “Engage or Die” for the C-Suite

It’s not easy to predict the future of specific social media tools (or the price of their stock), but whether it is in the headlines or not, social media will continue to be a contributing factor in building strong communities within healthcare, and hospitals need to retain resources in order to participate.

How we help

Hive Strategies helps hospitals and their agencies engage patients through social media. We help develop an effective social media strategy and mentor clients through the implementation process. For hospitals with existing social media strategies, we can help make them more effective. Read about our services. Start a conversation. Email us or call us at 503-472-5512.

Tags: AP/CNBC poll, B.L. Ochman, Facebook, GM, IPOs, Marc Santos, Mark Zuckerberg, Pew Research Center, Rohit Bhargava, Susannah Fox