Social Media Best Practices for Hospitals and Medical Professionals

The social media boom has not left anyone unaffected. This is true even for the healthcare industry that has earlier been fairly conservative in its approach to marketing. While it is true that other less regulated industries have take to social marketing much faster than the healthcare industry, the healthcare industry is also rising to the opportunities that are possible by tapping the social media boom.

Healthcare professionals need to understand and appreciate the manner in which they can use social media to their advantage.Some of the best practices that have been tried and tested by the pioneers of social media in the healthcare industry are mentioned below to help you get started.

Social media is not for broadcasting – Some healthcare professionals feel that using social media in the conventional sense shall result in a loss of control on the information that is put out there on the Internet. They ensured control by using social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook without allowing open ended comments. A move like this actually converted social media into more of a broadcast media and defeated the entire purpose of using the platform. You can only harness the power of social media by ensuring that you interact with the patients and consumers on these platforms and aim at achieving your tactical and strategic goals. Participating in a conversation, putting forth your point of view is what can ensure truest and long term brand building.

Understand HIPAA regulations – Most of the regulations that have been put forth on HIPAA relate to protecting the privacy of the patients. It does not put a ban on sharing case details as long as the patient has not been identified. In case a specific case does require you to put details of the patient on to any of these social media platforms, you need to make sure that the patient understands that the information then becomes widespread and can become known to all.

Integrate social media tactics with overall strategy – As is the case with other industries, it is important that the healthcare industry does not use social media in isolation. Social media is only a tool that you can use to communicate and bond with your customers. What you communicate, the tone and the manner is dependent on the overall strategy that you have for your healthcare facility or brand. This involves creating a digital format of your latest ad and placing it in YouTube or converting the regular monthly show on radio into a podcast that you share on Facebook or Twitter. Mayo clinic discovered that when their podcast listeners increased from a few to 76,000 in the matter of a month.

Monitoring is important – With 200 million users on Facebook and 10 million on Twitter being absent from these sites can actually mean losing an opportunity. However creating a presence in any of these sites and then leaving them unmonitored can actually cause more harm than good. Consumers or patients who do not get a response are likely to feel frustrated and cheated.

Allow for some flexibility – A social media campaign cannot be something that you plan completely. The dynamic nature of the platform ensures that there will be some discussions that will be initiated and discussed by patients too. Twitter is a platform that is more suited to communication. Facebook on the other hand allows for better interaction and empathy.

Use innovative ways of using the platform – The dynamic nature of social media platforms allows for a fair amount of creativity in the field. The Mayo Clinic uses Facebook as a platform where doctors speak about specific illnesses and how they can be managed. Health blogs for each illness that the specialist is interested in are also created. The most recent initiative is the creation of what they call ‘secret groups’ to connect patients with similar problems so that they can share experiences. Realmentalhealth.com uses social media platforms to create online forums and online chat sessions with various people who bipolar disorders. This is akin to online group therapy.

Use it as feedback – While some healthcare professionals are worried about the lack of control, those that are confident about their services ensure that they use any kind of negative feedback as a monitoring method. Anyone can make some mistakes and if you can address these issues in a timely manner, it is likely to have a positive impact on the brand reputation. The fact is that whether you allow it on your corporate Facebook page or not, disgruntled customers are likely to share it with the ones they want to on the Internet and this time it is likely to happen without your knowledge.

As a platform where doctors speak about specific illnesses and how they can be managed. Health blogs for each illness that the specialist is interested in are also created. The most recent initiative is the creation of what they call ‘secret groups’ to connect patients with similar problems so that they can share experiences. uses social media platforms to create online forums and online chat sessions with various people who bipolar disorders. This is akin to online group therapy.

Irrespective of what some healthcare professionals feel, social media is here to stay for the healthcare industry as well. Physicians are already using the Internet to access information about pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices. Manhattan Research reported this percentage to be 88%. Forrester research indicates that social networking is likely to be the largest opportunity to engage consumers, access available information on medical news, read medical journals and also share videos and cases. The opportunities of benefitting from the power of social media go beyond marketing to consumers and reaches information sharing too.