The second presentation at the NESHCo Spring Symposium was a panel on social media. The panel included several terrific healthcare marketers – all of whom I’ve met in the past and respect: Kevin Robinson (Southwestern Vermont Medical Center), Keith Fontaine (Backus Hospital), and Jim Rattray (Suncoast Health System). Kevin is one of my firm’s clients and a pioneer in hospital blogs; Keith has been speaking on social media at conferences for a couple of years – preaching the gospel; and Jim is an active social media advocate and one of the people I follow on Twitter. Dean Browell moderated the session.
What was interesting about this presentation was the diversity of approaches to social media use by these organizations. For some, Twitter drives their social media program. For another, Twitter is simply there to accept the feed from the hospital’s Facebook status updates. Suncoast has used Twitter for crisis communication – and it worked well.
Jim Rattray made an important point about how to handle negative comments on your social media platforms. His advice: don’t delete them. His stressed the importance of authenticity in this medium. I couldn’t agree more. Don’t debate people using social media – contact them directly to share your concern. But please don’t delete their comment. More than likely your fans will argue the case for you. That’s been my experience.
Some good discussion about the tone of messaging within social media. The importance of being real. Some differences in how the organizations present their voice through social media – some more corporate, some more approachable and friendly. I don’t think there’s a right voice for presenting your brand through social media. The important thing is that it needs to be an authentic voice – authentic and credible. It has to ring true with your constituents. You know what will work best for your institution.
JIm Rattray offered up some good advice: “Don’t put anything out there that you wouldn’t want on the front page of the newspaper.” Well said! I couldn’t agree more. Despite what you may think, people are paying attention. There is an audience out there. Keith mentioned that he wants people who come in contact with his hospital’s social media to feel that Backus is a hospital they would like to work for. That’s a great approach and one that helps define the tone of the communication that ensues.
This was a terrific discussion. It was great to hear about the real world experiences that these marketers and hospitals have had with social media. Highly instructive.
Post by Dan Dunlop, The Healthcare Marketer
