By now, you’ve heard about 80 percent of Internet users have looked up health information online.

But what you may not know is 57 percent of consumers have noted a social media connection with a hospital was likely to have a strong impact on their decision to seek out treatment at that particular facility. Plus, 81 percent saw a social media presence as indicative of being “cutting edge.”

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of serving on a panel for Social Media Breakfast Club of Madison, a local non profit business group with a focus on social media as a channel.

The meeting consisted of panelists representing four Southern Wisconsin hospital and health systems who shared their experiences in initiating and managing social media tools as part of their marketing-communications mixes and business best practices. The discussion centered around communication, awareness, responsiveness and buy-in.

Although the panel covered a lot of health care communications, marketing and public relations topics, an interesting topic for discussion was the reasoning behind starting a social media strategy and presence in the first place. Plus, being able to align those reasons with the changes in the health care communications landscape.

This is a large reason Social Media Club of Madison was interested in the local health care scene.

Wendy Soucie @wendysoucie, Madison-based social media strategist and president of Social Media Breakfast Club says the goal in planning programs this year and into the new year is to bring diverse practitioners into the discussion.

“We need to align with business goals, we need to make sure our clients are in the social spaces, we need a strategy and tactical plan so we get manager buy in and don’t waste precious time,” she said. “We may start with toes, and then jump into the water to create our own ‘lake effect” for social media in our industry. All this done with some type of measurement and benchmarking so we know we are progressing.”

Wendy said her team was interested in what Madison, with several major hospitals and the University, was doing around the topic of health care and social media. Like most of us, she had been following Lee Aase from Mayo Clinic as a social media professional early on and very much admire what he had accomplished.

“I think Madison-area professionals needed to also understand the direction that various-sized hospitals and health care organizations were going,” said Wendy.

So, let’s talk about that “direction” and how the strategy may change over time.

Here are a few reasons (take-a-ways from the panel) why local hospitals took the plunge into the social media world:

HIPPA and patient engagement

A major perk to developing a social media strategy is the availability to connect with patients and provide a space or open forum for discussion about the hospital or health system’s  products and services. But as health care marketers, we all understand we’re constrained under HIPAA regulations and it’s always in the forefront of everything we do in the development phase of any campaign. It’s very true in the social media realm as well. This was a major point of discussion. In fact, Steve Van Dinter from St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison told guests that if you are unsure of how to start, or what information you can share, visit HIPPA, the governing body and patient privacy advocate. “As you develop a policy, consider what your current policies cover, especially with regard to patient privacy,” said Steve.

All panelists referenced the “elevator policy” which precludes talking about patients in any form that might compromise their privacy – from conversation to email. In fact, St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison has a sign in each elevator to remind patients and staff about patient privacy when having conversation in public areas of the hospital.

Almost all panelists also agreed their health system took a “cautious approach” to social media right at the beginning. Using their social media accounts as a one-way (receiving) medium first. “Then, after realizing the power of social media and patient relationship building and trust opportunities, it changed to two-way conversation immediately,” said Jennifer Walker from UW Health.

What’s interesting is all of the organizations represented, Mercy Health System, St. Mary’s Hospital, UW Health and Fort Health Care, began engaging in social media for their organization before their organization was motivated or before they were given direction on where to take the social media plan. “This first came in the form of a Facebook page but then expanded into a Twitter account used to announce events held at the organization,” said Bridget Thomas of Fort Health Care. “Then a blog followed and now it is a full time social media management of the interface between these tools and their patients and families.”

Approachability

I think transparency within our organization (Mercy Health System) is pretty critical as well as approachability, education to all employees on social media and how it all played in to HIPPA regulations and the protection of our patients’ privacy online.

Which brings me to one of the main reasons we (Mercy) dived in to social media in 2008. We wanted to leverage social media to make it easy for us to reach out to our community, our patients, not just be another brand logo.

Re-energize the brand

All panelists agreed that convincing administrators that more and more patients are online and social media is one more tool in the marketing mix, and most effective at developing the conversation that builds the relationship between the institution and providers and patients.

The panelists all agreed to having a positive, interactive relationship with fans and followers using social media and how it can help a company recover from negative feedback and promotes the brand of the organization.

UW Health, Fort Health Care and Mercy Health System allow employee access to social media sites. “Your employees and patients can also be your strongest advocate, as well as your biggest fan base,” Bridget said. “When managing unhappy customers, address the issue immediately and offline just as any other business would. Your loyal fans will also help take care of you with positive comments and experiences.”

Education

All panelists shared the same thoughts on health education. “Promoting health events, seminars etc. not only helps with patient engagement, it also helps the news media track for story ideas,” said Steve. “Our social media accounts are also a trusted place for reporters to find their stories, testimonials and ideas.”

Which brings me to another reason Mercy jumped into the social media was to correct the incorrect information that is published on the web.

Ten years ago, there was a lot of information on the web, but today, there is so much that it gets confusing for the Internet user. We like to use our social media sites to be the go-to place for health information locally – a local source our community can trust.

Jennifer said that many of the UW Health doctors know and realize that their patients are using social media as a way of gathering medical information — often from one another.

“Patients are sharing information among themselves; we need to be there too,” she said.

The future of social media within health care in some ways will be like many industries. Consumers will drive the level of activities just by sitting in your waiting room and using social tools. Heck, it’s already happening.

So, why did your hospital or health system jump on the social media bandwagon? Join the conversation and share your ideas and comments below.

The office is furnished. The staff is ready. An announcement letter has been sent. You’ve been on meet and greets. You maybe even started to create a marketing campaign. But now it’s time to get the patients. Traditional ways work but can bog down the excitement of the new doctor you’re trying to promote.

The truth is, as we market our physicians, we need to help them generate referrals and deepen relationships with medical staff through a physician-focused campaign featuring high-quality clinical content that spotlights your skilled specialists and state-of-the-art technology. But those traditional ways are running thin and we need a new way to market them in an effective way.

Here are a few ways to make sure you’re taking your physician campaigns to the next level:

1) Create a physician profile online.

Think for a moment about how you create and develop your physician intro ads right now. Just as you develop the ad with a photo, bio, specialties, office address, phone number and website; create that same profile online and spruce it up with a personal touch. Remember, health care marketing is more about connecting your physicians and staff with your patients on a more personal level. Add their favorite hobbies, sport or even a story about why they got in to health care. Bring out their warm and fuzzy side if you can.

2) Advertise the physician’s availability through social media.

Do you have a new plastic surgeon who performs a unique skin surgery that you know your competitors aren’t doing? Great. Look into discount sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial or even Facebook ads to create buzz (and bring money to the system) about that service or procedure. Offer a unique discount on a service exclusively offered by your physician.

Also note, social media brings in solid leads. Dr. Natasha Burgert, pediatrician in Kansas City says after 12 months of committing to social media, she received an average of one new patient family a week. “I know this because they tell me, ‘I am here to see you today because I found you on Facebook,’ or ‘I found your blog,” Dr. Burgert said in a blog. “Fifty-two patients a year (times) $2,700 (average pediatric care for 0-24 months) = $140,000 of average billable income over two years.”

For her practice, Dr. Burgert says social media has increased new patient traffic and created revenue for the medical group she works for.

3) Start a physician blog or create an intro video.

As mentioned above, content is king. Think about doing a short video about his or her practice, as well as blogging. Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson of Seattle Children’s Hospital blogs as Seattle Mama Doc and has recently been using Seattle Mama Doc 101 videos to deliver important messages on things parents want or need to know.

If you need some inspiration, watch some of Seattle Mama Doc’s videos to see how it’s done.

Now, of course, this may not work for every physician campaign. Not every doc is in to social media, media savvy or even good on camera.

4) Think of your physicians’ practice as a business.

As health care marketers, we tend to forget that—doctors have a hard time doing that as well.

In a recent blog post, former international sales executive Christ Westfall listed “The 12 Most Important New Sales Strategies.” The post was intended for sales professionals, but I find several of these work in physician practice marketing and advertising as well.

5) Be patient and persistent.

This last tip is not considered so nontraditional, but it’s darn important. Building a practice takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a medical practice. A new physician can get discouraged with the slow and steady build of a new practice. Encourage him or her to use the downtime wisely – to keep visible with referral sources, make presentations in the community, and get involved with community support groups. The visibility, along with outstanding service to patients and referral sources, will result in increased patient volume.

Have you implemented any of the above strategies? What nontraditional ways have you used to market your new and existing physicians? Share below and join the conversation.

QR Codes are so hot right now in the marketing community, but it certainly feels like many marketers who implement QR Codes in their campaigns skipped the chapter on how they really work.

A QR Code (or Quick Response Code) is a type of matrix barcode that consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data. They are displayed so people can scan it with their smartphone.

A QR Code is a shortcut to quick information. They direct people to a website or application. It’s starting to take the place of writing down a web address or texting a number—you just scan a QR Code to get there instead. Kelly Hellickson, national sales manager at Image.works in Madison says QR Codes are incredible marketing tools that are being used more and more by health care organizations everywhere. “These barcodes can be scanned by a mobile device—leading consumers directly to online sites that contain relevant information such as sign-up forms, videos, virtual tours, etc.”

I developed a QR Code for my blog when they were introduced to the marketing world a few years ago and never did anything with it. I wish I had. However, I agree with Kelly. I do know marketers are using them and I also know that they are using them effectively. The adoption of QR Codes is slowly increasing. So, it would be wise  to say it would be in our best interest (as health care marketers) to know how and why to use them.

Here are a few examples of how hospitals and health systems are thinking ‘inside’ the little black box.

Increase patient engagement

TriStar Health System now incorporates a QR Code in its Fast ER Wait Times campaign to link consumers to information about the average emergency room wait times. This puts real-time information in people’s fingertips when time matters most.

This is a postcard Image. Works created for Community Healthcare System. The QR Code led to a personal website that contained physician biographies and allowed individuals the opportunity to request additional information on any of the featured physicians simply by clicking on the appropriate checkboxes.

Poudre Valley Health System wanted to increase the amount of patients who shared their experiences with the community. To do this, it placed QR Codes in birthing unit rooms and waiting rooms, so patients can scan the codes and be taken to its mobile-friendly Facebook page to share stories.

Jeanne Barnett, president at Medrise and writer at Eye on Pharma, says that pharmaceutical companies “should aim to have specific QR Codes leading directly to the product’s website for each product. The codes should be imprinted on prescription bottles, boxes, delivery devices and more, leading directly to the product’s website.”

Barnett says this would allow patients to learn more about correct dosage and other safety information, regarding the medicine. QR codes on products would give patients direct access to pertinent educational information about use, dosage, safety, and cleaning instructions.

Patient education and customer service

Athens Regional Health Services is now making appointment scheduling much easier. The hospital launched a QR Code that links to a site where woman can instantly and easily book a mammogram appointment.

“It came down to wanting to be able to track where people were reading about our services and pulling up our services on the website,” Courtney Alford-Pomeroy, website marketing manager for Athens Regional Medical Center told the Athens Banner-Herald. ”I want to make sure that we’re targeting people in the places that are most convenient for them.”

Introducing staff and physicians

At SSM Healthcare implemented a new initiative called, “Experience Exceptional: Our People.” The new site featured a series of two-minute clips to introduce staff to the community it serves. To increase the views of these clips, SSM Healthcare developed QR Codes that link to each clip, which get placed in its magazine, OptimiSSM.

Crisis communications

Harris County Hospital District uses QR Codes in their emergency protocol. QR Codes now lead to an emergency and disaster staffing hotline and to the emergency communications website. Talk about fast communications—think about how fast they can now disseminate information and inform the public if a crisis happens.

As I sit here and research, I can’t help but wonder how my hospital, Mercy Health System, can use them in the future. One thought I have is to implement medical information via QR Codes such as linking to events that load into a mobile calendar. The opportunities are seriously endless.

With that said, let’s brainstorm a bit. What types of information are you trying to communicate or market right now? How can it be encoded in YOUR QR Code? Please share below and join the conversation.

Do you have a blog or story idea? Connect with me and share your ideas with me on Facebook and Twitter!

Ready or not, here it comes! Health care reform that is. After talking with other marketers at the WHPRMS annual conference last week, I realized health care reform scares everyone. The hard truth is your patients and consumers will expect you (your hospital or health system) to know how to implement health care reform by 2014. Even though we know that there are still more questions than answers, health care reform will affect every person in the U.S.–whether employed, unemployed, insured or uninsured.

So, how will your hospital or organization handle it? Here is a list of topics I gathered from the breakout sessions on health care reform that we will eventually need to address:

Structure.

According to a recent report from the American Hospital Association Committee on Performance Improvement, aligning hospitals, physicians, and other providers across the care continuum is described as a shifting paradigm from competition to interdependency. According to the report, “Aligning providers is essential to true partnerships and care coordination. For example, during a Medicare demonstration project, Wenatchee Valley Medical Center held preliminary meetings with all providers and acted on their suggestions, provided shared savings incentives to group physicians, and shared data, including testimonials from patients.”

Health care reform will involve change at every level of your organization and those changes need to be integrated throughout. In fact, I’m sure you’ve seen a few aspects of this already.

There was some talk about hospitals and health system’s eventually becoming Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Jennifer Armstrong Gay, director of communication strategies for American Hospital Association says accountability and integration will be an integral part of the new health care landscape. “Quality improvements, cultural changes, cost reductions, patient satisfaction, and ACOs play a major part of how health care will shift in the future.”

Steve Benton, president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association says ACO regulations are universally “panned.” “Hospitals and physicians will have to recognize, embrace and leverage their growing interdependence to create organizational structures and incentive models that are strategically aligned and mutually rewarding.”

Branding.

With branding, it’s important to understand your brand’s value proposition how you will continue to deliver and support it when health care reform comes in to play.

Jennifer says it will be important to be able to communicate “your hospital story” in light of health care reform. This can be a great branding tool. “It’s more important than ever that we create a drumbeat of positive hospital stories,” she says. “The Wisconsin Hospital Association is doing a great job of that through its annual community benefit report-it’s a joy for anyone to read those life-changing stories.”

Rally up your staff

If your hospital hasn’t discussed and prepared staff for reform, you could really be missing the boat. Are you helping them to understand and prepare for the changes ahead? Jennifer says health care marketers should be communicating health care reform to staff and patients alike. “It’s our jobs as marketers to really understand health care reform and what it means to our community.”
Your physicians and staff are the ambassadors for your hospital. Jennifer says to make sure you are developing a communications plan to teach them over the next two years what they will need to know.

Educate your patients

Patient education, wellness programs and disease management will be more important than ever before. Organizations that fine tune their patient and/or community education and look for new ways to reward compliance will have an advantage.

Online social interaction and relationship building

Yes, we all know that social media and HIPPA regulations tend to scare us but social media is an opportunity to engage with your patients and develop a brand personality. Also, make sure your hospital is developing and tracking your patient visits, how they utilize your services and the feedback they give you on how you’re doing. All of that should be tracked in a database.

Measurement.

We’ve all heard this more than enough. Health care reform will force us as health care marketers to develop metrics that prove we are measuring ROI and ROE. Make sure you have the tracking tools in place to prove and justify your marketing budget in the future.More organization planning and overall system strategies will be of most importance in the future of strategy for the health care organization you work for. Marketing will be in an ideal position to think strategically about the implications of these changes on your internal and external audiences. Do you think you could provide more opportunities to help patients and staff achieve a greater understanding and acceptance of health care reform? What have you already done to communicate health care reform?

Please share below and join the conversation!

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I don’t know anyone in health care marketing and public relations who isn’t occasionally guilty of using too much medical terminology when creating marketing messages. You know … the shorthand and technical talk, health care jargon, slang or hospital lingo. We’re the experts, sure, but our audience isn’t.

Truth is, I know you know that, but it still happens. Health literacy is a hot topic right now and it should be at top-of-mind when you’re creating your marketing campaigns. Consider the following as a friendly reminder for the benefit of your hospital, company and/or patients.

Use simple terms

Using complex words such as too much medical terminology (complex, ambiguous or conflicting) can cause uncertainty. Nobody likes feeling uncertain. In fact, uncertainty is often what motivates us to look for more information. Uncertainty is a particular issue for patients who are chronically ill and/or have family members who are chronically ill. In addition, too much information or too little information can also bring on uncertainty.

The big idea here is to write and speak in plain language. Physicians and health care providers know a lot about medicine, but consumers don’t. Communicators and health care marketers need to fit words to the audience. Making things simple and easy to understand is never an issue if it communicates clearly.

We know your hospital has “The only 16 slice CT scanner in the area.” Or the list of cancer services include “peripheral blood stem cell transplantation,” “radiofrequency ablation” or even “renal cell carcinon” treatment. We get it, but your patients don’t. They don’t care or even understand what that means to them. Put the info in simple terms and create messaging that relates to them.

Talk with your heart and speak with compassion

When it comes to choosing hospitals and health care providers, consumers are thinking more and more with their hearts. Regardless of the research and statistics, the industry citations and even the insurance coverage, people consistently make life-and-death decisions based on the emotional connections they form with caregivers. As I noted above, your patients don’t want to hear only about equipment and research, they also want to know how it affects them in a personal way.

Kentucky’s Saint Joseph Health System Cancer Center’s “Survivors” campaign is an example of how one health care provider got the message right. The Tombras Group created a signature TV spot that is visceral and pulls on your heart strings, because it features real survivors and real stories. It’s authentic, genuine and focused on patients, not providers.

Use social media to lead patients

Social media really offers an opportunity for hospitals and health systems. Instead of having patients be frustrated and overwhelmed after seeking information on the Internet, we can use social media to establish a guide for patients and their families—a guide that contains information that is provided by your hospital or health system to assure reliability.

Use your physicians and medical experts to explain complex information in the language your patients understand. You can offer interactive question and answer sessions, interviews or webinars that can be recorded and accessed through your hospital’s website or social media pages.

Sherman Health in Elgin, Illinois, manages several blogs for its patients and community in four main areas: general system news, new hospital and health photography, heart and cardiovascular health and patient testimonials. Here, Dr. Malinski, guest blogs for “Ask the cardiologist,” and helps readers understand common health-related topics.

Empower your patients

More patients are starting to take control over their health, but doctors say they are worried about the quality of information patients are finding online. Dr. Richard Bedlack, a neurology professor at Duke University considers it this way. “Just because a have the tools to work on your sports car doesn’t mean you’re ready to do it,” he says. He explains “Patient 2.0″ in this article from Time Magazine here. I say, it’s our jobs as marketers to develop social media sites, public forums and other sharing sites as a place for information our patients and community can trust.

Primary Children’s Medical Center next to the University of Utah, developed a video game to help and empower young cancer patients. When a University of Utah professor, Grzegorz Bulaj, visited an 8-year-old patient, he realized the spirometer he saw in the boy’s room could be turned into a game to encourage healing. See how a university’s medicine and entertainment arts and engineering departments worked together so young patients could have fun while living with cancer.

So, think about how your hospital’s communication strategies and marketing messages are really translated. Could you provide more opportunities to help patients and their families achieve greater understanding and acceptance and diminish the fear and frustration of uncertainty? What communications campaigns have worked for you?

Join the conversation!

I rarely leave the house without my phone. In fact, if I’m already on the road and realize I forgot it, I will go back to get it–even if it will put me at risk of being late.

If you’re like many Americans using smartphones, you use it to do more than communicate. Everyday I use my iPhone to surf the web, listen to music, check my bank account, manage my desktop computer and update social media sites.

Smartphone applications have allowed us as communicators to do much more than we ever thought possible. On the same token, it’s completely changed the way consumers preview, research and buy products and services. With the growing popularity of smart phones and other mobile devices, having a website with mobile access is no longer just a novelty aimed at a few people lucky enough to have iPhones. A mobile site is a must.

So, what does this mean for you?

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Just last week, I was monitoring a Facebook page for a nonprofit organization I freelance for here in Janesville and I came across a negative comment. I sent the comment to them and asked for a response. I was a little taken back by their reply. They wanted it deleted immediately. This is not the best way to go. Obviously the person took the time to post their suggestion in the hopes of change or a response. If you delete and ignore, you could lose the customer and it may damage your online brand reputation.

If your hospital is using social media sites, chances are you’ve experienced not-so-great comments from patients and/or customers. All health care organizations do. The patient or customer could have a simple complaint, or be so upset he/or she has gone on the offensive, making sure you and the rest of your fan-base knows they’re upset.

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Did you know 1 in 5 Americans use social media to make decisions involving their health care needs? According to research conducted by the National Research Corporation, 94 percent of respondents said they had used Facebook as a source to gather information on their health care. Thirty-two percent noted they used YouTube as a health care information source. Twitter came in third—tying with MySpace for 18 percent of respondents.

The Internet is surpassing physicians as the most popular health resource. If you are a health care marketer, why wouldn’t you get involved?

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There aren’t too many places you can turn these days without someone suggesting you use an app to solve a problem – anything from what to cook for dinner to what to do on your vacation to how to organize your life. But with so many apps available, how do you find the one that will work for you? Especially, as a patient trying to navigate the healthcare world.

There are plenty of healthcare related apps out there ranging in topics and authored by many types of organizations such as hospitals, pharmacies, government agencies, advocacy groups and pharmaceutical companies. I’ve seen apps that promote alternative treatment options, manage prescriptions, monitor daily asthma treatments, encourage exercise or just let patients look up health information. I’m sure there are many more and new ones popping up every day. What does that mean for us?

As marketers, we monitor social media platforms of all kinds, but should we also be monitoring the world of apps? As they continue to be created, tested and perfected, apps will be an important part of the healthcare landscape and an area where patients will expect us to be involved and responsive.

Have you heard from clinicians that patients are requesting more mobile options? Are you doing anything or planning anything to address that request?

Sayward Proctor

WHPRMS Secretary

No public relations or marketing professional ever imagines he or she will utter the words, “Our goal is not to promote your practice” to a neurosurgeon.

Yet that was precisely the hole out of which I found myself digging while working with a physician on a promotional piece for my employer—a hospital. He and I were brainstorming ideas for this piece, and I was becoming frustrated with his suggestions. First, he wanted me to write about a new piece of technology that he was only using at a competing hospital. Then, he came up with the brilliant idea to write an article about how “integrated” his practice was. Sure, that was really going to hold a reader’s attention.

Somehow, I had to help him understand that I was writing a piece for consumers, and nobody really cared how fabulous his practice was. My audience was “regular people,” and contrary to some physicians’ beliefs, regular people can see right through marketing mumbo-jumbo.

Eventually, I backpedaled, cajoled and flattered my way back into his good graces, and together, we came up with some great, general health ideas. But the experience forced me to examine my approach toward working with physicians. In a perfect world, doctors would be on exactly the same page with PR and marketing professionals, would understand the need to relate to consumers on an understandable level and would be thrilled with whatever ideas we present to them. But, of course, that’s just wishful thinking.

My husband laughs at me whenever I rant about the poor grammar I see in the world around me. Misused apostrophes are like nails on a chalkboard for me, but I have to remind myself that if everyone knew how to use apostrophes correctly, I wouldn’t have a job.

Similarly, if physicians and their staffs knew how to promote themselves, there would be no need for people like us. It is our job to provide the “regular person” perspective, to help them craft their ideas into something that will appeal to their current and potential patients.

And if they don’t have any ideas, we had better come to the table with a boatload. We have the all-important job of bridging the gap between our doctors and the rest of the world. No matter how difficult the physician, we have to find a way to meet him or her in the middle.

I definitely stuck my foot in my mouth with that physician. It wasn’t his fault that he had tunnel vision when it came to marketing. However, I think he will be happy with the end result—especially when he sees how many people take notice of this particular marketing piece.

Beth Earnest

WHPRMS Membership Chair