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.
