How The Best Hospitals Use Social Media

Energizing Word of Mouth through Social Media

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It is indeed difficult to find Hospitals who has adopted the "Social Media " as a part of their Online and digital Branding Strategy.While most of them have paid lip service to the concept of social media, a few others are doing it the wrong way forgetting that social media is actually meant to connect communities and not connect a brand to a community.

Most brands somehow feel that social media is one of those strategies that can give you results overnite and go over the top to promote the brand forgetting that social media are conversations and not a shouting contest.

Healthcare is one of those industries that has recently made small beginnings in developing their social media. Healthcare and specially hospitals should by their nature provides a perfect platform for them to integrate social media in their online marketing strategy. For quite some time now, Mayo Clinic has been using social media remarkably well and has been one of the trendsetters in developing a social media mix in their overall marketing plans.

The importance that Mayo Clinic gives to their social media strategy is evident from the fact that they have appointed a ” social media and syndication head led by “Lee Asase” While Hospital's Marketing strategists open related " Strategies to high thinking technical marieting jargon, Mayo Clinic's Social Media Director feels that " sometimes uncomplicated and simple thinking is also a Strategy"

Strategic thinking can be an excuse for inaction, and just as it’s easier to alter the direction of a moving car than it is to get one started from a dead stop, I believe it’s best to build social media momentum through low-cost experimentation and iteration. says Lee Asase

Mayo Clinic has over 22 Fans on Facebook. You can add them to your facebook fans here, and has more than 800 Video uploads across Youtube and has categories like Medical Edge ,Medicine, Tai Chi and Cardiac Rehabilitation, and has more than 61,000 followers across Twitter.

One of the reasons why Mayo Clinic is successful in their quest for using social media for reaching users, bloggers and other stakeholders is because they believe that the Healthcare business is mainly run by word of mouth.. and social media is that platform that serves as a launchpad for your brand to communicate and interact with your community .

Lee Sums up Mayo Clinics Branding Philosophy Lee Sums up Mayo Clinics Branding Philosophy in an interview with Lee Odden of the Toprank Blog

If your customers are basically happy with the products or services you provide, and if your employees are comparatively satisfied with their work, the potential benefits of active engagement are likely significant. If you have serious employee morale or customer satisfaction deficits, providing social media platforms will amplify those concerns.

Don’t be deluded that avoiding official social media engagement will keep people from talking about your company. Consumers and employees will be online whether you provide a site for them or not. But if you have these problems you should work first on addressing them before launching major social media initiatives. Social media mainly make existing chatter louder.

So how many Hospitals are actually in the right frame of kick start off their social media activities. Is it easier for Mayo Clinic because of the sheer quality and medical skills .. what happens to those hospitals which re not the typical " Mayo Clinics"

Does social media follow ground excellence or its the social media that can actually propel you to your consumers.. What about patient mortality rates . Do you think that Heathcare and Hospitals " need to tread cautiously before they move to social media.