Thoughts about Social Media and Healthcare from SXSW

The Npress and Practice Marketing Revolution team had the pleasure of attending South by Southwest in Austin, TX. We participated in a variety of great workshops and presentations on social media and health care with speakers like Livestrong’s CEO Doug Ulman, MD Anderson, Humana, and the University of Maryland’s Hospital.

We’d like to share some social media FAQs that we discussed with our colleagues in hopes of helping you with your practices' strategy.

Why is connecting with patients online important for shaping the way our practices work?

We need to be closer to patients to understand their experience and their needs. An online experience allows patients to open up and share in a more personal and frank way. The whole point is to demonstrate that you care and you respond. Your response tells story about your practice’s character.

Our patients want to get to the computer and Google immediately when given a diagnosis. How can doctors stay relevant as health information providers?

Instead of letting patients hit the web blindly and read every site they can find about their condition, doctors and practices need to be a part of the conversation. An easy thing to do is to send patients to recommended resources. It’s like a prescription for information and can help their patients to find credible sources and understand health literacy online.

How can we set the stage for using social media in our practice?

Here is a step by step breakdown:

* Create business case (why important for the practice)
* Gain senior leadership support (need but in from doctors)
* Define processes
* Listen online (what are other companies doing and what are your patients saying about you?)
* Connect with other initiatives (what else are you doing for patient service and marketing?)
* Establish a personality
* Interact – don’t broadcast

We'll be discussing these and other ideas in subsequent posts. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to send an email to sarah@npressnewsletter.com. If you have something you'd like to add, please leave a comment!