Communications and marketing professionals who are in charge of managing the social media presence for hospital systems frequently find themselves in a difficult position as leaders of specialty groups, residency programs and other entities within the system clamor for their own social media accounts that carry the enterprise brand.
In theory these accounts should contribute to overall organization reputation, but if they aren’t well managed they could dilute the brand through inactivity or even become flash points for controversy.
Back when I led the Mayo Clinic Social Media Network (#MCSMN), which brought together social media leaders and users from health care, we heard these concerns regularly.
Now as I’ve moved into a third career while also continuing to work in digital health in my of counsel role with Jarrard, Inc., I’m excited to be working on a project to help health care social media colleagues compare notes and perhaps identify best practices for managing these sub-brand accounts.
One of our Jarrad clients, Ashley Anderson of Cedars Sinai, has commissioned a research project to gather input from colleagues on how their organizations are handling social media governance issues. Some of the questions include:
- Which department has primary responsibility for your organization’s main enterprise-level presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and any other social media platforms?
- What other departments have a role in using or contributing content to these enterprise-level accounts?
- How many employees contribute to your organization’s social media accounts (i.e. content development, strategy, planning, community management, etc.?)
- How do the sub-accounts contribute to and support the organization’s overall brand?
- Is there a strategy or methodical approach behind the sub-accounts?
- How do you measure and/or prove the success of the sub-accounts?
Ashley plans to share the results of the survey with the participants, so all will be better equipped with data from peer institutions to help guide their internal governance discussions.
If you are responsible for managing social media in your hospital or hospital system, I hope you take a few minutes to participate.
