Social Media University, Global (SMUG)
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This afternoon I’m presenting at the Community 2.0 conference in San Francisco. I’ve embedded the slides below.
Here are a few of the links to posts mentioned:
The Mayo Clinic Music Fun post on Sharing Mayo Clinic.
The story of Sharon Turner and her daughter, Jodi Hume, who shot that video.
The story of Anne de Bari and her husband Tony.
This is another in the Recently Asked Questions series. I’m glad to answer these via email (and have answered directly in this case), but by de-identifying the person asking the question (to protect confidentiality) and also answering in public I hope to provide a resource for others who may have similar questions. More importantly, it opens the process so if other SMUGgles have tips to share, we all can learn from each other.
So here’s today’s question from “Pat” (not his or her real name):
Hi Lee — I am the Manager, E-Strategy, at ________. While admittedly late to the party, we are preparing to launch an official presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. But first, I have the pleasant task of selling our CEO and other senior leaders on the concept and benefits of social media. Do you have any resources/advice about how best to gain leadership buy-in? I’m not anticipating that it’s going to be a tough sell, but if there are any proven methods/pitfalls to avoid, I’d love to learn.
Dear Pat:
My presentations last week (embedded here and here) offer some basic guidance. I’d invite you to check them out. In essence, start by using social media tools to improve the efficiency of what you’re already doing (e.g. shooting Flip video for news releases and posting that to your Facebook site and YouTube channel…or just using the video to record your interviews and thereby do a better job of writing your old-fashioned text-based news releases). Use low-cost or no-cost tools so the out-of-pocket cost is negligible. Then when you get success at almost no cost you can build on that to extend into further applications.
If word-of-mouth plays any role at all in patients’ decisions to use your facilities (and it surely does), then social media will be a powerful means of spreading that word. You will be able to tell stories and describe treatments and services in much more detail than you could through mainstream media. And if you are spending anything on paid advertising, you can pay for your social media programs by channeling a tiny fraction of that budget.
At Mayo Clinic we have been able to use social media tools to help tell stories, which has led to significant news coverage in the mainstream media, such as this story in yesterday’s Des Moines Register. And sometimes, as in this story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, we’ve had news stories about our social media efforts.
I’d also recommend you refer to Ed Bennett’s listing of other hospitals using social media to show your leadership that many others have begun using social media tools.
Finally, I wouldn’t exactly say you’re “late to the party.” I think there are something like 5,000 hospitals in the U.S., and Ed’s list has 250 using social media. You will still be on the earlier side of the adoption curve, and should be able to move relatively quickly since there are some examples of others to emulate and build upon.
How about the rest of you? What advice could you offer “Pat” in selling social media to hospital leadership?
If this story from KTTC-TV in Rochester, Minn. doesn’t bring a lump to your throat, check your pulse to make sure you’re still alive.
On Sunday the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an article about our social media work at Mayo Clinic which began:
ROCHESTER – A few years ago, Lee Aase was just another flack for the Mayo Clinic, issuing press releases on cue and calling news conferences for doctors to present carefully scripted messages.
These days, Aase is a walking, talking, blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing force who’s blasting Mayo into the social networking world faster than you can say “Mayo Brothers.”
I didn’t particularly like the lead because “flack” and “carefully scripted” carry some negative connotations, but given how positive the rest of the story was, I obviously have no basis for complaint.
We have a great team involved in social media at Mayo Clinic, and it’s been exciting to see the enthusiasm grow.
The story became available online Wednesday after being print-only for three days. The irony of having a social media story be print only escaped no one’s notice, but it’s part of the Star Tribune’s effort to increase Sunday print circulation. I guess I’m honored that they would think this story might help.
I don’t know how long this will be available at no charge on StarTribune.com, but if you haven’t yet seen it, check it out here.
As I write this I’m sitting in the press box at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where the Phillies have just defeated the Washington Nationals 13-11. It was a come-from-behind victory that featured two grand slams by the Phillies (one by Ryan Howard and the other by Raul Ibanez.) Here’s the mlb.com wrap-up of the game.
I was in town to give a presentation on social media to the National Cancer Institute Public Affairs Network, and I got media credentials for the day in order to interview Jayson Werth, the Phillies’ starting right fielder, whose career was resurrected by seeing Dr. Richard Berger, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon and wrist specialist. I’ll have a post with my interview with Jayson on the Sharing Mayo Clinic blog in the next day or so.
Update: here’s the post with the video interview of Jayson.
But meanwhile, here are a few of the photos from my excellent adventure (click to enlarge):
Thanks to the Phillies organization for their hospitality, and to Jayson for being willing to do the interview. He has a really great story, and I look forward to being able to have him tell it in his own words on Sharing Mayo Clinic.