As medical schools become more competitive, it is expected that social media will have an increasingly important role to play in admissions and orientation.

Currently med schools are using social media in a variety of ways including:

• communication
• sharing information & resources
• collaborating on projects
• announcements
• promoting activities & events
• sharing employment opportunities
• networking

In 2010, researchers at The George Washington University School of Medicine reported that 126 of 134 (95%) U.S. medical schools have a Facebook presence, with either a school-supported page, a medical student formed group, or alumni group, and social networking guidelines are useful tools to appropriately outline what is expected of students

Here’s a quick look at what one med school is doing.

University of Michigan Medical School

University of Michigan Med School has for a long time had a successful experience with social media

While many med schools have begun using social media in their application process, the University of Michigan has enjoyed a successful experience on several social sites. Their Twitter account and Facebook page are fun places to hang out with various pop quizes, tips, questions and other interesting content to keep students enthused and engaged with life at Ann Arbor.

The school also has regular chats with potential applicants to answer any questions they may have. Lisa Rudgers, the University of Michigan’s vice president for global communications stated that, “Universities are talking to and communicating with younger audiences. And for younger audiences, social media are the platforms.”

Potential Issues for Med Schools

Despite the many positive ways in which social media can be used in medical school communities, there are potential problems that come with the territory:

• Ethical considerations (i.e. privacy issues, inappropriate posts and pictures, faculty/student interactions, physician/patient interactions)
• What is shared on social media is public knowledge – how will this affect a school’s professional image? There have been instances where students posted content (including pictures) that were not only inappropriate, but also seriously undermined the professionalism of respectable graduate schools.

Med School Social Media policies

Medical schools and their students are using social media. Almost all US medical schools have a Facebook presence, yet most do not have policies addressing student online social networking behavior.

While social media use rises, policy informing appropriate conduct in medical schools lags behind. Developing social media policies at medical schools can provide sound guidelines for students to adopt, while also preventing or reducing future crises from happening.

Over to you: What potential do you see for social media in U.S. medical schools?

Despite ridiculous budgets and unlimited resources that big brands have (well kinda), small business definitely have the advantage when it comes to social media.

So says Francisco Rosales of Socialmouths.

For example if you’re a small business entrepreneur then “…you do not need an elaborate document (read: social media strategy) to handle social media marketing. You need the necessary product and industry knowledge and you need to have the sensibility on how to use the social networks.”

But if you’re a big brand, then that’s a whole different ball game.

“The requirements to manage a social media presence are different. You now have to consider the involvement of employees, outsourced efforts, how to represent the brand, the language, the tone, how to respond to problems and inquiries and even how to handle a crisis, when things are escalated to higher ground.”

And we’re not just talking about social media strategies. Small businesses have it much easier when it comes to satisfaction, management and yes, even ROI!

Here’s more from Francesco Rosales on “Why Small Businesses Have the Advantage Over Brands in Social Media.”  You’ll be so glad you read it

Happy Friday, and hat tip to Shashi Bellamkonda for the stunning pic from the Smithsonian Museum.

Oh and by the way, feel free to disagree passionately with this assumption in the comment box below

Does your hospital have a mobile-friendly website that customers can easily access and navigate when they’re on the go?

Perhaps at this point it is either nonexistent or not as good as you would like it to be. The first step in developing a mobile website for your hospital is to think like the people who typically visit your website i.e. patients, other providers, insurance companies etc.

The idea is to offer the kind of experience that deepens your visitors’ engagement and encourages repeat visits. Here are 5 tips to achieve that goal.

#1. Think like your customer

Think about your mobile site from the perspective of your visitor on the go. What kind of visitor might that be? It might be a patient looking for directions to your hospital. Or a provider looking for information about careers.

Children's Memorial Hospital offers a simple, user-friendly, logical flow of information on their mobile site

Is your site designed to provide easy-to-find location and directions? Are there large, visible buttons that point to careers, hospital news and important phone numbers?

Children’s Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL) has a very well designed mobile website that makes it easy for users to consume and engage with their content.

#2. Analyze customers’ thought patterns

Think through the steps that your customers (or other stake holders) might take to gather information about your hospital. You will find that different visitors have different thought patterns. But you can still design one site around multiple visitor needs as long as you provide a simple, logical flow of information for each type of visitor.

#3. Keep the design simple

Don’t try to complicate your mobile site with a lot of information and fancy designs. Mobile visitors are usually in a hurry and so your messages should be brief and concise. Remember to include only the most pertinent information (think text message content, not brochure content).

#4. Design for speed

Keep in mind that websites load much slower on mobile devices than they do on regular computers. Therefore abandon rates tend to be much higher as well. Avoid using Flash, video and multiple images. These will slow down the loading process and no one has the time to wait for your site to load.

#5. Design for multiple devices

Currently there is no standard for ALL mobile devices so you want to make sure that your mobile site is designed based on the top mobile devices and screens out there i.e. Android, iOs, Blackberry, Windows Phone and tablets such as iPads.

Of course your mobile site won’t perform perfectly for each visitor but the best you can do is to at least try to ensure that your design gives them the best experience possible.

Bonus Tip

For a simple way to create a browser redirect code for your mobile site, Mobile Moxie has an easy-to-use tool that is readily available. Just visit MobileMoxie.com and search for the mobile redirect tool, follow the instructions and you’ll have the code that you need!

Over to you: Do you have a mobile site for your hospital? What other tips can you share to help others make their sites mobile-friendly?

A close friend of mine died at the early age of nineteen due to an undetected brain aneurysm. He was the only son with three younger sisters.  In their time of grief, the family was approached by doctors to donate his organs. The parents agreed and Mike’s organs were able to save five people’s lives, including a 9-year-old boy.

This was back in 1992 when there were no social networking sites on the Internet to encourage organ donation.

Facebook Makes Organ Donation Social

Last week Mark Zuckerberg announced an initiative to encourage 100,000 users to sign up to become organ donors. According to Huff Post, by the end of day 6,000 people had enrolled in 22 state registries.  These same states combined usually see less than 400 new donor agreements. 100,000 Facebookers had signed up by last Tuesday night.

You can use your Facebook Timeline to advertise your organ donor status

Since Facebook has 526 million daily users worldwide, one wonders how far this initiative could go? Social organ donation will certainly expose more people to the idea. In my (and Mike’s) state of Arkansas the only time we are asked about organ donation is when we’re renewing our driver’s license or registering to vote.

 Taking it a step further

Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio, Texas has decided to take this initiative to their Facebook followers. To encourage organ donor recruitment, Methodist Healthcare is holding a contest.

Methodist Healthcare using Facebook to encourage organ donation

Every fan who registers to become an organ donor with the Donate Life State Registry and shares their status with Methodist Healthcare by posting, “I am a lifesaver. I am an organ donor” will be eligible to win $2500 towards their favorite charity.

Pros and Problems

Some potential benefits of social (Facebook’s) organ donation initiatives:

• Increased awareness for organ donation
• Tremendous benefits to organ donor registries
• The likelihood of saving many more lives
• It is already initiating an important conversation
• The opportunity of moving people from ‘thinking about it’ to ‘making a commitment’.

Some unintended problems that may arise from this are:

• Concerns about how this information would be used and secured (given Facebook’s history with privacy issues).
• Discomfort about ‘advertising’ your status on Facebook may discourage many people
•  Since organ donations occur after death, it will take years to fully realize the impact of this initiative
• The possibility that state databases and IT systems may not be equipped to handle the huge spikes that may result from Facebook’s initiative

Over to you: What do you think about Facebook’s social organ donation initiative? Good idea or nightmare?

Social media crises are on the rise.

Ever since United Airlines broke Dave Carroll’s guitar in July 2009, thousands of companies whose negative actions were amplified by social media have paid the price in terms of public humiliation, loss of good reputation and in some cases financial loss.

According to Jeremiah Owyang’s, Social Business Readiness Report  (August 2011) 76% of these crises could have been avoided or diminished if only companies made some internal investment in social media planning and preparedness.

To learn from where others have failed, he suggests that companies should follow the Social Business Hierarchy of Needs. This infographic captures the most salient points of his case. Download the full report by clicking on this link.

Avoid a social media crisis by climbing the social business hierarchy of needs

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<a href="http://www.wordviewediting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Social-Media-Crisis.png"><img class=" wp-image-7987 " title="Social-Media-Crisis" src="http://www.wordviewediting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Social-Media-Crisis.png" alt="Social Media Crisis How to Avoid A Social Media Crisis [Infographic]" width="515" height="1816" /></a>

Over to you: What is your organization doing to prepare and plan for a potential social media crisis?

Whether you’re a part-time freelancer, full time web content writer or professional blogger, you’re always looking for new writing opportunities. As a writer, you’re a part of a large community of organizations, fellow curators and social media enthusiasts that need your talents.

There are a number of ways to find writing gigs via Twitter, whether for freelance or staffed employment, and I’m willing to bet that you haven’t been using them to their full extent:

Gig-seeking via Twitter

This social media platform, while known for quick interactions and short-worded engagement, is perfect for the gig-seeking writer.

“There is a lot of latent value in Twitter as a business network. You’ve just got to know how to approach connections and build engagement in your followers.” – Mediabistro.com

About Me Blurb

The first place to start optimizing on Twitter is your own profile. Every account has a space at the top that I’m calling your “About me blurb.” This is the one opportunity you have to market yourself, your talents, etc. Make sure that this space is enticing and includes key-words.

The 'About' section on your Twitter profile is the one opportunity to market yourself well

• What you do: Are you a freelance writer, professional blogger, or full-time web content curator?
• Your title: Are you the founder, owner, author, or CEO of anything? This gives you instant credibility.
• What you want: If you are looking for freelance work, say it. Looking to be a full-time writer, well give it a go.
• Call to action: How can someone get in touch with you? Twitter, email? Make sure you state that clearly.

Follow the Right People

They key to making this work is being connected to the right people. There is a certain amount of effort that will initially go into this. However, it is an on-going project to follow, engage and connect with new people that can become a great networking asset.

• Your reach connections: What are some organizations that you could only dream of writing for? Get connected right away. You never know who handles their Twitter account or what might spark their interest.
• Search it out: If you’re connected to any groups on LinkedIn, follow several blogs, or are heavily involved in social media, then you know that almost everyone has a Twitter account. So be sure to follow people that you think have something to offer – whether it’s advice, jobs, whatever.
• Who you’ve worked with: Always follow and engage with editors or professionals that you have worked with in the past. Following them is just another way to get back in touch or re-connect for more opportunities down the line.

Get Out There and Ask

In an ideal world, you would always be approached with writing opportunities. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case. Sometimes it takes being proactive and advocating for yourself to get something in the writing funnel. Make time to engage.

• Simply stated: Just go ahead and say it, what are you looking for?
• Direct message: Another option is to direct message a business/company/person you’d like to work or write for.
• Mention (@): You can publicly reach out for opportunities. Keep it casual, friendly, and to the point. This can be seen by other writing connections which could lead to another opportunity you weren’t planning to have.
• Lists: Twitter has a great tool called, “lists.” Here you can create a list of all the writing connections you’ve made on Twitter, and simply send writing specific tweets in bulk.

Key Takeaway

Using Twitter as a networking tool is a great opportunity for any a writer. Even as a full-time employee, you’re always looking for new opportunities and more writing experience. Start engaging and take initiative. You never know where that road might lead!

Over to you: Have you used Twitter to find any gigs – writing or otherwise? Please share your experience in the comment box below.

Bio: Jessica Sanders is an avid small business writer touching on topics from social media to telemarketing services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including credit card processing for lead generation resource, Resource Nation.

Social media is a disruptive technology. It bears tremendous opportunities but it also disrupts the way people work, comunicate and connect.

Danna Vetter, VP of Consumer Strategies at ARAMARK wrote a brilliant piece on BrianSolis.com titled, “They All Laughed: The Path to Becoming a Social Business.”

It’s about how her own company resisted social media and the path they eventually took to becoming a social business. She explains why people thought it was a laughable idea:

The standard -
“We can’t open ourselves up to this kind of risk.”

The mean -
“You’re just trying to manipulate company perception.”

The ridiculous –
“No one wants to read tweets about hot dogs.”

Sound familiar? Clearly healthcare is not the only space where social media has challenged corporate cultures and status quos. In the case of ARAMARK they were hell-bent on NOT adapting to social media, but rather on adapting social media to ARAMARK.

Organizations that resist social media are afraid that the technology involved is too disruptive to control. They are right. But the problem is that consumer expectations have changed drastically and providing for their needs in this digital age requires a concerted social media effort.

For leaders who are looking for a way to sort this out, there is an interesting report by Jeremiah Owyang (principal of Altimeter Group) which discusses (among other things) 4 types of social media policies that protect not only the organization, but employees and users as well. Here they are:

Various social media policies define social behavior and protect users

#1. Social Media Policy

This policy is crafted for the organization as a whole and defines how corporate uses social media and how employees can participate e.g. Ohio State University Medical Center Philosophy on Social Media.

#2. Disclosure/Ethics Policy

This policy is created for employees to address issues surrounding disclosure and confidentiality. Also addresses questions such as, if employees are not allowed to publish content on corporate accounts, can they use their personal profiles to represent the organization? e.g. Mayo Clinic’s Guidelines for Employees.

#3. Community Policy

This policy is for customers and prospects. It protects social media communities from abuse, and guides users towards common objectives. When crafting a community policy focus on desired behaviors rather than creating a long list of behavior you do not want. A community policy should be linked to the social media policy.e.g. University of Maryland Medical Center Comments Policy.

#4. Privacy Policy

This policy is intended for users who have privacy concerns. It defines how organizations will use data gathered from social channels and if or how that data will be shared.e.g. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles – Share Your Story: Use and Access Policy.

Over to you: Am I over-simplifying this? Do you think creating various social media policies is enough to avert the potential risks that come with embracing disruptive technologies?

Relevance! It is the end-all-be-all for today’s digital consumer.

When making a purchasing decision digital consumers are looking for content that is highly relevant to their current situations and needs.

A report from Bazaarvoice found that more than half of digital consumers consider online content created by other users before recommendations from family, friends or colleagues. Fifty-one percent said the presence of reviews and other user-generated content on a website helps them get a better understanding of a product or service’s true value.

Digital consumers want content that is relevant and easily accessible

Aside from reviews, their shopping decisions are influenced by endorsements and user feedback posted by friends, followers and other contacts on social networks. According to Bazaarvoice, 42 percent of respondents reported that content shared on Facebook, Twitter or another social network is frequently the reason they decide for or against a purchase or service provider.

Generating more UCG for healthcare

The term “User-Generated Content” (UGC) refers to any content created and uploaded by users to  an organization’s platform. UGC ranges from Flickr photos, YouTube videos, blog comments, Twitter posts and reviews on Yelp or Amazon.

As consumer reviews become more and more important in informing and influencing other customers’ decisions, they are also becoming a prominent marketing tactic. In healthcare, UGC would take the form of patient reviews, client surveys, medical blogs,community boards, question and answer forums and so on.

Tips to encourage and improve healthcare UGC

1. Facilitate quick and easy responses. Users want to contribute content in a convenient and frictionless fashion. If the process of contributing content is difficult, it’s likely your visitors will not participate. For example patients should be able to complete a survey rating their hospital experience with a few clicks.
2. To encourage participation remove any barriers in your site design. This could be anything from hard-to-find comment box, a multi-step sign-up process, or a lack of clear and visible instructions. Any of these points will give your visitor good enough reason to leave your site and find one that is more user-friendly.
3. Give away incentives (once in a while). Contests with rewards, freebies and giveaways, sometimes work very well to encourage engagement. Be creative but don’t rely too much on such tactics as users could get too used to them. A good idea is to customize your rewards to holidays and special occasions.
4. Make your content “share-able” on social media sites. Content that is shareable and share-worthy is interesting to users and is quickly passed along from one to many consumers. The more eyeballs that fall on your content the more likely that reviews related to your services will be shared as well.
5. Moderate your content. Thank patients and contributors for their feedback. Reply promptly to questions on your discussion board, and encourage other users to answer questions whenever they’re able to. This creates a sense of community amongst users and gives them a feeling of ownership in the content.
6. Keep conversations relevant and interesting. People like to talk about interesting stories. Be sure to initiate discussions that are relevant to your users so that they in turn can contribute their own experiences on that particular subject.

Over to you: What’s your take? What other ideas could you add to this list?

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Fark, and Digg – all great platforms for creating and sharing user-generated content. Right?

Who really owns the user generated content on social media sites?

But what about content security and ownership? What happens to copyrighted work when it is stored in the cloud and shared on Facebook? Does it even belong to you anymore?

Each social networking site has a clause about ownership of memes. It is contained in their Terms of Service (TOS). In terms of social media and content marketing a meme is “a highly viral niche content with a fast burnout rate.”

Generally with most social media sites, you maintain copyright of your content but agree to share it with the site (meaning that you give them explicit rights to do whatever they want with it!).

The ownership of user-generated content on social media sites is a tricky subject. Michael Erin Strong of Blue Glass does a great job shedding some light on it in her article, “Who Owns Your Meme? User-Generated Content Ownership on Social Networks”. Take a moment to read it and see how this stuff affects your (or should I say ‘our’ cloud-stored content).

Over to you: Do you normally read the TOS of social media sites that you use? What do you make of them?

**Image Credit: BlueGlass.com

Behavioral health is one of those areas that are perfectly suited to a round-the-clock social media support model.

According to PwC’s April 2012, “Social Media ‘Likes’ Healthcare” Report, more than 20 social sites such as ‘In the Rooms’, ‘Recovery Realm’ and ‘Addiction Tribe’ provide a virtual support system to supplement treatment programs by connecting individuals to the help they need around the clock.

Case Study: OneRecovery

OneRecovery is a start-up social network that is causing a few ripples in the Behavioral Health field.

OneRecovery Social Solutioning® is the first comprehensive online community designed to help people accomplish continuous and meaningful recovery (from alcoholism, drug addiction and eating disorders).

The company created a model that uses mobile phones to connect patients with a community of people who share their experiences. The brainchild of David Metzler, OneRecovery is a combination of Metzler’s own experience with addiction and recovery plus his expertise around gaming and technology.

How it works

OneRecovery Social Network provides 24/7 support for Recovering Addicts

Invitation

Members are invited by health plans, treatment centers or other members in “good standing”. The company has partnerships with five health plans, numerous employers, treatment centers and other providers.

Communication

Members can communicate with various specialists and peer networks either via smartphone or computer. They can also help others as well. If they’ve been members with good reputations for more than a year, they can become senior peers who offer one-to-one support.

Intervention

Members can check in with emoticons to inform others how they are feeling. This allows others to intervene if a ‘high-risk’ emoticon is selected.

Differentiator

Unlike other traditional treatment models where the health plan, physician or treatment provider checks in on the patient, with OneRecovery patients have full control of how they share and participate in the network. They have a sense of ownership in this process.

Key TakeAway

While the mission of OneRecovery (and similar networks) is to save lives and promote healthy lifestyles, there’s something compelling about a social network that lowers the healthcare burden of addiction. Also healthcare call centers using such a model can give higher priority to those patients who have shown online signs (emoticons) that they are close to relapse.

Over to you: What do you think of this kind of social platform to support recovering addicts? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

**Information in this article is sourced from PwC’s “Social Media ‘likes’ Healthcare” Report. Click this link to download and read the full report.