A new IMS Health Report suggests that half of the Top 50 pharmaceutical companies in the world "do not engage with consumers or patients through social media, and only 10 companies" utilize Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Yikes.
But health seekers are online, actively looking for information. Four out of every 10 consumers has used social media to find health-related reviews and one-third of consumers are using the social space for health-related discussion.
Healthcare professionals are starting to understand the value of a solid social media listening and response program. Providers can build trust and loyalty with patients and stay on top of potential issues, correcting them before they turn into problems on HCAHPS surveys. There's more than I can go into in a blog post, which is why I worked on a whitepaper that adresses the many challenges the healthcare industry faces and solutions on how to move forward.
"5 Steps to Effective Social Media for Healthcare Providers" includes a road map that will help healthcare providers create a social media program to take advantage of this new consumer behavior and extend healthcare offerings into the social space.
The whitepaper contains a five-step outline for:
- Strategic online listening/monitoring
- Creating a social media program that monitors reputation and builds trust
- Developing a social media policy
- Building a training and education program
- Documenting, measuring, and growing social media
By doing a small amount of online and social media monitoring, you can find terms that are the most often associated with your company, the sentiment surrounding your brand, and the hot issues/topics that surround your market.
You might want to start here:
According to a 2013 PewResearch study, the healthcare subjects that receive the greatest amount of attention in the U.S. through social media are, in order:
What is your biggest social media challenge in the healthcare space and how do you plan on addressing it this year?
Hopefully this whitepaper will get you thinking about goals and objectives and how you can move forward.