Public Relations, Advertising & Social Media

INTRODUCTION

Twitter can be a useful tool for promoting knowledge and expertise in a particular field, including healthcare IT. An infographic from CDW shows that the role of social media in healthcare is on the rise, with 45 percent of U.S. adults searching health-related topics on those platforms.

Instead of creating a Twitter account for your healthcare IT company, consider using your subject matter experts (SMEs) or leaders to represent your voice. Social media is best used for human-to-human interactions, not corporation-to-corporation.

Here are some tips to brand your team as experts in their respective fields of health tech.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS VIA TWEET CHATS

Twitter chats, or tweet chats, are live, moderated discussions that occur at a set time on a weekly, monthly, bimonthly or one-time basis. Each chat focuses on a specific topic and is associated with a designated hashtag. Have your SMEs or leaders use tweet chats to network and connect with others in healthcare. Many industry experts host tweet chats, and many participants are industry professionals.

For instance, #HITsm brings leaders in health IT together each week to discuss industry trends and how social media influences the outcomes of those initiatives. To participate, users include the #HITsm hashtag in all tweets, comments and replies during the chat.

#HCSM is another popular chat that centers on communication and the use of social media in healthcare. A complete list of healthcare-related tweet chats can be found on Symplur, along with schedules, chat descriptions, topics and transcripts and analytics from previous chats.

Beyond networking, tweet chats can be a powerful way to establish your SMEs as thought leaders, plus they gain exposure to different perspectives and receive advice or guidance from others in the healthcare industry. Regularly engaging in tweet chats can help you convey your points in a concise way, which can also make your day-to-day tweets more impactful.

PITCH REPORTERS ON TWITTER

Twitter is more news centric than other forms of social media and can be an effective means to pitch reporters. Journalists are one of the largest and most active groups on the social media platform today, and many consider their Twitter account to be at least partially professional. A well-styled, 140-character or less pitch is a must, but before pitching a reporter you need to do your research.

Your PR staff should investigate the reporter’s interests/beat, media outlet, past tweets and past articles to make sure they align with your message and field of healthcare. Have your SMEs/leaders follow the appropriate reporters and begin a relationship by commenting on, retweeting and/or favoriting their tweets. The PR team should then help the SMEs/leaders personalize each pitch, especially since tweets are public (the last thing a reporter wants to see is a slew of mass tweets sent to their counterparts). Engaging with journalists and building a standing relationship will go a long way in improving your health tech company’s visibility.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers healthcare IT companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

INTRODUCTION

patient-pickup-sign These days, hospitals have strong incentives to improve the patient experience. One reason is that the CMS reduces Medicare payments for poor-performing hospitals. Another is that the CMS publicly releases the results of patients’ perspectives of their hospital experience in its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.

Need another reason? Accenture reported that hospitals with “superior” patient experiences achieved 50 percent higher net margins.

Your hospital would be best served creating a culture where customer service is every employee’s focus; otherwise, customer service traits will never be consistently or universally performed. Here are some tips.

USE DATA TO IMPROVE YOUR SERVICE

Working on improving your hospital’s patient experience is actually a form of reputation management, and one objective of reputation management is preventing a reputation crisis, such as bad ratings. One way to work on reputation management is by figuring out what areas or services to shore up.

You already have your patient satisfaction scores to use as baseline numbers. Use the data that you have to guide your direction. For example, the Cleveland Clinic discovered that low rankings in the ED were because of communication issues, not wait times.

KEEP HOSPITAL STAFF MOTIVATED AND ENGAGED

The onboarding process for new employees is an important time in which customer service must be explained. But once training is over, managers, department heads and team leaders need to keep their staff members accountable. They can drive employee engagement by aligning activities with the hospital’s larger strategic plan and organization-wide goals, according to Gallup.

Your communications department should help the hospital president or CEO to promulgate his/her strategic plan and goals and provide regular (e.g. quarterly) status or progress reports. It is hoped that accountability and seeing improvement will keep staff motivated and engaged in providing outstanding customer service.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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