Social Media for Behavioral Healthcare
October 2011
Bill Balderaz
President
Webbed Marketing
Agenda
• Why Social Media Matters
• Understanding Measurement of Social Media
• Revise and Improve Social Media
• Summary
Behavioral Health and Online Communications
Behavioral Health and Online Communications
Why Social Media Matters
• Word-of-mouth marketing has taken on new meaning in today’s online reality, in healthcare as in the corporate world.
Using Social Media in Healthcare
• Be part of the conversation: Listen & Tell Your Story• Improve care• Facilitate internal communication• Communicate with key audiences
Why Social Media Matters
• Healthcare organizations are still learning how to measure engagement with key influencers, who can help build – or break – trusted relationships through their online commentary about their experience with healthcare services.
Why Social Media Matters
Why Social Media Matters
• The rise of social media has transformed website visitors from consumers of information to people who look for interactive communication and engagement. • In the mental health and addictions setting,
engagement matters in establishing trust in a therapeutic relationship affected by intense social stigma.
Measurement
• Measuring online engagement• Beyond traditional measures such as website hits
Measurement
• Measuring return on investment in social media is a novel and evolving area. Many organizations inside and outside of healthcare have attempted to explore social media but have questioned the investment.
Measurement
• Total Online Community Size
• Monthly Referred Social Traffic
• Social Monthly Impressions
Measurement – Client Engagement
• Total online community size (sCRM) = number of Facebook fans + number of Twitter followers + number of unique blog users + number of YouTube channel subscribers + all other registered managed community members
• Number of new “friends” after 30/60/90 days
• Number of friends met online whom users have met offline
Measurement – Client Engagement
• Number of friends met online whom that member has subsequently collaborated with
• Number of ideas that the friend has received and then used in his or her care plan
• Number of mentions (tracked via blog search engines)
• Positive-to-negative sentiment ratios on major search engines
Measurement – Engagement Activity
• Percentage change in monthly referred social traffic to site, e.g., unique website users referred via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, owned and third party blogs, and forums.
• Percentage change in social monthly impressions, e.g., number of mentions of your hospital on blogs, forums, Twitter, etc. within a given month.
Measurement – Engagement Activity
• Number of client posts (ideas/threads)
• Number of comments and trackbacks
• Time spent on site
• Frequency: of posts, comments; by day, week, month, year
Measurement – Program Development
• Number of new program ideas and percentage of ideas from clients, staff, community
• Cycle time from idea to development initiation (e.g., from client blog post to policy implementation)
• Rate of adoption of new ideas from online community versus traditional sources
Use Reporting to Revise
• Use meaningful engagement metrics• Consider revising current methods of evaluating
the organization’s communications to ensure that the adoption of social media metrics has a positive on your organization.
Use Reporting to Revise
• Consider engagement metrics used by other sectors. • Look at what is being done to measure social
media impact in areas beyond healthcare.
Use Reporting to Revise
• Understand the value and limitations of sentiment analysis as a quality improvement tool. • And listen to what your audience wants – maybe
it’s a whitepaper or survey summary, and you can offer that if they Like your Facebook page.
Summary
• By measuring the impact of real-time stories told online, organizations can show their impact over time. • The impact of story-telling for quality improvement
can be more powerful than data alone
Summary
• Healthcare organizations can revise strategies after measuring success, to ensure social media efforts are consistent with goals and their audience.
Questions?
Bill Balderaz
President
Webbed Marketing (a division of Fathom Online Marketing)
Twitter: @bbalderaz
Email: [email protected]
Recommended
