If you’re a hospital marketer, a health care public relations professional or if you play an important role in managing physician relations for a hospital or a large medical group, have you considered how social media might play a role in your day to day activities?
According to a company called Manhattan Research:
- As much as 89% of US physicians rely on the Internet as an essential part of their professional practice
- Approximately 64% of physicians now use smartphones
- 41% of physicians’ research takes place online
Clearly, physicians are spending a great deal of time on line. Why not develop a social network for your physicians and bring them your marketing messages, build relationships, and engage them in important dialogue about your hospital? Consider the following reasons for building a social network at your hospital or medical group:
- Need an expert for a local news piece…with a deadline of 1 hour? Send a tweet to your medical staff.
- Experiencing a disappointing turnout at medical staff meetings? Send reminders via social media to remind your busy medical staff of the next meeting.
- Does your CEO have an important message to get out to the medical staff? Use social media tools to deliver a link to an on-line memo or video message.
- Looking for new participants on a committee? Social media tools can promote and invite doctors to participate.
- Crisis situations, community health alerts, and situational updates. Use social media to keep physicians informed of the latest updates in the midst of a crisis or emergency situation.
Pretty posters and mail box stuffers can still spread the word to your medical staff, but why wait for them to find your message? Bring your real-time message, to them, on-line. They are there anyway. Want to educate your physicians on how to use social media? Yeah, we can help you with that, too.
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