If you spend time looking around Facebook at hospital fan pages you will notice organizations are all over the map with their strategy. Some use the page as a place to promote new services, clinics, seminars, etc. Some use the page to connect with their community. Some use the page to… well they just don’t use the page at all.
I spent some time on several pages really trying to understand why activity is occurring. In the end it is really simple, and I can tell you how to have more activity. But first I thought of a prinicple I learned some years ago from the Studer Group. It is in Quint Studer’s first book Hardwiring Excellence. It is the principle of Criticism Versus Compliments.
Criticism Versus Compliments
- 1 compliment & 1 criticism = negative relationship
- 2 compliments & 1 criticism = neutral relationship
- 3 compliments & 1 criticism = positive relationship
Now I am sure there may be exceptions to what I am about to say but in general I am proposing:
- 3 selfless post & 1 marketing post = positive Facebook Fan relationship
Anything less and you will be seen as marketing and/or selling the organization. Now I am sure there are ways to amplify what I am suggesting including:
- Pictures enhance a post
- Video is good
- Prizes will create interaction
Selfless Post
What I mean by a selfless post is simply offering up content of value to your community that will in no way bring you direct business. This sounds crazy but the goal here is to create community not sell services. The ROI will come as a result of becoming a place of trust though offering your community true valuable resources.
Here are some ideas of what I consider a selfless post:
- Employee of the Month/ Employee Awards – this tells your community you value your staff and also gives the winners a way to share their big day with others online who could not be there in person.
- Community Events – be a resource for what is happening in the community regardless of the hospital being a sponsor or not.
- Games/Prizes – for example: encourage engagement by posting old pictures of the facility and asking people to guess what year it is from.
- Tips – offer free tips on back to school topics, summer safety, etc… Be a resource.
- Repost – be sure to become fans of all local media, the school district, and other organizations around town. This will allow you to tag them in your post and also repost things they are promoting.
There are many more ideas and examples but the important thing is to understand why the hospital needs to be on Facebook and how to create community on your page.
Let me know what I missed!
– Reed
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Reed – Nice, pithy guidance on how to think about your FB presence as a hospital. I can see this as 2-3 slides in a presentation.
Thanks – I am adding to the deck as we speak ; ) – Reed