Overview: For Milestone Two, you will establish the context for your healthcare product or service, and analyze the market. To establish the context, you will describe the industry segment, describe y

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Daily Brieﬁng Blog

R ule s of social media: D eﬁne your

tar get audienc e

11:28 AM on September 2 3, 2 01 3

Man y hospitals and he alth systems no w use Facebook, T witter, and other s ocial media platf orms. But ar e there practic al ways

to mak e these t echnologie s work f or your or ganiz ation? The D aily Brieﬁng kick s oﬀ a ﬁv e-part s eries on s trat egie s to suc ceed

at s ocial media.

Hanna Jaquith, D aily Brieﬁng

"We need t o connect with p atients" isn' t a new priorit y for ho spitals; that maxim inf ormed many organiz ations'

mark eting s trat egie s thr ough the 2 0th centur y. But the 21s t centur y has intr oduced social net work s and

technology —think of platforms lik e Facebook and T witter—that o ﬀer a mor e target ed me ans to build br and

loyalt y, attr act ne w patient s, and eng age e xisting one s in ways that tr aditional media c annot.

Rule s of social media

Toda y: D eﬁne y our audienc e

Tue sda y: L et p atient s tell their s torie s

Wedne sda y: B eneﬁt with a blog

Thur sda y: Mas ter the metric s

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Frida y: Sus tain a c onver sation

A s L ee Aas e, dir ector o f the Mayo Clinic C enter f or S ocial Media , rec ently t old the Daily Brieﬁng , "F or mor e than 1 00 year s,

Ma yo Clinic' s reput ation has alw ays c ome fr om word o f mouth. S ocial media is an ampliﬁc ation of that w ord o f mouth."

However , s ocial media s trat egie s that tr y to r each "an yone , anywher e" are usually doomed t o fail. In r ecent int ervie ws with the

Daily Brieﬁng , o ﬃcials at ﬁv e of the nation' s most s ocial media-s avvy ho spitals str ess ed the import ance of ha ving a w ell-

deﬁned audienc e. A ccor ding t o these e xpert s, while individuals incr easingly g o online f or health inf ormation, s ome future

patient s are mor e likely than other s to r ely on s ocial media when doing s o.

Cas e study: M.D . Anderson Canc er Center

In choo sing which s ocial media channels t o be on, MD Anderson Canc er Center keep s in mind it s target audienc e: canc er

patient s, c aregiv ers, and sur vivors, s ays L aur a Nathan-Garner , progr am manag er of int egrated media c ommunications. Both

are mor e likely t o gravit ate t ow ar d F acebook and T witter, rather than Ins tagr am and Y ouTube, which attr act a younger

audienc e.

"W e almo st don' t have a choic e" but to be on F acebook and T witter, she s ays, bec ause "that' s wher e our p atients are, and the y

are asking que stions . We need t o make sure we're ans wering them." 7/22/2020 Rules of social media: Define your target audience | The Advisory Board Daily Briefing

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P riv acy P olic y Leg al Dis claimer Terms o f Use

M.D . Ander son then t ailors its social media c ontent ac cor dingly: Fac ebook pr ovide s a g ood medium t o highlight sur vivor

storie s, bec ause "w e often he ar is that individuals with a c ancer diagno sis will go online t o seek out people with s torie s similar

to their s," Nathan-Garner s ays. The s torie s that end up g etting highlight ed often ar e volunt eered b y patient s, she adds .

Twitt er , on the other hand, is us eful t o hold liv e chats with M.D . Anderson e xpert s and pr ovide p atients with pr actical health

advic e.

Jus t as import ant to your s ocial media s trat egy is kno wing when not to shar e information, Nathan-Garner s ays. "W e get

reque sts fr om all o ver our ins titution, fr om 20,000 c olleague s, asking us t o share information about their clinic al trials or an

event ," but when t argeting a glob al audience of patient s, c aregiv ers, and sur vivors, y our or ganiz ation mus t be willing t o "draw a

line ."

Mor e from the A dvisory B oar d

Getting R OI on social media | Our r ese ar ch libr ary

Do F acebook lik es r eﬂect ho spital qualit y?