The vision for this blog is to create a community of harmonious professionals across the care continuum who encourage each other in exploring digital media as a way to support businesses and families dealing with elder care.
Written on March 10th, 2011 by tasha
A recent review of 120 hospital Facebook pages reveals that they are not using Facebook to its full potential. (The range of hospitals sampled was quite diverse, including large and small, rural and urban, different regions of the country, etc. The methodology was well thought out.)
The purpose of Facebook is to create relationships and community, to inspire conversation. Admittedly, it’s difficult to get people to break their silence and publicly post. Still, useful content that educates or inspires is more likely to prompt conversation than self-promoting announcements. That interchange and discussion—community-building if you will—is the spirit of social networking.
With community-building in mind, here is a summary of the hospital Facebook study:
What can we learn from these hospitals?
The daily posting rate is an important clue. Facebook readers expect to engage. If you only “show up” once a week, it’s an empty playground. No one really wants to hang out waiting to play with someone who is not “present.”
While daily is the cultural norm for Facebook, I would bet, with our generally older audience, that posting every other day (MWF, for instance) would probably be okay. Older audiences as a rule are not as voracious, and in fact are worried about receiving too much information. Once a day is reasonable, and I think a good standard. But if you are having trouble posting good content (as opposed to only self-promoting content—remember the 80:20 rule), I think you could do fine with 3 times a week. I would not bother with Facebook unless you can do at least that.
A key ingredient here, is “What are you posting?” Many of the hospitals posted announcements: Vaccination availability, tips for preventing cold or flu. Okay. This is useful. But hardly engaging. And it doesn’t inspire conversation or educate in any deep kind of way. Not much in terms of sharing your personality either! (Other than “Just the facts, ma’am.”)
You get what you put into it. A separate study by Idealware indicated that those non-profits that spent at least 2 hours a week on their Facebook fan page were more likely to say that they felt their Facebook initiative was a success.
Show that you want a conversation. Note that the hospitals in this who used Discussion were rewarded. Separate from using the Discussion section, only 25% of the hospitals actively asked questions or sought feedback. It is, admittedly, difficult to get people to engage in a public discussion. (It takes a certain kind of person to go out first on the dance floor!) Still, invite comments. Ask what people think about a topic. Let people know you are there to learn, that this is a two-way relationship. Asking employees to LIKE and comment is a great way to break the ice and encourage others to respond.
I think the children’s hospital examples are instructive. To be fair, the top contenders were in Boston and Seattle, both cities with a tech savvy population. And, children’s hospitals have the advantage that the parents, largely persons of younger persuasion, are “Net Natives.” (Never lived in a world without the Internet.) Pew Internet and American Life demographics show that social networking sites like Facebook are skewed to the young. No surprise there. Still, I believe there are other factors worthy of note.
The children’s hospitals included content that was educational, engaging and inspiring. They had announcements, but also discussions. They used video and photos to promote their activities (remember to get HIPAA releases). They also allowed their users to engage (to upload their own videos or photos to the hospital site). Admittedly, that is risky, but part of being on Facebook is monitoring regularly. You always have the right to take something down that a user has uploaded. And you can set your notifications so you know immediately when there’s been a new addition.
The children’s hospital replies to questions were timely, sincere and helpful. Remember, this is a medium, like the telephone, that is about communication and relationships (albeit “witnessed”). People use the space for asking questions. Often the questions were things like “Where is the parking?” “Is there a discount in the cafeteria for families of patients?” To Facebook users, social media is a natural place to conduct certain kinds of customer service. Encouraging users to ask questions, and responding with understanding, allows others to benefit from the answers, as well as demonstrating your philosophy and approach to customer care.
Lastly, the age factor. If you are a hospice with pediatric programs, or teen bereavement programs, I would recommend considering a separate Facebook presence dedicated to either of these audiences. These are the generations that turn to this medium. I would not plan to use it as a service delivery space (no privacy), but more as a question/answer logistics space. You can set a tone, provide useful information and highlight your great programs such that this would be very attractive to potential clients who might benefit from your service.
What has your experience been with Facebook?
(BTW: If you know a hospice that would like a Facebook page, have them enter our drawing to win a free Facebook setup at the NHPCO Management and Leadership Conference, April 7, 2011.) Deadline for entry is March 22nd.
Great article! I just started attending a new regional social media group that a few local businesses and organizations started. A few of our members are from hospitals. Not only did I get something out of this article, I’m going to pass it along to my group as well. Thanks!
Glad you found it helpful. By all means, pass it along!
By the way, we are preparing to launch a family caregiver digest where elder care providers can subscribe and get a weekly digest with links to current research and thinking on topics of interest to family caregivers. This can help with creating engaging, educational posts rather than filling your sites with announcements and promotions. Stay tuned!