I have a friend who works in marketing at a local hospital. He asked me for a little input on what to think about when starting his hospital’s blog.
Over the past year I’ve served as a sounding board for a handful of hospital systems as they’ve struggled with the issue of how to position their blog presence.
Here are a few thoughts before you start a hospital blog:
Blog for show or blog for dough. Most hospitals feel compelled to start a blog but many don’t know why. Consequently, the world is full of dead hospital blogs. Just like the world is full of dead broadcast Twitter feeds and empty, lifeless Facebook pages. If you’re going to expend the resources on a blog, make it functional, make it memorable, make it noteworthy, make it work, or don’t make it at all.
What does a blog get you? While a blog can serve as a ‘platform for crisis communication’ and a ‘forum for public education,’ the best sites in the business serve as a window into a hospital’s human side. Great blogs are an eclectic mix of multimedia activity that breaks down barriers and tells stories. And, if properly set up, it will serve as a natural site for the discussion of uncomfortable hospital issues that make their way into the public light.
Your hospital blog might serve as your social home base. Depending on how your online presence evolves, your blog can potentially serve as your hospital’s social home base. Core stories, experiences, and community commentary can live there while Facebook and Twitter feed you traffic. Your blog, in turn, can drive traffic to your more static properties dedicated to specific programs and initiatives.
What’s the ROI on a hospital blog? Just like no one knows the ROI on the hospital landscaping or the marketing VP’s cell phone, this question serves as the primal defense for those interested in keeping their heads squarely in the sand. A better question might be how much it will cost you to remain alienated from your patient base? You might call over to the Mayo Clinic and launch the question to social media director Lee Aase. His stories of piano playin’ seniors and viral health videos filmed on $100 flip cams have landed his facility on Good Morning America and just about every other mainstream outlet I know. I’m guessing that the Mayo Clinic is beyond the ROI question.
Deliver consistently or don’t deliver at all. When your hospital makes the commitment to show itself through a blog, you’ve got to be consistent. You can argue about what represents consistent content but if you can’t deliver twice a week for the next 12 months you need to consider whether you have the proper resources to take the leap.
The most successful hospital blogs maintain limited editorial teams with a division of labor set along a rough editorial calendar. Look for 6-8 key voices from your institution. Seek ambassadors within your facility who can message from the heart, operate professionally, and keep up what can be a challenging commitment. Grow only as the most genuine voices emerge.
Don’t reinvent the blog. Most importantly, study other hospitals and look at their successes and failures. Decide how you want your site to work based on what you see. Be critical and look at your blog as an opportunity to show the part of your hospital and its staff that no one ever knew existed.
And just for fun take a peek at the blogs for Seattle Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. See how different voices can make a hospital look completely different.
Tell me what I’ve missed. What do hospitals need to keep in mind before taking the plunge?
{ 19 comments }
Besides the regulatory considerations (which is a whole other post and I’m too tired right now to get into), I think a commitment to the long-term and the community is a definite must.
The most important part of blogging? The ability to produce quality content on a regular basis while actively sparking discussion and maintaining community.
I was at the Audience Conference this past weekend, which ended on a note from Jason Calacanis, co-founder of Weblogs and Mahalo. He offered a bit of wisdom that’s as true for hospital blogging as it is for any other kind:
When asked what was the most important thing in building and maintaining the audience, he said Quality is.
When asked what is second to Quality, his reply: “Quality is second to Quality”.
@PhilBaumann
Phil, The community question is interesting and I wonder if a successful blog necessarily has to foster community? And if a blog prohibits comments is it still a blog? Seth Godin as an example. Not sure I see his community. But definitely a plus it it can be cultivated.
Big yes on quality. The infosphere’s abundance will ultimately settle into a hierarchy of quality. It’s already happening.
Thanks for your input.
Wow… where do I start… like Phil I am tired, but wanted to (or had to
) say something. Few hospitals are engaging in other social media venues that require far less effort (Twitter) and *possibly* pose far less risk. Most institutional PR departments can not get past the ROI argument. Perhaps due to budgetary constraints they do not possess the staff necessary to post quality, useful, actionable content on a regular basis. Better not to have a blog, than to have one post a month, etc. I believe in the end that the vast majority hospitals are still trying to figure out social media and all that’s involved. A good strategy requires a well trained, engaged staff… and money is not flowing freely in most institutions today. No margin, NO service has become the mantra of many an institution facing enormous cuts in funding…. perhaps they see social media outreach in the same vein ???? Not sure… but you offer good advice to any institution even remotely considering a corporate blog.
Sluggish adoption isn’t so easy to explain especially given the advances in social awareness even by the month. Budget is huge and I think the ROI wrinkle will settle with time. I bet we’ll see shifting in marketing personnel from traditional media to new/social. But that’s just the poop docs POV.
Strange days indeed.
Keep in mind the importance of consistency and follow through. Be prepared to engage with patients and community.
Agreed on engagement. Some attention to privacy is a consideration but nothing that can’t be overcome with an hour or two of education w/ compliance.
If you agree on engagement, Doc, you’ve answered your question re Seth Godin. Godin’s is no blog in the modern, social medium sense. Godin is a profit, preaching to adherents. I know tgat comparison raises images of political fanaticism, such is not my intent. I mean no denegration. Godin is a capable writer sharing a message.
Compare bloggers like yourself, Paul Levy, Paul Dorio, Kevin Pho, Kent Bottles, Joseph Kvedra, Amy Romano, Doc Rob, Matthew Holt, ePatient Dave, Gary Schwitzer, Regina Holliday, or Trisha Torrey. All of these bloggers are capable communicators working within dialogues. For each of these individuals, a successful blog post means not simply compelling writing (although I hope that’s a component); a successful blog post means opening a dialogue (sometimes several dialogues weaving a pattern of communication). This is one reason I get annoyed at Kevin Pho’s habit of cutting of the dialogue (closing it to further comments) and then tweeting about it to keep interest alive. What good’s our interest, our stirrings with wonted dialogue, when we can’t engage?
What all of these bloggers have in common is whuffie. They all have it. They’ve carefully cultivated their whuffie and they wield it each in their own ways, toward their own ends. If you don’t understand whuffie, pick up a copy of Tara Hunt’s book The Whuffie Factor. I think it will help gel a lot you were saying about community engagement and commitment, partly by understanding the respect inherent in proper dialogues, partly by just convincing bloggers to be themselves. Get the book. Start your blog. Then turn the bullhorn around, and start building whuffie.
Thanks for commenting. Great post, as always, Bryan.
The reason I have to close comments off is due to spambots that elude even Akismet. Keeping comments open on the number of posts I have (close to 14,000) crashes my blog.
I’ve made some backend changes that should stabilize things — I’ll likely open up comments longer once that’s established.
Best,
Kevin
I hear you, Kevin. I still dump a half-dozen spam comments a week on my old cooking blog (http://sautewords.blogspot.com), and I only update it once every three months or so. I hope the new backend fix works out for you.
Prophet. Seth Godin is a prophet. I’m sure he’d love to be a profit, and in many ways, I suppose he qualifies. But I meant “prophet.”
Why won’t my iPhone keyboard correct for quippage? I’m not asking for it to read my mind, damnit.
Well. Okay. Maybe I am.
Prophet. That’s what I meant.
Good points from Bryan and the group. My 2 cents:
1. A successful hospital blog requires commitment and an editorial process. Our blog – http://medcenterblog.org/ – is managed by Chris Lindsley, our web site editor. Chris pulls in story ideas from hospital staff and patients and has dozens of stories in the pipeline.
2. The name of our blog is “Life in a Medical Center” and our focus match’s Dr. V’s advice to “serve as a window into a hospital’s human side”. First-person narratives are most effective, as they let the participant tell the story without PR speak getting in the way.
3. Finally, A hospital blog can also be an excellent employee communications tool. Each post is read and shared by a large percentage of our staff.
Great post, Dr V.
I agree with the group. As the sole author of a major hospital blog, I have a few additions:
1. Blogs have to have a defined purpose, a clear target audience, and an authentic author. Write a purpose and goals document before you start. Tantamount is passion for communicating an idea. There are many ways to do this (infinite, actually) and finding a real “take” is essential. If you start a blog to start a blog, it’s futile. Dig into your mission, or your author’s mission, and tell your story. If you sound like the PR department, you’ll never generate a conversation. The great thing about “life in a medical center” is that the goal is clear: tansparency.
2. Know the financial cost and time commitment. Be clear with those involved. This is a day/night/weekend job. I author the blog for Seattle Children’s exclusively. I do the research, write all posts, edit, and take all photos, approve all comments, and respond. My goal is to tell my story–that of motherhood, doctoring, and living in the world of (social) media. I want families to know what it feels like to be a doctor and what it feels like to read the news when trying to make decisions for my children. I know that science is getting lost and this is my attempt to help it resurface. But on top of my clinical practice, authoring a blog is a tremendous commitment. Know what it will take before you launch it. Be willing to take a risk in a risk-adverse climate. Like Dr V said, the risk of losing your patient base is greater.
3. Have patience. You won’t have 250K pageviews in the first month. You want to develop loyal followers so your message will resonate. This won’t happen overnight. When you get buy-in from leadership, be clear about expectations.
4. Be honest. Talk about mistakes. Just like in clinical practice, some of the best moments for me are when I say, “I have no idea what this is,” to a family. It’s a reality in primary care; you can’t know everything. A blog is a perfect metaphor. Do the same when telling your story on the blog.
Share your story, just like Dr V is doing here…
great post and comments… here are a couple of things I have seen/learned working with hospitals:
1. Editorial calendar is key. Everyone wants a blog and everyone has that one post ready to go. It is very important to make a calendar of topics/keywords, etc so the author can see upfront the commitment needed.
2. Sometimes less is more. The tendency for some is to have many blogs and authors to showcase every facility, service line, etc… When in reality it is easier to keep fewer blogs a float and at the same time cross promote other authors and topics by keeping everyone on few blogs.
3. Don’t over edit. This is not a press release.
– Reed
These are very helpful observations for those who are struggling with limited budgets, declining personnel to support new (or even ongoing) initiatives and the near constant struggle with IT security, nervous administrators and the entire risk department.
That said, we have wonderful examples of blogging being done courageously, boldly – and, guess what? They’re the ones being read and commented on. Go figure.
I hope this conversation continues. Now, if the ones throwing up the roadblocks would just get out of the way, we’d like to reach our audience with stories of hope, healing and hopefully some humor. Just sayin’. Lee’s piano video is the perfect example ~ I still hear about it.
Hoping to have social media in place – including a hospital blog – by 2011 in my new Health System. Wish me luck.
Great points, and I would agree that having and responding to comments certainly makes a difference.
I also agree re: the dead facebook pages. They often only serve to give others a platform to complain if no one is there to say ‘yes we hear you’. Even Duke doesn’t respond to comments on theirs and many of those comments are actually quite complimentary! [not sure which is worse? not replying to those who publicly advertise your greatness for you or those giving you the opportunity to show your greatness by complaining and giving you the chance to handle it well?].
In any case, it comes down to intention IMO.
Too many companies are so focused on ‘what’s in it for us’ that they miss the true point. Creating a blog, or using any social medium with the intention of adding value and serving others makes it easy to decide ‘what to do’. You are either adding value or not. If you care you will provide good content, and cultivate and nurture it, if you don’t you will create and abandon.
Sadly it seems from what I have read on other healthcare blogs, that many in healthcare don’t see a need to view patients as ‘customers’ or to put any effort into providing anything that even smells like customer service. Many have a ‘they need us’ mentality, and view the insurance companies as the customer, not the patient. Ironically that means that just caring enough to create a platform and show up is remarkable enough to stand out! Coming up with brilliant content isn’t even necessary. Just show up and you’ll win (IMHO)
Thanks very useful and insight full post and comments. I sent this onto our Hospital public affairs person.
Seems you have assumed that hospital blogs need to be public.
You have got me asking: What is the case and scope for inhouse hospital blogs? What are the issues and benefits?
I’ve been wondering the same thing. An outside blog is great, but an internal blog would seem just as useful, and ultimately, harder to accomplish. How to draw the line between the corporate speak and the news, and still hope for inspirational stories from staff? How can an internal blog be engaging?
And something that’s even harder to figure out – how much time can you expect an employee to spend on an internal blog when they should be doing their actual work? If someone can figure this light bulb out, let me know.
What is your ROI on a Hospital Blog?
While those who ask this question are searching for a “hard number” the return might be valuable but not easily quantified.
My daughter has had a chronic medical condition since she was eight. While Dr. Nancy Friedman @Duke University Medical Center has always earned my praise, so does the Phlebotomist who has both the technical skills and “people skills” to help my daughter relax and smile during the procedure. The Phlebotomist makes a significant impact upon my patient satisfaction score.
Because a Hospital Blog can indeed serve as your social home base, our experience with the Phlebotomist would make a valuable contribution to both the internal and external customers. If those who are many times forgotten within a hospital are given some “official ink” for the contributions they make it seems clear to me their moral and job satisfaction would also increase.
I do believe by both “telling the stories” of both the patients/families and the Hospital staff does increase the positive “brand” all medical facilities are seeking.
The following links help better explain my views:
http://seattlemamadoc.seattlechildrens.org/stammina/
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
http://www.dukehealth.org/physicians/nancy_friedman
Bryan, once again thank you again for your practical wisdom.
Such a well written post.. Thnkx for sharing this post!