Social media has become very common within the healthcare arena, especially when paired with a medical marketing strategy. Medical practices and hospitals are opening their doors to a new way to reach potential patients. Those who have had concerns about whether or not to join the social media movement have found their wills weakened against the growing demand for a social presence. With all the talk about implementing social media, formal training for conducting healthcare business through this medium has been minimal, until now. The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media (MCCSM) is launching their first Social Media Residency later this month.
Social media presents its own set of challenges when you introduce it to the business arena. The added pressure of remaining HIPAA compliant only fuels the need for medical providers to get training. The Mayo Clinic’s social media residency program will provide both didactic, small group and hands on training. Part of the small group training process will include critiquing each group members’ social sites.
One of the most pressing topics that medical professionals are pressed to learn are the legal issues surrounding healthcare and social media. When a patient comments on a social page, how do you respond without risk of violating their HIPAA rights? The answer may surprise you! In a sequence called “Keeping it Legal,” the MCCSM will discuss the legal implications relevant to social media users.
It is important to also understand the rules specific to the social networking site too. For example, businesses are not permitted to be on Facebook as people. They must register as a page. The way to know if you business is listed correctly is to look at your followers. Are they listed as friends or fans? If they are friends, you do not have your Facebook account set up properly and run the risk of having it revoked by Facebook.
Blogging has become one of the best ways to reach the community and increase search engine ranking, yet many providers do not understand how to use it properly. Many implement it only to realize how time consuming it is to write a new article each week. It is worse to start a blog and ignore it then to not start a blog at all. MCCSM will discuss blogging during the residency to help attendees better understand the process.
Many providers are leaving the management of social media to their staff. It is important that anyone that will be managing social media have a comfortable understanding of what they should and shouldn’t do prior to launch day. Another option is to hire a medical marketing firm such as MindStream Creative to manage it for you. Then you can get back to seeing patients while we help you grow through the Internet!