Dr. Oz is all abuzz and excited about a health and wellness social media platform – Sharecare – that launched in 2010 by the founder of WebMD, saying it is the “Facebook of health information”.

Sharecare claims to be a social media platform that allows people to ask/learn and act upon question of health and wellness, creating an active community where knowledge is shared and put into practice. So, I decided to check it out to see if there was any truth to his claim.

I began my experience by asking a common health question:

I was surprised and impressed with the simple, easy to understand answers that could be filtered by contributor:

Within each answer, users can rate if they felt the answer was helpful. But, out of the 4 searches I did, no one had actually rated any of the answers. 

I also noticed that many of the topics and questions that I searched came back with little or no answers.

I then tried the “experts and people” section:

You can search for experts, people or organizations. I began my search for an “expert” in family medicine in my zip code. My results were less than successful. While a lot of results appeared, none of them had actually been updated by the practice/doctor to include any information that would make my search easier. Instead, it was generic listings of family practice doctors. No reviews, no ratings, this was info I could have found simple by starting at Google.

The “topics” section kept giving me an error, so I was unable to review that.

The “videos” section also left much to be desired.  It was confusing and seemed very generic. Even the categories available seemed limited.

Then I moved onto the Health Reference section – which to me was by far the most impressive section of the entire site.

You could easily search articles, research a drug, look of symptoms, browse treatment options, they even have a “pill identifier” if you don’t know what something is. I tried all of the searches out and was happy with the results.

Overall, my opinion stands that Sharecare had potential of making health information searches easy, but not with their limited network. They really need to do some heavy marketing and pitching to doctors/practices/etc. to expand their reach.

Also, based on the Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released their Health Online 2013 report, a lot of the facts support the fact that the direction of the social media platform may not be the best idea:

• 8 in 10 health inquiries start at a search engine, only 1% of people say they start their search on a social network.
• Only 1 in 5 internet users have consulted online reviews/rankings of health care services or treatments.
• People are less likely to post a review of a treatment/hospital/clinician, only 3-4% have done so.

What are your thoughts on Sharecare?  Have you seen any other healthcare social media platforms that you think are worth sharing?

Pinterest, the virtual online pin board, seems to be the most recent trend that is starting to catch on in the healthcare world. It’s so new that even the trendsetters – Mayo Clinic, Children’s Hospital of Boston, etc. – only just launched their pages. With that, we thought it would be helpful to do a list of the top trends that we have seen from some of the hospital social leaders, and give examples in order to get some direction and inspiration to get started.

Top Trends of Hospitals on Pinterest:

1. Recipes – During our research, we noticed that recipe boards were being repinned the most frequently. While many hospitals seem to be repurposing other user’s content to fill their recipe boards, Mayo Clinic has been developing and posting many of their own recipes, which is a unique way to help position themselves as a leader in health.
   
2. Fitness – The majority of hospital pages on Pinterest have fitness boards. This is another area in which Mayo Clinic is doing really well as they are posting fitness tips and videos from their health experts directly on mayoclinic.com.
3. Hospital spaces/design – Pinterest really is one of the best places to visually get across the idea of your brand, image and your hospital. This naturally means we see the masses using their boards to showcase their hospital layout, décor, etc. Check out these cool images from Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
   
4. Clinical Areas – Specialty hospitals are focusing on having boards per specialty area. We think Cleveland Clinic’s boards for Colon Cancer are a great example of hospitals focuses on clinical areas. They do a really nice job of visually presenting data, info and background for someone interested in that key area.
5. Patient Stories – People love real stories, and a patient story board allows viewers to feel that emotional side of your brand. Dayton Children’s Medical Center has a great example with their Miracle Stories board that also includes videos. This board is a true testament of how to get users engaged with your boards.
6. Hospital Facts – The Cleveland Clinic has done a really nice job putting together some infographics about their system’s hard facts; quick and witty, making it actually interesting to learn about the hospital.
   
7. Health Infographics - We think this is one of the greatest trends and most helpful for people, hospitals are building infographics simply put for health purposes. Scripps Health has some nice examples; love the when to call 9-1-1, when to visit urgent care vs. er, signs of a stroke, things that make life easier, visually.
8. Safety Tips – We also noticed the majority of hospitals included some type of variation of a board dedicated to safety tips. We really like how some of the infographics make it easy to understand the information. Nationwide Kids has a great example of a safety board.

If you are just starting to think about creating a Pinterest page for your hospital, hopefully these trends give you a good base for your core boards. Also, note that it’s important to continuously add content, so pin and re-pin as often as you can. A good rule of thumb is to re-pin 4 times per day.

Have you seen any other trends or good examples of hospitals on Pinterest?

We are always trying to think of ways that our healthcare clients can successfully tap into social media in order to help them reach their marketing goals.  And with an industry that is slow to adapt to leveraging social, it’s hard to convince them that it’s imperative to participate (especially when there isn’t much research or good samples to reference that support the fact that it is worth the investment of time and money). 

So, when The Health Research Institute released an analysis of health care and social media, I was extremely interested to see what the data said and how it could be applied to our current and future healthcare clients. 

With that, I have honed in on some of the research that I found most relevant to our hospital clients, and have included 9 insights that should be considered when developing your social strategy. 

1. Those with  poor health are more likely to engage about health. 

This is really interesting – as the ultimate goal on social platforms is getting people to truly engage with your brand.  With this, hospitals could think about developing campaigns and social programs specifically around a disease state.  For example, we have seen many children’s hospitals doing a good job at breaking into social, as their audience seems more engaged than those on the hospital’s brand page.  So, it would be interesting to see if service line pages specific to a disease state would do better, such as a page for your breast cancer center, to serve as a health resource. 

2. 18-24 year olds are the most likely to trust/share/engage via social media regarding healthcare.

This brings me to the fact that one of the greatest times to build a relationship with the female healthcare decision maker is during the time she has her baby, as it’s one of the most positive experiences she will have with your brand.  Perhaps you could offer an application that allows her to easily share photos and updates on her baby’s development or an application that allows her to find a local playgroup.  A unique application available for expectant mothers that is a nice reference for inspiration is available via babygaga on Facebook

3. 28% of consumers have supported a health related cause. 

I can truly appreciate this piece of data, as it proves that fans are passionate about health causes.   An idea to put this to work could quickly increase your fan base/followers.  Have your organization select a health cause to partner with and develop ideas and tactics to boost followers.

4. 40% of consumers will post about negative care received at a hospital. 

While maintaining a social presence is important to help build relationships with your brand, it is equally important to monitor social channels to find out what people are saying and what they’re unhappy with, allowing you to improve the perception of the hospital.  Be sure that this component is included in your strategy, as you may be surprised at how harmful not knowing what others are saying could be to your reputation. Supporting this is the fact that 41% of consumers said that the info they found via social media would affect their choice in selecting a hospital/medical facility.

5. 42% of consumers are likely to post about a doctor/nurse/provider if they had a positive experience.

This data supports the thought that people may look to social for referrals or second opinions.  Create an idea that with help foster sharing of positive experiences with your hospital, and make it something that people will really want to share. Be sure to ask yourself, what about this makes it interesting enough to share with others. 

6. Most consumers expect to receive a response from a healthcare company via social media within 24 hours. 

Be sure to build this into your plan and have a highly thought-out process in place to ensure that this can happen.  Perhaps a simple “we are looking into this and will get back to you asap,” just letting them know that you are responsive, concerned and timely. 

7. Consumers want ways to make their healthcare easier to manage (doc apts., apt. reminders, discounts/coupons, continued support post-treatment). 

Think of clever applications or tactics that can be incorporated within social outlets that will make people’s lives easier – an app allowing consumers to schedule an appointment, an app that sends patients reminders about their appointments, exclusive coupons for health screenings (i.e. $20 off a heart screening).  These serve as the content that is going to keep your fanbase engaged.

8. 63% of consumers are concerned about sharing their health info, as they worry about public sharing. 

We know that for hospitals, HIPPA regulations have many worried about what they can and can’t do.  A great idea for remaining compliant,yet able to engage is to have a social policy in place guaranteeing that information will not be shared.  A good starting point on information in regards to the rules for establishing a HIPPA compliant social media strategy can be found on a blog from HIVE strategies. 

9. Organizations are most concerned about integrating social media data/analytics and measuring the effectiveness/linking to ROI. 

When developing a strategy and a social plan, it’s important to set sound goals to measure the effectiveness of a campaign.  Determine what is important and feasible to the campaign per the strategy.  Is it increasing brand awareness?  Be sure to measure your fan increase and retention.  Is it spreading your brand message?  Look closely and analyze how often something was shared.  Or perhaps it is building an engaged fanbase.  With this you can monitor comments, shares and feedback rates. Just be sure your goals are realistic.  A blog post by Avinash Kaushik gives a breakdown of the best social media metrics to use as a starting point.

Have you seen any good examples of hospitals using social well, with this data in mind?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

One man. In a box. For one month. No, he's not homeless. Just kinda unhealthy. Until Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota put "Scott the Human Doing" in a glass apartment at the Mall of America. There he learned in the public eye, and with their help, how to be healthier. Sit-ups. Tai chi. Pilates. Cooking and eating fruits and vegies. Whatever his audience desired. Scott did exercises directed by Facebook and Twitter polls. He also spent a lot of time connecting with folks via posts, tweets and videoblogs. And marveling over the support they gave him, which he says made all the difference.  

The brilliance in this disruptive campaign is the two way communication. We've all heard that we should exercise and eat better. But this campaign showed and engaged people. In a real and memorable way, with live results. As for the results? National buzz. Over 2 million social media impressions. Over 4300 Facebook fans. Over 500 Twitter followers. Thousands of on-site impressions from people at Minnesota's most popular tourist attraction. Not to mention Scott dropping 29 pounds and 110 cholesterol points in just 30 days.

The Human Doing is part of BCBS of Minnesota's "do campaign". Getting people to move and groove at home, work, school, their community, etc. to fight obesity. Testimonial TV ads spotlight people explaining the excuses they used of why they couldn't lose weight ("I told myself it was hereditary"). Each ends with the thinner, healthier person "do dancing" with the funny "do dance" guy who makes you smile.  

I think BCBS of Minnesota is doing a good job of getting people to do. What do you think?