eHealth Articles & White Papers

A Social Affair: It's Not All About You

Ben Dillon - Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

Social media has added new dimensions to the marketing and communications landscape. I'm excited to see many healthcare organizations experimenting with these new tools. Unfortunately, most of these experiments fail to take full advantage of social media, because they aren't using the feature that makes these platforms so effective - the social part.

Some organizations approach building a social media community just like they'd approach filling seats in an auditorium - the more people there to listen to what you have to say, the better. If you're viewing Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as nothing more than a new broadcast channel, you're missing the point.

The relationship part

Think about why people are using these tools. Why are they forming networks and communities?

People engage through social media for many reasons - they want to connect with others by joining groups, keep track of friends, follow topics of interest and engage in conversations. Whether for personal or professional reasons, it comes down to one fundamental motivate: building relationships.

No one is standing up and saying, "Send me mindless marketing messages! Pitch me! Pitch me for all you're worth!"

Relationships are much more difficult than broadcasting. Relationships require energy and effort, time and attention. Relationships require you to be interesting.

And unlike other media, it's not all about you. You need to give thought to what need you are serving through your social media connections above and beyond the value to your organization. Consumers are in ultimate control. They choose who to listen to and they can leave at any time.

Social media isn't really media

In truth, thinking about social media as media is the wrong paradigm. Media implies a broadcast - a one-to-many unidirectional communication. Social media is a different way of thinking about communications. That's because it's inherently social. People organize into groups and share information, pictures and videos; they collaborate, argue and joke with one another. These are all of the things people like to do when they get together with others.

So imagine a dinner party. If someone walked in and started reading press releases, it wouldn't go over well. Instead, you introduce yourself, make a little small talk, get to know some of the other people who are there, and eventually get the opportunity to talk about your business and what you're passionate about.

Just like at a dinner party, the social media world requires you to build some social capital with the group and earn respect for your opinion. And other people who are doing the same, expect you to be listening. It's a give and take relationship. Sure you bring some respect to the table through your brand equity, but the weight you carry in this conversation is largely earned by what you contribute. Failing to invest in building credibility in your network will hamper any efforts you make to gain value from that network down the road.

On the other hand, carrying weight with your social network brings much greater value than your individual relationships with immediate connections. Networks are designed to be viral. When you are connected to a group that pays attention to what you have to say, you begin to tap their networks as well.

Let's say you have a Facebook group for your hospital's cancer survivors' network and that group has 1,000 fans. When you launch a fundraising campaign for a new facility, through Facebook, it reaches those fans. Not bad.

The real value is when 100 of those fans show their support and the message is transmitted to their networks. If they're averaging 200 friends apiece, you've now reached 20,000 people, some of whom will support you as well, and so on.

Best of all, because those 20,000 are connected to your network - the cancer survivors - your message carries the power of word of mouth and all the authority that brings. Those 20,000 are more likely to listen to their friends than you, and they are more likely to act as a result.

It's a smart investment

So if you've been wondering what all of this excitement has been about for social media, now you know. If you've been hearing about how this just happens for free, don't believe it. Building the credibility to be effective takes time and energy, but in the end, it's worth the investment.