Social Media donts What is social media Social media is nothing - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Steven Anderson

Digital Manager MAS 15:00 - 15:30 Social Media Do's and Don'ts

Social Media Do’s and don’ts

What is social media

• Social media is nothing new
• Just an extension of something we all have – a social network
• Its not something to be frightened of
• Very beneficial if used well
• It isn’t going away

Social Media – so many questions

• Confidentiality
• Informed consent
• Public/private boundaries
• professionalism

Social Media - examples

We all know the usual suspects

Social Media can be a lot of things

• Social media isn’t just a place where teenagers gossip
• Social media is increasingly being used by consumers and

corporates to communicate.

• People are choosing to use social media to:
• Buy/sell
• Transfer money
• Communicate
• Transact
• Social media is here to stay

Social media – do have a plan

• Understand what you’d like to get out of social media for your

practice

• Unless you are prepared to place a lot of time into it and

understand analytics it will be doubtful you’ll see immediate or short term results

• There is a difference between private relationships and

professional relationships

• Develop your own professional network through sites such as

LinkedIn – you’ll be amazed at what you can learn through these sites

Social Media – Do’s

• Use it and don’t be frightened
• Possible negative feedback can be a useful opportunity to review

processes

• Social media is a very effective method of getting content to

consumers/patients

• Source of content and information – remember be relevant

Social media – more do’s

• Set up a social media site for your practice
• Remember keep it separate from your private profile (unless you

specifically want it linked)

• The same rules of social etiquette apply as in any social situation
• Relevance
• Ask yourself what would you like to hear about from your Doctor
• In time, social media if used well, will drive business to your door

Social media – more do’s

• Develop ground rules for the site
• You don’t diagnose over the phone, why would you

diagnose over social media?

• Everyone can have a social media profile – use it wisely
• If you don’t want a social media profile that’s cool, but if you did

have one delete it. Nothing worse than an unloved social media profile and it reflects badly on your business

• Check to see no one else has set up a social media profile for you.

It can happen

Social media – more do’s

• If you’ve got a social media site – love it. Don’t let it wither.
• Starting is easy, keep up the good work by adding to your profile
• nce a week.
• Often social media gets priority listing in Google search – this can

be good for business.

Social Media – Relevance

• Relevance is everything
• The use of rich content is crucial to the success of a social media

strategy

• Doctors surgeries have lots to talk about, all of the time
• Health advice
• Seasonal issues – ie. Flu jabs
• Source of community
• Your own generic data would be a rich source of content

Social Media – Community

• Community is a key term with social media
• People use social media because they want to connect
• Medical surgeries are a key place of community

Social media is not instantaneous

• If you build it, they might come
• Patients will not follow you just because you are there
• Success on social media is all about relevance
• Most social media success stories didn’t happen overnight
• Your patients have a limited attention span – they get bombarded

with messages everyday – they key to success is not doing more

• f the same – remember relevance

Social Media – Don’ts

• There is nothing special about social media, common sense is

exactly that

• Don’t disclose anything you wouldn’t now – social media

amplifies a message

• Patient confidentiality is essential – nothing has changed there
• Avoid personal online relationships with patients – relationships

are easily blurred online – but this is no different to any personal relationship

Social Media – What to use

• So many options with social media
• Stick to the big ones – they are simple and easy to use
• Keep it simple
• Keep going, don’t get discouraged after a few months – the most

successful sites are a long time in the making

• Use differing media content – mix it up, video, text, images
• Make it fun

Social Media – The future

• Social media is evolving really quickly
• Already people transact on Facebook
• Solutions are coming – many already use texts to remind patients
• f appointments, this is just the start
• Increasingly patients and consumers are engaged – take the

journey with them

Thanks

Steven Anderson Digital Manager MAS Steven.anderson@mas.co.nz