Many Hospitals Are Still Behind When It Comes To Social Media

Over the past two years I've attended several hospital, human resource/recruiter trade shows and conferences where social media was a hot topic. Unfortunately, each session on the topic has been a disappointment. In some cases it was because the presenter was not up to speed on their information in this space. I've listened to speakers who were giving out very inaccurate information and admitted they didn't use social media themselves. However, the biggest disappointment typically comes from the questions and responses of the crowd participants as a whole.

 

Many hospital employees present at each of the shows admitted that their organization had no social media presence and typically gave the same reasons why – either their hospital had a policy prohibiting employees from using social media or the hospital was absent a policy permitting such usage.

 

Hospitals are fairly traditional institutions when it comes to marketing, technology and communication. Add to it the brave new world of social media and the issue becomes even more complicated. Here are some of the standard objections I hear as to why hospitals tend to avoid social media:

 

What if someone talks about our organization in a way we can’t control? Guess what – they are talking about your organization and you can’t control it. However, you can monitor it, be aware of it and participate in the conversation in an effort to help guide and keep it positive. If you do have an employee that says something negative or that violates one of your policies you can of course address this just as you would in any venue outside of social media. But first you have to know how to actively monitor your hospital's brand online and get your employees to promote this brand in a positive manner. The same rules for your employees apply to the web as they do within your own hospital walls. Establishing and fostering a positive means of communication is the way to go. Attempting to prohibit them from talking about your organization online or fully controlling the situation is a game you won’t win.

There is too much liability with social media. Every industry has the potential for lawsuits. Healthcare is not unique in this way. Imagine if every industry were similarly afraid of such liability that it led to the same avoidance and  inaction – we’d be getting no where. Your legal department needs to be educated on the realities of social media just like all of your departments. Your hospital legal department will gladly write you books on all the potential issues and liabilities that exist for you on the web. They’re lawyers and that’s what they do. I’m certainly not trying to dismiss their advice (or provide my own – I’m not a lawyer). However, the incredible adoption of social media as a means of communication and networking mean that ignoring it or prohibiting its use won’t make it go away. The risks and potential threats need to be discussed, recognized and thought through.

 

What about ads from competition? This is a question that bothered a lot of people at one conference. Many social networking sites contain ads. These hospital HR managers were concerned that if their employees went to their organization's social media pages they would be lured away by the ads from their competitors. The fact is that your employees are seeing these ads all over the place already and if an ad is going to make them jump you're at risk for losing them anyway. But being absent from the web is only going to ensure they see the ads of your competition and not any of your organizations promotions.

Our IT Department has firewalls permitting us from accessing social media sites. Being in healthcare your hospitals are held to incredibly strict standards in order to protect health information. Of course it’s necessary that IT has these firewalls in place. However, just like your other departments, IT too needs to be prepared and brought into the loop regarding your organization’s social media plan. If the bigger concern here is employee productivity (or loss of, due to usage of these sites) you can address this in your policies just like anything else, or simply allow access only to select individuals within your walls.

 

We don’t have a policy allowing us to use social media. I’ll be honest, hospitals are the only institutions I’ve interacted with where both the presence of a ‘No’ and the absence of a ‘Yes’ mean the same thing. This can create an environment of inaction. If you don’t have a policy I certainly don’t want to suggest you put yourself in a situation where you will get in trouble or fired, but I will suggest you start pushing for getting a policy in place STAT! If you don’t know where to start, there are many examples of social media policies out there to draw from.

 

Conclusion:

Promoting and marketing your brand using social media is not a fad and it’s not going away. In fact, if you are not already doing it you’re late for the party. Hospitals and health systems have a tremendous opportunity to get their departments and employees motivated and engaged with tools that help promote their organizations in many new, exciting and effective ways. Social media can help people learn about your hospital culture, help you communicate more effectively with patients and staff and even afford you new recruitment opportunities for healthcare professionals and staff.

Everyone you come into contact with is using social media – your staff, your patients, and yes, even your competition. If they use these tools more effectively than you, you will soon be losing patients, business and employees (if you're not already). Join the conversation and help direct it positively. If there are any negative issues, address them, resolve them and move on.

 

Kudos to those hospitals already engaged with social media. To the rest of you – it’s time to embrace these new platforms for what they are – the most effective communication and networking mediums that exist today.