Making the Most of Social Media Steve Van Dinter Media Relations Director, St. Mary’s Hospital
The social media universe is big, so where do you start?
Making the Most of Social Media Look before you leap What is the end-in-mind? Listen for comments, compliments and areas for improvement at St. Mary’s both internally and in the community Engage with the community and staff through the same vehicles that they’re already using Be a resource for the community on wellness and health-related news Supplement an integrated campaign
Words of caution Social media doesn’t run itself. Determine before you start how much time you can dedicate to social media initiatives. Focus on a couple initiatives at first to get up and running. Network support. Does your company have the bandwidth & other technical capacity to meet your social media needs? What’s your comfort level? Social media is about engagement and conversation. Is it ok if you’re not in the driver’s seat? Making the Most of Social Media Look before you leap
Decide what approach is right for your organization “Dip your toe” model Monitor external blog chatter through Technorati, BlogPulse, Social Mention Post relevant news on social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg Add a Share This or Add This option to your website Set up news alerts through services like Google Alerts Making the Most of Social Media Dip your toe? Or, do a cannonball?
Take Advantage of Google’s power Set up comprehensive FREE monitoring
Take Advantage of Google’s power Set up comprehensive FREE monitoring
Decide what approach is right for your organization “Cannonball” model – “Dip your toe” plus Video assets? Create a YouTube channel Build a Facebook fan page. Add targeted groups. Think about who can contribute. Just the administrators? Anyone? Create a Twitter account for news & health tips. Employee blogs: anonymous or names required? Try a Ning site for departments to share their specific information. Making the Most of Social Media Dip your toe? Or, do a cannonball?
Events Feature Stories Hospital News
Making the Most of Social Media Keeping up with social media may seem daunting See who’s saying what about you Use tracking to quantify your ROI
HootSuite Note: link shortener built in
HootSuite Use “send later” to stock up on tweets
HootSuite Track your tweets
HootSuite See which tweets are getting results
Tracking your Tweets See who’s retweeting
Watch it all in Realtime – twitterfall.com
Try a Social Media Release
Build Your Social Media Release
The Final Result
Don’t be Afraid to Try If you’re concerned, try setting up a Facebook or Twitter page Don’t advertise Monitor how it’s being used
Stay Connected Twitter.com/stmarysmadison Facebook