Three Ways Healthcare Brands Can Leverage Social Media
In 2003, after giving birth to her third child, 37-year-old Amy Tenderich was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. After doing what any reasonable person probably would do—spending a day crying on the couch—she began a quest to learn all she could about her disease and how to live with it.
She was among the first patient bloggers on the Internet (www.diabetesmine.com) and has built an amazing following of tens of thousands of fellow patients living with diabetes. But what strikes me with the intensity of a clarion bell is what she says is her most important lesson: "I learned all sorts of facts about my own health that doctors never told me."
Patients are so deeply in need of information and support that they've created a thriving and growing underground society using new online tools to find out things their own doctors never tell them.
Make no mistake, this is no emerging trend—it has already fully emerged. More than one out of three Americans use some form of healthcare–elated social media each year, such as chats; message boards; user-generated communities, including Patients Like Me; Wikis; and video-sharing sites.
What are they looking for? Emotional support, for one. Being sick can be isolating, and, like Tenderich's experience, being presumably healthy one day and a patient the next can be shocking. But the primary reason people turn to social media is to manage their conditions. They want to see what other patients like them say about a medication or treatment, and nearly two-thirds of them say they believe what they read. They're using social media to make major decisions about the drugs and treatments that pharmaceutical marketers offer.
As a marketing professional in the healthcare industry, I can't help but feel we are missing a golden opportunity to meet these sometimes-desperate needs of patients, to become more relevant and supportive in the long arc of their journey to better health. If we do, we'll win their respect and loyalty, their adherence and behaviors will change to improve their overall health, and the financial bottom lines of healthcare brands will strengthen. Everybody wins.
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Maryann Kuzel is president of STAR Healthcare (www.starhealthcare.com), an Omnicom network of CRM specialist agencies that provide channel-specific expertise across the entire patient journey. She can be reached at kuzelm@starhealthcare.com or at 212.801.8316.
Comments
Aside from the legal ramifications (which would need to be addressed), I think there are great opportunities for healthcare companies to step up and play a more active role in a patient's universe.
I have used social networks many times in my family's healthcare needs in the past few years along with my doctor's advice and counsel. I suspect I will continue to do so in the future.
As you stated, one of the main drivers has been the need for information and the fear of isolation...going it alone. By plugging into a network with those that have experienced the same situation we are able to learn about what treatments have been effective and what to expect in the process.
If healthcare companies can find a way to be supportive of their patients, the consumers of their healthcare product, and not be intrusive, I believe that they can become a trusted advisor to that community. The market is waiting for a leader to emerge in the social networking space.
ask 100 people do yhey have a first aid kit or know what to do in the case of accidents. after they think about it 90% + will say NO. this statistic is worldwide.
here is some usefull information to share with your friends, family & workmates
WHAT IS FIRST AID?
First Aid as the words suggest is the care given to a casualty before professional help is required. This help can literally mean the difference between life and death.
The aims of First Aid are:
To preserve life
To prevent the worsening of any injuries
To promote recovery
Why do we need First Aid and more importantly the correct products.
Accidents do happen particularly in the home [ approx 2.8million per annum ]
You are 20 times more likely to have a fatal accident than win the lottery!
Top 5 Accidents
A] Falls
B] Strikes & Collisions
C] Cuts & Tears
D] Foreign Bodies
E] Burns
First Aid Misconceptions
A] You should put butter/cream on a burn. WRONG. The only thing you should put on a burn is water. Keep the butter for cooking!
B] To do First Aid you need lots of training. WRONG. What you need is commonsense!
C] You need lots of expensive equipment. WRONG. The basics are readily available at affordable prices.
Who uses First Aid?
By law everyone in a working environment whether it is a one-man business or a worldwide plc, also sports, leisure and the private sectors. Basically everyone, everywhere!
Try this test:
Using the alphabet think of all the areas from A – Z where people could be hurt from an abbatoir to a zoo. Once you have got to Z go back to the beginning you`ve just started!
MEDISCOT ONLINE with over 25 years experience offer a large range of First Aid, sports injury prevention, safety equipment, instruments, diagnostics and consumables along with medical information to all sectors.
New products include: mercury-free & digital thermometers, lego-type splints, safety knives. Products have been adopted by organisations including the Red Cross and the Royal Lifesaving Society.
All MEDISCOT ONLINE products come with ISO and C.E approval and guarantee quality and best value. For details please visit the following :
www.medi-scot.co.uk
The government in their “preparing for emergencies” booklet advises everyone to learn basic first aid. MOBIMEDIC can help achieve this.
BE PREPARED - BE SAFE
Good advice for anyone using Social Media.
Maryann
I agree with you...sometimes you have to just jump in and cross the 'acid river' (did you do that leadership excercise with us way back?) Idea was that often you can't 'solve' things from afar without jumping in and ...once you jump in, you can more easily see how to solve the issues and overcome the challenges!
Ellen
Nice insights. I especially agree with the listen/learn. Engage is difficult (at least for pharmaceutical firms) but there are two ways to do it. Transparently via badged employees, most likely in the PR or medical groups. Or simply supporting social media by encouraging publishers to facilitate condition-specific conversations, and remain "hands off" with gentle unbranded ads. The latter works very nicely because the publisher aggregates motivated patients, which are obviously within the brand's target.
Engagement with your target groups is not difficult if you have a good PR agency who is creating interesting and relevant content for your target market, is monitoring social media activity as part of their remit, and then contributing to the conversation when appropriate. This is about adding value, engaging with your target audience and adopting an interested and credible positioning, not about hard selling.