Looking for a great example of a “best practice” in healthcare social media? A good place to start is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
I recently attended a presentation at the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications featuring Dr. Glen Nowak, the CDC’s Chief of Media Relations. Dr. Nowak shared the CDC’s communication strategy and efforts to multiple audiences through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Daily Strength, RSS, YouTube, Flickr, iTunes, and even Second Life.
Nowak said he was originally doubtful about how successful some channels would prove to be. Case in point: podcasts. He wondered how many would listen to a CDC podcast. Turns out that number is about 50-60 thousand per month. And YouTube? During the flu outbreak last year, more people watched CDC videos within YouTube (2 million) than from within the CDC’s website (160,000). They are also exploring alt-social media such as Second Life. Last year, virtual avatar visits to the CDC island for seasonal flu shots did convert into real-world vaccinations.
The CDC is heavily focused on creating widgets and portable content that people “can take to their own (social media) places.” They are also looking ahead, testing ways to communicate with the 87% of the population that are mobile subscribers. This is critical, he notes, for all healthcare communicators when you consider the average user’s phone is within an arm’s reach for 19 hours a day.
The CDC is leveraging social media to get information out quickly, expand access to content, reach more diverse audiences, tailor and target messaging. And they are helping other healthcare communicators do the same. Check out their helpful toolkit here. And look at some of their metrics here.
Even better, please share your social media successes in the comments!
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