Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 @ 12:16 PM
Mayo Clinic just announced in this press release that they have created a new Center for Social Media. They say that the Center "exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients."
Since 2008, Mayo has been using social media tools for employee engagement and, over time, they have become a shining example of how health care institutions can leverage social media to educate and inform the public.
Lee Aase, Mayo's Manager for Syndications and Social Media, also created Social Media University Global (SMUG), a free online resource for learning about all things social media. You can visit SMUG's Facebook Page here.
In this video, Dr. Victor Montori, Mayo's Medical Director of the new Center, discusses this potentially revolutionary new venture.
Need help with your social media initiatives? Contact us for a free social media assessment. We won't try to sell you anything, we promise:-)
Posted by Brian Geyser on Sun, Jul 18, 2010 @ 12:58 PM
After months o
f data collection, story boarding, editing, and motion graphic experimentation, we've finally completed and uploaded our first YouTube video. I want to thank Steve Povilonis for the many hours of work he put in on this project. Also, thanks to Eric Qualman, who's Social Media Revolution video, which to date has been viewed over 2 million times, inspired us to create this one. Finally, thanks to all of the early-adopter senior living and home care companies featured in the video. You're all pioneering social media best practices for the industry.
We plan to update the video each year with the latest stats and hottest social companies from the industry, so if you think your company is worthy of inclusion in the 2011 version, let us know. Enjoy.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 @ 10:15 AM
Richard Edelman, President and CEO of the worlds largest independent public relations firm, speaks to the business benefits of blogging and being connected on the social Web. Is your senior living, LTC, or home care leadership engaged?
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Jun 09, 2010 @ 08:43 AM
Paul Levy, one of the country's best known hospital CEOs, is the chief executive at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He's also a self proclaimed blogging addict, an advocate for transparency regarding hospital operations, and is on a growing list of "social" CEOs who leverage social media to communicate with their audience. Levy writes his own blog called Running a Hospital, where he shares his thoughts on hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.
Our own Jennifer Hill spoke with Levy about health care executives and their organizations using social media. Here's what he had to say:
1. Do you think it's important for health care CEOs and other C-level execs to be educated about and to use social media?
Yes. They are definitely important tools just as telephones were when they were first invented. To not use them would mean losing opportunities to communicate and educate. Different segments of the population use different tools. For example, patients that come to the hospital in their 20s would rather use Facebook or text than e-mail. For me not to use those forms of media would mean that I wasn't hearing from them.
2. What tools would you advocate? (Blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, others?) and why?
Different people prefer different tools and each tool has a different use. Facebook is a great communication tool and using it means that you are accessible. It is a good way to keep in touch with people. For me, Twitter acts as a library. I follow a bunch of people in the field who are up to date with what is going on. They act as librarians for me and are a valuable resource. Blogging is a time commitment that requires a personal commitment and interest in networking so that my blog gets picked up and read. All of them are valuable tools for different reasons.
3. Do you think having the CEO, or perhaps other C-level execs, involved with social media helps set the tone for the whole organization to embrace social media too?
Yes. I think it is a combination of leading by example and of being available. health care is becoming more accepting and more comfortable with the idea. However, many hospitals still block sites, but we have an open access policy for two reasons: one, these social media sites are tools that help to create a sense of community; and two, if the sites are blocked on the server, people will just go on them on their iPhones.
4. What do you see as the major benefits to C-levels execs using social media?
I think there a two major benefits. First, social media is a way to get educated about what is going on and to keep up to date. It provides information that we used to get from books, magazines and newspapers. Second, it creates a sense of community, which is very important.
5. What advice would you give to executives / organizations who are apprehensive about using social technologies? What advice do you have about the content that executives should be posting online?
Regarding what executives should be posting online, it is important to make judgments as to what you want to accomplish. These media outlets are flexible and can be used for many different goals. It is more powerful than traditional media because the outreach is so great. I think that it is actually lower risk because if you make a mistake it can be fixed whereas is if you make a mistake in an ad or on television, it's there forever.
6. How much time do you spend blogging or using other social tools each week?
I don't keep track, just like I don't keep track of how much time I spend on the phone. It is a more efficient way to communicate. I can talk to thousands of people at once. It is asynchronous and people can communicate when it is convenient for them. When I talk on the phone, I can only talk to one person at a time and I'm usually leaving a message.
7. Some experts believe that there is a trend developing called the "social executive" and that "open leadership" is the way of the future. Do you agree? How do you envision social media will impact health care organizations and health care leaders in the future?
I'm not really sure. In the health care field it is very hard to predict trends. The medical field is slow to adopt things and different people have different approaches.
Here's a video interview with Levy and other social CEOs from Ragan Communications:
Finally, we've been having a lively discussion about senior living and long-term care CEOs using social media over at the ALFA Exchange community. If you want to dive deeper into this subject, feel free to drop by there and join the conversation.
We want to thank Paul Levy for taking the time to talk with us and we wish him well with his blogging efforts.
To view more health care executive blogs, check out this list:
Photo credit: BostonHerald.com
Jennifer Hill is currently at senior at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She is a Communications major concentrating in Public Relations and Journalism and minoring in Psychology. You can connect with her on Twitter on LinkedIn.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Feb 26, 2010 @ 01:25 PM
Check out these staggering statistics in this cool video produced by Jesse Thomas. Is your company leveraging the social web to connect with customers and prospects?
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.
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For more on how your company can benefit from social media and online community, contact us. You can also join our free Online Marketing Community for marketing professionals in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow:
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 @ 12:16 PM
This is the latest post in our Social Media Success Series, which features interviews
with innovative senior living, eldercare, home care, and long-term care providers who are using social media as a business/marketing tool. If you would like to have your organization considered for inclusion, contact us.
For this post, we pick up where we left off with Roxann Rogers Meyer, Director of Sales/Marketing
for Immanuel Senior Living, the leading provider of senior living in Nebraska. For Part 1 of this interview, click here.
12. What is your primary goal for using social media?
To get people to understand senior housing options and to be a trusted resource in the community for retirement living. Our goal is to transform lives through innovative programs and services for seniors and their families.
Immanuel Senior Living On Facebook
13. Are you planning to expand your social media reach?
We continue to look at more ways we can reach people with new social media tools and we’re looking at industry experts to see what they’re doing
14. Are people responding to your social media efforts?
Yes, people are responding. Lora recently shot video with the Flip Cam of one of our community’s Christmas parties and put it on our website and social media sites including Facebook, Youtube and Twitter and we received a response from a fan on Youtube who commented, “Original human interest adds to your videos. Great job.” Another time Lora put pictures up on Facebook about a recent fund raising event that took place at our community and also tweeted about it and received a response from someone who had attended, telling us what a fabulous event it was.
15. Have you seen a return on your investment so far?
It’s hard to put a hard dollar amount on the value of social media, but I think educating the public and helping them understand what active aging is all about is priceless.
16. What are your biggest challenges so far?
The number one goal of our marketing department is maintaining our occupancy goals. We exist to support the senior living consultants at each of our communities in reaching prospective residents and adult children. So we’re adding social media to our traditional marketing and communication strategies. It doesn’t replace what we’re currently doing. Time management is another important factor to consider and also doing things that make sense. Other challenges include staying on top of the current trends in social media.
17. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media?
I had to create a presentation for the executive leadership team on the value of being involved in the conversation. Especially when you see the numbers and the amount of actual dollars attached to it, it’s not hard to convince your CEO and CFO that it’s money/time well spent.
18. Are employees on board with your efforts?
Yes, employees are excited by what we’re doing, They’re following us, watching the videos and commenting on what’s going on. They also forward our stories and videos on to their family and friends.
Immanuel Senior Living On Twitter
19.How are you measuring success?
By the number of followers and fans, how often our communities are featured in Google, and how often the media is picking up on the stories that we’re doing.
20. It sounds like your success measures, while important, don't necessarily translate into sales or a higher, more stable census (your stated number one goal). How can your executives justify the expense of engaging in social media if you're not able to prove that it's having a direct effect on the bottom line?
Our executives justify the importance of being involved in social media because, above all, it’s vital to be part of the conversation. And while it may not necessarily translate into a reservation right now, it begins the conversation and may turn into something in the future. In addition, Immanuel Senior Living also measures success by the number of people we educate about who we are, what senior living is all about, and the benefits of staying active in a retirement community. I think that if you can show someone—be it a prospective resident, an adult child or even a grandchild— what their loved one is up to and the amount of fun they’re having/activities they’re taking part in—that’s worth it.
Recently I also put up a couple of winter pictures of one of our communities, with the caption, “Baby it’s cold outside. Glad we're staying warm and cozy at the Village, where the fire is so delightful so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!” There was a response from a person on Facebook—who’s not even a fan, but is a prospective resident, who said, “I want to live here….someday.” To me, that begins the conversation and gets people to think about senior living in an entirely new way.
21. Can you offer another interesting short story about your social media efforts thus far?
We shot a short 2 ½ minute video of an 89 year old resident who directs the resident chime choir at one of our communities and tweeted it and put it up on our Facebook Page and Youtube Channel. I then pitched it to the media who were able to view exactly what I was pitching. They in turn decided to come out and film the video for themselves and turned out to be a great story.
Also, we sponsored an Aging Conference and I shot a video of the dancing grannies - ladies who range in age from 62-82 years old. I put the video
up on our social media outlets and, currently, it’s been viewed 179 times and has a five star rating. Also, Immanuel Senior Living has been featured in a blog on how senior living communities should brand their Youtube channel. Here's an example of one of Immanuel's YouTube videos:
22. What's the one piece of advice you would give other senior living, home care, eldercare, or dementia care companies about getting into social media?
Don’t just post something about your community. Look around and find interesting articles, blogs, tweets, etc. that you can share with your fans or followers of active seniors in general, what other communities are doing, or just a quote. It encourages collaboration and not silos. it also shows that you’re keeping in step with what’s going on in the world. Also, with social media, it’s constant—you can’t just post something and a month later, post again. You constantly have to monitor, check and react to it.
Contact Information
Roxann Rogers Meyer, Director of Sales/Marketing
rrogers@ihsi.org
6757 Newport Ave. Suite 200
Omaha, NE 68152
__________________________________________________________________________
For more on how your company can benefit from social media and online community, contact us. You can also join our free Online Marketing Community for marketing professionals in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow:
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 12:47 PM
At the 2009 Online Community Summit in Sonoma, CA, companies from around the world met to discuss best practices in social collaboration and online community. Vida Killian, of Dell's Idea Storm Community, was there and she shared a few minutes of her wisdom with Bill Johnston of Forum One Networks in this 3 minute video below. In the video, Vida discusses the value online community for Dell and their customers. What can our industry learn from companies like Dell who are on the cutting edge of social technology? Is online community even applicable to senior living, homecare, eldercare, long-term care, or hospice organizations? What do you think?
Related Posts
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Nov 06, 2009 @ 12:24 PM
This is the latest post in our Social Media
Success Series, which features interviews with innovative senior
living, eldercare, home care, and long-term care providers who are using
social media as a business/marketing tool. If you would like to have your
organization considered for inclusion, contact us.
Brookdale Senior Living is the largest owner/operator of senior
living communities in the U.S. serving over 52,000 residents across the nation in a variety of settings. They are a leading national provider of
senior-related services employing over 32,000 associates nation wide. For this post, we interviewed Eric Marsh, Brookdale's Web Content Manager.
Brookdale Senior Living Website
Interview
1. What online properties, aside from your website, do you own/operate? We as a company have really embraced the idea of using social media, and have explored many different options. Currently we are actively using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
2. Why did you choose those? We chose these for for a couple of different reasons. These social media sites are those that have received the most buzz, and have the largest audience at the moment. The idea of social media is to see what people are discussing, connect with them by contributing to the conversation and hopefully act as a resource for someone in need, and, ideally, building a relationship with them. We believe these four sites target who we're trying to connect with to have a conversation. That said, we always have an eye out for other venues, and do not intend to limit ourselves.
3. Who manages them? I take charge with our company's social media sites, such as the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Ray Swatzell, Recruiting Systems Manager, and Lindsay Elias, Staffing Coordinator, take care of the recruiting sites, such as our LinkedIn and Facebook recruiting pages, which we've just started constructing. Some of our associates have professional pages on Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, and use those separately from our company sites.
4. How much time does it take to manage per week? It's hard to say how much time, because every day is different when it comes to social media. We post all of our press releases as well as senior living news that we feel is noteworthy. We also keep our ear to the ground for people mentioning our brand or senior living topics so that we can read about or comment further. We try to keep up with the conversation and manage our sites as often as we can so we are able to connect with people quickly, rather then letting time go by and their questions go unanswered.
5. How are you using each and who are you trying to reach? Twitter has been utilized to connect with other senior living professionals to discuss trends and hot topics. It has been a beneficial tool for broadcasting company and industry news. It's also useful for our recruiters to announce our open positions and it is also a good tool for learning about what others are saying regarding our brand and senior living.
Facebook is a great way to connect with people of all ages, since it's become available to everyone. Our recruiters have joined numerous Facebook groups and pages to help recruit for specific candidates. Some of these groups include "Allied Health Jobs Available," "Jobs & Vacancies Announcements!" and "Careers." Facebook is also useful as a branding tool as well as a place for Brookdale associates to connect.
Linkedin has become a valuable recruitment tool, due to the fact that you can find qualified people, post jobs, and connect on a professional level. Our recruiters use it as a tool to recruit
first-rate employees. We just started this for our recruiters; we also
have a Brookdale Senior Living group on Linkedin and most of our
company uses it.
6. Do you have a social media strategy? Our social media strategy is to inform and react to issues regarding Brookdale Senior Living and the senior living industry.
7. What is your primary goal for using social media? Our goal is to provide information to those seeking it regarding Brookdale Senior Living, its affiliates, its programs, our individual communities and/or our industry as a whole. Our goal is to drive people to our Web site so that they can learn more about what our company offers for their needs.
8. Are you planning to expand your social media reach? We are definitely interested in exploring new sites in social media. Right now a few of our communities are exploring social media by using MyWayVillage, which provides our residents with a way to connect with their families, share their stories, and manage their daily schedules. We're really excited to see how it progresses.
8. Are people responding? People who would have not normally connected with Brookdale are taking notice. We have made our presence known on these social networking sites, and people who are searching for our services or our industry as a whole are finding us.
9. What are your biggest challenges so far? There's only so much you can do with the visual content of these sites, since they're formatted to look the same as other pages and "tweets." Keeping our information up to date is the best way to insure our sites reflect our brand integrity, and it can take up quite some time.
10. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media? Yes, not everyone is aware of the many benefits of social media. Many people think that social media is just for teenagers to gossip or for family members across the country to connect, but it's much more. There are many ways social media can benefit a company and their individual goals.
11. Are employees on board with your efforts? Relationships are key; many of us have connected with numerous employees who have added Brookdale as "friends" or "connections" to foster and grow relationships across the miles.
12. How are you measuring success? We use a variety of tools to measure how many people are being directed back to our main Web page, but mostly we're just pleased when we can reach out to others through these sites to inform them about Brookdale, whether it's a future resident, someone in the industry or someone wanting to work for us. We also measure success by looking at the increase in followers for each of our social media platforms
13. What's the one piece of advice you would give other senior living, home care, eldercare, or dementia care companies about getting into social media? Social media can be as powerful as you want it to be. It just takes time and effort to grow your presence. Some companies put up a profile just because they read that it's important, but if you don't do anything with it, you won't get anything in return. Set goals and take the time to nurture and grow your social media endeavors.
Takeaway Points
- The people you want to reach are online. Brookdale understands that the people they want to reach are using sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedin; and they regularly engage on those sites where their audience hangs out. This helps people both find and connect with them online.
- Social media can help with recruiting. Free tools like Linkedin and Twitter can help you find and attract top talent.
- Social media helps you broadcast your message. Social media tools can be a great way to broadcast your newsletters, calendar events, press releases, company information, and helpful content to the world for free.
- Social media helps you listen. Using social tools, you can find out what people are saying about you, your organization, and your industry - then respond accordingly.
- The big social media sites and tools are limiting. Sites like Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook can be good, but can only take you so far in terms of branding and functionality. If you want to step up your game, you should consider building a branded online community for your website. Learn more about that here.
- You get out what you put in. Social media and online community are not fast fix solutions or get rich quick schemes. To do it right, you've got to commit, devote resources, and be persistent. Done right, the rewards can be far more than just monetary.
- Video Rocks. If you really want to impress, use video to engage your audience. Brookdale has an entire YouTube channel with tons of great video content for all to enjoy. Here's a sample:
For more information about Brookdale, contact:
Holly Botsford
Brookdale Senior Living
Public Relations Manager
6737 W. Washington St., Suite 2300
Milwaukee, WI 53214
414-918-5314
hbotsford@brookdaleliving.com
You can also connect with Brookdale on:
Other Posts In This Series
Special Offer
For a free live social media readiness assessment for your organization, fill out our contact form and put the words "Brookdale offer" in the message.
For more about senior living, online communities and social media, visit carenetworks.com. To ensure you get more post like this delivered right to you as they are published, subscribe to our blog. To see examples of senior living online communities powered by CareNetworks, click here.
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator,
blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs
regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you
on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 05:01 PM
Having trouble getting noticed online? Feeling depressed about your social media failings? Overwhelmed with social media overload? This new drug just may help...Too Funny!
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 09:22 AM
Am I living in the dark? We don't have T.V. in our house (by choice) so maybe you've all seen this, but I just ran across it and had to post. Not only is the trailer cool and the seniors in it an inspiration, but they have a fantastic online community built on Ning too! Gotta Dance is an independent documentary film about the senior dance group, The New Jersey NetSationals, and it's been getting rave reviews. Check out the trailer below and let me know what you think.
Find more videos like this on Gotta Dance With Us