Pick and Choose

One of the great things about social media is that there are many tools to choose from. This means you aren't limited as to how much relative content you output on a daily basis - you pick and choose the tool that works best, in a way that resonates with your audience.

Let's say you received 100 photos of a recent hospital-sponsored event. Posting a couple of them on Facebook, provided you feel that they would be received well by your audience, works well. Posting all of them in your Flickr account is great alternative, and posting that url on Facebook and Twitter is a good way to let your audience know that there are more in existence so that if they want to invest the time in reviewing them all.

There are no hard and fast rules here - again, it's about listening to your audience and letting them tell you what they like. Adjust from there.

Transparency - the human element

While the hospital is categorized as a non-profit, we are still a business with a service to promote.

However, we are also a community of individuals. There are many faces that make up who were are as a whole, and each employee is a respresentative, ambassador and example of the hospital. That said, what is the best way to convey who we are as a hospital to those who want to know, to those who are attempting to get to know us?

In our case, the best way is through transparency. Bringing the humanness through in every tweet, post, comment and communication is essential in letting our audience know who we are, what we do, and how we can have a positive effect on their lives.

Make it personal. Make it personable. Bring the truth.

Lighten (it) up

From a healthcare perspective, it's important to provide your audience with the latest medical breakthroughs, innovations, news and information. But in measuring what resonates with your audience, you might find that lighter fare sometimes brings on the most positive responses.

We recently shared a video that our Media Services produced in light of Nurses Week - they choreographed dance numbers for different nursing departments to the tune of "I've Got A Feeling". While some were quick to call it cheesy, it garnered a huge response from our fans. Why? Because our fans, who are our employees, patients, families, and nurses, were pleased to see themselves or their friends & family having fun on the job. It's a huge moral booster, and it can provide a release from what may sometimes be a difficult day on the job.

We're a hospital, but we're also human. And this video put a face, or rather many faces, to our organization. Cheesy or not, it made people happy, and at the end of the day, that's what matters.

Impromptu stand-ups

We've all been there - working in an office, you may be in close proximity to other departments, but even being 10 feet away it can be difficult to learns about events/info/news that might be of interest to your social media audience. Inevitably, you get busy, they get busy, your own deadlines and agendas trump any chance of hitting all of the meetings or connecting with key people, and you miss out.

However, there is a way to connect. As the old adage goes, where there's a will...

Sometimes all it takes is grabbing a few key people on the fly for a quick 5-minute "stand-up". I'm not calling this a meeting, because that term can be painful to some, and may make them check-out in their head before you even get started. Make sure you have a short agenda in your head to keep it productive. Keep the group small, manageable. Each person gets a minute to share - short and sweet. You'll be amazed at what tips and gems you can garner in such a short "sitting".

Sure, planning ahead is great, and sitting in on those pub, marketing or internal communications meetings are key, but we're not Stretch Armstrong - we can only go so far.

Listen, Listen, Listen

There is significance in that I have three "listens" in my title.

The first is a give. A large part of working successfully in social media is listening to your audience/community. They will tell you what they want to know more about. They'll tell each other the secrets that you have been wanting to hear but had no place to eavesdrop. They will let you know what's wrong, what's right, and by not speaking up, they'll tell you what doesn't interest them.

Secondly, a portion of that success comes from listening to your peers in the industry to learn new things. What new tool is your competition using that might be of benefit to your next campaign? What can you take from a recent "Top 10" post and meld to make your own? With such a new industry, we're all trying to find what works best, and tuning into those external conversations will keep you in the loop.

Finally, listen to your coworkers. Just because they don't actively participate in social media at work doesn't mean that it's not of interest to them. I'm not a burger-flipper, but I do have an idea of what toppings I'd like to see on my double cheeseburger that, if they were used, could end up being a best seller. I'm lucky in that most of my extended team are personally socially active, so they understand the basics. I am also lucky in that they are also hungry for knowledge and like to share. So give your colleagues the chance to speak - you're no expert (yet) and collaboration can only help.