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Social Media at Children’s Hospital Boston: Six Steps to Developing a Successful Social Media Presence

By: Dana Purkey | 03/11/2011

Last week, I participated in a webinar hosted by Ragan called "Beyond Facebook: Using Every Social Media Tool to Market and Communicate." Matt Cyr, Director of Patient and Family Communications at Children's Hospital Boston (Children's) shared tips on how to incorporate blogging, Facebook and Twitter into an organization's communication strategy.

As we all know, the communications landscape has changed tremendously over the last several years. Social media acts as both a new medium for organizations to inform and engage audiences, and also as a way to build a brand.

Children's is a great example of how social media can open new doors for communicating with stakeholders - in the case of Children's, with patients, physicians and the general public. Currently recognized as the largest hospital Facebook page in the world, Children's has 19 Facebook pages, two blogs and 15 Twitter feeds. The development of this expansive social media mix didn't happen overnight. The communications team at Children's developed a strategic approach to building its social media platform.  It's similar to what we propose for Standing clients.

What makes Children's social media outreach so successful? Their approach starts with six simple steps:

1.       Strategize:

Set clearly defined goals and let your goals be your guide.

2.       Execute:

Use the right tool for the specific goal.

3.       Share:

Find your most compelling story content (i.e. great stories, personalities, images, videos) and give yourself time to share it.

4.       Engage:

Identify and connect with those most likely to be interested in your story or topic. You'll notice that I've linked to the hospital, the presenter and Ragan. They deserve a little link love for sharing their expertise!

5.       Amplify:

Use internal resources to spread the word, or get help from outside your organization to expand your network.

6.       Assess:

Constantly assess and evaluate what went well and replicate it.

What struck me about Children's is that in the end, content is what truly matters. By providing information is that is compelling, important and relevant to your audiences, you can connect with stakeholders in a whole new way.

Posted in Digital Communications