You have finally figured out the social media landscape. Your hospital has a presence on Twitter, engaging with the community, patients, other providers, and local businesses. You have a Facebook page, complete with calls to action, linkbacks to the hospital website, a freeflowing thread covering the gamut of healthcare issues. Your hospital website is full of social sharing options…but what is this new “+1” thing?
Google launched a new social networking service recently (dubbed Google+) through an amazing word-of-mouth grassroots campaign. As a marketer in a healthcare organization, I’m sure you are thinking “Here we go again!”. Another metric to track, another campaign to manage. Not so fast my friend. This social networking site is not the same. It looks familiar…like Facebook without the ads and without the Farmville. Its more than 140 characters per post, so its not quite as extemporaneous as Twitter. Its a targeted discussion tool created for CONSUMERS. So that being said, how does it help your healthcare organization? The early returns may surprise you…