Social media can help hospitals

Adedeji Bankole

In 2014, I visited a friend of mine who works in the administrative section of one of the biggest hospitals in Lagos and he took me on a tour of the hospital, which had just enlarged its operations at the time.

My friend showed me the new equipment in the hospital, their functions and uses, as well as a few other projects that the hospital planned to start in the future. I was impressed.

Later, we ended up in the canteen and ate lunch. The food was great. As we were about to step out of the canteen, the chief medical director of the hospital walked in. My friend introduced me to her. A very nice woman I must say.

Immediately she heard my name, she inquired if I was a journalist that the name rings a bell. Of course, I introduced myself as a columnist who writes about digital media.

She shouted “Yes, The PUNCH. Right?” I nodded in response. Our conversation kicked off. We chatted for about 40 minutes. As she saw me off to my car, she said “Mr. Bankole can you share how we can enhance our services on social media next Thursday?”

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Since my schedule was pretty tight on the following Thursday, we made it another day.

Recently, I got a call from her appreciating my kind gesture and telling me how their medical services had improved with the help of social media.

Injections and Twitter don’t correlate at all. But now they have a relationship. How can social media help hospitals?

Infuse the social media culture: Begin with the staff of the hospital. Surprisingly a good number of them use social media very well. Make it an in-house culture before an outsider catches the vibe. Once the hospital staff recognises this as a culture, they will be set in tune to help the hospital achieve its goals.

Tell good stories: No one knows you better than yourself. No one knows the hospital better than the people working there. If the hospital has a website and active social media channels, then let them tell its story. The patients can also share their stories and experiences. This can fetch the hospital more customers, as well as help it to educate people and gain support.

Make every point human: The hospital atmosphere is expected to be warm and friendly, but some hospitals fall short of this. I have seen nurses get unreasonably angry. This leaves the patients in awe. The official social media platforms should be given to patients right from the reception or given to some patients during the discharge process. Recently, a patient complained via Twitter about waiting for a long time before he eventually saw a doctor. Immediately, the hospital social media team rectified it. When patients are treated as human beings even on social media, it’s more rewarding for both parties.

Share health tips: Let your giving hand precede your receiving hand. A lot of people out there have no clue about some common health tips. For example, the habit of drinking water immediately after waking up in the morning among the Japanese. Hospitals can share tips on weight loss, stress management, fertility etc. All these will help your customers and prospective customers as well.

Make use of videos and photos: People relate more with what they see. Good videos will help the hospital tell more stories about itself. YouTube is free and it’s a good avenue to share your videos. The hospital can share videos about its new equipments, its new processes/services and more.

Word of mouth matters: All forms of marketing still rely on oral communication. I call it referral. Referral can work best in someone who has a good experience and decides to share it with other people. This will, no doubt, work best for hospitals. A patient’s experience is definitely paramount. Twitter is today’s best way of making referrals. Simply put, Twitter is word-of-mouth on steroids. Twitter is free, but it might cost the hospital a little to training its staff.

Build a community: In February my wife was admitted in a hospital. I couldn’t visit her for two days because I was out of town. On getting to the hospital when I arrived, as I approached the doors of her ward, I heard her giggle. I wondered what could have made a sick woman laugh so loud. She and a new patient that was admitted recently were having a good time chatting and sharing family stories. Today, that patient is a family friend. The hospital can build a Facebook community for former patients, current patients and future patients. It serves as a forum for patients to interact with the hospital

 Bankole Adedeji