My presentation to the communications conference of AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans, in Chicago on November 18, 2009.

1. Making the Business Case for Social
Media and Getting Started
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
#AHIP
November 18, 2009

2. About Lee Aase (@LeeAase)
• B.S. Political Science
• 14 years in politics and government at
local, state, national levels
• Mayo Clinic since April 2000
− Media relations consultant
− Manager since 2004
− Media Relations/Research Comm
− Syndication and Social Media

3. A Grandpa who appreciates the
power of Facebook

6. Disclaimers
• These results not typical
• Use as directed
• Read and follow label directions
• Side effects may include vertigo, watery
eyes, crackberry thumb and iPhone
application addiction
• Social media tools are an essential part of a
balanced communications diet
• If insufficient media coverage persists,
consult your communications doctor
• Batteries not included
• Some assembly required
• Your mileage may vary

7. Disclosures
• No financial interest in any product or
service mentioned in this presentation
• Full-time salaried employee of Mayo
Clinic

8. Today’s Goal:

9. Help you make the case that
social media tools are...
• Immensely powerful
• Consistent with your organization’s
values (or should be)
• Free (or ridiculously inexpensive)
• and...

16. Thesis #1: Air was the
original social medium

21. Mayo Clinic and Word of Mouth
• 91 percent of patients surveyed say
they have said “good things” to an
average of 40 people after a Mayo visit
• 85 percent say they recommended
Mayo to a friend
− Advised an average of 16 to come
− 5 actually came

22. Sources of Information Influencing
Preference for Mayo Clinic
Word of mouth 84
Stories in the media 57
MD recommendation 44
Advertising 27
Internet/Websites 26
Personal experience 24
Mailings to home 18
0 20 40 60 80 100

23. #2: Electronic tools merely
facilitate broader, more
efficient transmission by
overcoming inertia and
friction

25. #3: The mass media era was
a temporary anomaly

26. Evolution of Community
• Local: Pre-1930
• National: 1930-2005, made possible by
mass media
• Global: Post-2005, individuals members
of multiple communities of interest
without regard to geography
• Succeeding levels build upon earlier
stages without completely supplanting

28. #4: Social media are the
third millennium’s defining
communications trend

30. #7: Hand-wringing about
merits and dangers of social
media is as productive as
debating gravity.

31. What else do patients
know about you?
 Copyright 2009, Health Grades, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

32. #9: Mass media will remain
powerful levers that move --
and are moved by -- social
media buzz.

38. #10: Social media strategies
can’t compensate for an
inferior offering or bad service

39. United Breaks Guitars Breaks United

41. #11: Social media strategies
can help make a product,
service or experience better

42. #13: Social media offer
unprecedented opportunity
for transformational change
and productivity

44. #14: Strategic thinking about
social media is no substitute
for action

45. Tips on Personal Steps to Explore
• Establish a permanent personal email
• Get profiles in Facebook, LinkedIn
• Get a Twitter account
• Get a Flip camera (or iPhone 3G S?)
• Create a personal YouTube account
• Start a personal Blog

46. Starter Steps for Nonprofits
• Claim your Twitter “handle”
• Create a Facebook “fan” page
• Create a YouTube channel

47. #17: Social media are free in
any ordinary sense of the
word (or at least ridiculously
inexpensive)

50. Total Cost for Mayo Clinic
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
$0.00

51. In England, based on current
exhange rates:
£0,00

52. In the European Union:
€0,00

53. Cost for a Standard Definition
Flip Video Camera
$149.99
HD available for an additional $50

55. podcasts.mayoclinic.org

56. newsblog.mayoclinic.org

57. sharing.mayoclinic.org

58. Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

59. Cost for Your Global TV Station
and Publishing Platform
$300.00

60. #18: As I approaches zero,
ROI approaches infinity

63. #19: MacGyver is the model
for social media success

64. The MacGyver Mindset

66. Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

67. First Foray in New Media
• Existing Medical Edge radio mp3s
• Launched Sept. ‘05; Downloads up
8,217 percent Oct. vs. Aug.

68. Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts

70. #20: Social media enable
authentic communication if
you don’t purposefully
complicate things

72. Key Tool: Flip Video Camera*
• Affordable
• Recording interviews (with tripod)
improves existing processes
• Authenticity without writer’s cramp
• Provides potential blog resources
− Audio of full interview
− Video excerpts
• Limited group of video editors to ease
adoption, ensure quality

74. Case Study: Simple Storytelling
• 8:45 a.m. Colleague mentions article
coming off embargo at 3 p.m.
• Interviewed M.D. via Flip at 10:20
• Edited video, had password-protected
post on blog by 11:55 for pitching
• Uploaded files to YouTube channel
• WSJ Health Blog used video

76. #24: Compelling content is
much more valuable than
advertising time or space

77. The Octogenarian Idol Story
• Alerted to interesting video of elderly
couple playing piano in Gonda atrium
• Video shot by another patient and
uploaded to YouTube by her daughter
• Video had been seen 1,005 times in six
preceding months since upload
• Embedded in Sharing Mayo Clinic,
posted to Facebook, Tweeted on 4/7/09

78. The next day...

79. Six days later...

80. April 22

81. Sunday, May 3

84. May 4

85. Cinco de Mayo

86. May 10

88. May 11

89. May 12

90. May 15

91. Early Morning May 26

92. May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

94. Results to Date
• More than 5 million views on YouTube
• >1.4 million views on Sharing Mayo Clinic
• From 200 views/month to 5,000 views/hour
• Validation of Thesis #26

95. #26: Your mileage may vary,
but you’ll go a lot further if
you get a car.

96. Answers to Objections
• “But what about the cost in staff time to
maintain all of these social media
platforms? They’re not really that
cheap!”
− AT&T free phone service in 1969
− Pitney Bowes free fax machines and
supplies in 1989
− YouTube, Facebook and Twitter free in
2009

97. If getting involved in social
media doesn’t excite you...

98. #28: Paying for advertising
while not taking advantage
of FREE social media tools
isn’t particularly astute

99. A Story from Facebook...

103. Tamiko says...
“I’ve had lots of people ask me about the
YouTube video and I’ve told at least 30
people they should go to Mayo. ”

106. The most harmful TV show in
U.S History?
• Married with Children?
• Baywatch?
• The Survivor series?
• The A-Team?

109. “Kids will take a chance.
If they don’t know,
they’ll have a go.”
-- Sir Ken Robinson, TED 2006

110. #29: Your kids aren’t smarter
than you are. They’re just
not afraid to look dumb.

111. #33: Social media will
decrease diffusion time for
research and innovations

113. Thesis 9 and 33 Combined!

114. Mayo Clinic/USA Today #kidsflu
Twitter chat 8-9 p.m. ET tonight

115. #34: Challenges of
introducing social media in
healthcare are not unique

116. Businesses Already Revolutionized
• Music - iTunes vs. Tower Records
• Classified Advertising - eBay, Craigslist
• Bookstores
• Movie rentals - Local, Blockbuster, Netflix
• All mass media
• Video cameras
• See The Innovator’s Dilemma; TI Solution
and TI Prescription - Clayton Christensen

117. #35: Social technologies will
transform healthcare

118. How can we accelerate the pace?
• Free/low-cost practical experiments
− Virtual support groups w/medical pros
− More collaboration within and among
organizations via Yammer, Twitter, etc.
− Share case studies within industry
• Fund some experiments in care delivery or
case management

120. If you have an iPhone, Let’s Bump!

121. If not, contact me by...
• Googling Lee Aase or SMUG U
• @LeeAase on Twitter
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
• Continue conversation at #AHIP, or via
SMUG comments