1.
Engaging Patients
through Social Media
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
#ICSIgap
December 2, 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

4.
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

5.
Disclosures
• No financial interest in any product or
service mentioned in this presentation
• Full-time salaried employee of Mayo
Clinic

6.
Today’s Goal: Demonstrate that
social media tools are...
• Immensely powerful
• Consistent with your organization’s
values (or should be)
• Free (or ridiculously inexpensive)
• and...

7.
Thesis #1: Air was the
original social medium

8.
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

9.
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

10.
#2: Electronic tools merely
facilitate broader, more
efficient transmission by
overcoming inertia and
friction

11.
#3: The mass media era was
a temporary anomaly

12.
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

13.
#4: Social media are the
third millennium’s defining
communications trend

14.
The Most Important Word
in Web 2.0

15.
#7: Hand-wringing about
merits and dangers of social
media is as productive as
debating gravity.

16.
What else do patients
know about you?
 Copyright 2009, Health Grades, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

17.
#9: Mass media will remain
powerful levers that move --
and are moved by -- social
media buzz.

18.
#10: Social media strategies
can’t compensate for an
inferior offering or bad service

19.
United Breaks Guitars Breaks United

20.
#15: You can hear a lot just
by listening

21.
A Story from Twitter

22.
Ensuing Conversation

23.
#17: Social media are free in
any ordinary sense of the
word (or at least ridiculously
inexpensive)

24.
Total Cost for Mayo Clinic
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
$0.00

25.
In England, based on current
exchange rates:
£0,00

26.
In the European Union:
€0,00

27.
Cost for a Standard Definition
Flip Video Camera
$149.99
HD available for an additional $50

28.
podcasts.mayoclinic.org

29.
newsblog.mayoclinic.org

30.
sharing.mayoclinic.org

31.
Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

32.
Cost for Your Global TV Station
and Publishing Platform
$300.00

33.
#18: As I approaches zero,
ROI approaches infinity

34.
#19: MacGyver is the model
for social media success

35.
The MacGyver Mindset

36.
Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

37.
First Foray in New Media
• Existing Medical Edge radio mp3s
• Launched Sept. ‘05; Downloads up
8,217 percent Oct. vs. Aug.

38.
Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts

39.
#20: Social media enable
authentic communication if
you don’t purposefully
complicate things

40.
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

41.
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

42.
#24: Compelling content is
much more valuable than
advertising time or space

43.
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

44.
The next day...

45.
Six days later...

46.
April 22

47.
Sunday, May 3

48.
May 4

49.
Cinco de Mayo

50.
May 10

51.
May 11

52.
May 12

53.
May 15

54.
Early Morning May 26

55.
May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

56.
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

57.
#26: Your mileage may vary,
but you’ll go a lot further if
you get a car.

58.
#25: If you’re remarkable
enough, your customers will
create content for you

59.
Jillayn Hey’s “Remarkable” Story
“One statement has stuck out above all
of the medical jargon written by the
surgeons and various nurses who cared
for me, and that is this: ‘patient's stay
was unremarkable.’ Well, although
things went fairly smoothly after a
difficult surgery, I would like to say that
there was nothing unremarkable about
my experience with Mayo.”

60.
Therapeutic Storytelling...
“I recently read an (Utne Reader) article ... (which said) that
through telling our personal stories of illness and disease, we
assist in creating a new story of wellness that facilitates
healing and in turn directs a person towards recovery. This is
just one aspect that Sharing Mayo Clinic provides. It is not
only an opportunity for many patients and perhaps future
patients to tell their unique stories to work their way towards
health but it also provides a voice for its employees to share
parts of their daily work which I know must include joy and
sorrow as some of us become well and some of us
unfortunately do not. In my opinion, this is just another area
that Mayo is ahead of the curve in caring for its patients and
obviously their employees as well.”

61.
The most harmful TV show in
U.S History?
• Married with Children?
• Baywatch?
• The Survivor series?
• The A-Team?

62.
“Kids will take a chance.
If they don’t know,
they’ll have a go.”
-- Sir Ken Robinson, TED 2006

63.
#29: Your kids aren’t smarter
than you are. They’re just
not afraid to look dumb.

64.
#33: Social media will
decrease diffusion time for
research and innovations

65.
Thesis 9 and 33 Combined!

66.
#34: Challenges of
introducing social media in
healthcare are not unique

67.
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

68.
#35: Social technologies will
transform health care

69.
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

70.
Starter Steps for Organizations
• Claim your Twitter “handle”
• Create a Facebook “fan” page
• Create a YouTube channel

71.
If you have an iPhone, Let’s Bump!

72.
If not, contact me by...
• Googling Lee Aase or SMUG U
• @LeeAase on Twitter
• aase.lee@mayo.edu
• Continue conversation at #ICSIgap, or
via SMUG comments