Putting Social Media to Good Use
in Government Communications
Lee Aase
Manager, Syndication and Social Media
Mayo Clinic
#MAGC
November 19, 2009

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

A Grandpa who appreciates the
power of Facebook

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

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

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...

Thesis #1: Air was the
original social medium

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

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

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

#3: The mass media era was
a temporary anomaly

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

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

The Most Important Word
in Web 2.0

Intro to Today’s FREE Tools
Blogs RSS
Podcasts Social Networks
Skype YouTube
Wikis Twitter
Slideshare uStream

Intro to Blogs
• Just an easy-to-publish Web site that
allows comments
• Blogs in Plain English - Lee LeFever
• You read them all the time without
even knowing it

RSS = Really Simple Syndication
• Lets you easily track dozens of blogs
or other Web sites without surfing
• Truly opt-in “email”
• RSS “baked in” to IE 7, Safari
• Google Reader a free Web option

Podcasts
• TiVo for Audio (and now video)
• Don’t need an iPod to use
• Series of segments to which you can
subscribe via RSS
• iTunes free for PC or Mac
• Create your own FREE podcast (listed
in iTunes) through SMUG

Social Networking Sites

Wikis
• Collaborative editing tools
• Wikipedia the most famous
• 2.9 million articles in English
• Definitive stories quickly on
− 35W Bridge Collapse
− Virginia Tech shooting

YouTube
• World’s second largest search engine
• Google bought for $1.65 Billion
• “The world has voted, and we want to
watch videos on YouTube.” - Andy
Sernovitz, SocialMedia.org

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

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

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

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

United Breaks Guitars Breaks United

#15: You can hear a lot just
by listening

A Story from Twitter

Ensuing Conversation

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

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

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

In the European Union:
€0,00

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

podcasts.mayoclinic.org

newsblog.mayoclinic.org

sharing.mayoclinic.org

Yearly Cost for a
Customized Blog
$75.00

Cost for Your Global TV Station
and Publishing Platform
$300.00

#18: As I approaches zero,
ROI approaches infinity

#19: MacGyver is the model
for social media success

The MacGyver Mindset

Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
News Media Syndications

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

Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts

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

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

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

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

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

The next day...

Six days later...

April 22

Sunday, May 3

May 4

Cinco de Mayo

May 10

May 11

May 12

May 15

Early Morning May 26

May 26, 2009: Live in Studio
Good Morning America

Results to Date
• More than 4.8 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

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

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

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

A Story from Facebook...

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. ”

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

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

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

#33: Social media will
decrease diffusion time for
research and innovations
(and crisis communications)

Thesis 9 and 33 Combined!

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

An example from last night...

#34: Challenges of
introducing social media in
healthcare (or government)
are not unique

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

#35: Social technologies will
transform government

How can you accelerate the pace?
• Free/low-cost practical experiments
− Twitter
− Blogs
− YouTube
• Suggest data practices statutory language
to your favorite state legislators:
− “Nothing in this section shall be construed
to prevent government units from
interacting with citizens through general-
purpose social networking sites.”

If you have an iPhone, Let’s Bump!

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