Social media is redefining how hospitals and healthcare marketers handle communications around their organizations; it is creating new rules and offering new tools for connecting with target audiences. The Onslow social media program used this new media as a means to create a connection with the community. Onslow is located in a military-oriented community with the lowest median age (23) in North Carolina. Because of the high population of children – especially young children – our community is home to a disproportional share of mothers with children still at home. With military families moving in and out of the area on a regular basis, and with the steady deployment of troops to the Middle East, there are many temporarily one-parent families in our community who would benefit from a connection with other parents in Onslow County. This unique situation presented an opportunity for the hospital to reach out to these parents, to build a positive relationship, to make a meaningful difference in their lives, and to enhance the public perception of the hospital’s quality. By providing meaningful and useful health care information in a completely new way, one that was more integrated with the community members’ lives and worked to actively engage them, the hospital was able to improve and enhance its relationship with the community and, as a result, improve brand awareness, stop out-migration and affect positive perception scores of the hospital for the first time in five years. Additionally, our presentation will speak to the role of transparency in a social media campaign and will focus on enhancing communication with patients/target audiences.

1. Reaching Key Patient Groups Through New Media Onslow Success Stories

2. Who We Are Tim Strickland,APR, FACHE Sr. VP, Director, PR/Marketing Onslow Memorial Hospital @onslowhospital Theckla M. Sterrett VP, Director of New Media Saturday Brand Communications @heysaturday

3. Presentation Overview Our goal for today: Present case studies that demonstrate how a community hospital uses new media and other online properties to connect with key patient groups to improve perceptions of quality within their community.

5. Located in Jacksonville, NC

6. Nationally accredited

7. Two recent expansions include:

8. New State of the Art ER and Surgical Pavilion

10. Preference: 26.7%Patients often looked outside the community for “quality care”

12. Media focused on: TV, cinema, radio, outdoor & limited print.Something had to change…

14. Improve perception of quality

15. Enhance word of mouth promotion

16. Become the hospital of choiceHow?

17. Reaching Goals Decision was made to focus on enhancing engagement with the community. OMH’s definition of engagement: Become a meaningful part of the lives of the residents of the Onslow community.

19. Identify key service lines and/or patient groups

20. SWOT analysis

22. Military community

23. Lots of young families with access to technology

27. 88% of mothers say the internet has helped them stay connected to the world

28. 85% believe technology has made their life as a mother easier

30. Connection with other moms is critical for spouses of deployed troops

33. Keep content anchored in healthcare information

35. Blogs

36. Facebook

37. Twitter

38. YouTube

39. Email marketing

41. A network of moms connecting, conversing and learning.

44. Initially used to funnel moms to more content-rich areas

50. Immediate Success MomTalk launched late 2009, with media campaign in 2010

52. Overall preference rose from 26.7 to 28.7Additionally, births at the hospital reached record numbers by July 2010. All time record set in September 2010.

54. Popular topics included:

55. Single parenting during deployment

56. Being a stay-at-home mom

57. Becoming a new mom

58. Raising children in a transient community

59. Local news and its impact on families

63. Limited branding

64. Limited extraneous/irrelevant hospital contentFocus: sites were by moms, for moms, about moms above all else.

66. Addressed a concern that “TweenBeat” was too broad

67. Renamed and refocused “TweenBeat” for middle schoolers

68. Add a fifth blog for parents of elementary-aged children

69. Redesigned community site, focusing on forums

70. Created a new MomTalk “hub” page

71. Rethought the role of health-care information

73. What Drove Success?

74. What Drove Success?

75. Phase II: Expanding Engagement Hospital needed to engage the larger community. The solution?

76. Lighten Up Onslow: The Tools

81. Overall preference rose from 28.7 to 30.7Two year increase in perception: 8 pts

83. Reach new patients in key patient groups

84. Create a personal connection with the community

85. Provide useful information to our targets

86. Offer exclusive content

87. Promote the hospital’s brand and reinforce quality in a non-intrusive, interruptive way

89. Get to know your target

90. Research is critical

91. Measurement is critical, and possible

93. Be prepared to evolve and adjust

94. Use traditional media

95. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!