Your patients may depend on social media

by Nancy Cawley Jean No, that headline is not a typo. Patients might not depend on social media for their health status or actual healthcare, but when it comes to choosing a hospital, chances are good that social media may come into play. If you've read any of my past posts, you know I'm a strong advocate for hospitals using social media, for a myriad of reasons. Now, there are two more reasons, and hospitals need to pay attention to them. A new study indicates that 41 percent of patients report that social media impacts their choice of hospital. Read that again and let it sink in. That's right--their choice of hospital can be influenced by social media--YOUR social media. In essence, that means if your hospital is not using social media and your competition is, then guess where nearly half of your potential patients may end up going? Looking at social media in this light gives a whole new meaning to "return on investment." We all know that a hospital needs to be running near capacity to remain financially viable. If your hospital is losing a portion of your patient population to another hospital because they increased their awareness and built some brand loyalty through social media, your hospital may be feeling it in the bottom line. If that's not reason enough for you to consider jumping on the social media bandwagon, this should-- the study also found that 44 percent of people are sharing positive experiences with their hospital, and 40 percent are sharing neg...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs