Mayo Clinic has successfully used social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to engage with patients, share medical information, and increase their online presence. They have gained millions of video views on YouTube and thousands of followers on social platforms. Their use of social media helped spread awareness of rare medical conditions. Lessons learned include setting guidelines for employees, using multiple platforms to reach different audiences, and measuring engagement and outcomes of social media initiatives.

1. Using Social Media in Health Care to
Engage and Educate: Lessons
Learned from Mayo Clinic
Makala Johnson
January 19, 2012

2. Me
• Wisconsin-ite
• Mayo Clinic Center for
Social Media Associate
• @MakalaJohnson

3. Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit worldwide leader in medical
care, research and education.
 The needs of the patient
come first.
 Over 1,000,000 clinic patients
annually
 Over 58,000 employees
 Three main campuses:
Minnesota, Arizona, Florida

4. Agenda
• Our History
• Individual Social Media Platforms
• Connecting the Dots: Case Studies
• Mobile
• Things to Consider
• Questions

5. 1994 – The Today Show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVKRSsrIqpA

6. Our History

7. Mayo Clinic and Word of Mouth

9. The Internet merely amplifies
word of mouth.

12. Social media is inevitable. If
you don’t create your online
presence, someone else will
or maybe already has.

13. Employee Guidelines

14. http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/guidelines/for-mayo-clinic-employees/

16. If you think blocking is a viable
long-term option...

18. Implication
• You already have most of the risks...
why not also get some of the benefits
from these powerful tools?

19. Applying social media in health
care isn’t just inevitable: it’s
the right thing to do in the
interest of patients.
-Lee Aase, Director

20. Mayo Clinic’s Social Media
Experience

21. Center for Social Media
• It exists to improve health globally by
accelerating effective application of
social media tools.
socialmedia.mayoclinic.org
• Social Media Health Network (SMHN)
network.socialmedia.mayoclinic.org
Over 145 member organizations

22. http://network.socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/

23. Mayo Clinic Medical Edge
Syndicated News Media Resources

24. First Foray in New Media
• Existing Medical Edge radio mp3s
• Launched 2005; downloads up 8,217% Oct vs. Aug

25. Step 2: More, Longer Podcasts

26. Involuntary Social Network Presence:
MySpace.com/MayoClinic

27. Social Media Platforms

30. Facebook
• Keep in touch with people
• Status updates, photos, comments,
private messages
• “Friends”
Unfriend (added to Oxford Dictionary,
2009): ‘a verb that means to remove
someone as a “friend” on a social
networking site such as Facebook.’

31. Settings (Upper-right)

32. Facebook: 11/7/07

33. Facebook

34. Engagement

35. Expert(s) Available to Chat

36. Listen and learn.

38. Transparency

40. Geographic Targeting

41. Facebook Insights
Facebook

43. Reclaiming YouTube: Feb. ’08

45. Playlists

46. Embeds

47. Annotations

48. Efficiency

49. Rare Diseases / Conditions

52. Unique Myelofibrosis Patients

53. The Cowans
• Alerted to interesting video of elderly
couple playing piano in Gonda atrium
• 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

54. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI-l0tK8Ok0

55. The next day = April 8

56. Sunday, May 3

57. May 10

59. May 15

60. May 26

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

62. http://doga.nhk.or.jp/doga/viewvideo.jspx?Movie=48411824/48411824peevee303306.flv

63. Results to Date
• More than 8.3 million views on YouTube
• From 200 views/month to 5,000
views/hour
• National TV coverage in U.S. and Japan

64. YouTube Analytics

66. Twitter
• Messages up to 140 characters =
“Microblogging”
• “for the people you don’t know yet”
• Uses?

67. Information Sharing

68. Quick Answers

69. Discussion

70. News

71. Assistance

72. Vernacular
• Handle = username (@makalajohnson)
• Retweet = Forwarding another user’s tweet to all of your
followers
• Modified Tweet = Twitter etiquette applied to edited tweet (MT)

73. Vernacular
• Follow = choose to receive another’s tweets in your newsfeed
• Hashtag = the # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a
tweet
• #HCSM = Health Care Social Media
• #MCCSM = Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media
• Direct Message = private tweet sent to a follower
• Twitter Chat (tweetchat) = Twitter meeting where participants
coalesce around a predetermined hashtag

74. Settings (upper-right)

75. @MayoClinic on Twitter: 4/29/08

78. Twitter Chats

79. Online Ideation Chat #POTF

80. Link Shortener
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104
http://bit.ly/IAT9o5
Concerns?
•Lost brand consistency
•Difficult to remember

81. Custom-Shortened Domain

82. Measurement

84. Social Media Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCfFcchw1w

86. The $4-a-month online newsroom, ‘08

87. Newsblog

90. Don’t just pitch the media.
Be the media.

91. Sharing Mayo Clinic blog

93. Connect.MayoClinic.org

95. Pinterest
• Fastest site to reach 10 million users
• Largely popular among women
Key demographic
• Create boards
• Share, recommend and educate
• Endless scroll
• Inspires action
©2011 MFMER | 3139261-95

97. ACTION
©2011 MFMER | 3139261-97

99. What is Pinterest?

100. Analytics

101. Connecting the Dots: Case Study #1

102. Discovery by Richard Berger, M.D., Ph.D.
(Dean, Mayo School of CME):
Ulnotriquetral (UT) Ligament Split Tear

103. Jayson Werth’s Experience

114. Connecting the Dots: Case Study #2

115. Know Your Numbers
bit.ly/HeartNumbers

119. Facebook Ad

120. Twitter

121. Contest Site and Posting
• Participation:
• 1031
individuals
• 18 teams

122. MayoClinic.com Ad

123. Media Hits

125. Mayo Clinic Patient Experience
Mobile App

136. Things to Consider Before
Diving In…
• Business Goals?
• Audience?
• Most effective
platforms?
• Desired Outcomes?
• Measurement?

137. Questions?
Email: johnson.makala@mayo.edu
Twitter: @MakalaJohnson
SocialMedia.MayoClinic.org