HRSA Social Media Plan to Increase Awareness and Engagement

HRSA Web Content Transformation
Social Media Plan

March 29, 2010

HRSA Web Content Transformation

Social Media Plan

Prepared by_ Aquilent, Inc.
1100 West Street, Laurel, MD 20707
aquilent.com

Prepared for_ HRSA Office of Web Communications

Submitted_ March 29, 2010

Table of Contents
1 Overview ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Organization ..................................................................................................................................... 1

1.3 Defining Social Media ....................................................................................................................... 1

2 Defining Users ....................................................................................... 1
2.1 User Research ................................................................................................................................... 2

2.2 Potential Users ................................................................................................................................. 3

2.3 Audience Types................................................................................................................................. 4

3 Define Goals .......................................................................................... 5
3.1 Increase Awareness, Interest, & Participation ................................................................................. 5

3.2 Better Manage Reputation & Brand................................................................................................. 5

3.3 Enhance Customer Service ............................................................................................................... 6

3.4 Promote Existing Content................................................................................................................. 7

3.5 Develop New Content ...................................................................................................................... 7

4 Measuring Results ................................................................................. 7
4.1 Increase Awareness, Interest, & Participation ................................................................................. 8

4.2 Manage Reputation & Brand ............................................................................................................ 8

4.3 Enhance Customer Service ............................................................................................................... 8

4.4 Promote Existing Content................................................................................................................. 8

4.5 Develop New Content ...................................................................................................................... 8

5 Consistent Messages ............................................................................. 9
6 Selecting Social Media Technologies ...................................................... 9
6.1 Types of Engagement ....................................................................................................................... 9

6.2 Serving Audiences, Advancing Goals .............................................................................................. 12

6.3 Recommendations.......................................................................................................................... 16

7 Next Steps ........................................................................................... 17

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Appendix A: User Research Results .......................................................... 18

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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Social Media Tools Used .......................................................................................................... 2

Figure 2: Number of Social Media Tools Used ....................................................................................... 3

Figure 3: Number of Hits in Top 50 Google Results Attributable To User ............................................. 3

Table of Tables
Table 1: Document Organization............................................................................................................ 1

Table 2: Audiences for HRSA Content .................................................................................................... 4

Table 3: Goal 1—Increase Awareness, Interest & Participation ............................................................ 5

Table 4: Goal 2—Manage Reputation & Brand ...................................................................................... 6

Table 5: Goal 3—Enhance Customer Service ......................................................................................... 6

Table 6: Goal 4—Promote Existing Content ........................................................................................... 7

Table 7: Goal 5—Develop New Content................................................................................................. 7

Table 8: Messages .................................................................................................................................. 9

Table 9: Tools and Types of Social Media Engagement ......................................................................... 9

Table 10: Mapping Tools to Levels of Effort, Audiences Served, and Goals Advanced ....................... 12

Table 11: Recommended Social Media Efforts .................................................................................... 16

Table 12: User 1 .................................................................................................................................... 19

Table 13: User 2 .................................................................................................................................... 20

Table 14: User 3 .................................................................................................................................... 20

Table 15: User 4 .................................................................................................................................... 21

Table 16: User 5 .................................................................................................................................... 21

Table 17: User 6 .................................................................................................................................... 21

Table 18: User 7 .................................................................................................................................... 22

Table 19: User 8 .................................................................................................................................... 22

Table 20: User 9 .................................................................................................................................... 23

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Table 21: User 10 .................................................................................................................................. 23

Table 22: User 11 .................................................................................................................................. 24

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1 Overview
Aquilent was contracted by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to transform its
web content strategies. As part of Option Year One of that contract, Aquilent is crafting a social media
plan.
This plan will guide strategy development for a HRSA social media presence that:
 Ensures citizen-focused delivery of information

 Enhances communication of HRSA mission and activities through use of multiple channels

 Better targets specific audiences and delivers timely messages and information to them

Aquilent recommends HRSA become more involved in social media, to help create, disseminate, and
shape an ongoing dialog with citizens about HRSA as it provides national leadership, program resources
and services needed to improve access to culturally competent, quality health care.

1.1 Scope
This document is intended to establish a framework to guide HRSA’s Office of Web Communication’s
further adoption of social media as a communication tool to guide bureau- and program-specific social
media plans.

1.2 Organization
This document is divided into 7 sections, as outlined in Table 1, below:
Table 1: Document Organization
Section Number Section Title
1 Introduction
2—5 Foundation for Social Media Planning
6—7 Selecting and Implementing Social Media Tools
Appendix A User Research Results

1.3 Defining Social Media
Any media that encourages interaction among users can be called social media. For the purposes of this
document, we will restrict our discussion to electronic social media, with the understanding that other
media will support the same overall communication and brand goals.

2 Defining Users
The first step to developing a social media plan is to discover who your users are, and how they use
social media. Questions HRSA must ask about its users include:
 Do they use social media tools?

 Which social media tools do they use?

 If they do use them, how do they use them?

 What users are not using social media tools, and why?

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2.1 User Research
Aquilent undertook an online user research project to help answer these questions. Full
methodology and results are reported in Appendix A. We identified 11 people who had either
“friended” HRSA on a social media site, or posted content specifically mentioning HRSA. Once
these research subjects were identified, we searched for signs of their participation in a
standard set of social media tools.
Figure 1 (below) shows how many of the test subjects use each of the studied tools.

3

1 7 Facebook
MySpace
LinkedIn
5
Twitter
Link Sharing
Other
5
5

Figure 1: Social Media Tools Used
Facebook is used by the majority of the research subjects. MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter each have the
same number of users in our subject group; slightly less than half of the subjects use one or more of
those tools. Link sharing tools—such as StumbleUpon and Digg—were only used by one subject, who
used more than one link sharing tool. Three of the subjects were found to use other social media tools,
such as blogs and professional online communities of interest.
Subjects used the social media tools for a mix of professional and personal communication. Some
frequent uses include:
 Seeking employment or employment advice
 Sharing information about HRSA programs and procedures
 Debating health policy issues
 Identifying relationship with or interest in HRSA

Most of the subjects used multiple social media tools, as shown in Figure 2, below. Several users posted
similar or identical content to multiple sites—e.g. both Facebook and Twitter. This is not surprising, as it
stands to reason that subjects’ social networks overlap from site to site, as do the networks’ interests.

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6
5
5

4
3 3
3
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
2
1
1

0
User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 5 User 6 User 7 User 8 User 9 User User
10 11

Figure 2: Number of Social Media Tools Used

To ensure we captured a full picture of the subjects’ social media usage, we searched Google for them,
using only publically-available identifiable information, and evaluated how many of the top 50 Google
search results were reasonably attributable to each subject. More than half of the subjects accounted
for 8% of the results for their searches; three subjects had over 75% attributable search, as seen in
Figure 3 below.

50
45 43
39 38
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
4 4 4 4 4 4
5 2
0
0
User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 5 User 6 User 7 User 8 User 9 User User
10 11

Figure 3: Number of Hits in Top 50 Google Results Attributable To User

2.2 Potential Users
By design, this research only captures information about people who are already using social media to
interact in some way with HRSA. Citizens who either do not use social media or have not mentioned

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HRSA in some way are not accounted for. Missing from the sample group are:
 People without college education
 Patients at health centers

 People over 60 years old

 Minors

This does not mean that these people are not using social media, or are not interested in HRSA.
American citizens are online, in ever-increasing numbers, across all user demographics. As they use the
internet more, they are engaging in social media more, and using these tools to evaluate and change
their communities.
Eighty percent of American adults use the internet, according to the 2009 Digital Future Report.1 Eighty
percent of those users have broadband access, double the level in 2004.
One of the fastest-growing segments of internet users is people over the age of 66. This demographic
has increased 33 percent since 2000. Fully 40% of these Americans are using the internet.
Users report increasing time as members of online communities – online communities have become
“stickier,” encouraging people to stay and participate longer than they had previously. According to a
recent Pew Internet and American Life Project study, 19% of adult internet users –nearly one-fifth of the
users—are now using Twitter (up from 11% in April). Indeed, TNS and the Conference Board’s Consumer
Internet Barometer shows more than one third of male internet users and nearly one half of female
internet users report visiting social networks in the second quarter of 2009. In each age range reported,
there was 10-20% growth in social network usage.
Any future user research should include questions about social media usage, especially for those
segments of the population not represented in the recent research sample.

2.3 Audience Types
Synthesizing user research results with general internet usage statistics and stakeholder interviews,
Aquilent has defined six audience types, as shown in Table 2, below.
Table 2: Audiences for HRSA Content
Audience Types
 Healthcare professionals
 Healthcare administrators
 Healthcare students
 Policy advocates & government officials
 Media
 General public, including underserved populations

These types are mapped to social media tools and goals in Table 10, below.

1
2009 Digital Future Report, Center for the Digital Future at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication.

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3 Define Goals
Aquilent recommends a user-centered approach to defining social media goals. While HRSA is in the
process of articulating organization-wide communication goals as part of an on-going branding effort,
we can still advance the social media plan, and assume that social media efforts will support the
eventual overall communication goals. Suggested goals for HRSA’s social media plan include:
 Increase citizen awareness of, interest in, and participation with HRSA

 Better manage HRSA’s reputation and brand

 Enhanced customer service, with faster, more personalized response to user concerns

 Drive users to existing content

 Develop new content to meet user interests

3.1 Increase Awareness, Interest, & Participation
User research with health center patients showed awareness of and interest in HRSA programs and
activities. However, users had no awareness of what HRSA itself was. HRSA grantees, who are by
definition invested in HRSA programs and activities, often identify more strongly with grant-sponsoring
bureaus than with HRSA itself.
Building up HRSA’s social media presence can mitigate this. Highlighting programs and activities in
multiple different social media will increase the likelihood that potential users will discover the content
and act upon it. HRSA can leverage its association with HHS and other government entities, reposting or
commenting upon their content, and seeking opportunities for building content together.
Table 3: Goal 1—Increase Awareness, Interest & Participation
Goal 1: Increase Awareness, Interest, & Participation
 Generate awareness of the organization; and provide complete, accurate, and timely
information, so users have tools for making informed decisions.
 Reinforce the relationship between HRSA and its bureaus.
 Promote social media efforts in other social media spaces.
 Subscribe to, friend, or follow related government agencies and programs.

3.2 Better Manage Reputation & Brand
Online research shows that many users think of HRSA as somewhat suspect. The following “tweets”
were in the top results when searching Twitter for “HRSA” in early November 2009:
 @Ryanwhiteponce HHS Awards $5 Million to Spur Innovation in HIV/AIDS Care to Women of Color

http://newsroom.hrsa.gov/releases/2009/womenofcolor.htm
 @HBDirk #HumanRights Movement for children Vaccine Victims #Autism like Injury #NoVoice and

#NoChoice #36shots #1Flushot #desiree #hannah #HRSA.gov
 @Autismdiaries Wow. what is that all about? Poisoning our kids??? National Vaccine Injury

Compensation Program http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine
 @Autismdiaries You MUST Check this out! National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/table.htm

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 @HBDirk #UWAC #Autism Civil Rights Movement 1-91children 1-58boys CDC HRSA HHS Vaccine Injury
Human Rights Movement 1929 1986 1989 2002 2006 2009
 @clt2atl @SchwinnSwan Since you still seem to be unlcear on the 1986 law PROTECTING vacc mfgrs:

http://www.hrsa.gov/Vaccinecompensation/
 @lucidicus HRSA is giving grants to train new doctors, but only to "minority" or "disadvantaged"

students. http://tinyurl.com/ylarl5f
Without an active HRSA presence on Twitter, these comments go unanswered for the most part. Active
participation in Twitter, in this case, could ensure that factual information is as accessible to Twitter
users as is less accurate information. HRSA’s absence in the space allows detractors to frame the
discussion on their own.
HRSA should construct and project a consistent organizational identity that carries over through all
social media and other online spaces. Some elements of identity construction to consider include:
 Vocabulary.

 Writing style.

 Interaction style.

 Opinions.

In short, every piece of information HRSA puts out into the social space shapes HRSA’s identity, and tells
the HRSA story. Others can evaluate future information against that identity to decide whether to trust
the information, and how to react to it. HRSA will benefit from a consistent, truthful presentation of
corporate personality because that consistency helps a user feel like the organization has a unified sense
of self.
Table 4: Goal 2—Manage Reputation & Brand
Goal 2: Manage Reputation & Brand
 Discover and counter misinformation about HRSA programs and activities.
 Regularly audit HRSA-generated social media content for brand-adherence.

3.3 Enhance Customer Service
Social media has been described as, essentially, a conversation. If HRSA is to shape conversations about
its programs and activities, it must participate, and must do so strategically, engaging the users, where
the users are, on topics the users want to explore. Users who are already interacting with HRSA in social
media where HRSA has an active presence can reasonably expect responses to questions and
comments. It is important that these responses come in a timely manner, preferably within one day of
the original comment. Social media information grows stale quickly.
Many social media users will be questioning and commenting on HRSA programs and activities without
directly interacting with HRSA itself. Discovering these comments will help grow HRSA’s social media
presence in a natural, organic way. Monitoring mentions of HRSA and major HRSA programs in major
social media spaces will afford opportunities to serve these customers, who might otherwise go without
any authoritative information.
HRSA has a well-established online customer service tool, http://answers.hrsa.gov. Cross-promotion will
let users know they have several options for interacting with HRSA, and drive them to the most up-to-
date answers to common questions.
Table 5: Goal 3—Enhance Customer Service

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Goal 3: Enhance Customer Service
 Monitor user comments in HRSA’s social media, and respond to questions within one business
day.
 Regularly monitor user comments and references to HRSA in major social media, and respond to
discovered questions in a timely manner.
 Promote social media efforts on http://answers.hrsa.gov.

3.4 Promote Existing Content
HRSA has a wealth of information online, on its website and with its social media efforts. HRSATube has
nearly 60 videos, and 143 subscribers. The channel has been viewed over 5,000 times, with nearly 8,000
upload views. If subscribers were responsible for all the upload views, each subscriber would have
watched each video an average of 133 times; odds are slim that subscriptions are responsible for the
impressive viewing numbers. Instead, HRSA’s rigorous cross promotion of HRSATube content across its
social media and other communication efforts is driving the HRSATube success. Applying this level of
rigor to promoting other new and existing content should provide similar success in attracting user
attention. Focusing on new content and time-sensitive information—e.g. application deadlines or
events—leverages the ephemeral nature of social media content.
Table 6: Goal 4—Promote Existing Content
Goal 2: Promote Existing Content
 Provide summaries of and links to new and existing content.
 Highlight HRSA-sponsored or -attended meetings and events.
 Inform users of application opening and closing dates for all time-sensitive applications.

3.5 Develop New Content
Deploying tools that allow users to rate, comment , or otherwise evaluate content gives users the sense
that they are contributing to HRSA’s message. Taking those ratings, comments, and evaluations and
acting upon them to alter or develop widgets, articles, applications, and other content, as well as
information architecture and other user interfaces builds on the promise of user-centered
communication and social media.
Table 7: Goal 5—Develop New Content
Goal 5: Develop New Content
 Provide method for user feedback on http://www.hrsa.gov.
 Monitor user feedback, and alter or create content—e.g. widgets, articles, applications—in
response to user needs.

4 Measuring Results
Defining goals can direct HRSA’s social media efforts, and measuring goals will keep those efforts on
track. Though each social media tool will have its own hallmarks of success, some general metrics are
provided below. There is some overlap between metrics for the goals, as the goals are often served by
the same technologies and methods. To keep track of performance metrics, HRSA can use a simple
spreadsheet, which will enable some basic statistical analysis without prohibitive expense.

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4.1 Increase Awareness, Interest, & Participation
 Number of followers
 Number followed by HRSA
 Number of posts made by HRSA
 Number of comments received
 Number of responses posted by HRSA
 Number of follow-up comments received
 Comment topics, by subject/bureau

4.2 Manage Reputation & Brand
 Time until response

4.3 Enhance Customer Service
 Number of sites monitored
 Track click-throughs to source URLs, by campaign or effort

4.4 Promote Existing Content
 Number of summaries or links posted
 Number of time-sensitive postings (meetings, events, application deadlines)
 Track click-throughs to source URLS, by post

4.5 Develop New Content
 Number of positive ratings received
 Number of negative ratings received
 Number of comments received on website content
 Number of responses made to comments on website content
 New widgets deployed
 Usage statistics for widgets
 Track locations widgets reused

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5 Consistent Messages
HRSA’s social media plan should have strong themes as its foundation. The plan should support,
reinforce and reflect the communication and social media goals established by the organization, and
should support the overall mission. This can be done through using consistent messages, across all
platforms and channels.
Table 8: Messages
Messages
 HRSA responds to the need for underserved Americans’ health, through its bureaus and
programs.
 HRSA provides training for compassionate health professionals, through its bureaus and
programs.
 HRSA operates transparently, and welcomes dialogue with the public.
 HRSA is responsive to citizen and stakeholder concerns.

6 Selecting Social Media Technologies
HRSA has already begun utilizing several social media technologies:
 Facebook: HRSA has over 1,200 fans, averages approximately 600 page views per week, and
regularly posts links to website content and videos.
 YouTube: HRSAtube, HRSA’s YouTube channel, has received over 5,300 channel views, and over
10,100 upload views. 155 users subscribe to HRSAtube videos.
 MySpace: HRSA’s MySpace presence is relatively new, and has yet to find its footing and voice; that
being said, HRSA has 7 friends.
Each of the technologies advances different goals and serves different—though sometimes
overlapping—audiences. Once the organization has defined its social media goals, and discovered what
social media its users actually use, it can then make good decisions about choosing social media tools.

6.1 Types of Engagement
Just as there are different types of social media tools, there are different levels of engagement.

Table 9: Tools and Types of Social Media Engagement
Tool Type Representative Technology Types of Engagement
 Organization crafts content
 WordPress  Users read content, and comment publicly
Blog
 Percussion social media add-on  Organization responds to comments
publicly
 User tags content they are interested in
 delicious
 Other bookmark users discover content
Bookmarks  Stumbleupon
 Organization may assist bookmarking by
 Digg
placing bookmark tools on content pages

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News clipping  Organization engages in ongoing research
Brand 
to discover what is being said about the
monitoring  Custom RSS aggregator organization, and where
 Users and organization create content
Discussion  BBS
boards  Users and organization respond to content,
 Usenet
and to others’ responses publicly
 Organization posts relevant images to a
 Flickr public site
Image sharing
 Picasa  Users can comment on images, post to
other social media sites, add tags, etc.
 Organization creates short blips of content
 Users respond to content, publicly or
Microblog  Twitter
privately
 Organization responds, publicly or privately
 Organizations produce content
Podcasts  iTunes  Users download content and listen to or
watch on their computers, mobile devices,
etc.
 Organization’s content is automatically
repurposed for syndication feeds
RSS  Percussion CMS add-on
 Users, including other organizations, follow
and repurpose syndicated content
 Facebook  Users and organization create content
Social
 MySpace  Users and organization respond to content,
networks
 LinkedIn and to others’ responses publicly
 Users respond to content
User ratings  Percussion CMS add-on  Organization analyzes ratings, and adapts
content to enhance future ratings
 Organization posts relevant videos to a
public site
Video sharing  YouTube
 Users can comment on videos, post to other
social media sites, add tags, etc.
 Organization creates virtual space and
avatars to interact with users
Virtual worlds  Second Life  Users, immersed in the virtual world,
interact with organization representatives,
educational content, etc.

Widgets  Custom  Organization creates and shares code to
distribute windows into organization

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resources
 Users post widgets to their social media
spaces, giving their own users access to
organization resources
 Organization and users collaboratively
Wikis  NotePub
create and edit content

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6.2 Serving Audiences, Advancing Goals

Table 10: Mapping Tools to Levels of Effort, Audiences Served, and Goals Advanced
Primary Audiences
Tool Type Level of Effort Goals Advanced Comments
Served
 Blogs are most valuable when
 Set Up: Low they encourage user comments
 Policy & government  Increase awareness
Blog  Ongoing: and discussion.
 Media  Develop new content
High  Percussion’s Community Manager
provides blogging capabilities.
 Though user research didn’t show
 Set Up: Low  Policy & government  Increase awareness high numbers of link sharing
usage, we can predict higher
Bookmarks  Ongoing:  Media  Promote existing usage in the future as “Share
Low  General public content This” has been rolled out on the
site.
 Monitoring any one medium is
relatively easy; each additional
 Set Up: medium adds to level of effort
 Manage reputation
Brand Medium  Policy & government
 Enhance customer  Possible to use automated search
monitoring  Ongoing:  General public
service tools to monitor multiple media
Medium
 Include government and advocacy
websites
 Healthcare  Increase awareness
 Set Up: professionals  Manage reputation  Sponsoring a discussion board or
Medium Healthcare forum requires a high level of
Discussion   Enhance customer
administrators effort in content creation,
boards  Ongoing: service
comment monitoring, and
High  Healthcare students  Promote content community building
 General public  Develop content

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Primary Audiences
Served
 Images put a face on an
 Set Up: Low  Policy & government organization, humanizing it and
Image  Increase awareness
 Ongoing:  Media enhancing trust
sharing  Develop content
Low  General public  Content easily repurposed into
other social media technologies
 Healthcare students  Reach users on many platforms—
 Increase awareness
 Healthcare computer, phone, etc.—through
 Set Up: Low administrators  Manage reputation
one interface
Microblog  Ongoing:  Enhance customer
 Policy & government  Enables rapid information
Medium service
 Media dissemination in crisis or
 Promote content mutable situations
 General public
 Helps users with auditory
learning styles
 Set Up: High  Users can digest long-form
 Healthcare students  Increase awareness
Podcasts  Ongoing: content while away from their
 General public  Develop content computers
Medium
 Procuring quality recording
equipment may be prohibitive

 Healthcare students  Built in to Percussion’s
 Set Up: Low  Increase awareness Community Manager
 Policy & government
RSS  Ongoing:  Manage reputation  Users access content through
 Media
Low  Promote content their personal choice of
 General public interface

 Set Up: Low  Healthcare  Increase awareness  Creating content for multiple
professionals social networks is time-
Social  Ongoing:  Manage reputation
intensive, but content can be
networks Medium—  Healthcare  Enhance customer repurposed for other social
High administrators service networks and media

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Primary Audiences
Served
 Healthcare students  Promote content  Tailor content to audiences—e.g.
 Policy & government post all job opportunities to
professional networks like
 Media
LinkedIn, but perhaps not to
 General public disease support forums
 Healthcare providers  Built in to Percussion’s
 Increase awareness
 Set Up: Low  Healthcare Community Manager
administrators  Enhance customer
User ratings  Ongoing:  Feedback can be displayed on the
service
Low  Health care students website, or just relayed to
 Develop content content owners
 General public

 Healthcare students  Images put a face on an
 Set Up: Low organization, humanizing it and
Video  Policy & government  Increase awareness
 Ongoing: enhancing trust.
sharing  Media  Develop content
Low  Helps users with auditory and
 General public visual learning styles
 High level of effort to establish
 Policy &  Increase awareness and maintain presence; do not
 Set Up: High government recommend unless further
Virtual  Enhance customer
 Ongoing: research shows large pool of
worlds  Media service
High HRSA-interested users wanting
 General public  Develop content virtual world interaction with
HRSA
 Healthcare  Set up level of effort varies for
 Set Up:  Increase awareness
professionals each widget depending on the
Medium—  Enhance customer
 Healthcare widget’s functionality.
Widgets High service
administrators  Ongoing level of effort for any
 Ongoing:  Promote content
 Healthcare students one widget is low; LoE increases
Medium  Create content
 General public with each subsequent widget

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Primary Audiences
Served
 Healthcare
professionals  Increase awareness
 Set Up: High  Healthcare  Manage reputation  Organization and users
Wikis  Ongoing: administrators  Enhance customer collaboratively create and edit
Medium  Healthcare students service content
 Policy &  Develop content
Government

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6.3 Recommendations
Aquilent recommends HRSA focus on building its current social media presences, and adding to or
enhancing the following social media tools:
Table 11: Recommended Social Media Efforts
Level of Effort: Recommended
Tool Type Recommendation
Set Up/Ongoing Technology
AddThis bookmarking and link sharing tools
have been added to some site content pages;
Bookmarking/
Low/Low  AddThis future brand monitoring will likely discover
link sharing
other bookmarking and link sharing sites that
should be added to the AddThis options.
HRSA has a wealth of suitable content
developed already, but it is not in any central
repository. Sharing these images on Flickr—
which has robust tagging capabilities—would
Low/Low Image sharing  Flickr
help HRSA staff locate appropriate images for
online and traditional communications, as well
as enhancing the visual offerings for the
public.
HRSA investment in Community Manager
 Percussion allows roll-out of RSS for little additional
Low/Low RSS Community expenditure. RSS feeds will let users customize
Manager when and how they receive updated HRSA
information.
Community Manager will enable users to give
 Percussion
instant feedback to HRSA content owners.
Low/Low User ratings Community
Those owners can then create citizen-focused
Manager
content in response to user’s needs.
HRSA’s initial YouTube efforts have been
Low/Low Video sharing  YouTube
successful, and should be continued.
Policy advocates, government officials, and
media use Twitter to generate leads and
conversation, and even people who don’t
tweet themselves read tweets that are
repurposed on other sites. There is little effort
Low/Medium Microblogging  Twitter needed to start a Twitter account, and
maintaining it requires approximately the
same level of effort as HRSA’s social networks.
Research showed as many HRSA users use
Twitter as do MySpace, Facebook, and
LinkedIn.

3/29/10 16

Level of Effort: Recommended
Tool Type Recommendation
Set Up/Ongoing Technology
An ongoing brand monitoring initiative is
Medium/ Brand necessary to ensure HRSA can react promptly
 TBD
Medium monitoring to issues and misinformation, and plan
strategically for future efforts.
Though widgets take a greater level of effort
than the other recommended tools do, the
Medium— benefits are great. Widgets give users a direct
Widgets  TBD
High/Medium path to tailored information, and allow other
sites to repurpose authoritative HRSA content
easily.
HRSA’s Facebook efforts have been successful,
and should be continued. Its MySpace
presence is still in an early stage; more work
on crafting content and building audience is
necessary. Adding another social network to
 Facebook HRSA’s offerings will require a greater level of
Low/Medium—
Social networks  MySpace effort to both set up and maintain than those
High
 LinkedIn tools mentioned above. However, LinkedIn is
a popular site with health care administrators
and providers, and a HRSA presence here can
help those users form connections with their
peers as well as learn about HRSA offerings
and opportunities.

Those tools and technologies with both a low level of effort to set up and maintain should be set up as
soon as possible.
As new tools gain popularity, they should be evaluated to see if they will enhance HRSA’s overall social
media presence by better addressing communication goals and user needs. Future iterations of this
document will chart the rewards of each type of engagement for user and for the organization. When
staff resources and Administration interest are in place, additional, more-collaborative social media may
be rolled out.

7 Next Steps
 Review goals and messages
 Implement Percussion’s Community Manager, enabling RSS and user ratings
 Identify and train social media representatives
 Implement image sharing on Flickr
 Implement microblogging on Twitter
 Establish usage guidance for the new tools and technologies
 Establish metrics tracking system and procedures
 Define medium-specific goals for each technology implemented

3/29/10 17

Appendix A:
User Research Results
Research Study
Aquilent conducted a research study of HRSA social media channels in March, 2010. The purpose of this
study was to assess which social media are used by people who are interested in HRSA. The results of
this research will guide creation of social media goals, messages, and tools.
During this study, eleven (11) individuals with declared interest in HRSA were tracked through a
selection of social media channels and Google’s search engine. The purpose of this document is to
report the results of the research. This report includes a summary of participants and their social media
presences.
Test Participants
The HRSA online user research study included eleven (11) subjects, who are representative users of the
HRSA social media user population. Subjects were selected from four source sites:
 Facebook
 MySpace
 LinkedIn
 Twitter
To ensure a representative mix of users, the eleven participants were divided into four (4) sub-groups.
The following are brief descriptions of each of the subject sub-groups.
General requirements for all subjects:
 self-identifies as a friend, fan, or follower of HRSA on a social media site; or mentions HRSA in a
social media post
 does not self identify as a HRSA employee or contractor in profile data
 is a “real person,” not an organization, agency, or news feed
Privacy
Each subject is represented in our reports and notes by a pseudonym; e.g. User 1, User 2. All
information collected is in the public sphere, and available to any holder of a basic, free account on the
social media sites. Privacy restrictions put in place by the subject or the sites have been respected. None
of the subjects were known to the researcher, nor affiliated with the researcher in any way on social
media.
No live, in-person research was conducted. All data is publicly available.
Method
After identifying a subject on a source site, the researcher searched for the subjects on the other studied
sites as well as three (3) link sharing services. Basic user characteristics were captured, including sex,
age, geographic location, and profession.
Next, each subject was searched for in Google, to gauge that subject’s online presence and
possible participation in other social media sites. The top fifty (50) search results for each were
analyzed to determine if link could be reasonably attributed to that subject. This is scored as
Attributable Hits in the tables below. In some cases, there were fewer than 50 search results for a
subject; the Attributable Hits for those subjects reflect the actual number of search results, and

3/29/10 18

have not been adjusted. Some subjects had very common names, or posted little unique
information about themselves, and initial search results could not be attributed. When possible,
additional data about those subjects were used to produce a more-targeted search result. These
cases have been identified in the tables below.
Any additional social media participation discovered through profile or search analysis was
captured.
Facebook
This group includes four (4) subjects who have self-identified as fans of HRSA.
 Sex breakdown: 2 female, 2 male
 Age range: late teens to late thirties
MySpace
This group includes two (2) subjects who have self-identified as friends of HRSA.
 Sex breakdown: 2 female
 Age range: mid 20s to early 40s
LinkedIn
This group includes three (3) subjects who participated in the Answers forum, and provided information
about HRSA or HRSA programs.
 Age range: late 40s to early 50s
Twitter
This group includes two (2) subjects who tweeted about HRSA or HRSA programs.
 Age range: late 30s to late 50s

Table 12: User 1
Source Site
Facebook
Connection to HRSA
Fan of HRSA; physician’s assistant.
Sex Age
Female Early 20s
Geographic Location Attributable Hits
San Pedro, CA 4/50
Social Media Presence
Facebook: 359 friends; protected profile; displays sex, location, networks, and pages;
fan of 46 pages.
PA-Link.com: Presumed to be a member, as is a fan of it on Facebook. This is a P.A.-only
community, so her participation can not be evaluated. PA-Link has a social media poll on
its public home page, and of 6 respondents, all used Facebook, and none used other

3/29/10 19

social media sites.
Comments
User 1 is a graduate of a Hawaiian college or university.
User is a Facebook fan of Learning Radiology, Association of Family Practice Physician
Assistants, and Physician Assistants Web Community www.pa-link.com.
Her Attributable Hits was calculated using her name, presumed title/profession, and
state as search terms.

Table 13: User 2
Source Site
Facebook
Connection to HRSA
Fan of HRSA; college student
Sex Age
Male Late teens—early 20s
Ithaca, NY 4/50
Facebook: 1,466 friends; protected profile shows networks & pages; fan of 72 pages.
Twitter: possible account holder; however, if User 2 is the account holder, he has only
tweeted once, and that was over a year ago.
Comments
User 2 includes a Hebrew word in his Facebook profile name; when that word is
included in searches, his Attributable Hits is 4/7.
He has created Facebook groups, and posts questions to organization pages.
No direct connection with HRSA or HRSA programs and activities can be drawn from his
Facebook pages. He is, however, a fan of the President.

Table 14: User 3
Source Site
Facebook
Connection to HRSA
Fan of HRSA; MBA in Health Care Administration
Sex Age
Male 39
Atlanta, Georgia 4/50
Facebook: 279 friends; protected profile shows detailed personal information,
education & work history, and pages; fan of 17 pages, including U.S. Public Health
Service Commissioned Corps. Posts to oragization pages.
LinkedIn: possible account holder; however, if User 3 is the account holder, he is not

3/29/10 20

active with the site, having only one connection and no identifying information on a
public profile.
Comments
User 3 is a recent MBA recipient, and is seeking employment in the public health field.
He has posted to the HRSA Facebook page.

Table 15: User 4
Source Site
Facebook
Connection to HRSA
Fan of HRSA; MD; medical school faculty member
Sex Age
Female Late 30s
Indianapolis, IN 39/50
Facebook: 296 friends; protected profile shows networks, sex, current city, and pages.
Fan of 27 pages, including CDC and AIDS.gov.
LinkedIn: 6 connections; basic profile information.
Comments
User 4’s full name, as shown on Facebook, gives a Attributable Hits of 4/4.
Other physician HRSA Facebook fans also seem to use Facebook and LinkedIn as their
social media tools.

Table 16: User 5
Source Site
LinkedIn
Connection to HRSA
Answered question about health care; health care management professional
Sex Age
Female Early 50s
Rochester, NY 4/50
LinkedIn: detailed profile; active in forums.
Twitter: limited participation; follows the Whitehouse, CNN, NPR, and a relative. Is
followed by two people. Has not tweeted. Has marked one tweet as a Favorite.
Comments
User 5 advocates for low-cost health care professionally.
She is very familiar with health center programs, Medicaid and Medicare.

Table 17: User 6

3/29/10 21

Source Site
LinkedIn
Connection to HRSA
Answered question about health centers; health care grants manager
Sex Age
Female 51
Reading, MA 38/50
LinkedIn: detailed profile; has recommended other users.
Twitter: has two accounts; one seems to have been abandoned in 2009. Now tweets
extensively on health-related issues, with a high percentage of tweets being
conversations with other Twitter users.
Boston.com: has commented on articles from The Boston Globe.
Comments
User 6 is active in her community (church, politics, library, etc.).
She has a strong interest in heal th care reform, as well as the grants writing process for
health care providers; her social media presence is focused on these topics.

Table 18: User 7
Source Site
LinkedIn
Connection to HRSA
Answered question about nursing scholarships; college admissions professional
Sex Age
Male 42
Nampa, ID 4/50
LinkedIn: basic profile information; participates in Answers forum
MySpace: not active; has very basic profile, hasn’t logged on since 2008.
Comments

Table 19: User 8
Source Site
MySpace
Connection to HRSA
Friend of HRSA
Sex Age
Female 42

3/29/10 22

St. John, VI 0/10
MySpace: last logged in this month, but last posted content 11 months ago; has shared
vacation photos and playlists.
Comments
User 8’s Attributable Hits number is not a mistake—she does not have a Google
presence. Adding in her location returns 1 good result: her MySpace profile.

Table 20: User 9
Source Site
MySpace
Connection to HRSA
Friend of HRSA
Sex Age
Female 24
Stroudsburg, PA 2/50
Facebook: 252 friends; protected profile with moderately detailed information revealed;
fan of 5 pages, including Breast Cancer Awareness
MySpace: private profile; has logged on this month.
Comments

Table 21: User 10
Source Site
Twitter
Connection to HRSA
Retweeted mention of Dr. Wakefield; health centers advocate
Sex Age
Male 59
Lyndhurst, VA 43/50
Facebook: protected profile, but shares detailed information and all wall posts. 219
friends; fan of 64 pages, most of which are health centers or health policy-related.
LinkedIn: detailed profile, with 72 connections.
Twitter: following 98, followed by 161. 274 tweets in total.
Digg: no recent activity.
Mr. Tweet: recommended by one user.
Topsy: posted 273 links.
Blogs: blogs about health center advocacy issues for an association.

3/29/10 23

Comments
User 10’s social media presence is sharply focused on health centers advocacy.

Table 22: User 11
Source Site
Twitter
Connection to HRSA
Tweeted about Stop Bullying Now; natural health consultant
Sex Age
Female 37
Marblehead, MA 4/100
Facebook: protected profile, but shares her wall content. 296 friends, fan of 11 pages.
LinkedIn: detailed profile; 44 connections.
Twitter: following 64, followed by 53; mix of original posts, retweets, and conversations,
focused on women’s health and empowerment.
Comments

3/29/10 24

HRSA Social Media Plan to Increase Awareness and Engagement

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