Strategy & Evaluation of Social Media Integration for Health Orgs.

We've covered Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and several other social media sites that are useful for Health Organizations and professionals. As the seventh blog entry begins, strategy and evaluation of social media usage and integration in the health field will be discussed. Strategy is synonymous with the word tactic and can be defined as a plan chosen to bring about a desired future, such as an achievement of a goal or solution to a problem. Plan. Goal. Are these words ringing a bell? Evaluation on the other hand is measuring how well or how bad things are occurring and reminds me of the SWOT analysis (we will discuss this later on).  

Strategy

Strategy is crucial. It is important. Are there other synonyms for the word important because I would use them here. As a health organization or professional, before you begin to plan out your strategy or tactics, you must listen. Listen to what is being said by peers, consumers, the people that you are targeting. I'm just going to assume that you've defined your target audience... By listening, you begin to feel and understand what others are feeling. It's becoming empathetic. You need to understand what health information can be best suited by doing so, you're able to better strategize what is needed. By not listening, you begin to create a downfall for your organization as well as turn people who look up to your organization against you. 

Strategy also includes deciding the best way to reach your audience. People access information in so many different forms these days, so by listening, you're able to know what your target audience is asking for and the best way they can receive it. Voicing information the correct way too is extremely important. If you "know your voice" and how to use it appropriately, then reaching your target audience(s) with accurate health information will be simple. Your voice should reflect the views and characteristics of the overall health organization.  

Having strategies set in place show that your health organization is prepared for pretty much anything that is going to be thrown at it. There are so many strategies that can help a health organization or professional transparently, appropriately and effectively communicate with large masses of people. Using ideas from others (with credit), being inspired by other organizations, bringing up controversial topics that spark discussion and shares/retweets are just a few of the ideas to allow your social media campaign to flourish.  

Evaluation 

While strategizing is important, so is evaluating. Seriously. What is working well and what are the positive outcomes that are happening because of what you're doing? What is going wrong because of what you're doing (if any.. lets hope none)? What are the internal strengths and weaknesses? Are there any external threats or opportunities? You're probably thinking "Cody, where are you going with this and what are you talking about?" Well, I just described the SWOT Analysis. I feel it is the basis of any sort of evaluation. 



SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. This is a great way to evaluate how effectively the social media campaign is working for your health organization. You can identify your organization's strengths which will allow you to expand. Identifying weaknesses will allow you to retract or abolish a certain part or attempt to fix it. Knowing opportunities from the external environment like collaborations with other organizations or a potential grants will help boost your organization from the outside in. Threats are identified as external and can cause the organization to retract or decide a different path to take to avoid the obstacle. 

Finally, keeping an eye on what's trending or happening on your social media sites and viewing analytics will help you better evaluate your health organization's messages or information being shared. What is is being retweeted, shared and liked the most? - These are good things and you want to continue to share posts and information that is relatively the same to your most popular and highly favored posts. Posts that aren't being shared, retweeted or liked may need to be retracted (these are actually internal weaknesses) and may need more monitoring/editing. 

Examples

World Health Organization - WHO's strategy of knowing their target audience is shown through all of their social media accounts by providing information on a variety of topics and in a variety of places. Their website is also easily changeable to reflect other languages. They are also extremely savvy in advocating their messages as well as getting people to understand their perspectives and advocate too. 

Many Public Health and Healthcare organizations like Relay For Life and United Healthcare implement SWOT analysis to determine many factors such as what are the strengths (what is being done effectively and efficiently), weaknesses (what is bringing the organization down or hindering it's expansion, opportunities and threats. Doing these analysis are crucial. 

Take Away

There are three things that I want anyone reading to take away from this. 
1. Goals/Audience - Please, just do this. Write out some goals and figure out who your target audience is and what your purpose is... (i.e. knowing your voice and understanding why you're doing what you do). 
2. Be Concise - Be clear, concise, short and sweet, but also provide as much information as possible in a manner that is understandable for people with fifth grade reading levels. Do not share information in tone that is demeaning, but yet, engaging and that people of all ages are able to understand and relate to if need be. 
3. Go, Stop, Fix - Continue going with what is making your organization successful and receiving positive feedback. Stop what is just not working whatsoever or hindering your organization from communicating health information effectively. Fix what you know can be fixed. It is okay if ideas, groups and even the health organizations views, messages, etc. evolve. Change can sometime be good! 

Have a happy & healthy day! 
-Cody