Patient Engagement with Facebook

Dr. Justin Smith is a pediatrician active in social media. Unlike a lot of physicians, he chose Facebook as his primary platform for patient engagement. Many physicians shy away from Facebook because of concerns that Facebook will require a lot of time to monitor or that comments could get out of hand. Dr. Smith understands a very important rule of marketing; find out where your audience is and go there to engage with them. Known as The Doc Smitty, Justin Smith engages, educates and entertains on his Facebook page providing a wide variety of information from swimming pool safety to stomach bugs to concerns about plugged in kids. His Facebook page fans love to share and comment on his posts and he rarely has to deal with “TMI.” Listen in to our conversation or jump in at the time stamps below.

00:00 Introduction
00:44 “The Doc Smitty” on Facebook
01:90 Shout out to Dr. Bryan Vartabedian @Doctor_V
03:00 Cook Children’s Medical Center
03:25 Balancing Digital and pediatrics practice
04:00 Innovating the digital pediatrics experience
04:55 What is a “connected patient” experience?
06:55 How tele-medicine would work
07:28 Lean startup concept for Digital Heath pediatrics office
08:38 Cook Children’s commitment to digital media
09:55 Did you have to learn marketing?
10:55 How do you find the time?
13:27 Analytics drives content
14:18 What kind of Facebook posts work best?
14:55 Have you ever been a target of opposite viewpoints?
16:00 Fear of Facebook
18:00 Have a great team to support questions
18:35 How does the branding work for @TheDocSmitty and @CookChildrens?
19:30 Who manages your page?
20:28 Time management
21:00 Fourth of July – Drowning Safety content
23:45 Childhood obesity
26:09 Children’s and parent’s self-image and social media
28:40 Integrate social media questions into checkups
29:23 Facebook engagement with parents
30:44 Future goals for social media?
32:00 Instagram
32:19 Letting people in your personal life
33:25 Concerns about too much presence in social media
34:44 Recommendations to other physicians
37:00 Social Media Tip: Colin Hung “Be Yourself”

• Facebook: The Doc Smitty
• Twitter: @TheDocSmitty
• The Doc Smitty Blog
• Cook Children’s Facebook