Promoting Your Social Media Accounts

If your healthcare organization is on social media, you need to tell the masses!

A promotion strategy for your social media networks will increase the visibility of your accounts and will let the public know that social media is yet another avenue by which your health unit can be contacted.

Provide the public with multiple ways to find your networks.  Here are a few examples of how to do so:

If your healthcare organization is on social media, you need to tell the masses!

A promotion strategy for your social media networks will increase the visibility of your accounts and will let the public know that social media is yet another avenue by which your health unit can be contacted.

Provide the public with multiple ways to find your networks.  Here are a few examples of how to do so:

• Newsletter – whether internal or external, don’t assume readers are aware of your networks.  Promote your networks alongside contact information or even within the footer of each page!  You can even profile your networks in an issue. Remember that newsletters, especially electronic newsletters are often shared, so be sure to make your networks as visible as possible.
• Signature – incorporate social media logos with hyperlinks into your e-mail signature.  Try to encourage as many staff as possible to do so.  This is a quick, simple and effective way to promote your networks.  You could also use bit.ly to track clicks and referrals.
• Field Work – Public health units have tons of staff that work out in the community.  These staff are a trusted voice and so it’s important to encourage them to promote your health units social networks through conversation with residents, partners, etc.
• Print Material/Presentations – include your social networks into all print materials and presentations.  You can do this through incorporating the networks into your health unit’s header or footer.
• Media Releases – create a few closing lines for your media releases that includes contact information and your health units social networks.  Here is an example from Ottawa Public Health.
• Website – profile your social networks using the official social network buttons (or even widgets like a Twitter feed) on your home page or anywhere contact info appears.

If you’ve advocated for and received a budget to promote your social media accounts, then you have even more options, #winning.  Take a look at Google and Facebook ads.

What are some of the ways your health unit has promoted their social networks?

(image: social media & healthcare / shutterstock)