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Physician and Content Producer – Dr. Howard Luks

Content Drove 4 Million Website Visitors

Being early to social media and blogging has an advantage when you are a physician and a content producer. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Howard Luks began writing his blog to answer questions from his patients. After years of producing content that addressed real patient concerns he now sees over 4 million visitors to his website annually. Dr. Luks is a social media early adopter and has tried most social media platforms some of which he has dropped after not getting the results he wanted. Aside from continuing his active blogging, Dr. Luks is now live-streaming content to his audience via Periscope. Listen in to my conversation with social media pioneer Dr. Howard Luks or drop in at the time stamps below.

00:00 Introduction
00:51 Meet Dr. Howard Luks, Orthopedic Surgeon
01:34 Evolution of Social Media
Howard Luks, Physician and content producer03:57 Medical Journals
04:50 Is it a problem that social media is slow in adoption?
05:26 Pioneers have led the way
06:34 Physicians as content providers
08:00 Communicating patient education – “one man show”
09:36 Online presence is your reputation
10:42 Reviews on ZocDoc
11:49 What do your colleagues think of social media?
12:20 What drew you to social media
14:32 Have you thought about writing a book?
15:27 Use of video
17:00 Live or recorded video?
18:28 Tracking questions and comments
19:14 Age of patients and social savvy
21:30 Involved in Startup community
23:40 mHealth & Digital Health
28:41 Is that a future you’re excited about?
29:49 #TweetChats #HIT
31:10 When are you live in Twitter?
31:48 Is it harder to have conversations in Twitter?
34:30 Social Media Tip: Dr. Bryan Vartabedian “Find a Social Media Mentor”

Howard Luk’s Social Media Profiles:

The Get Social Health Academy

Thank you for joining me for Get Social Health. As you may know, I recently launched the Get Social Health Academy, an online learning space for healthcare practitioners. If you handle social media for a physician’s or other healthcare practice, check out the website for courses that can help you achieve your goals in social media. The website is Get Social Health Academy.com. If you have any questions please reach out to me at[email protected] or in Twitter @GetSocialHealth. Thanks for listening.

Get Social Health Academy

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2016. I’m really happy we’ve reached 2016 for a number of reasons. 2015 was a year of a lot of work for me. I decided at about this time last year that I wanted to take the information I had been learning from the Get Social Health podcast and figure out a way to share that knowledge with the wider community. Introducing the Get Social Health Academy.

In particular, I was very interested in applying the lessons I learned from my podcast guests to helping the small healthcare practice. In speaking with my guests, one of the things I learned was how hard it was to get up to speed on social media once they decided to engage. I began to ask questions of other healthcare professionals, including my own physicians and asked them what they thought of social media. Many were still very focused on the day-to-day operations of their practices. However, they also recognized that social media was a force to be reckoned with.

As a career marketer, I have always been very engaged with local business owners. Through my work with Get Social Health, it became clear that physicians, health care professionals, allied health fields, and other professionals were really small businesses. The problem is they don’t have traditional business training and very little marketing expertise. If marketing were the same as it was 20 or even 10 years ago that might not be such a big problem because any number of people could help the healthcare practice market their businesses.

Unfortunately, with the rise of digital marketing, there’s a new set of skills and knowledge that are needed to successfully present any business, let alone a healthcare business, online. Just as I would never dream of giving medical advice, I recommend the same to healthcare providers when it comes to the nuances of digital and social media. Indeed, there’s so much to learn and to know that I don’t even try to know it all. What I do try to know is who to ask when I have a question.

social media for healthcareThe Get Social Health podcast has been an immeasurably valuable tool for me and I hope my listeners to learn new concepts in digital marketing, social media trends, and tactical ways to take advantage of all of this knowledge for the local practice or hospital.

To prepare for this podcast, I updated my spreadsheet of guests and categorized them because I assumed that I had an imbalance in the variety of content that I was presenting or at least not enough information in some of the areas I would really like to focus on in 2016. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the podcast topics and guests were extremely well-balanced. If you’ve been a listener from the beginning or went back and listened to all of the previous episodes (and I only recommend you do so if you have a long plane ride so you can get some rest), you would hear a nice balance of subject matter.

When I started the podcast in June 2014 through the end of 2015 my guests fell into about six categories; physicians or nurses who are active in social media, entrepreneurs, digital strategists or medical futurists, agencies that specialize in healthcare clients, and very tactical programs on how to use specific social media platforms. That’s very similar to what I would like to present in 2016.

My goal for this year is to provide content in for subject areas. First, “The Big Picture”. These podcasts would feature guests who have their eye on the 20,000-foot level perspective of healthcare and/or social media. I’ll be inviting guests who are looking farther down the road than we might be. They could be innovators, entrepreneurs, digital strategists, physicians, or medical futurists. I’ll be asking them what they see in the future of healthcare and how social media may play a part. Now, in healthcare long-term might be the end of the year, or it could be farther down the road. We’re looking for new ideas, innovation, and disruption. It’s always good to take a look up from the grindstone every now and then and get a sense of where we’re headed.

The biggest objection I hear most frequently for healthcare providers entering social media is either lack of time or concern about violating HIPAA. The first is something that can be managed and I’ll be talking about that in just a moment. With regard to HIPAA compliance, it has more to do with education, training, and providing the tools necessary so the mystery of HIPAA is abated. Yes, we may be talking about some negative news regarding HIPAA compliance. And there are unfortunate things that happen every day that impact privacy laws and patient confidentiality. But when you consider the millions of patients who are seeking care every day, the actual HIPAA violations are relatively rare, therefore, we’ll be facing those discussions straight on and providing information so you can be forewarned and forearmed.

The next subject we’re going to cover is very tactical. I’ll make sure that we have a series of podcast guests who know and understand how to use social media in everyday use. Strategy is all well and good, and essential, however once the strategy is set the real challenge of social media is keeping up with the changes and making sure that the content you spend the time and to create or buy is effective. Our guests may represent ad agencies that work in the healthcare space, practicing physicians, nurses, or other health professionals or social media strategists managing current healthcare social media accounts.

Since I’m the podcast host I reserve the right to change my mind adding anything else I feel like and otherwise present content I think you’d be as interested in as much as I am. (I wouldn’t be a marketer if I didn’t have a disclaimer.) While I’m very honest about using the podcast to find guests to educate me I also want to provide you with great discussions and interesting educational opportunities. Therefore, I need to hear from you. Please reach out to me at [email protected] or visit my website getsocialhealth.com where you can send me a contact form or even leave an audio message via the speakpipe app on the right side of the home page.

To give you a flavor of what’s coming up in 2016 I’ve gone back to some previous podcast interviews and pulled out a few selections. In addition, I’ve been taking social media tips from conferences podcast guests and social media get-togethers and will also present some of those in this episode.

I also encourage you to visit the website to review the show notes for every episode. My guests would be happy if you would follow them in their social media profiles or connect via LinkedIn. Just tell them I sent you. So without any further ado let’s get some great healthcare social media advice from the guests on Get Social Health.

My guests on this podcast are:

So, there you have it. A little sample of what 2016 has in store for you. We’re going to focus on the big picture, marketing and social media strategy, content for your social media sites, blogging, and the tactical execution of social media. Plus a few treats thrown in.

Get Social Health Academy
At the beginning of the podcast, I mentioned that 2015 was a year of hard work. And I’ll admit it, it wasn’t easy. But I will admit it actually was fun. What I created in 2015 was a new platform called the Get Social Health Academy. During 2015, I learned a lot of new things myself. I learned about website development, online learning programs, how to develop online courses, photography, videography, editing, and much more in order to create an online learning platform. The Get Social Health Academy is a series of online courses in social media for healthcare specifically designed to help the small healthcare practice or healthcare professional who wants to get up to speed in social media. I’ve been delivering webinars and workshops for a number of years and through that experience created five courses of core content for social media in healthcare.

In addition, I’ll be launching a new course every month in 2016 that will go deeper into some of these general topics. I could talk all day about these subjects, however, that’s not what you’re here for so I just invite you to visit getsocialhealthacademy.com and take a look around. I also invite you to contact me if you have any questions or have specific subjects that you’d like me to cover in future courses.

I would also like to mention that the courses have been designed for individuals or for Healthcare Associations or advertising agencies to use as member or client education. If you’d like information on how to become an affiliate of Get Social Health Academy or to purchase the courses in bulk I’d love to hear from you.

I can’t thank you enough for listening to the podcast, tweeting out the episode information, commenting or sharing in LinkedIn and all the other ways that you have shown support for the podcast. I look forward to bringing you a lot more interesting and informative and engaging conversations in 2016.

Schooling Dr. Google with Mark Traphagen

There are many healthcare providers who dread hearing “Dr. Google” quoted in the exam room. From inaccurate or misleading information to downright “malpractice” (says Tanya Feke, MD in a blog posted on KevinMD.com ), Dr. Google is a challenge for physicians when dealing with patient education. I asked Google expert (actually, Guru) Mark Traphagen of Stone Temple Consulting to join me in a conversation about the “Good News/Bad News” regarding health information online and what a healthcare practitioner can do to become a trusted voice in their community. Listen to our conversation or drop in at the discussion topics below.

00:00 Intro
00:45 Mark Traphagen – Guru
03:30 “Dr. Google Should be Sued for Malpractice”
04:50 Healthy skepticism for online health information
05:55 Google is part of the solution, Google’s ranking algorithm
07:00 Up to 20% of Google searches are health related
07:30 Google’s Direct Answers
08:18 “How do I boil and egg”
08:40 Google Highlights one answer from one source
09:12 Google partnering with trusted healthcare organizations
09:52 Re-purposing existing content or producing new content?
10:30 Pre-approving content
12:30 Competition between large healthcare brands for providing content
14:01 Do we care about anything other than Google?
14:24 “Google’s Mission is to organize the information of the world and diseminate it.”
14:58 You’ve got to be more creative than ever.
15:38 Can Bing or Yahoo compete with Google?
16:00 “The User doesn’t give a hoot about you. They just want the answer.”
16:44 How many trusted sources do you need for information?
18:13 Google’s Truth Algorithm “Knowledge-Based Trust”
20:15 Become a reliable and trusted source, and you could gain a “truth rank” from Google
20:50 Local emphasis may become more important
22:00 Does linking a blog post to a highly regarded website help with ranking?
24:34 If you are building a good content site – cross link to other content on your site
25:00 Create reasons to link content from other places on your website or blog
25:35 Pogo-Sticking
26:30 Google measures time spent on your website?
28:00 Google wants “useful’ information – not just “good.”
29:23 Google Search Quality Guidelines – Human evaluation of content
30:17 Google wants to provide more than the answer to the question
31:00 Don’t write for Google – write for your audience
31:35 Serve as a Physician online and offline but still need technical expertise
33:05 Next time: Mark shares his own patient experience
34:32 Social Media Tip: Mary Pat Whaley – Content ideas for your blog

Links and Resources:

The Stone Temple Consulting blog archive

Links to follow me:
Links referenced in the show:

Social Media and the CEO

If leadership comes from the top, why are so many healthcare CEOs hesitant to be active in social media? To get a first hand perspective I asked Paul Levy, former hospital CEO and C-suite leader to join me in a conversation about social media, healthcare and why CEOs shouldn’t be so hesitant to jump in. Listen in to our conversation or jump in at the time stamps below:

Paul Levy00:00 Introduction
00:45 Social Media and the CEO
01:50 What is the role of the CEO?
02:50 Journalist coverage of a story
06:12 CEO’s engaging
07:00 Train staff in social Media?
08:30 Using social media to tell what you think?
09:25 Paul’s Blog
10:25 What topics did you cover?
11:50 What did he post today?
12:38 Blogging about patient care
14:54 Posting infection rate – push back?
16:40 Insurance company on board?
17:35 Social media as a tool to set goals.
18:50 Facebook and Twitter
21:00 Tweetchats? Matching consumption schedules
21:48 Twitter at conferences
22:48 Tweeting & Twitter Fountains
24:38 Tone and emoticons
Paul Levy giving a speech25:07 Have you evangelized social media participation?
26:07 How many Hospitals CEOs are using social media
26:58 Frequency of posting developed ideas
28:02 Use analytics to drive content?
28:40 Moderating comments to manage “trolls”
29:30 Words of Wisdom
30:40 New focus – Leadership and negotiation
32:10 Social Media Tip: Dr. Mike Sevilla – Get a personal website

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health.

 

Social Media Tips from Mayo Clinic Social Media Summit

The Mayo Clinic Social Media Health Network hosted a Social Media Summit June 15-16, 2015 in Rochester, MN.

Mayo SMS 2015-400Dozens of healthcare social media marketers attended to share, learn and experience social media first hand. The event featured a keynote by Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, aka @SeattleMamaDoc in Twitter which was live streamed by the new social platform, Periscope (@Periscopeco). During the two day event I met and spoke with a large number of the participants and corralled a few to get their social media tips to share on the podcast. Below is a list of all those who contributed to the podcast. To find out more about the Mayo Clinic Social Media Health Network visit here or read the following blog posts:

Social Media Residency and Summit are next week, Lee Aase

June Social Media Summit Reflects the Mayo Model, Lee Aase

Social Media Tips from:
Kristine Austin, Principal, KS Austin Communications
Kristy Jacobson, Public Affairs Specialist at Mayo Clinic Health System
Christina Bokusky, Communications Coordinator at Jackson In Action Community Coalition
Shelby LaCroix, Communications Specialist, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
Caitlin Hennessay
Dr. John Wald, Medical Director for Marketing at Mayo Clinic
Quinn Nystrom Diabetes Advocate & Speaker, www.QuinnNystrom.com
Susan Woolner (@SusanWoolner)
Naomi Ogaldez, Intern at Mayo Clinic
Marie McNeill
Makala Johnson, Social Media & Content Strategy Specialist at Mayo Clinic
Paula Gill, Co-Founder CareHubs
Corey Shaffer, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), CareHubs
Dr. Elizabeth Murray, Attending Physician, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center
Karen Mulkey, Community Relations Officer, OU School of Community Medicine and OU Physicians
Amanda Changuris, (@AmandaChanguris)
Tony Hart, Public Affairs Associate; Social and Digital Innovation Team, Mayo Clinic
Ali Burnett
Ahmanielle Hall, Digital Marketing Specialist at Yuma Regional Medical Center

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health.

David Harlow IS @Healthblawg

David Harlow is a healthcare lawyer and well-know in healthcare social media circles with his blog and Twitter persona @healthblawg. He joined Get Social Health to talk about marketing and patient privacy, HIPAA and social media. You’ll want to listen to the whole episode but to listen to specific parts again follow the time stamp below:

social media for healthcare00:00 Introduction
00:38 Meet David Harlow
01:28 How do you commicate in 140 characters?
03:57 Healthcare Law
05:05 Our requisite disclaimer
05:26 Why is patient data private?
06:20 Privacy law and individual states
07:27 “Whatever is the most protective of a patient’s privacy, wins.”
08:50 Is anything a patient shares fair game?
10:44 The more you deindentify data, the more you lessen its value.
13:05 Violation: ER MD In Rhode Island
17:00 HIPAA and Social Media Fines
19:00 Separating political statements on a nonprofit hospital blog
20:35 Intermediate sanctions
20:44 NLRB – Employee right to complain
23:15 Obligation to train
24:25 Social media policy – Don’t assume
25:50 “Practice Preventive Law.” Audits by Office for Civil Rights
26:50 Social Media Policy ; One Size does not fit all
28:47 Do you need a social media policy if you only have a website?
30:10 Facebook, marketing lists and email targeting
34:56 Marketing was addressed specifically by the HITECH Act
37:35 The HealthBlawg
39:55 The difference between Lawyers and Physicians online
41:50 “Blog Carnivals”
45:15 Advice to get started in social media.
48:17 Social Media Tip: Sally Okun of Patients Like Me “Contribute your data”

Below are links to a number of David’s blogs, projects and social media activity:social media for healthcare