When faced with the challenge of encouraging more members of the Australian Private Hospitals Association to utilize social media, Marketing Director Lisa Ramshaw went right to the top – to the CEOs. She faced many questions and concerns from the CEOs about hospitals participating in social media. Her response was to team up with some fellow marketers to get CEOs to try social media with a Twitter profile. To educate them, these social media evangelists went “old school” and wrote a book! A really little book titled “Don’t Be an Egg-Head” which explained the basics of having and using a Twitter account.

Our discussion also included Lisa’s recent recognition as a Mayo Clinic Silver Social Media Fellow status and the project that led to it. We also discussed healthcare marketing for the Australian Private Hospitals Association and some very effective marketing campaigns including; “The Elephant if the Room,” a mental health initiative.

Twitter basics for hospitals and healthcare organisations

Follow our conversation below:
00:00 Introduction
00:28 Meet Lisa Ramshaw, Director of Marketing & Communications for the Australian Private Hospitals Association
01:35 Meeting at Mayo Social Media Week
02:27 Welcoming Healthcare community
03:02 Australian Healthcare
04:08 How many private hospitals are there?
04:52 Does Australia have something like HIPAA
05:25 Can’t use a patient testimonial
06:45 Does the APHA have an opinion on social media?
08:29 “Don’t be an Egg-head”
11:15 400 copies of “Bringing a Social Media Revolution to Healthcare”
12:25 Training at a 101 lv
24:00 from Michigan to Australia to Mayo and back again
24:30 Silver Fellow Award
25:00 Mayo Social Media Network heads to OZ
26:20 Advice to enter social media

27:45 Social Media Tip: Katrina Doell – “Maximize your sports or sponsor partnerships”

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