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EmailPosted on August 20, 2014 by Jennifer Zelmer
Having just started tweeting, I was excited to join Infoway’s recent Public Health Social Media Challenge Expert Q&A Session. Teams from our Public Health Social Media Challenge were given the opportunity to pose questions to our panel of experts. They asked some challenging questions and received some great advice.
Samples from the conversation, compiled by Poonam Khanna include:
Strategy:
To effectively reach your audience, your digital strategy must start with a channel agnostic approach. #phsm_challenge
— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014
Defining your target audience:
Quality is better than quantity. The goal is to stand out and resonate with the audience you’re trying to reach. Go niche!#phsm_Challenge
— Infoway (@Infoway) August 13, 2014
Smaller, more targeted audience can be an opportunity to make a bigger impact #phsm_challenge
— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014
Community building:
We like when people show interest in us - show interest in others to build engagement and community, says @cdnorman#phsm_challenge#health
— Justin Noble (@Justin_Noble_) August 13, 2014
Engagement isn't easy. The tools may be free or inexpensive, but developing human relationships is not.
— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014
#phsm_challenge
Value conversations that establish commonalities between your community members. Initiate them http://t.co/nSWabxmbSK#phsm_challenge
— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014
Crowdsourcing:
2) The first step to a successful crowdsourcing campaign is education. Informed citizens are impactful citizens #phsm_challenge
— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014
3) If you collect feedback via social media, you have a responsibility to report the results back using those same channels #phsm_challenge
— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014
To crowdsource effectively, you need community first http://t.co/t7lAIc9uDc#phsm_challenge
— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014
Metrics:
1) Success metrics should be based on your target population, don't try to reach beyond your borders #phsm_challenge
— Naqaash Pirani (@qaash) August 14, 2014
When considering your social media approach and measurement - consider the desired outcome. #phsm_challenge
— Shelagh Maloney (@12Maloney) August 13, 2014
.@cdnorman: "Not all metrics are created equal." Well said. #phsm_challenge
— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014
Search Engine Optimization:
Use the right nomenclature when defining keywords for search. What terms are people actually using to look for content? #phsm_challenge
— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014
@melissaturlej true - many orgs get stuck using their own corporate language & ignore what real people are saying. #phsm_challenge
— Dave Fleet (@davefleet) August 13, 2014
Content:
@melissaturlej says "social media is the 'always on' strategy on to which you can layer the social media campaign" #phsm_challenge
— Colleen Young (@colleen_young) August 13, 2014
Enrich your content by finding inspiration from your community and asking them to share photos and stories #phsm_challenge
— Melissa Turlej (@melissaturlej) August 13, 2014
Want to use free, licensed materials for #socialmedia? http://t.co/rSpo8lncdl #phsm_challenge
— Cameron Norman (@cdnorman) August 13, 2014
Use owned channels, such as your blog or website, where you can have long-form conversations with your communities. #phsm_challenge
— Infoway (@Infoway) August 13, 2014
I’d like to thank our panel of experts:
Dr. Cameron Norman of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Health Sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Naqaash Pirani, a Technology Consultant and PhD student at Ivey Business School
Colleen Young, an Online Community Manager in health and Founder of #hcsmca
Melissa Turlej, an Account Director at Edelman Digital
Are there other factors public health organizations should keep in mind when reaching out to their communities through social media? Please share your thoughts.
Have a comment about this post? We’d love to hear from you.
Jennifer’s expertise as a senior strategist in health and health system improvement is instrumental in her role as Executive Vice President, leading Infoway's clinical adoption, innovation and consumer health initiatives.
