The Mayo Clinic is a terrific example of a health care organization using social media in pretty powerful ways – including crowdsourcing its new Advisory Board. Mayo has been on the forefront of social media, blogging, interacting, creating patient forums that allow patients with certain conditions to connect with and support one another for some time now.
Their mission is really quite simple: They want to lead the social media revolution in health care, improving health and well-being for people everywhere.
In September of 2010, The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media named 13 members to its External Advisory Board and, in brilliant move, announced a plan to crowdsource the remaining positions. They felt that would give them the greatest chance at the broadest base of intelligence, experience and passion — about not only health care, but about patient advocacy and communication within the health care field.
The response was amazing. They had over 120 nominations and/or applications for what they originally anticipated would be about a dozen positions. As a result, they expanded the advisory board from 25 to 30 members and the 17 newest board members were just announced today. I’m thrilled to say that my great friend, Christopher Burgess, is among those new board members.
The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media is another example of a health care entity understanding the importance of communication and the prevalence of the Internet in consumers’ lives. As a society, we turn to the Web for information, resources, referrals, recommendations and a myriad of other things. Mayo understands that, and regularly feeds the need for information, communication and connectivity via its website.
Here’s a snippet from Mayo’s website about The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media:
ABOUT
The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients.
MAYO CLINIC’S SOCIAL MEDIA PHILOSOPHY:
Mayo Clinic believes individuals have the right and responsibility to advocate for their own health, and that it is our responsibility to help them use social media tools to get the best information, connect with providers and with each other, and inspire healthy choices. We intend to lead the health care community in applying these revolutionary tools to spread knowledge and encourage collaboration among providers, improving health care quality everywhere.
MISSION OF THE CENTER:
Lead the social media revolution in health care, contributing to health and well being for people everywhere.
VISION FOR THE CENTER:
Mayo Clinic will be the authentic voice for patients and health care professionals, building relationships through the revolutionary power of social media.
Mayo is doing some amazing things. And using social media in health care in a way that sets the standard for other health care organizations. From the outside looking in, they just seem to get that health care is a people business. An odd concept, I know.
Health care – about people.
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
