As social media grows increasingly popular and becomes a widely accepted method in how companies and organizations communicate with their employees, clients, customers and the general public, we wanted to share how some children’s hospitals are utilizing the latest in social media tools, technology and websites to connect with their audiences.
Through our search engine marketing, search engine optimization and social media relationships, we’re seeing just how important it is for childrens hospitals to understand and take part in today’s social media trends. As of late 2009, there are over 100 million active users on Facebook in the U.S., around 23 million unique visitors per month on Twitter and YouTube reaches nearly 100 million unique viewers. Blogs, microblogs, podcasts, forums, social networking and media sharing sites have integrated themselves into our daily lives and provide outlets where users can share information, experiences, opinions, knowledge and news with each other.
Social media can provide an immediate and on-going line of communication for leading children’s hospitals and the medical professionals, patients, press and public that they want, and need, to reach.
A sampling of some of our children’s hospitals clients that have a presence in social media:
- Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)
- Children’s Mercy Hospital (Kansas City, MO)
- Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (Palo Alto, CA)
- Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center (Memphis, TN)
For a broader list of U.S. hospitals that use social networking tools, check out Ed Bennett’s online hospital social network list.