To communicate effectively in the social media space, we simply have to evolve some our traditional behaviors as marketers—and not that much, really—to account for these important changes in our consumers’ points of view. Whether your hospital or healthcare organization is new to social media or has been practicing it for a while, the following three insights will help you become a better online social communicator.

Remember the good old days--when a happy customer would tell a handful of friends about the experience and an unhappy customer would tell, maybe, twenty friends? So the saying used to go, anyway. Today, as Joseph Jaffe said in his “Customer Service Manifesto,” the unhappy customer tells “a million of his closest strangers.” The stakes are higher now, and they’re getting higher all the time.

We all know patient satisfaction is important. Look at the money spent in healthcare organizations every year on patient satisfaction surveys, research, analysis, new processes, consultants, etc. And industry-wide focus on patient satisfaction has begun to show results in many organizations across the country.

In October 2009 I wrote a primer of sorts on the Medical Home care model, The Medical Home Model: Is it real or an idea that only a policy geek can love? Well it’s been eight months and since then a health reform bill has been passed by congress and a Harvard study has been recently published that reports on 26 of the nearly 100 ongoing medical home demonstration projects. It seems like the right time for an update.

By now, just about every healthcare marketer and their assistant’s little brother has experimented with online advertising. Here’s the thing: it’s no longer experimental. Advertisers are planning online as another essential part of the mix, and looking for results.

What is Online Reputation Management?
Online Reputation Management (ORM) is an increasingly important communications strategy born out of the emergence of online social communities. In practice, effective ORM is much more involved than just doing a Google search for your brand, seeing what shakes out, and responding. True ORM requires at least two disciplines: engagement and monitoring.

Policy makers, forward thinking insurance providers and healthcare systems are all talking about the concept of medical homes as a cornerstone of the remodeling of the nation’s healthcare system. While some are already touting medical homes as THE solution to the nation’s healthcare woes, there are still plenty of unanswered questions.

The stakes
The anxiety has possibly never been higher for marketers wondering how and where to make the best media buy for their buck.

Remember when people actually packed a bag to go to the hospital? Though it sounds almost quaint today, we can all remember when the majority of patient care was delivered to patients who had been admitted to an overnight hospital bed.

The push for transparency in healthcare quality—and price.
Open any Sunday paper and you're hit with it. Glossy advertisements with big, bold numbers. "25% off X!" "Region's lowest prices on Y!" "Z is Consumer Report's Most Reliable!" For nearly every purchase they make, consumers can easily get information about price and quality.

Your Web site is arguably the most important marketing tool you've got, 'cause that's where people find information—and it's not just those twentysomethings who've never made a hotel reservation any other way. (Come to think about it, how did we used to do that?)