Will You Sink or Swim in Your Local 24/7 News Cycle?
October 10, 2009 by Marissa Murphy
Surgeons are Twittering during procedures. Mayo Clinic has a YouTube channel. The CDC provides widgets and text updates to inform the public on H1N1. And media is covering it all. One thing is for sure: the 24/7 news cycle is now even more local and therefore more important for your hospital than ever before.
Embracing social media can be a powerful tool to enhance your brand and effectively communicate with the public. Especially in – and before – a crisis…
A prime example? Last week, I had the opportunity to meet members of the Mercy Hospital Communications Team from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who were on the front-lines of communicating news throughout a summer of severe flooding. Their story – and their response – was impressive. Within 24 hours of a flood that required patient evacuations from their hospital, Mercy’s Web site was transformed to serve as a scrolling billboard with up-to-the-minute information. After reflecting on their response to the situation, the Mercy team has since embraced social media and refreshed their crisis communication plan to incorporate these tools should the water rise again!
Our conversation yielded a few tips that I thought I would pass on:
- Know your audiences – including the people whose input and help will matter in a crisis – before the crisis actually hits. And know how they want to receive that information. This means you will likely want to start building your Facebook fans and Twitter followers today.
- Develop placeholder messaging for crises that are likely to arise for your organization. You can always add the details later.
- As you develop a plan for your organization, incorporate social media elements. Don’t forget to put someone in charge of the social media piece from the beginning of the crisis through to the end.
- Know how to use the social media tools you build into your plan. Mid-crisis is not a good time to learn.
- One specific example to consider is building a crisis-oriented “dark site” – one that is functional and contains basic information, but is not accessible to the public. Sites likes this can then be pushed live within 30 minutes of a situation arising.
Of course, the standard crisis communications still apply. As a refresher course, this boils down to communicating often and early, being transparent, using spokespersons who lend credibility and picking the right channel to get the message out. But with today’s 24/7 news cycle – that is locally invested in your community (not 24-hour, nation-wide cable) – the time is now to start building your arsenal of social media tools so that you’re ready to strike when needed.
