Hey Doc, It's Written on the Wall

On the wall leading to the poetry room at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, there is a corkboard covered with hundreds of colorful post-it notes. Each note includes a personal response to the question, “What book scared you the most as a kid?” The post-it note, although anonymous, gives the community a look into the hearts and minds of its customers, their friends and themselves.

Each note is part of a conversation. One that is carried on between those who stop to read the responses. One that takes place between the employee who posted the questions and those who gather them.  Heck, even one between those who decide which books to stock! And these are the kinds of conversations that you could be having with your patients if you only had your own wall.

But you do. Today's cork board is social media.

There are several platforms. And there are lots of opportunities to ask good questions, gather responses and better understand those who rely on you to reach their health care objectives.

Okay, so the responses aren’t anonymous. But they are voluntary. The right question doesn’t ask someone to give away personal health information but could give them an opportunity to share information on the periphery that might help you develop a strategy for meeting their needs.

It’s this simple. You’re a cardiologist. The post on your practice’s Facebook page asks this, “What’s your favorite cardio exercise?” Or, maybe it’s broader like, “Who inspires you to get off the couch and take a walk?”

By asking, “What’s your favorite?” you’re learning what most find doable and can share that with others. They’ll even share ideas with one another. And you may even find some new exercises that your particular audience is comfortable performing.

By asking, “Who inspires you?” you’re learning about motivations. Is it family? Is it sports heroes? Is it that hot new contestant on “Dancing with the Stars”? And with this information you’re learning more about what moves your patient to, well, move. It’s better than a lecture like, “Exercise now or die soon.” Oops. I’m sorry for the dramatic lecture title. I get a little excited about the topic of connecting you with your patient.

Dr. Bubba Edwards is a pediatrician in Memphis, Tennessee. On a wall at his office are the handprints of kids who have successfully (and heroically) received all of their shots. It’s just a handprint and a first name. But it’s a great encouragement for the anxious child being walked to the exam room in nervous anticipation of his school shots. And well, it’s just plain fun.

Okay, maybe your patients are too grown up for that. But they’re not too grown up to have fears of their own. They are not so grown up that we can’t encourage them to pursue the treatments that can improve and perhaps even save their life.

So you don’t have a wall for the handprints of your grown up patients? Sure you do. It’s called Instagram. The free picture and, dare I say, inspiration sharing smartphone app has nearly one billion users. Each user is posting pictures of everything from what they’re eating to where they’re spending the day with friends. Imagine your challenge, or encouragement, to a patient is that he posts pictures of his meals as a sort of accountability to eat well. There’s no mention of a condition that demands it. It’s merely a celebration of “I can do this.” Heck, with the plug-ins for your website that sort or encouragement can be shared with everyone who interacts with you there. It’s sort of like a handprint on Dr. Bubba’s wall.

And so, maybe there are things beyond prescriptions that can improve the quality of life for your patients. Maybe there are things beyond office visits that can help us stay connected. And maybe, just maybe, we can have some fun doing it.

By the way, what book scares you now? 

Update: My company is sponsoring a city-wide "wish you well" wall. Click here for info.

Hey Doc, What Women Want

In the 2000 film, “What Women Want”, Mel Gibson plays the part of a sexist guy working in an ad agency. He suffers a sort of semi-electrocution. Instead of killing him, it gives him a super power. He’s suddenly able to hear what women are thinking! As such, he can better connect his marketing messages (and a few other messages – but that’s a different sort of article) to their thoughts. Pretty powerful stuff, huh?

The movie is full of marketing lessons – even for us, Doc. After all, we know that women influence many of the health care decisions in a family. They typically schedule the appointment for their husbands, they definitely plan out the health services for their children, and they’re also taking care of their aging parents.

Among other things, the film reminds us that a consumer’s buying behavior is largely driven by irrational fears, frustrations, hopes and volatile emotions. It’s that way with patients, too.

So, how do you address that? You pin. Specifically, you join the popular social media site known as Pinterest and develop community around it.

Why? Well, first, because women are there. Here’s a little science for you - 80% of Pinterest users are females (mostly adults) and half of them have children.

The Director of Communications for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance says that, for her, “The tipping point with Pinterest was when I noticed that people were actually pinning images from our [web] site.”

(Teaching Moment: Doc, pinning means that the website user is choosing an image from your page to share with her friends on Pinterest. Think “liking” on Facebook but with pictures. Lots of pictures.)

She added, “I can see that our community is actually using this and they are finding visuals that they want to share… [we decided that we need to] make sure that we’re part of that conversation.” You should too. They’ve been on Pinterest now for over a year.

Still, that’s just a place right? Sort of. It’s also a state of mind.

Virtually all advertising appeals to emotion instead of logic because emotions are far more powerful when it comes to influencing behavior.

In the film’s climactic scene (the Nike pitch), we saw how specific we have to be in addressing the fears, frustrations, and emotional impulses of the women with whom we hope to connect.

But how can we find out what these (often hidden) emotions and irrational fears are? First, you gain trust. 80% of the women using Pinterest say they trust it. It’s likely that you can become part of that trusted community. But first, you’re going to have to do some pinning.

You can start by knowing what’s popular and how it relates to your specialty.

The top five subjects on Pinterest revolve around Home, Arts, Style/Fashion, Food, and Inspiration with a strong surge related to Health/Fitness. And there’s a conversation, largely in the form of pinning items that others have curated, inviting others to pin to your board, and following people or brands that pin things that resonate with you.

How do these top five subjects relate to health?

Home – Women living with children, aging parents, or disabled family members want to make a safe, livable space without compromising style. They pin.

Arts – What about images that soothe a discomforted soul or a recovering patient? Pin some.

Style/Fashion – Hey, not everything is science here, but I’ve seen pins of maternity fashion or things women might aspire to wear that would help inform some of the health care decisions. Find someone pinning those and re-pin them.

Food – Recipes rule on Pinterest. Almost any medical condition can be affected in a positive way through a healthy diet. Do you know the foods that might whet the appetite of your patient and help her to achieve a healthy lifestyle? Pin some.

Inspiration – Maybe it’s scripture. But it could be images.  Nature inspires. Movies inspire. Heroes inspire. Offer your patient an ideal to pursue by pinning about it.

Health/Fitness – Like food, there are few health conditions that aren’t improved by regular diet and exercise. Pin some tips.

Hey Doc, this may sound a bit crazy but marketing is full of crazier stuff than this. Imagine what thoughts you would hear from Pinterest users. If you’re pinning, then you’re part of the conversation. And when you re-pin or invite others to pin with you? You just might start hearing what women want.

Hey Doc, Don't Be Like Joe

My father-in-law, let’s call him Joe, is eighty something years young. He enjoys a robust life. Well, except for the part that he’s missing. The part where his vision has declined to the point that he’s unable to focus on what’s ahead in the road or read anything that’s NOT IN LARGE PRINT. Or the part of life he’s missing because the television volume is too high for conversation with others. Sure there are proven methods for diagnosing and dealing with these two issues. Each backed by science and enough bits of anecdotal evidence to convince even the most skeptical patient. But some people just don’t get it.

Maybe Joe’s reluctance to address the issue(s) is in part due to misinformation regarding the tests. Perhaps it’s the negative reviews (i.e. glasses make me look old, hearing aids squeal) shared by some users. Maybe it’s the notion that the solution is too expensive. But it could also be the ostrich putting his head in the sand and choosing to ignore facts because he doesn’t want to know what he’s missing. Oops. That got a little personal didn’t it?

But patients aren’t alone in this sort of “If I can ignore it then I don’t need it.” approach to some things.  Take for example the idea of you using social media in your health care practice. What if your approach to that was similar to my father-in-law’s approach to his issues? It might look a little like this:

Misinformation. 

The notion that you can’t create a plan and measure it’s effectiveness is not true. You need some software and a little experience but it’s not nearly as difficult as your board exams. There are ways to measure interactions as simple as the preview window on the Facebook administrator’s page. And methods to analyze the flow of traffic from there to your website are as easy and free as Google Analytics. So Joe, you can see and hear if you want to.

Negative Reviews.  

Like that pair of glasses Joe needs, everything takes a little getting used to. Smudges on the lens in the form of negative comments on your page are a matter of attention and adjustment. You need a plan to proactively address negative comments and to avoid accidental HIPAA violations. Listen to what Dr. Jeff Livingston, OB/GYN and social media pioneer says about it all, “I don’t think it’s that hard (to avoid HIPAA violations).  If you step out of technology and just think about how doctors communicate throughout the day, they do it very naturally and never think about it.” So Joe, other people are wearing glasses and doing just fine.

Costs. 

Being on Facebook is expensive. Forget that. The applications are free. Yes, you’ll need a communications person on your the team but you may already have that person in the form of a marketing partner or staffer. Think about it this way, it’s less an issue of cost than it is opportunity lost. A study once showed that each Facebook “like” is worth $125. Maybe it’s more or less depending on the industry you’re in. But a doctor told me, “If we add one new patient through our social media spend you, we’ve paid for one year of service.” That’s his math. Can you hear me now, Joe?

Nobody really cares. 

Maybe you think that your generation of patients isn’t interested in what you have to tweet but the evidence runs to the contrary. The older patient that you’re caring for may be part of the fastest growing demographic on Twitter. That platform saw a 79% increase among those 55 to 64 since last year and grew by nearly 50% on Facebook during that same time. So even an old-timer like you cares, Joe.

Don’t be like Joe. Find someone you trust to talk about the health of your practice marketing, patient education, and patient satisfaction programs. Until then, can you recommend a good vision and/or hearing specialist for my father-in-law?

Hey Doc, Pay it Forward

Every Sunday night physicians from all over the globe gather online to participate in a community twitter chat. They use the hashtag “hcsm”. It stands for healthcare social media. It’s like a speakeasy’s not so secret password used to connect the stream of tweets between the medical pros.

Mostly the conversation revolves around what should be shared, protecting patient confidentiality and which social platforms work best. But every few weeks the question of money comes up. Specifically, should doctors get paid for using social media?

The deft communicators work around the subject with carefully phrased tweets. It’s a little boring. So, I tried to imagine what the responses might be if the conversation was happening at a cocktail party and not online. I think it might go a little like this:

The early adopters like my friend Dr. Howard Luks might say, “I think we have a responsibility to be part of the conversation.  All of us should be participating in some way.  Ideally we should be making the stuff that starts conversation.  At a minimum we should be contributing to the dialog.”

His friend who leads a successful OBGYN practice might answer, “But there are only so many hours in a day.  Turning my ideas and experiences into tweets and posts takes time and energy that’s hard to work in between my clinic work, deliveries and family obligations. I don’t have time to whip up even the fifteen-second videos now seen on Instagram.”

“Oh, you two” the communications person from the office noses in to say “that kind of work is just part of maintaining a professional reputation.  The marketplace belongs to whoever finds the time or resource to translate what they know and share it with others.”

Look, I believe that some providers should be paid to participate professionally.  Maybe the big health systems and larger practices should dedicate staff to sharing, curating, talking and making content for social media.  It would be more than a public relations move. They’d be able to share their expertise in such a way so as to become a sort resource for the smaller practices, patients and family members of those with chronic health concerns.

Sharing information that is helpful to others via social media and providing hands-on patient care should not be seen as mutually exclusive, but rather as complementary.

And so as my imaginary cocktail party winds down one physician might say to another, “Hey Doc, only you know whether or not a public presence is the best use of your time but people value our voice and wisdom. And whether or not there’s a billing code for it, until we can get paid, I say let’s pay it forward.” And the other would reply, ”Let’s do it."

Want to talk about it? Find me www.twitter.com/timbigfish