Social Media for Professional Enhancement

Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScMHealth Communication Program

Department of Public Health and Community MedicineTufts University School of Medicine

l.gualtieri@tufts.edu@lisagualtieri

You Need to Know about Social Media

• Professionally to…– Develop a brand– Promote your work– Develop skills that you can use in your job

• Personally to…– Connect with others– Make sure your personal presence isn’t

embarrassing professionally

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Select goals

Decide which social media technologies to use•Who are you trying to reach?•What do they use?•What do your competitors use?

Use social media•How to use appropriately?•How to integrate?•What content?•Who manages/participates?•How much time?

Evaluate social media effectiveness•What are meaningful metrics?•How can they be measured?

Develop a Social Media Strategy

How to Start Using Social Media• Select personal or professional goals• Decide which social media technologies to use based on

– Who are you trying to reach? What do they use?– What do your competitors use?

• Select and use social media– How to use appropriately? – How to develop messages and content?– How to integrate different social media technologies and a website?– Who manages/participates? How much time?

• Evaluate social media effectiveness– What are meaningful metrics? How can they be measured?

• Iterate– There are always upgrades, evolving risks, changing popularity and use

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There Are Many Metrics

• Number (or quality) of followers, friends, etc.• Number (or quality) of tweets, posts,

comments, recommendations, etc.• Extent to which retweeted, linked to, etc.• Number of views• Important to have clear goals to determine

which metrics matter

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How to Learn about Social Media?• Need current information since technologies change– http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/– http://mashable.com/guidebook/facebook/ – CDC Health Communicator’s Social Media Toolkit http://

www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/ToolsTemplates/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf

• Learn from successes– Popular non-health

• Old Spice• Wendy’s

– Well-funded health– Colleagues

• Low risk to try

http://knowem.comStart with a Name

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Observe How Others Use Social Media To

• Listen – find out what people are saying• Speak – connect with people in new ways• Energize – get people to evangelize for you• Support – help people solve their own and

each other’s problems• Embrace – working with your community to

improve your offerings• Don’t use it as a vehicle to push information

3 Case Studies from Tufts Graduates

Case Study 1: Sara Rattigan, MS-Health Communication ‘09

• First attempt– No strategy: Website and blog (Wordpress)– Took time to assess & “get to know” social media tools

• Sole-proprietorship: Rattigan Health Media– Website– Blog (Blogger)– Twitter (very selective following)– LinkedIn

• Other social media– Facebook account (Personal only)– Google tools: chat, documents, calendars (mostly personal)

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Website: Rattigan Health Media

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Blog: Health Media Musings

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Twitter: s_rattigan

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LinkedIn: Sara Rattigan

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Professional Impact• Social media has allowed Sara to help her client– Necessary layer of outreach/messaging, unavailable

through State system– Eyes and ears for client on partner news (local - global) to

help direct federal grant initiatives • Social media helps Sara professionally – Brand business name and offerings across multiple

channels – Stay on top of health & media trends– “I continue to stand by old fashioned word of mouth and

in-person networking for primary business promotion. But social media definitely helps, and most important it keeps me active in thinking about new ideas.”

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Lessons Learned

• Learned from personal history , and active trial and error with different media

• Don’t have to use everything; type of use can be tailored to your needs

• Allocating time doesn’t feel as burdensome with a good strategy

• Never stop learning

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Case Study 2: Pamela Ressler, RN, MS, HN-BC, MS PREP ‘11

• History– Started website in 2002 (www.stressresources.com)– Started blog in 2006 (pamressler.blogspot.com)– Monthly e-newsletter started in 2005

• Other social media– Twitter @pamressler and @stressresources– LinkedIn (Pamela Katz Ressler)– Professional Facebook page: facebook.com/stressresources– Google + (Pam Ressler)

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Monthly Newsletter from Stress Resources

Professional Impact

• Social media has allowed Pam to:– Increase her speaking engagements– Increase her consulting business revenue– Author online course on social media for nurse leaders– Increase her visibility as a thought leader – Increase the SEO of her website – Be interviewed for a number of articles because the reporters

found Pam on social media sites– Be highly searchable on Google

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Lessons Learned

• Why start? – Social media allows your reach as an entrepreneur to be extended

exponentially without financial cost and can help establish your expertise in your field

• What is the strategy?– Pam uses Twitter, Facebook (professional page), LinkedIn and Google+ to

reach a wide range of individuals and organizations • Some cross-posting

– She understands where her market is on social media• Nurses tend to use Facebook and are just starting to use Twitter• The medical profession is not well represented on LinkedIn, however business leaders are

well represented in this forum

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More Lessons Learned • How did strategy/social media use evolve?

• Evolved out of necessity – low marketing budget• “I found social media a wonderful way to reach a larger audience than was

previously possible and add value via offering information that my audience may not have seen in other forums”

• Allocating time? • Social media is labor intensive to do right• Social media must be kept current and this is always a challenge• Pam posts daily to Twitter, multiple times a week to Facebook and less

frequently to Google + LinkedIn and blog• Pam uses some cross posting applications for posts that may be interesting

to multiple audiences, but is selective• For her audience, an e-newsletter has continued to be successful ; she sends

monthly since 2005• “Remember that social media is a conversation -- make sure you are

listening as well as posting. Involving yourself in a Tweetchat is a wonderful way to join a conversation.”

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Case Study 3: Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD, MS Friedman ’10

• First attempt– “Nutrition with Corinne” wasn't working because the

site wasn't professional enough and the name is too generic

– Had a following online with Green Grapes• Developed a brand: Green Grapes Nutrition– Facebook, blog, and website

• Other social media– Twitter branded as @RDCorinne– LinkedIn but doesn’t use it much– Personal Facebook account

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Professional Impact

• Social media has allowed Corinne to – write for other blogs and nutrition sites– get in a cookbook (to be published)– blog for Dr.Oz's Food for Your Whole Life conference in NYC

• Social media helped her get her job at a high-end health club, Bay Club Marin– “The members there always google me. Thus, the fact that

I have a large social media presence makes them feel good in seeing me and like they've made the right choice.”

• “Clients love my blog and site, which helps me get more clients… It’s a cycle.”

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Mini-Case Study: Lisa Gualtieri

• Why start?• What is the strategy?• How did strategy/social media use evolve?• Allocating time?

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Select goals

Decide which social media technologies to use• Who are you trying to reach?• What do they use?• What do your competitors use?

Use social media• How to use appropriately?• How to integrate?• What content?• Who manages/participates?• How much time?

Evaluate social media effectiveness• What are meaningful metrics?• How can they be measured?

Always Iterate

Next Steps to Using Social Media1) Set goals for your online presence2) Conduct an inventory

a) Where do you currently have a presenceb) Set up Google Alerts to monitor your presence

3) Determine what works and doesn’t work about eacha) Effectiveness at reaching peopleb) Effort to set up, update, and monitor

4) Prioritize technologies to use: current and new ones5) Plan and execute

a) Different messages or the sameb) Different metrics or the same

6) Assess the impact after a month and iterate41