How the Medical Industry is Utilizing Social Media

1. Medical Industry Is Utilizing Social Media to Proactively Communicate with Patients to Help Them Maintain Compliance and Adhere to Medicationby Lorél Marketing Group

2. Patients today, more than ever, want to better understand their health issues. They want to learn, ask questions, seek out advice and be educated.

3. Patient Communication • In general, consumers want to communicate with doctors and hospitals, and they want the medical industry to help them understand their medical issues and be a part of their conversation.

4. Patient Research • Consumers are actively researching, networking and asking questions about their health and how to adopt a healthier lifestyle. • This requires the medical industry to provide more patient-centered care.

5. Patient-Centered Care • The key for the medical industry is not just to react, but rather to bring to the table the ability to manage patients while they’re already healthy, as opposed to waiting for adverse events, thereby improving outcomes and reducing costs.

6. Provider Communication • Providers need to communicate to patients to increase compliance and adherence to regimens to remain as healthy as possible. • Maintain healthy behaviors • Develop and deliver proactive messages • Message adherence and compliance • Leverage online analytics to monitor behavior and optimize your messaging.

7. Messaging Patients • Providers need to communicate with patients in ways they understand. • Messages must resonate with patients • Direct patients to be proactive with their personal care • Motivate for simplicity in action • Stress value of monitoring conditions • Communicate benefit - compliance time vs. acute care time

8. Social Media & Patient Communication • Social Media plays a role in opportunities for better patient communication. • Consumers to openly discuss their medical conditions • Consumers connect for support and understanding • Consumers connect with other members nationally and globally • Consumers share experiences, ideas, research and approaches • Consumers share data

9. Social Media & Provider Communication • Social Media plays a role in opportunities for better provider communication. • Providers research medical conditions • Providers connect on secure and dedicated social media sites • Providers connect with other members nationally and globally • Providers share experiences, ideas, research and approaches • Providers share data

10. Social Media and the Medical Industry • Patients are proactive and intelligent and have access to the same resources and real world applications. • Providers needs to embrace that and share in that communication

11. Using Social Media to Interact with Patients • The key to the success of social media is to understand the platform and how to best utilize the tools • Understand how patients want to be communicated with across the social media spectrum • Understand the different platforms (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.) • Understand how each one is used by their audiences • Communicate and engage with their patients using different tools available

12. Social Media & Patient Compliance • All the social media sites are helping the medical industry to proactively communicate with consumers and help them learn how to live a healthier lifestyle. • Offer daily health tips • Offer reminders for routine checkups • Offer video clips to provide insight on medical issues • Offer a discussion area for patients to ask questions • Offer medical news and information that will lead patients to have a dialogue with their physician

13. Social Media Analytics: what your patients aren't telling you • Your patients may not ask you all their questions, but the analytics behind social media will help you see what they are discussing online, and understand the topics they are concerned about. • Use this data to: • Begin a dialogue • Answer their questions • Speak to their concerns • Understand patient perception • Help manage fears, reputation • Build relationships • Strengthen loyalty

14. Social Media and Mobile Applications • Social Media is furthering the use and acceptance of mobile applications, including those for the medical field: • Drug References • Drug interaction checkers • Physician finders • Appointment reminders

15. A Closing Remark: • The medical community is starting to become part of the online consumer dialogue. • They are using the social media platform as a way to provide advice, daily health tips, and patient education. • All of this is building positive physician-patient relationships and is helping to ensure that patients remain compliant and adhere to medication. • Social media offers the opportunity to completely transform the way physicians deliver care, and the way patients receive it, as well as their relationship with their physician

16. Thank YouWant to jump start your marketing strategy and programs?Lorél Marketing Group can help you get started with a no-costdiscovery meeting that can align your goals with a vision for yoursuccess. Care to learn more? Contact us today.Lorél Marketing GroupEmail: info@lorel.comTelephone: 610-337-2343 Website: www.lorel.com