Last week I had the opportunity to hear Jennifer Seymour, director of content strategy and integration with Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Cory Badger, vice president of corporate and strategic business development with Regence Blue Shield, speak over lunch at the Puget Sound American Marketing Association Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG). Both presentations were informative.

Since we work with the team at Seattle Children’s, I thought I would share a few of the points from Jennifer’s presentation on “Building an Online Audience One Story at Time.” I think her story and tips are applicable to many PR or social media managers working to add value to online communities.

Jennifer began by sharing information on the history of the organization’s Facebook page, which was born in June 2008 with the goal of increasing engagement and awareness among prospective patient families. Created by the web department, the Facebook page came to be managed by the PR department. (This was prior to the creation of Seattle Children’s content strategy and integration team, which now manages the page.)

About a year ago, in October 2010, Jennifer and team decided to undertake a survey to uncover more about Seattle Children’s followers. By leveraging Survey Monkey, they gained new insights. They learned that 73 percent of the hospital followers were related to or close to a patient. Almost 17 percent were employees, 14.9 percent were guild members or volunteers, and 11 percent were donors.

These results were significant. Given that so many followers already had a connection to Seattle Children’s, Jennifer and team decided to now focus on sharing compelling content to deepen connections with Seattle Children’s.

Some of the ways that Seattle Children’s is driving more meaningful engagement with followers includes live chats with physicians and sharing tips for keeping families safe. Last summer, the team shared a reminder with parents that screens on open windows are terrific for keeping bugs out, but screens don’t prevent children from falls. They then posted a video with tips for preventing these accidents and received many comments on the post, including one from a mother who immediately went to the hardware store to buy special window locks.

Jennifer noted how rewarding it is to the Seattle Children’s team to use Facebook to help prevent accidents, and in terms of return on investment noted the seamless alignment of these results with the hospital’s mission.

In December 2010, Seattle Children’s also worked to raise donations via its Facebook page. In three weeks, the nonprofit organization received 172 donations and raised $24,365.

Jennifer summarized some of the keys to success on Facebook as follows:

• Have a great brand
• Encourage folks to share their stories
• Adopt a warm, caring, fun and inviting tone
• Answer questions (this takes time, but is worth it)
• Ask questions
• Thank others for mentions
• Consider Facebook advertising (Seattle Children’s has found this to be very helpful)
• Develop and share authentic content
• Find a balance in how often you post
• Become a curator of content
• Try new things
• Make it someone’s job

Today, Seattle Children’s has more than 25,000 people that “like” them and has seen a 150 percent increase in fans since the end of 2010. We look forward to seeing this growth continue and hope the PSAMA will invite Jennifer back to give another update next autumn.

Jennifer Gehrt