Building A Successful Online Community By Focus On Engagement, Not Numbers

At last week's PSAMA Healthcare SIG luncheon, Jennifer Seymour of Seattle Children's and Cary Badger of Regence Healthcare shared their approach to building an online community. And even though their tactics differed, their strategy was the same - focus on engagement and interaction with their clients, not just building numbers.







At myregence.com, their online community strategy is built on these principles: ADVISE members of their healthcare decisions, help them NAVIGATE the health care system, and REWARD them for healthy behavior.

According the Cary, the success of this approach has been driven by a conscious (and courageous) effort to allow interaction and input from the community. Cary described the effort as courageous because so many companies shy away from total transparency due to legal concerns over user-generated input. But Regence management agreed at the outset of their campaign that partnering with their community and allowing them to share their experiences and knowledge was worth the risk.

The myregence.com community has these four objectives:

• Provide personalized, trustworthy health and wellness information.
• Commit to transparency regarding cost and quality.
• Offer programs,tools and resources for healthier living.
• Reward members for achieving wellness goals.
  

To date, this approach has generated over 800,000 registrations, over 220,000 newsletter subscribers, and over 55,000 are currently enrolled in an active wellness program. The average user visits 5.5 times per year with an average of over 13 minutes per visit, numbers that far exceed industry norms.

More significantly, however, this program has evolved into the My Blue Community nationwide franchise and currently reaches more than 20 million Blue Plan members. The community features expert advice from a chef, nutritionist, health coach, HSA expert, fitness, parenting and nutrition blogs, and patients reviews of providers.










The online strategy for Seattle Children's is geared to a different audience - prospective patient families, but is built on the same principles of interaction and engagement. Their approach has been to use Facebook, and to share " compelling content so that current and former patients and their families will feel a deeper connection to the hospital and its staff".

It is important to note that this approach has generated 150% increase in fans and followers since the end of 2010, 4th largest among their national peers.

Their program has included:

• Live chats with doctors to engage and educate parents.
• Regular posts with useful information, such as safety tips around the home.
• An open forum that allows patients and families to share their personal stories online.
• Significant events at the hospital (including a visit by TV star Patrick Dempsey, which generated a major spike in online visits).
  
  

In addition to their Facebook strategy, their Seattle Mama Doc Blog helps to "deconstruct the divide between patients and providers" with pediatric health care news and tips to engage, educate and empower parents. This blog has over 20,000 views per month, and 50% are repeat visits. A big contributor to the success of this program is its down-to-earth, straightforward style which helps patients and their families feel a closer connection to the hospital at a time in their lives when they are searching for answers and support.

Jennifer says that building a successful online community starts with a great brand, but lists several important elements of their program for its continued growth and success, including:

• Encouraging patients and their families to share their stories.
• Maintain a warm, caring, inviting, fun tone.
• Answering questions, honestly and on a timely basis.
• Thanking others for mentions.
• Always providing authentic, understandable content.
  

An essential requisite has been the need for her department to become a content curator, and their program was greatly accelerated when they made it someone’s job.

A copy of both slide presentations are available to PSAMA members on the PSAMA website in the Members Only section.


-- Don Morgan


Don Morgan is VP Communications for PSAMA and Head Rainmaker at Raindance Consulting, a business development and social media consultant in Seattle.