A decade ago the most important way of attracting visitors to websites was through search engine optimization (SEO). Although SEO is still an important component of a website strategy, the growth of social media (blogs, interactive eZines, Twitter, chat, Facebook and so on) has added a new strategy in the quest for website visitors—social relevance.
It is often said that “content is king” when describing what it is that draws people to websites. For content to be an effective website “draw” it must meet one or more human needs. It can be entertaining (e.g., The Onion, http://www.theonion.com/); it can address the social desires of its visitors (e.g., 43 Things, http://www.43things.com/); it can address the professional needs of its visitors (e.g., LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/); it can be informative (e.g., Wikipedia, http://www.wikipedia.org/); or it can be used to solve problems (e.g., wikiHow, http://www.wikihow.com/).
Many corporate sites provide only routine information about their organization presented in language that is about as exciting as the tax code. SEO for such sites is like providing a well drawn map to the South Bronx – the map is great but nobody wants to go there. In addition, many corporations view website creation a little like building a factory—there is a large investment up front followed by a relatively small investment in ongoing maintenance. In the social media age creating a successful website is more like managing a publication—success involves a sustained effort targeted at the site’s most important constituencies.
PinnacleHealth has two major constituencies—the medical community and the patient community. The medical community helps establish PinnacleHealth’s reputation, can provide patient referrals and comprises the pool of prospective applicants when the organization recruits new doctors. The patient community consists of past, current and prospective users of PinnacleHealth’s services. The key question for each group is what needs can the PinnacleHealth site address on an ongoing basis?
As an example, consider the needs of the medical community. This community is already highly engaged in social media. The social landscape is dominated by a half dozen influential blogs (KevinMD, HIS Talk, etc.) and a small number of aggressively published eZines (Health B2B Marketing, Fierce Practice Management, etc.). These publications define the online social environment for the medical community and they are a rich source of issues that are of immediate concern to doctors.
We recommend that PinnacleHealth use its website to engage the medical community through articles and “op-ed” pieces on the current hot topics in the online medical media. For example, the Federal Trade Commission currently expects doctors and other healthcare providers to take time away from the practice of medicine to help fight identity theft through a program called the “Red Flag Rules.” Needless to say this is a highly controversial initiative. Recently, Senators John Thune and Mark Begich have proposed a bill that would exempt doctors from this obligation. What is PinnacleHealth’s position on this? If healthcare organizations act as “identity theft cops” what impact will it have on their relationships with the patient communities they serve? What are the legal risks of falsely accusing a patient of identity theft? How much time does this take away from the practice of medicine? The opportunities for opinion, comment, surveys, case studies, and creative solutions on this one issue are nearly endless. It is also a good example of the kind of content that characterizes successful websites in the age of social media.

