Is your social media communication relevant? What we can learn from Mayo Clinic

Posted by: Krishna De | Posted on: April 7th, 2010 | 15 Comments | Posted in: Business blogging, Communication, Content Marketing, Engagement, Marketing online, Social media, social media marketing, Social networking

As I am sure you have begun to realise if you have been integrating social media into your communications and marketing channels, building visibility through social media and digital marketing channels is not just about publishing content that is ‘all about you’. It’s really understanding what your audience is really interested in.

But I am also confused when I subscribe to some peoples Tweets or Facebook Page – it seems like everyone is now a social media expert. No matter where I look I see people publishing content about social media sometimes to the detriment, potentially devaluing and diminishing their own brand.

Many people I meet get concerned about how much time engaging with social media channels will take and if they can manage a single Twitter channel, or manage a single Facebook Page.

Working with my clients who are living beyond getting started in social media marketing, I encourage them to  consider developing different communication channels based on where your audience is and creating content connected to what they are interested in.

Let’s take for example the Mayo Clinic who have several different blogs and use a number of social media channels:

The Mayo Clinic News Blog – where physicians and researchers from the Mayo Clinic share health and news

The Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog – where patients, families, friends and staff of the Mayo Clinic share stories

The Physicians Update Blog – where the Mayo Clinic share information about patient care and new treatments

The Advancing The Science Blog – Mayo Clinic’s medical science blog for people interested in medical science

The Diversity in Education Blog – written by students in the Mayo Clinic’s education programmes

The Health Policy Blog – covering issues related to healthcare reform

The Mayo Clinic Centre for Innovation Blog – covering subjects related to the future of health and wellness

Mayo Clinic Podcasts – a blog hosting the podcasts from the Clinic

The Mayo Clinic on YouTube

The Mayo Clinic on Facebook

The Mayo Clinic Diet on Facebook

The Mayo Clinic on Twitter

The Mayo Clinic Meditation iPhone App in iTunes (a paid app and not available in the Irish iTunes Store)

The Mayo Clinic Symptom Checker iPhone App in iTunes (a free app and not available in the Irish iTunes Store)

Yes there is some cross over – for example you can see below the YouTube video that promotes the Symptom Checker iPhone App which was also promoted in their Facebook Page.

Yes it does take time to create content, publish stories, engage with the different communities, but would the Mayo Clinic be using these different channels for communication if it was not making a difference and positioning them as authorities in healthcare? Can you see from their channels that they have clearly defined the different audiences they want to connect with – what a physician is interested in is different to a student and different again to taking an active stance in lobbying for future changes in healthcare.

So before you next click  to publish an update in Facebook or Twitter, write a new article, or record a new video or podcast, think about the Mayo Clinic and whether you need to be segmenting your audience and publishing to more niche channels and if your communication is relevant to what you want to be known for.

I know it’s got me thinking. What other organisations do you think have segmented their social media communications effectively? Do you think it makes a difference to what content channels you subscribe to?