I know what you're thinking…social media? Used in the long-term care industry? Bah humbug! What a complete waste of time and energy!

Please don't hold it against me if I tell you that, if you hold this belief, you are wrong. Whether you're on the vendor side or provider side of the long-term care industry, social media can generate significant face-to-face encounters with new, targeted opportunities.

LTC, Go Forth and Tweet!

The reality is, social media marketing isn't just for consumer giants anymore – healthcare is clearly in the game. And if you haven't already, it's time to shift your paradigm. It seems like every organization out there is tweeting or Facebooking or blogging or LinkingIn, but let's take a step back and first define what we're talking about.

Social media is just another tool – a type of online media that expedites dialogues that lead to conversations instead of simply delivering one-way content without allowing participants to be part of the creation or development of the content.

Users employ highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques such as blogs and forums like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with (not just to) their communities. This creates a vehicle for businesses like yours to best differentiate their services and expertise from all of the others in the field.

Getting Real

These days, all consumers – especially of healthcare services – want to know that the organizations they choose to work with are authentic, transparent and human. Social media provides you with a way of achieving all of those and more. Perhaps the most significant characteristic of social media is that it allows and promotes the sharing of information, which provides an excellent opportunity to establish and/or strengthen your thought-leadership relationships with target communities. 

But using social media to market facilities, services or goods isn't a stand-alone solution. Rather, it is a segment of a comprehensive marketing strategy, and all of the other elements in the marketing mix must remain for the most effective results. The most effective marketing strategies create communities of prospects, customers, employees, the media and industry influencers that engage in productive dialogues.

The result is a substantial benefit in terms of customer service, enhancing your brand, and even improving morale. But even with all of its potential, social media is still held at arm's length by many organizations.

What Happens In Vegas Stays in Twitter?

But, you say, social media is a little scary. When you open yourself up, you might get negative responses. Everyone's opinion counts in the world of social media, so having some fear is normal. Anything new can be daunting, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't participate or worse yet, block your employees from using social media sites.

Here's an analogy that might put this into perspective for you. I liken social media's significant influence to the invention of the telephone. After the telephone was widely available, do you think people didn't get one because someone might call them and say something negative? No, of course not.

The same theory applies to social media marketing. There are controls you can put into place to deal with this. But it's advisable to handle the negatives as you would any customer service issue. Other than deleting profanity, removing negative comments can make it seem that your organization has something to hide. People must know that you are real. They understand that no organization (or person) is perfect and they'll appreciate the opportunity to engage in real dialogue.

The Hype is Real

Social media is here to stay and something you shouldn't ignore. You're probably thinking, “OK, I'm ready, but where and how do I begin?”

We're here to help. We have the training and expertise in social media marketing to help you define how it fits into your business model and then develop a program that is educational, fun and entertaining, but never blatantly promotional. In the end, you'll be at an advantage to rise above your competitors.

So, once your strategy is set and your guidelines in place and you're ready to do it right – go forth and tweet! You might just be surprised as to how it changes your business landscape – and your relationship with your communities, prospects and customers.

(And stay tuned! In next month's blog post, I'll give you a real-world example as to how it all works.)

Pam Selker Rak is president of CommuniTech. Visit www.ctechrocks.com or www.blogctech.com, follow on Twitter @CTechRocks and become a fan of CommuniTech on Facebook.