Now that you’ve preached the importance of social media and its vital role to your hospital’s overall marketing strategy and gotten administrators on board, you must develop the all-important social media policy and guidelines for your hospital’s employees.

Social media may be a new communication tool to your hospital, but most of your employees have been participating for years and are quite savvy. These guidelines should clearly define your hospital’s position on social media and terms of use.

Mayo Clinic attorney, Dan Goldman, wrote an informative article on general thoughts to remember when developing your hospital’s social media policy.

6 Thoughts to Remember When Developing Your Hospital’s Social Media Policy:

1. There is no “one size fits all.” Social media policies are as much a reflection of corporate culture as they are a reflection of legal requirements.
2. Social media is a dialogue, not a monologue. While you talk, the expectation is that others will talk back to you and that you will listen.
3. You cannot control social media, but you can effectively manage it. You can effectively manage social media by crafting clear and reasonable policies, communicate them to your employees and make reasonable efforts to monitor what is said about you in the online community.
4. Education and awareness are crucial. The best policy in the world is useless if your employees are not aware of it.
5. Expect – and plan for – a crisis. No matter how well you plan, there is always the potential for a crisis. Have a plan for how you will manage a crisis before it happens.
6. Plagiarize others in developing your policy. There is no need to start from scratch.

Please click on the link if you would like to read Dan’s entire article: LEGAL ISSUES (PART 3): GENERAL THOUGHTS ON DEVELOPING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY. Another excellent resource is Ed Bennett’s Hospital Networking List.

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