#hcsm and #hcmktg - two health-related tweetups every hospital should attend

[Christopher Boyer]

As more and more hospitals join in conversations on Twitter, many are starting the realize the benefits of having access to this real-time communication tool. Twitter can be an excellent resource allowing healthcare organizations to reach key stakeholders in their community as an effective part of their marketing & communications strategies (more on that topic on our previous blog post: How to use Twitter as Part of your Hospital Online Marketing Strategy).

Another potentially unrealized power of being part of the Twitter community is the ability to communicate and network with other healthcare peers that are also embracing social media, and share with them your own challenges with embracing web 2.0 tools, and share in ways to solve these challenges.

With the wide-spread adoption of Twitter, how does one do this? Currently, there are two great, organized conversations that occur on a weekly basis - and these so-called "tweetups" are rapidly becoming must-attend events for hospital professionals, to network with peers and learn the latest trends/issues hospitals are facing marketing in the age of social media.

What is a tweetup?
Simply put, a "tweetup" is a 1-2 hour conversation that occurs on Twitter, surrounding a particular discussion topic. Participants in tweetups use a hashtag followed by a keyword (i.e. #healthcare) to help designate that their tweet is part of the conversation. Using Twitter tools like Tweetdeck or Tweetchat, followers of the conversation can then watch the conversation unfold by streaming the hash-tagged tweets chronologically in real-time.

Tweetups are a great way to have hyper-focused discussions on particular topics(as long as you can get used to the speed of these streaming discussions - which can, at times, be very overwhelming). It's a great way to learn about new ideas, and an excellent way to meet peers and specialists on Twitter (and subsequently expand those you follow on Twitter).

The #hcsm tweetup
One of the two best health-care related tweetups is The Health Care Communication and Social Media chat (designated by #hcsm on Twitter). These conversations focus on marketing and communication practices by healthcare organizations, with a keen focus on social media. You could learn more at their site: http://www.healthsocmed.com/ or by following them on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/hcsm.

This one-hour chat occurs every Sunday night at 9pm EST, and is quite lively. Just last night (6/14/09), the topics focused on the legal implications of healthcare orgs using social media, and a number of healthcare lawyers participated directly to the conversation.

The #hcmktg tweetup
The other tweetup hospital professionals should participate in is the Health-care Marketing chat (designated by #hcmktg on Twitter), which takes place at 1pm EST every Friday. This conversation focuses on healthcare marketing where hospital providers, specialists and other experts focus on a series of topics for the week. You could learn more about them at their website: http://hcmktg.com/ or by following them on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/hcmktg.

What's the best way to participate in these discussions?
Simply put, the best way to start being part of the conversation is by being part of the conversation. At first, you may just want to observe and read other peoples tweets (we call that "lurking"). After one or two of these tweetups, you will certainly feel comfortable to contribute in the conversation.

You may want to consider taking Lee Aase's advice, and create two Twitter accounts - one for your hospital, and the second as your personal account. Use your personal when participating in these tweetups (so that followers of your hospital Twitter account aren't reading your back-and-forth conversational tweets with your peers).

What if I can't attend these tweetups?
The beauty of Twitter is that there are a number of ways to review the transcript for these tweetups after they occur. By using the Twitter search tool (www.search.twitter.com), you can view the whole conversation at a later time. Or, you can visit the above mentioned #hcsm and #hcmktg websites, to get the last tweetup's transcript. But remember - these conversations are real-time...don't expect these online transcripts to last longer than a week!

As the wide-spread adoption of Twitter continues to increase, I expect Twitter will continue to evolve and offer more ways to communicate with peers. Until then, however, mark your calendars for the next #hcsm and #hcmktg tweetups - they are the two best current ways for hospital marketers to network with one another!

Of course, you can always follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/chrisboyer - or share your ideas on other events hospital professionals should attend below in the comments!