Tag Archives: mayo clinic

The secret to avoiding a YouTube crisis – revealed!

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It’s not a matter of if. It’s when. With user-generated content easier and more common than ever, it’s only a matter of time before someone in your organization does something that rubs someone (or a lot of people) the wrong way and soon millions of people are watching the travesty on YouTube.

Latest entry: United Breaks Guitars

This video, out only since Monday, already has half-a-million views, 3,200+ comments and has been picked up by several mainstream news outlets, and many bloggers are going to town on it, too. United is apparently talking to the video’s creator and trying to make things right, but I think the catchy ” ‘Cuz United breaks guitars” refrain is going to be quick to the lips of lots of passengers from now on.

There have been countless posts on how to handle reputation crises like these, so I won’t rehash some of those principles in depth (respond quickly, take it seriously, respond using the same medium by which you were attacked, etc.).

But here’s my number one observation on how to prepare your organization ahead of time for when something like this happens. Ready for it? It’s simple:

Don’t suck so much in the first place!

Typically these attacks come from people with a real bone to pick. The United Breaks Guitars guy tried for more than nine months to get his guitar fixed and was stonewalled all the way. If his claim had been honored, or if an astute United customer service rep had gone out of their way to help him, despite what “policy” and “procedure” said, there’s a much lower chance he would have made this video.

What’s more, if United was generally known for having great, attentive customer service, even if the guy had made the video there possibly would have been a group of customers who’ve had positive experiences with United who could have come out and defended the company. Instead, check out the YouTube comments. Everyone just kept piling on with their own “United sucks” stories.

What if someone had made a video like this about Zappos? Maybe Zappos lost a guy’s order or something. First, I doubt he would have been stonewalled when he called, so it probably would never get to the level of him feeling like he needed to make a music video about bad service. But if he had, Zappos would have already had a rabid community of fans in place who had received great customer service in the past and who might have been willing to defend the company.

With United, so many passengers likely had a similar negative story that it was easy for them to relate to the video and pass it along, helping it to go viral so quickly. Videos that don’t resonate with people don’t go viral. Try not to frequently give your customers reasons to create this kind of content. Even if most never will, many will read, share and comment on the content that does get created (check out Forrester’s Social Technographics Profiles for more).

Unfortunately, not a lot of “this company is so awesome and great” videos go viral (but when they do, be ready to capitalize and use it to help tell your organization’s story, the way Mayo Clinic did). But you can keep some of the negative ones at bay by not giving people a reason to make them in the first place and creating enough brand defenders that even when those videos do get made, they’ll get very little traction.

Yes, you have to manage a reputation crisis when it comes up, but shouldn’t part of preparedness include preventing those crises from ever happening in the first place?

A “Communications Conversation” with Arik Hanson

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_arikhanson_-12k-avatarIf you read Arik Hanson’s blog, Communications Conversations, then you’ve probably enjoyed his series on “PR Rock Stars,” where he’s interviewed a variety of PR and communications professionals. I figured it was about time someone interviewed him for a change, and he graciously obliged. So, as Michael Scott would say, “Well, well, well… how the turntables…” Um, yeah.

You’ve interviewed some talented people in your PR Rock Star series on your blog. What’s your definition of a PR Rock Star?

AH: Contrary to popular belief, there’s no hard-and-fast definition. To date, it’s really just been a list of folks I’ve been big fans of or PR pros who are succeeding in their industry or niche. Typically, I also like to focus on folks tackling timely issues: Kelly Groehler of Best Buy using Twitter as a tool to further brand reputation; Rick Mahn at Land O’ Lakes showing us what a non-traditional rock star looks like; and LeeAnn Rasachak and Sarah Ryder at Select Comfort implementing social media strategies internally and externally to raise awareness and educate. Sorry folks, there’s really no “special sauce.” ;)

You spend a great deal of time mentoring communications professionals, not only online but also through your involvement in PRSA. Who have your mentors been and what are some of the most important lessons they’ve taught you?

AH: I happen to think your mentors don’t necessarily need to be more experienced than you. They don’t have to be 20-year PR vets. They don’t even have to be formalized relationships. But, they do have to provide value. And the best mentor/mentee relationships provide value for the mentor AND the mentee. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. The mentor/mentee model is changing a bit–you’re starting to see that more. Younger folks “coaching up” to senior-level folks (especially in the social media/digital area). Some of the folks I’ve learned from along the way: Deborah Ely-Lawrence (now at Prime Therapeutics), Nicki Gibbs (former PR Rock Star), Katharine Kaboord, Joel Swanson, Rose McKinney, David Mullen, Connie Bensen, David Folkens and Candee Wolf just to name a few. And of course, I have a budding mentor/mentee relationship with you, Amy, that’s I’ve really enjoyed the last few months.

You’re a Twitter “power-user” in the sense that you really make use of the tool to meet people, engage in genuine conversation, share content and make connections. How do you describe Twitter’s usefulness to people who are just starting out and can’t quite get past the “What are you doing” banality?

AH: Good question. To be perfectly honest, I probably don’t do a very good job of articulating Twitter’s value to the “doubters” out there. I think of my brother, who’s always asking me why I invest so much time in this tool. What I tell him is simple. Three reasons: 1) I can meet folks I’d never have the chance to otherwise meet, 2) I can broaden my community exponentially in ways that just wasn’t possible before, and 3) I now have the opportunity to learn from experts and thought leaders from across the world. These are the same folks who may refer me to a potential job, send freelance work my way, or point me toward a volunteering opportunity. My post about the social media MBA was a little tongue-in-cheek, but I have learned about the equivalent of a mini-master’s degree this past year in the social media space thanks to my interactions online. What kind of price tag can you put on that? And along the way, I’ve made some good friends and expanded my circle of colleagues I can turn to for advice and counsel. Those are some pretty powerful reasons, don’t you think?

You’ve got a full time job at Fairview, you blog and consult on the side, your involved with PRSA and you’ve got a wife and two young kids. How do you effectively manage all of this? How do you balance family, work, community and your online activities?

AH: The short answer? I don’t. But, because I’m so passionate about PR and social media, it never really feels like work. So, if I’m writing a blog post at 1 am, it’s not painful. The key for me is focus. You really can spend a lot of time engaging with your community if you’re not careful. You need to be militant about focusing and using your time wisely. For me, that usually means hopping online once in the morning, once at lunch, once before I hit home and after the kids go to bed. I try to write my blog posts in chunks so I’m not writing throughout the week. Saturday afternoons are a good time for me. I can crank out 3-4 blog posts in an hour if I’m feeling especially productive. But, the balance word is very elusive. I’m not sure I’ll ever be the most balanced person. But, I do make sure I commit myself to work I’m passionate about so it never really feels like “work.”

You’re obviously very comfortable with social media from a personal standpoint: you have a great blog and an active Twitter presence. But you’ve admitted that your industry (healthcare) is slower to adopt these technologies. What are you doing to sell others on the value of social media as a communications tool? What would you say to skeptics in your organization or industry?

AH: Lately, I’ve been going with the “Well, just look what Mayo’s doing” argument. Seems lame, but that’s pretty powerful in the health care space–especially when the Mayo Clinic is right down the road in Rochester and they’re widely regarded as one of the better health care brands in the market (Lee Aase, who heads up social media at Mayo, was also just featured in a front-page article in the Star Tribune a few weeks ago, which helps). I just think social media is a very good fit for health care companies for a number of reasons. It’s a people industry and many of these tools focus on better connecting people to people. Also, why couldn’t health care organizations use social media tools as another customer service channel? I mean think of all the patient questions we could answer online–saving thousands upon millions of dollars in potential costs. Or what about using these tools to better enable our patients to share their stories–effectively furthering our brand for us? Like I said, just makes too much sense NOT to do it. Those are the arguments and examples I use. So far, the problem’s not been a lack of “want to” but instead it’s been a question of resources. But, that’s a different discussion ;)

What has been your proudest moment as a PR professional?

AH: I’ve won numerous awards, been recognized by my peers and been a part of very successful client projects, but you know what really gets me fired up? Watching my peers and colleagues succeed. For example, seeing my friend and PRSA colleague Jason Sprenger step up to the plate in a new job and take on a new PRSA leadership role; or watching my good friend Joel Swanson take on an agency leadership role and flat out kick ass for the last few years; or witnessing a couple budding rock stars like Jillian Froelich and Katharine Kaboord come into their own as PR professionals and really start to realize their full potential. Or watching you, Amy, start Social Media Breakfast from scratch in the Albany area and really fill a need for that community. That’s what excites me. I really enjoy helping others succeed. And watching them flourish.

Why Lee Aase is Mayo Clinic’s Social Media MacGyver

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It’s no secret that Lee Aase and the Mayo Clinic have embraced social media. Blogging, podcasting, YouTube… you name it and they’ve experimented with it, and in most cases been successful. I was fortunate enough to sit in on Lee’s session at the 2009 Ragan Corporate Communications Conference: “The $4 a week online newsroom and other MacGyver Tips.”

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Lee (who is much taller in real life than expected) was kind enough to post his presentation to his blog. He shared simple secrets for quickly and effectively building a social media presence. While a lot of the tools he shared weren’t necessarily new, the reasons for using them in certain ways and the approach taken at the Mayo Clinic were what really got me thinking. Here are a few examples:

1. The Mayo Clinic has three blogs, and all are hosted at WordPress.com. They pay ~$10 a year to repoint the domain name to a mayoclinic.org site. My initial thought was, “Why aren’t they using WordPress.org and self-hosting the blog?” After all, it offers far more in the way of plugins, themes and features. (Click here for a quick explanation of the difference between these two platforms.) But Lee made a few great points. By hosting with WordPress.com, his team doesn’t have to go through the clinic’s corporate IT department. They don’t have to deal with firewalls, internal servers or just generally bogged down IT processes. Secondly, hosting the blogs on WordPress.com brings them more traffic. The Mayo Clinic blogs are often featured on the front/login page of WordPress.com, allowing many people to discover the blog that way. WordPress.com also has fairly simple analytics built in to the platform, so no one on their staff needs to go in-depth learning the ins and outs of Alexa or Google Analytics. And by repointing the domain name, they preserve the ability to eventually move to a different platform and not lose all of their search ranking.
Key Takeaway: Don’t always opt for the most advanced tool. Pick simple tools that reduce entry barriers allow you to get started.

2. With an existing “Medical Edge” radio show, the Mayo Clinic was already in the habit of content creation. It converted this show to a podcast and pushed it out through its blog. It’s also easier for busy doctors to record audio or video than it is to get them to write out a blog post. With a $150 Flip Video camera, Lee and his staff can interview doctors and researchers and post excerpts to the blog quickly and with minimal editing. There’s no need to invest in expensive A/V equipment and the training required for communications team members to use it.
Key Takeaway: Use existing content to ease your organization into social media. Find out the easiest way to get people to contribute (audio, video, writing) so that they’ll be more willing to participate.

3. “Don’t just pitch the media, be the media.” Lee agreed that this was somewhat overstated, but essentially the Mayo Clinic is creating its own content and that content is driving interest from traditional, mainstream media. The Mayo Clinic’s news blog has become a place for journalists to access information on Mayo Clinic research, publications, public health experts and patient stories. Lee’s even been successful with keeping certain posts embargoed and only accessible to journalists before releasing to the public. The content that the clinic creates and shares on its social media outposts has been picked up by national news outlets including CBS and the Wall Street Journal. Videos posted to The Mayo Clinic’s branded YouTube channel have been published online alongside news stories. Having so much rich content available in so many forms (blogs, audio, video) makes the media relations team’s job that much easier – in many cases the journalists are calling them to ask about content that’s been posted.
Key Takeaway: Create and share your organizations own original content. Make it interesting so that journalists will want to know more. Develop content in a variety of formats so that any outlet can use it.

Lee’s presentation really emphasized that social media can be pretty simple. Don’t complicate things. Pick tools that let you get started right away, use content that’s already at your disposal, and offer it up in a variety of formats that make it easier for reporters and customers to gobble up.

For more goodness from Lee, enroll in his Social Media University, Global, and become a Smuggle!