I was recently asked by a Public Health Local Government Consultant to advise him on how to use Twitter for a Health campaign. My response via email has been recorded below for the benefit of others. I welcome your suggestions and comments!
Question: How do I use Twitter to help promote a public health campaign?
Answer: Thank you for your email. To start off, for a basic guide to Twitter I would suggest you read this. It is written in a clear understandable format. There are also three articles on the #nhssm website which are specifically targeted towards the NHS called ‘A guide to Twitter and Online Etiquette’: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. These may also be useful read to get a reaffirmation of what Twitter is and how it could be used. However, this is just the starting point.
To move to the most exciting and fruitful part, one of the most useful articles related to your query I have personally come across is one written by Richard Blogger on his blog, NHS Vault, where he clearly spells out how Twitter can be used to engage and interact with people (many whom are influential), and how to build a community and become influential yourself. To quote from his article:
If you are interested in a topic then you will have built up a community of people who you follow and people who follow you, all of whom are interested in the topic. You can widening this community through searches for a key phrase or hashtag. The result of the search will be tweets from people outside of your community and if you find that the tweets from one person are useful, you can follow them (to widen your community) and talk to them (through replies or mentions) and interact. Potentially, they will follow you, widening the community further.
- Start following all the people who are actively talking about the NHS and healthcare. This can be found by conducting a simple search on Twitter or following the people influential people (people interested in healthcare) are following, or have a look at AnneMarie Cunningham’s list of people on Twitter who are interested in Healthcare (and don’t forget to follow her!)
- Follow all NHS organisations. The list of NHS organisations on twitter can be found here.
- Create a #hashtag related to your campaign and start using it in as many tweets as you can. There is also a comprehensive list of existing Healthcare Hashtags here (courtesy of Mike Clark).
- Once you have a few followers start a tweetchat or a live twitter chat and ask people to participate.
- From the account you want to promote, start talking to people and take part in discussions. Don’t be afraid to ‘but-in’ to interesting conversations.
- Take part in popular healthcare live chats, such as #nhssm. You’ll find many followers that way. Details of healthcare chats on Twitter can be found here.
- The more popular people follow you, the more people will see your #hashtag, which will result in more people seeing your campaign and hopefully you’ll have active followers. So always be courteous to your followers i.e. if anyone @mentions you, do reply!
- Create interesting (some may even go as far as saying controversial) content and post it out to your followers.
- Genuinely reach out to help people on Twitter in whichever capacity you can (however small). This will gain you followers and more importantly respect and admiration from your followers.
- There are plenty of tips online on how to get more followers, how to use #hashtags and how to run twitter chats. Use these resources to your advantage.
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/c6x5gP78 by @salma_patel
Well Salma – as the anonymous ‘public health local government consultant’ concerned – what can I say but – great advice! – I will follow all of your top 10 tips – it was great to talk to you – best wishes Mark Gamsu
I wasn’t sure how comfortable you’d be with me placing your name in the article, but thanks for your comment Mark and you’re very welcome! 🙂
Salma
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/yX5I2KqR by @salma_patel
Comprehensive list of healthcare hashtags may be of interest
http://www.symplur.com/healthcare-hashtags/
Thank you very much Mike, it is a very useful resource. I have now added the link into the post.
RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/8PmC7IcM by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/8PmC7IcM by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
V useful for novice tweeps > MT @salma_patel: My recent post: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns – top tips http://t.co/xt4DOUZW #nhssm
Hello Salma,
This is an interesting question. As @lylamccay was writing during the week, much of what we see about the use of twitter etc is still’socil media 101′ – when do we start to move past this to talk about how to really do things? I hunk that posts like this are great first steps. It would be great if Mark told us more about what the public health campaign is actually about so that we could perhaps tease the problem out a little more.
The use of social media for health is a practice, and since we are distributed we need to share our learning, ideas and successes as much as possible.
Thanks to both of you for sharing this so far.
Anne Marie
RT @shirleyayres: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) @salma_patel http://t.co/Wn21PTZw < excellent advice thanks for sharing Salma
@NLCFellows2011 @nhsinstituteuk Found great post by @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns – top tips http://t.co/rQVDhuQf
MT @shirleyayres How to use Twitter for Health @salma_patel http://t.co/dxYg3cR1 <good advice for others using Twitter too
RT @jiiiii: MT @shirleyayres How to use Twitter for Health @salma_patel http://t.co/dxYg3cR1 <good advice for others using Twitter too
RT @martinwhite33: RT How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) via @salma_patel http://t.co/u0SAC3b6
@amcunningham
Hi Anne,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It was great to get your input and I hope to see you around here more often 🙂
Salma
@GreatTwitTips @martinwhite33 Thanks for the RT on my article: http://t.co/kHqGcsyp
@stevebridger context, your views?RT @amcunningham How to use Twitter for Health Campaign (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/isOFz9C9 by @salma_patel
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/XiJITT02 #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @Dominic_Tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnxWyaSz #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @Dominic_Tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/XiJITT02 #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @Dominic_Tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/XiJITT02 #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @Dominic_Tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/XiJITT02 #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @Dominic_Tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/XiJITT02 #nhssm #hcsmeu
Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/7jWPhfci
RT @Boehringer: Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
RT @DominicTyer 4 all my HealthPR friends thought this is useful. How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns(Top 10 tips) http://t.co/pAduANKG
RT @Boehringer: Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
[…] Twitter for Health Campaigns (10 tips) […]
RT @Boehringer: Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/J42TPkd4 @salma_patel
Some great advice, it will be helpful for my new site. I have put together a comprehensive list of health awareness dates (days/months/years) for Australia, Canada, Serbia, UK and US! Have a look and spread the word (please)! http://www.healthaware.org
RT @Boehringer: Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips), http://t.co/mEQaEai6
Well – I have to respond to Anne Marie Cunninghams question – as lots of people have responded to this excellent post from Salma.
We spoke about a number of things. One of the areas that I am interested is how small voluntary and communtiy organisations can use social media (like twitter) to give commissioners a view of what their service is like. I am aware of two examples here – Sedgemore CAB – which ran a ‘tweet week’ and RNIB which ran a tweet day. In both cases they tweeted an annonymised summary of what each new client was presenting with. This struck me as a potentially powerful way of communicating the impact and pressures on a service – in a way that involved little resource – but would give commissioners a good understanding of what the service was doing, who they were seeing etc.
I am very interested in other ways in which social media can be used to get data across to commissioning and needs assessment processes such as the the JSNA.
So if anyone else has any ideas get in touch!
RT @Boehringer: Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/LnsyW7ib #nhssm #hcsmeu
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) http://t.co/suNUC6XB
MT @Boehringer Shared with team here! RT @dominic_tyer How 2 use Twitter 4 Health Campaigns-Top 10 tips http://t.co/xICWBvFi #nhssm #hcsmeu
[…] How to use Twitter for health campaigns […]
RT @KimAtMerchant: top 10 tips for social media for health campaigns http://t.co/9cnoJkhQ Thx @salma_patel #nhssm #hcmktg
RT @KimAtMerchant: How to use social media for a health campaign – top ten tips: http://t.co/HAMgHUs5 . Thank you to @salma_patel ! #nhssm #hcmktg
RT @KimAtMerchant: How to use social media for a health campaign – top ten tips: http://t.co/HAMgHUs5 . Thank you to @salma_patel ! #nhssm #hcmktg
RT @KimAtMerchant: How to use social media for a health campaign – top ten tips: http://t.co/HAMgHUs5 . Thank you to @salma_patel ! #nhssm #hcmktg
RT @bbalderaz: 10 Twitter tips for healthcare http://t.co/Xh8oCkkP #hcsm
How to use Twitter for health campaigns http://t.co/DEsK2EdN /via @GdnHealthcare #hcsmanz
@salma_patel’s post about creating a Twitter health campaign: http://t.co/LZ2PWHZh The tips apply to Twitter beginners in any discipline.
RT @pennwic: @salma_patel’s post about creating a Twitter health campaign: http://t.co/LZ2PWHZh The tips apply to Twitter beginners in any discipline.
How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/yHfctSA1 #MAS #healthcare #HCSM
RT @billbaylis: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/2y5yGwru #MAS #healthcare #HCSM (Some great resources!)
RT @Blsmith7: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns- http://t.co/tymPuBdG by@salma_patel
RT @blsmith7: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns- http://t.co/rnEkc1in by@salma_patel #hcsmca
@salma_patel I enjoyed your tips on Twitter for health campaigns. I’d add to your Top 10: 11. Don’t just use Twitter. http://t.co/EIChzvRO
RT @amulla: RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/PrMT4r4D by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/C3jPcIpH by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
RT @ColinPenning: RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/C3jPcIpH by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
RT @amulla: RT @salma_patel: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/PrMT4r4D by @salma_patel #nhssm #socialmedia @nhssm
Nice structured plan Billy! TY RT @billbaylis: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/83JLAsIU #MAS…
Good document.Twitter as a form of networking can be used by doctors to reach many users of social media.This enables marketing of their services.
Erick Kinuthia
Team MDwebpro
Good document. RT @billbaylis: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/SFRgik2C #MAS #healthcare #HCSM
RT @MDWebPro: Good document. RT @billbaylis: How to use Twitter for Health Campaigns (Top 10 tips) – http://t.co/ciunM0Un #MAS #healthcare …
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