Why do Healthcare Organizations need to use LinkedIn??

The purpose of this article is to discuss Healthcare Organizations using the social media site LinkedIn.

Why use LinkedIn? 

LinkedIn is considered to be the world's largest professional network where an online identity can connect your business to others, help find businesses, and be found.  It is a site where the latest news and insights can be shared as well as a place to discover professional opportunities, business deals and new ventures.

 

 

  

LinkedIn is the key to success for Healthcare Organizations!

 It can help in the following ways   

• Branding
• Marketing
• Sales
• Hiring

 

Check out this video for a better understanding of what LinkedIn is

How to   get started

In order to be successful with LinkedIn, your Healthcare Organization has to have a marketing plan so that it can deliver ongoing results.  The Social Media Examiner lists 5 marketing ideas that will help create a comprehensive marketing program:

• Build a Robust company page on LinkedIn.
• Launch a Linked Group based on company or industry
• Create an "All hands on Deck" ongoing through leadership program
• Leverage paid LinkedIn ads and sponsored updates
• Monitor Track and Adjust

 These are all great ideas, however they certainly require a commitment not only from the Organization, but employees as well.  Often long and fluctuating hours worked by healthcare personnel are demanding enough, finding committed employees may be more of a challenge than expected.  Finding someone to specifically monitor, track and adjust the business goals can be a full time position, and making sure that designation takes place at the beginning of this plan is crucial.

What about Non-Profit Healthcare Organizations?

According to the Serenic Connect LinkedIn is one of the top social media channels for nonprofits when wanting to market online, but it's so much more!  LinkedIn can help

• Reach out to prospective donors
• Help find volunteers
• Recruit possible board members

5 LinkedIn tips for Non-Profit companies are noted by this site:

1. Can visit resource pages to build relationships -some of which can be free
2. Keywords can be used to draw the searchers in giving maximum exposure
3. LinkedIn has new showcase pages to help highlight campaigns or programs
4. You can target relevant organizations and influential people

LinkedIn is what you make of it!  If you have a plan, and learn how to use the site for what it offers it can have a large impact on your Non-Profit.  One of the biggest challenges for Non-Profits is funding, and any site that can advertise, market, network and draw attention to the business is well worth the investment!

Here's are four examples of Showcase pages 

that are used heavily for Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare Data Solutions states that these pages are very beneficial to large companies who have multiple brands because each can be put in the spotlight and strategically placed into one portal.  That's great, but smaller businesses can be creative and do the same even if they have less to offer.  Unfortunately, a drawback with LinkedIn is that out of the one million Physicians who are a part of this social media site most are aware of this feature.  LinkedIn is known for posting resumes and allowing Healthcare Organizations to find each other more easily, but with Showcase Pages LinkedIn can be greatly improved in healthcare marketing as well.  More data should be collected and researched to see how Healthcare Organizations have benefited over the last two years from these Showcase Pages. 

The Healthcare Professional can also benefit from LinkedIn

 Andrea Santiago points out why and what you can do on her website about health careers

• It is user friendly 
• It is easy to get connected
• Healthcare hiring managers often post positions - making them easier to find
• Healthcare professionals can be easy to identify by placing themselves into categories: Medical Practice, Hospital and Health care, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Device, Health Wellness and Fitness
• You can join groups in order to connect with other healthcare professionals
• Increase exposure by being proactive and proofreading your profile

 At the end of the day it really is true when people say "you get what you put into it" :O) A little bit of effort from the start can go a long way with a social media site such as LinkedIn.  How much easier can it get?  To have a free site that does most of the work for you is priceless.  If social media did not exist life would be so much more difficult.  Think about it.  Newspapers used to be the go to for anyone looking for a job or looking to hire.  The ability to network, find people who work in the same field, have the option for healthcare organizations to scout you out all at the same time is priceless.  To be able to reach people from across the state, country or even the world at almost no cost to you is invaluable.  One of the biggest features that LinkedIn has over other social media sites is the professionalism it maintains. This site is about business, and those who want to learn about it, associate with it, work in it and be a part of it.

Go check it out, the world is at your fingertip!

Images from:

Globalstudentsuccess

Calldoctormary
Socialmediaexaminer
councilofnonprofits
Chooseust
martofwords
media.licdn
startupist
S-media