Using Facebook to demystify your hospital can build relationships and create hospital loyalty.  

Every healthcare marketer who manages a Facebook page struggles from time to time for content. One strategy is to use Facebook postings to demystify your hospital, to make it more familiar, less scary and more approachable.  Highlighting hospital activities and team members can give your hospital personality, help build a relationship and enhance your brand.

Jill Celeste, owner of Hound Dog Social Media,  suggests 32 posting topics to engage your fans and make your hospital approachable.

1. Explaining construction and renovation projects

2. Installing new equipment or technology

3. What’s cooking in your cafeteria kitchen?

4. Gift shop sales and new merchandise

5. Employee appreciation events

6. Employees of the month

7. A Day in the Life of …. (highlight a specific job in the hospital)

8. Planting and maintaining your hospital gardens

9. Introduce your security team

10. Explain how to request medical records

11. Pictures of your hospital chapel

12. Meet the chaplain

13. How flowers are delivered

14. How to become a hospital volunteer

15. How to apply for a job at the hospital

16. Explain your ER wait times

17. Highlight your patient safety initiatives

18. Post your visiting hours

19. Feature a support group

20. Highlight your hospital phone operators

21. Post a campus map (or link to it)

22. Promote a hospital lecture or class

23. Take pictures of employees volunteering in the community

24. Welcome new medical staff

25. Explain the wristbands that patients wear

26. What to bring if you’re coming to the hospital

27. Photos from a Foundation event

28. Talk about your free hospital Wi-Fi

29. Link to news stories featuring your hospital

30. Introduce your Board of Trustees

31. Celebrate new accreditations, awards or certifications

32. Announce new programs and services.

These are great idea starters.  And of course the list could go on and on.

Informational content is also extremely important. After all, that’s what consumers expect and want from your hospital.  Health tips and information keeps your fans coming back and helps grow your fan base.  But there should be a mixture of helpful health related content and information that will put a face on your hospital and express the hospital’s personality.