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Digital Strategies for Health Communication:

Introduction, Goals, and SWOT

Lisa Gualtieri, PhD, ScM, Course DirectorTufts University School of Medicine

July 16, 2012

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Why Tufts Summer Institute onDigital Strategies for Health Communication?

• Many healthcare and public health organizations who are trying to reach healthcare consumers have these questions:– “Our website hasn’t been touched in 3 years”– “What exactly is Google+ and how do we use it?” – “Should we set up a weekly twitter chat?”– “Do we need an app?”– “Are we reaching our target audiences as best we

can?”

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Sue Gallagher, MPH

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Agenda for July 169:00 Welcome from Sue Gallagher, MPH, Program Director, Masters of Science in Health Communication Program, Tufts University School of Medicine9:30 Introductions 10:00 Project teams10:15 Break in CE Classroom10:30 Stacey Thalken and Jessica Burke: CDC's current digital strategy12:30 Lunch: served in classroom (box lunches)1:00 Lisa Gualtieri: Overview of digital strategy, goals, & SWOT analysis2:00 Teams: SWOT analysis for CDC3:15 Break: with food and drinks in Conference Room 14033:30 Teams present SWOT analyses4:30 Welcome from Aviva Must, PhD, Dean, Public Health and Professional Degree Programs, Tufts University School of Medicine5:00 Evaluations and social media survey

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Introductions

Participants1. Analicia Villanueva2. Barbara Wasson3. Claire Kamoun4. Clancey Bateman5. Danielle Kugel6. Devon Punch7. Jasmine Hunt8. John Gauthier9. Kristen Sullivan10. Laurel Leslie11. Linda Lambert12. Lynda Mitchell13. Maddy Black14. Maryann Boyle15. Meghan Johnson16. Meredith Waudby17. Mio Tamanaha18. Stephanie Synoracki19. Suzanne Hill20. Tod Hoffman21. Viviana Finestraella

Case Study Facilitators: Stacey Thalken and Jessica Burke

TA: Gillian JavetskiCourse Director: Lisa Gualtieri

Teams1. Analicia, Barbara , John, Jasmine, Mio2. Danielle, Lynda, Kristen, Clancey3. Devon, Laurel, Viviana, Maddy4. Linda, Stephanie, Suzanne, Meghan5. Meredith, Tod, Claire, Maryann

Innovations in Education Grant: Integration of Social Media

into Courses at TUSM

• This project investigates: – how to integrate social media into courses at Tufts

University School of Medicine– advantages to students, faculty, administration,

alumni, and others of this integration– training necessary to educate faculty about how to

use social media as part of their teaching

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Strategy

• Vision: outlines what the organization wants to be and how it wants to be perceived

• Mission: defines the organization’s purpose and how it will achieve its vision

• Values: beliefs that are shared in the organization• Strategy: goals and a plan of action to achieve

them– What happens when you don’t have – or use – a

strategy?

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Digital strategy• Encompasses use of web, social media, & mobile

to reach healthcare consumers where they are• Start with mission and existing strategy• Develop new one in alignment with

organizational values, goals, vision, and mission• Modified by constraints

Competitive analysis

Personas

SWOT

Goals

Technology

Content

Design

Evaluation

New digital strategy

Existing digital strategy

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Mission statement

• The Mission of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA)–Angell Animal Medical Center is to– protect animals, – relieve their suffering, – advance their health and welfare, – prevent cruelty and – work for a just and compassionate society.

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Ask strategic questions to develop meaningful goals in support of mission• Who do we want to reach?• Which products and services can we offer?• Will they be integrated, and, if so, how?• How will content be created or obtained?• Should we charge or seek sponsors or ads?• Is the commitment short- or long-term?

• Who do you ask?

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Candidate goals for digital strategy generally focus on better, faster, or more

• Acquire new audiences• Retain current audience• Increase loyalty/page views/followers/etc.• Increase word-of-mouth and viral promotions• Improve branding and awareness• Reduce content creation costs• Decrease content creation time• Respond rapidly to crises• Increase healthy behaviors

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Brainstorm to develop creative and perhaps unusual goals

• Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’”

• Example from Lowell General Hospital

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Merrimack Valley Moms

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Identify internal and external constraints and consider how to address

• Organization– Alignment with mission– Leadership– Budget– Technological knowledge– Fear

• Target audiences– Technological knowledge and platforms– Health literacy skills– Time– Health conditions

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Evaluate and prioritize goals

• Are goals realistic and achievable?• How will we measure success?• What else do we need to know?• Prioritize goals based on potential impact and

ease of implementing

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Summary: Goals

• Start with mission• Ask strategic questions • Develop candidate goals• Brainstorm and be creative• Consider realistic constraints• Evaluate and prioritize goals

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Strengths• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6.

Weaknesses• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6.

Opportunities• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6.

Threats• 1.• 2.• 3.• 4.• 5.• 6.

SWOT

A digital strategy needs to maximize the potential of the strengths and opportunities while minimizing the impact of the weaknesses and threats

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Course project

• Course project is developing a new digital strategy for CDC in teams

• Stacey and Jessica presented current mission, digital strategy, and goals

• Teams will develop and present a revised set of goals and conduct a SWOT analysis– Consider preparing a few PowerPoint slides

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Teams

1. Analicia, Barbara , John, Jasmine, Mio2. Danielle, Lynda, Kristen, Clancey3. Devon, Laurel, Viviana, Maddy4. Linda, Stephanie, Suzanne, Meghan5. Meredith, Tod, Claire, Maryann

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Aviva Must, PhD