Time to Blog?

To do list:

1. Work on client Web site assessment report
2. Complete Web site grade cards for client
3. Complete client Internet business plan
4. Work on client survey questions
5. Work on client SEO project
6. Follow-up on Healthcare Internet Conference
7. BLOG!!!

These are just a FEW of my “to do” list items for one day! I’m sure you too have a list of a dozen daily or weekly tasks to keep up with. So how do you manage your already mountainous list of “to do’s” and keep up with an organizational blog? Many organizations want to create organizational blogs, but get stuck at two main objectives:  the blog idea and someone with the time to keep the blog not only current, but also interesting. We all live hectic busy lives both at work and at home. And each thing on the “to do” list is as important as the next, so how do we fit it all in? Time management techniques, skipping lunch, getting creative; that’s exactly what the people at Texas Health Resources did, they came up with a creative way to implement their organization into the social media realm. Blogging is just one aspect. Though the organization has several different blogs, one that stands out is the Texas Health Moms. The Texas Health Mom blog consist of several different contributors, all women, throughout the Texas Health Resources organization who are mothers or planning on becoming mothers at some point in their lives. The women currently have over 40 different topics in which they have contributed their personal stories and struggles in topics ranging from serious discussions on miscarriage to more lighthearted topics like “things kid say”.  Spreading the responsibility of the blog to several contributors not only helps with each contributors time commitments, but also gives readers different perspectives from several different point of views. The Texas Health Mom blog isn’t specific to Texas Health Resource or for medical advice. The organization has provided a place for moms to come and connect with a community who understands the day-to-day challenges in raising a family and other issues wanna-be moms may be experiencing. Although some blog entries can revolve around a single health topic, such as breastfeeding, Texas Health Resources has found a way to be part of a conversation first, without coming across as advertising or promoting its services and facilities. The blog participants include moms who may already be utilizing Texas Health Resources’ service, or potential patients such as moms that could start using Texas Health Resource services and facilities as a result of the relationships built with the Texas Mom blog. Involvement in social media is about the conversation and interaction, relationship building. The organization has also done a nice job in linking their other social media tools. Texas Health Moms have a presence on Facebook with over 250 “likes” as well as 375 followers on Twitter. The organization was able to create this social community amongst handling 12 acute-care hospitals and one long-term care, a total of 3,355 beds, more than 18,000 employees as well as partnering with six additional hospitals and surgery centers. Each social media tool is actively used and kept up-to-date which is a very important part of maintaining the believable and trustworthy image within the social media realm. We all want our audiences engaged and one way to accomplish this is for content to be kept fresh and current. So, if you are an organization wanting to enter the blogosphere, consider spreading the responsibility around. If you aren’t aware or noticed, we at Greystone follow a similar protocol. Our blogging schedule rotation allows us to keep our content fresh while maintaining the manageability of everyone’s “to do” list. Always remember, jumping into social media is about being in the conversation! Don’t join until you have a strategic purpose, plan and the time to be there. Happy Blogging!