36 AE Fall 2010

Running the Practice Social Media

Creating andimplementing a social media policy can prevent carelessactions that couldbe harmful toyour practice.

AE Fall 2010 37

You’ve heard that usingsocial media can havetremendous benefits foryour practice. Theseinclude increased patient

satisfaction, more patient referrals, abetter competitive position, and amore profitable business, accordingto Rich Blacklock, director of market-ing for ASCRS•ASOA. Assumingyou’ve decided to reap these rewardsby creating a Facebook page, Twitteraccount, or blog for your practice, it

is important to consider how to usethese social technologies appropri-ately. Just as many practices have anemployee handbook to address officepolicies on topics such as discrimina-tion, harassment, ethics, etc., it isprudent to create a set of guidelineson how employees are expected touse social media. Doing so can pre-vent careless actions that could beharmful to your practice. Here aresome issues to consider addressing inyour social media policy.

Respect confidentiality/privacy. Do not disclose a patient’sname, age, or any identifying factorson your practice’s social mediapages. If you are discussing a particu-lar case, make sure it is made anony-mous. If a patient chooses to sharehis or her story on your Facebookpage, a best practice is to respondwith a simple thank you or not atall, according to attorney SteveHelland, partner at Fredrikson &Byron Law Firm in Minneapolis,Minn., and chair of its Technologyand Internet Group.

It is also important not to dis-close any confidential or proprietarypractice information and to be care-ful about sharing personal informa-tion about staff members. Checkwith the staff first and get permis-sion before you mention them orpost their pictures.

Identify employees whocontribute to your social mediasites. All employees who are speak-ing for the practice on your socialmedia sites should give their name,title, and a brief description of whatthey do in the practice. Users ofthese sites want to know who theinformation is coming from. Also, apost by an employee should neverpretend or appear to be from apatient, Helland said in an emailinterview. “The Federal TradeCommission Act prohibits unfair anddeceptive trade practices, and itwould be unfair and deceptive for apractice employee to say positivethings about the practice while pos-ing as an employee,” Helland said.

Developing a Social MediaPolicy for Your PracticeStacy Majewicz

Managing Your Social Media Outreach

I t’s important to educate employees on your practice’s social media policy.

How you do this depends on the culture of the practice, according to Trent

Lutz, director of human resources for ASCRS•ASOA. It can be as simple

as sending out a practice-wide email, or you can have a formal session in

which you review the policy point by point and answer employee questions.

Afterward, Lutz suggests, have each employee sign an acknowledgment that

he or she has read and understands the policy.

You might also consider employing a social media manager to manage

your social media sites and train the employees who will be using them.

“Consider investing in a part- or even full-time director of social technologies—

the position will pay for itself in benefits and reductions in traditional marketing

costs,” Blacklock said.

It may not be possible for you to hire a social media manager at this

point, but you should not forgo employee training. Properly training employees

will help avoid problems and keep your message consistent. Dana Ondrias,

executive director of Mann Eye Institute in Texas, said that the employees who

maintain their social media sites were trained by an outside marketing firm as

well as the internal marketing director.

“The training consisted of two parts,” Ondrias said. “The first part was on

how to navigate and update the sites easily, and the second part was on con-

tent to avoid.”

That is where your social media policy comes in. Have it on hand to make

training easy and prevent any issues in the future. continued on page 38

38 AE Fall 2010

pages are separate from the practice’sFacebook page and the employees’personal Facebook page. The pageincludes the employee’s first name,the practice name, and a few of theemployee’s hobbies. “Patients willcomment on the employee’s hobbiesor ask questions about them. It’smore of a social thing,” said admin-istrator Gloria Faulkner. “Any oph-thalmology-related questions areposted to the practice’s site.”

Uphold professional standardsand specify restricted topics.Although many social media sites aremeant to be relaxed and informal,they are a reflection of the practiceso they should uphold your prac-

tice’s valuesand profes-sional stan-dards.Therefore, youwant to avoidtopics that aretoo controver-sial or thatmay becomeproblematic.Faulkner saidthat she doesnot allowemployees todiscuss theprices of theirservices onAloha LaserVision’sFacebook page.Politics andreligion areother topicsthat you prob-ably want toavoid. And, asobvious as itmay seem,don’t use anyprofanities or

Stay on topic. Make it clear toboth employees and patients thatyour social media sites are for prac-tice-related issues only. You don’twant employees or patients dis-cussing their family vacation orrecent car purchase on your prac-tice’s sites. To help prevent this,Helland suggested allowing patientsto be “fans” but not “friends” onyour practice’s Facebook page.

However, patients may developsocial relationships with certainemployees and want to “friend”them. Employees at Aloha LaserVision in Honolulu, Hawaii, havespecific Facebook pages for patientswho want to “friend” them; these

Running the Practice Social Media

make off-color statements, even jok-ingly. Remember that by using socialmedia sites you are creating a perma-nent written record. “Imagine how ajoke or light-hearted comment mightlook taken out of context and shownto a jury on a 10-foot-tall screen,”Helland noted.

Follow copyright, fair use, andother relevant laws appropriately.According to a sample social mediapolicy provided by Rob Portman, anattorney at Powers, Pyles, Sutter &Verville, PC, in Washington, DC, andlegal counsel for ASCRS/ASOA, it iscritical to know and follow laws gov-erning copyright and fair use ofcopyright material. The policy states,“You should never quote more thanshort excerpts of someone else’swork, and when you do, be sure togive the author appropriate credit.”Some laws may be different depend-ing on the state you live in andwhere you work, so make sure toread up on them.

Use your best judgment.“Remember that there are alwaysconsequences to what you publish,”Portman’s sample social media policystates. “If you’re about to publishsomething that makes you even theslightest bit uncomfortable, review[the social media policy] and thinkabout why that is.” Helland agreedthat it is important to stop and thinkbefore you hit “post.” “An astonish-ing number of legal and business dis-putes could be avoided or minimizedif people paused for a moment toconsider what they were writing andhow it could appear to a reader,” hesaid. AE

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Stacy Majewicz (703-383-5739; smajewicz@eyeworld.org) is assistant edi-tor for ASOA’s AdministrativeEyecare magazine in Fairfax,Va.