Docs on TikTok: Mastering Clinical “Edu-tainment”
Northwestern Medicine launched their TikTok account in April of 2021, with a vaccine advocacy video that quickly went viral on the platform shortly after, and has continuously optimized their strategy since then. Over the past year, they’ve learned to efficiently create content that inspires and educates the Generation Z audience while still conforming with brand standards. Join Megan Augustyniak, Social Media Manager, Northwestern Medicine & Katie Hunter, Senior Creative Specialist, Northwestern Medicine as they share lessons learned from their journey of using utilizing TikTok.
Featured Speakers:
Katie Hunter is the Senior Creative Specialist at Northwestern Medicine.
Megan Augustyniak | Katie Hunter
Megan Augustyniak is the Social Media Manager at Northwestern Medicine.Katie Hunter is the Senior Creative Specialist at Northwestern Medicine.
Transcription:
Docs on TikTok: Mastering Clinical “Edu-tainment”
Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.
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Bill Klaproth: On this edition of the SHSMD Podcast. So is your hospital or healthcare system on Tik Tok? That's right, I said it Tik Tok. Are you thinking about it? Are you wondering about it? Is there something going, I should check into this a little bit more. Well, we're going to talk about docs on Tik Tok and mastering clinical edutainment, as we talk with Katie Hunter and Megan Augustyniak of Northwestern Medicine. Yeah, NorthwesternM edicine they're on Tik Tok. Dig it. It's pretty cool. So they're going to preview their upcoming webinar for , which is happening in August. It's all about Tik Tok. So if you're wondering, gosh, should I be on Tik Tok? And what do I do? Make sure you keep listening to this podcast and make sure you sign up for that webinar. So let's talk to Megan and Katie, right now.
This is the SHSMD Podcast, Rapid Insights, for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing communications, and public relations. I'm your host Bill Klaproth. And in this episode, we talk with Megan Augustyniak, social media manager at Northwestern Medicine and Katie Hunter, senior creative specialist at Northwestern Medicine. Join Katie and Megan, this August at SHSMD's online certificate series titled Healthcare Social Media 2022 Trends and Strategies. Just go to shsmd.Org. That's S H S M D.org/education for more information and to register now. Katie and Megan, welcome to the SHSMD Podcast. We start every episode of the SHSMD Podcast with rapid insights.
One quick tip. Someone can use to make their marketing communications better today, Katie you're up first. Give us your rapid insight.
Katie Hunter: Thank you, Bill. Thanks for having me on. So we are here to talk about Tik Tok today. So my rapid insight is about Tik Tok videos. When it comes to creating short form content for this platform, keeping your content short and simple is key. It can be really tempting, especially for healthcare marketers to work in lots of information and details about every subject that we cover. But Tik Tok is so good at serving your content to the right audience, that they will find that engaged audience who will ask those follow up questions. And this will give you a better opportunity to engage with your audience on an ongoing basis, conversationally versus trying to jam pack a lot of information into one longer.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. I love it. Keep it short and simple. Katie. Thank you for that rapid insight, Megan. You're up next, give us your rapid insight.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah, thanks Bll. my rapid insight, can apply to any of our social media channels at Northwestern Medicine. At the end of the day, people want to see themselves in our social media content. They want to know that when they come through our hospitals that they're going to be seen, heard, respected that they can trust their physicians. And so we're always striving to make that content, speak to our audience on Tik Tok and allow them to again, see themselves in the social media material. You know, if they feel like they can ask questions, if they can feel like they themselves could be a patient here. that's really what we're always trying to do with our clinical entertainment.
Bill Klaproth (host): Thank you both for your rapid insights. We appreciate it. And we're looking forward to your upcoming webinar Docs on Tik Tok, Mastering Clinical Edutainment. I love that. Katie, let me start with you. It's so good. So Northwestern Medicine, this great healthcare system you think Northwestern Medicine on Tik Tok. So you launched your Tik Tok account in April of 2021. Why did you feel that Northwestern needed to be on Tik Tok?
Katie Hunter: Right. So that tone, I just heard from you Bill, that what? Tik Tok for Northwestern Medicine? I heard a lot of that in the early days of developing our Tik Tok strategy for NM too. That's why we actually went around to our marketing organization with a, what is Tik Tok deck back in 2020. So before we pitched to the organization, the strategy for our platform and where we thought we might fit in this space, we did general information sharing with the organization about what the platform was, who was successful on it, and what video content was sort of starting to emerge from the platform.
Then about six months later, we went back to the organization and because they already had that familiarity with the platform from our first presentation, we were able to add a little bit more. So in the second presentation, we looked at the landscape, we looked at other healthcare systems and we were able to identify some major players in the space in healthcare that were starting to create accounts on the platform. So now we sort of had established the buy-in, in that our stakeholders knew what the platform was. And they saw competitors in this space. So the third time we came to them was in 2021. And that was finally with that strategy that, NM needs to be here message.
And that was primarily driven by volume on the platform. So TikTok is the fastest social media platform to reach billion users. got there faster than Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all those guys. So the volume was a big push for us in becoming a presence on the platform. Just how many users were there and then how much time users are spending on the platform every day. So we know that users spend an average of 52 minutes on Tik Tok, and that's just a huge amount of time, compared to all of our other social media apps. So those were really strong reasons why we felt like Northwestern Medicine needed to participate in the conversation that was happening on Tik Tok.
Bill Klaproth (host): Katie, it sounds like you really had to lay the groundwork then with the leaders there before getting this going, you said it took three times.
Katie Hunter: That's right. Yeah. And I find with new social media platforms and emerging platforms in general, they can be really intimidating, especially in process driven organizations like Northwestern Medicine. And so to get in front of our stakeholders multiple times with information about the platform and to sort of do it incrementally helped establish that sort of framework and safety and baseline knowledge so that we could all feel confident that there was an understanding of the platform and our role on the platform when we finally started our launch.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, it sounds like a really important first. Is to get that buy in as you mentioned. And Megan, then over the past year, you've learned to efficiently create content that inspires and educates the generation Z audience, while still conforming to those tight, big Northwestern Medicine brand standards. How have you done that?
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah, that's a great question. And we really used our existing social media channel strategy as our north star, so whenever we're developing content for any of our social media channels, we want to create something that is educational, engaging, and inspiring. But we also keep in mind that each of our social media channel, just like somebody would flip on the TV and go to any channel for different types of content. The same can be said for Tik Tok versus Instagram versus Facebook. You're not gonna go to lifetime to catch sports. You're not gonna go to the food channel to, catch a horror flick.
So we always keep that in mind when we're developing content for our social media channels. but. Always again, that underlying message that we want to engage. We want to inspire and we want to educate, we are the number one health system in Illinois. We're 10 in the country, and we have a lot to share on Tik Tok, but what Katie did a really great job of doing is laying the groundwork for who is on Tik Tok. It is a much younger audience. It's a different style of video. we as again, that number one health system in Illinois, we're not necessarily gonna be doing these super, trendy dance challenges, or anything of that nature. What's our space? What's our message?
And we realized that we have physicians that can in 30 seconds, maybe a minute, minute and a half explain something to a younger audience that they can retain as, useful knowledge, as they're considering health systems in Chicago, in Illinois, near Illinois, this can be a trusted resource for them when they're considering that healthcare options. A lot of people are. Considering their general healthcare every day, how should I be sitting at my desk? How much fiber should I be eating in a day? what does, a suns spot look like that could be cancerous? Those are just general, everyday health tips and we have the leading experts to speak to it. So that's what really helped to drive and coin our clinical edutainment phrase.
Bill Klaproth (host): I love that, clinical edutainment. That's so good. And Megan, it sounds like you really need to know your audience. This is not long form content, generation Z millennials, all of us really have shortened attention spans we're really generation Z. So it sounds like you're really building this content for them and their attention spans and what they're used to, consuming media, is that right?
Megan Augustyniak: Exactly. And you know, when we first kicked off this TikTok, we realized it was a much younger audience that, in our other social media channels, we weren't necessarily speaking to. Facebook skews much older. Instagram is starting to grow older as well. What we've actually realized in this, you know, first year is that we are on Tik Tok in addition to that gen Z audience starting to capture a slightly older audience, the millennials, I factor myself into that. So, we're now kind of, Pressed with I don't wanna say a challenge, but it's like, okay, we are still speaking to gen Z, but now we're also speaking to a larger pool of audience. So we're always keeping our thumb on the pulse with who is actually coming to Tik Tok and specifically our Tik Tok.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. And then Megan, how do you come up with the topics and what are gound rules for content for Tik Tok?
Megan Augustyniak: Another great question. We, at this point, I give props to, many of our team members. We have monthly content brainstorms and we are planning our content two to three months in advance. We're actually gonna be heading into our October content brainstorm if you can believe that. And we really carve out an hour to an hour and a half with folks from all across the marketing department. It includes Katie and myself. So we've got creative services. We've got social media. We've got communications, our media relations brand, service line. We're bringing all these different, thinkers to the table.
And within those brainstorm, we have a document in front of us that really helps to steer that conversation. So we're always keeping top of mind, our hero of service lines, cardiovascular, neuro. it could be our DNI efforts or community efforts, neuro, being one of them again. So we. kick off our brainstorms with that, what's happening in that space. What's trending in that month? What are some things that we really need to pay attention to? Again, I'll use October as the example, we know that October, in the oncology space is gonna be huge for breast cancer awareness month.
So we kick off our brainstorms with that. we've got a lot of existing content that we can leverage, but we also use this opportunity to think of new content. We then go into, kind of a tier two bracket in our brainstorm, and that's gonna be more of the topical and trending, for better or worse. Is there a COVID 19 surge? Should we be encouraging people to get flu vaccines? Is it back to school or the holidays? Changing in weather? so we're always, making sure that in addition to the health topics, that we're also speaking to the everyday topics.
we use this as a very free flowing opportunity to share ideas. But as we're thinking through those ideas. So if say, we're talking about COVID 19 and say there's a fifth rollout of the vaccine and it's the third booster, what content are we going to be either creating or repurposing? But what helps to keep us within those guardrails is our social media channel strategy, engaging, inspiring, entertaining. What experts can we leverage within Northwestern Medicine, can we drive back to, any of our sources, whether it's the, the website or our blog or to an existing video? What makes us uniquely qualified to talk about this? And so we're always keeping that in the back of our mind, as we're throwing out idea.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I love. That, paying attention to the hero service lines, and then putting that, did you say it's a, monthly planning session? Is that what you said, Megan? Or is that
Megan Katie: weekly?
Megan Augustyniak: It is. No, it's a monthly planning session. And so again, in the month of July, we are going to be meeting next week to talk about October. So we're always planning a few months ahead. and we carve out good solid, hour, hour and a half to think through what content we're gonna support for that month.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. And then Katie, Megan mentioned leveraging existing content. How do you fold that into all of this?
Katie Hunter: That's right. So the brainstorm is sort of this like great meeting of the minds where everybody comes together and thinks through ideas for the upcoming month prioritized kind of how Megan laid it out. So after that brainstorm is when we go away to do the creative work. So sometimes this involves creating something, brand new with our team of shooters, editors, graphic designers, and copywriters. Sometimes this means repurposing existing content that we've already created. And sometimes that means, 360 in content from one platform to another. So on the creative side at Northwestern medicine, I said on the creative team, a priority for us is 360.
And I put that in quotes, all of our content that we create. So if we have a big shoot for a video, we want to also take stills. We want to use that footage on our. Different channels in a bunch of different ways, specific to the right tone and voice for that platform. we wanna really be able to get the most mileage out of all of the production work that we're putting in to create our content, and then be able to sort of use it on all these different platforms, in the most appropriate way with the most appropriate tone and voice. So whenever we're shooting something for Facebook, we are thinking, how can we use this on Instagram or on Tik Tok?
And specifically a really great example of how we've done. This is with our, ask me anything content for Instagram. So ask me anything was a show that I pitched when I, came to support the social media team from a creative perspective, and it involved bringing our physicians into an Instagram story setting to take live questions or in realtime questions from our followers on Instagram. We used the open ended question sticker to facilitate this and that stickers really great because it also anonymizes the responses. So we're able to respond to questions without giving. Patient information in a public Instagram story. So these shoots were going great for us.
We were doing this programming for about a year and a half before we came to Tik Tok. And when we launched our Tik Tok channel, we thought this would be a great opportunity to repurpose a lot of that. Ask me anything content. So now when we shoot and ask me anything, Instagram story, for Instagram, we're also taking all that footage from that shoot and creating three to seven extra videos for Tik Tok. And in that way, we're sort of creating an ecosystem where all of our content is able to be used in multiple ways, but always with that specific, correct tone, depending on the social channel
Megan Augustyniak: Work smarter, not harder, right?
Bill Klaproth (host): That's right. That ecosystem of content. You're just watering it and it's growing. I love it.
Katie Hunter: That's right, that's our garden.
Bill Klaproth (host): Katie, you used an interesting term when you said I pitched a show. Do you look at your marketing efforts or your social media efforts like it's a show like it's a production? I've never heard anybody say, Hey, I pitched a show for Instagram.
Katie Hunter: That's right. Yeah. So a lot of the work that me and, the creative directors Anne Gelfer and Anne Sedgwick at Northwestern medicine have been doing here is creating serialized and programmatic content for our social media channels. So this involves creating Programs that our viewers can return to and get used to seeing for all our social platforms. A great example is our Inside the OR program, which runs for Facebook and YouTube. This is a three to four minute surgery reality show where we really take viewers inside the operating room for variety of different life saving procedures, that run the gamut from fixing a hip, which is a procedure that everybody might have it some time in their life to these really technical and complex, brain surgeries.
We think about all of our content for social in sort of a couple buckets. We have our programs, our serialized content, like Inside the OR, like Ask Me Anything, that our viewers can expect to see from us on a regular basis and viewership on that successful programming really our baseline viewership. Then we also have one off ideas on a monthly basis that come outta that brainstorm or maybe ideas that are a little bit bigger and should be serialized and turned into programs. And then we also have just in time content, this is stuff that, maybe we need to release a message to our followers in the next couple days, there's a trending news story that involves us, things like this. Those are sort of our three buckets just in time, serialized or programmatic content. And then the sort of like one off monthly content.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, it's interesting how you'll look at this. I love it. It's really cool. So then back tot Tik Tok again, how do you optimize and adjust? What do you look at and go, okay. We get it on that better. Or. Hey, let's do this next time, and I think we'll get better conversion. How do you do that?
Katie Hunter: So what was really interesting was, when we started on Tik Tok, we were posting all of our videos to both Instagram reels and to Tik Tok. And what we learned pretty quickly was a high performing video on Tik Tok did not translate directly to a high performing, video on Instagram reels. The audiences on these two platforms were different and their preferences when it came to the type of content, the length of content and even the style of that content, they vary from app to app. And so what we try to do, with Tik Tok is, follow it really closely. I spend a lot of time on the app, looking at trends that have to do with style and voice, not just, trending sounds or dance moves or memes.
But truly like where we're picking up on this casual post aesthetic, that's taking over all of our social platforms, even Instagram, where users are, they tend to post something that looks a little bit less edited or a little bit less constructed. So, guess it all comes back to sort of speaking the right voice for that platform. And when it comes to Tik Tok and I like to, talk about it next to Instagram, because the style is so different. Tik Tok really is. Fast casual, informative, short form video, whereas Instagram, you know, it's changing slowly, but it still tends to be the more put together, buttoned up content that's a little bit more formal, a little bit more planned.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's really interesting how you're following the trends, because it sounds like you don't wanna be perceived as outdated on Tik Tok. You said the casual post is kind of the way things are moving that fast casual. So you want your, Tik Tok content to mirror that is that right?
Katie Hunter: Yeah, that's really where the clinical edutainment piece comes in. Right. So Tik Tok is the best social media platform in the game, in my, opinion because of the For You page. This is the homepage for Tik Tok. It's where users automatically wind up when they download the app. And this is a page that's specifically designed based on your preferences individually, to show you videos that are right for you. When it comes to the For You page, it's one of the only user interfaces that allows for negative feedback. So on Facebook, you can like something, you can heart something, you can react with a care.
You have a few reaction options, but Tik Tok, I can swipe away from a video and give it that negative, response. So in capturing that user behavior, TikTok is able to refine the customization of their For You algorithm for each individual user. A lot better than the other social platforms. So what does all this mean for healthcare providers that are creating content for Tik Tok? This means if you're not speaking the right language, or if you don't look right, you don't have the right style for the platform, a user will swipe away really quickly. speaking that right language becomes even more important in an environment like Tik Tok, where that swipe away negative feedback is so quick and easy to do. And that algorithm is so highly and uniquely, tailored to each individual user.
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a really great. So thank you for sharing all of this. Let me ask you this. Should everyone consider being on Tik Tok? When is it right for someone to be on Tik Tok? You obviously know these, platforms in and out. You're talking about, well, Instagram is different than Tik Tok and this way sounds like you really gotta live and breathe these platforms. So you really understand them. Some health systems, hospitals might not have the time for that, who should be on Tik Tok as far as the, the healthcare space?
Katie Hunter: Yeah. Well, you know, like Megan was saying, we treat each of our social platforms, like a TV network, right. So you wouldn't go to lifetime to see sports . I don't think a brand should be on Tik Tok if they're not able to find that sort of, correct tone for the platform. you have to be able to bring a little bit of humor, smile to your posts on that platform. Although we, don't say funny, but clever maybe, we don't really like people who don't have a sense of humor about themselves. So why would we like a brand who doesn't have a sense of humor? So it's important on Tik Tok, to seem, authentic and to seem real.
And really, I think with looking at Tik Tok's growth over the past two or three years, looking at, developments related to search on Tik Tok, I really think every brand should be on Tik Tok just because. Where the users are at this point. Yeah. And we see from the user behavior, they're asking us questions, they're tagging us in videos, and we wouldn't be around to do that community management and that great customer service if we weren't on the platform.
Megan Augustyniak: I totally agree with everything Katie said, you know, any brand, can be on any social media channel as long as they, Belong and act like they should be at the party. I'm putting that in air quotes. We've seen, organizations outside of healthcare where it's, taking content and, putting it here, here, here, here, here. And it's all the same. but what they fail to recognize is that the user experience and the audience and the consumption is entirely different. And you know what Katie and team have really done a nice job with Tik Tok is again, really making this content specifically for that channel.
So again, Any health system, any hospital, any other organization, it can be something a little bit more, buttoned up and conservative like healthcare or even, way outside the box. Everyone deserves a space to be on, the social media channels and Tik Tok specifically. But it really requires deep reflection and a dive into like who we're going to be on this channel. And, making changes to our content if we find that, okay, maybe our audience doesn't like that, we certainly don't wanna get into a habit of just speaking to ourselves where we're speaking to an audience. So, as long as, health system or organization thinks about that, anyone can play.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Megan, that's a great point about one post. And here, here, here, here, it's just, it's the identical post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and that's really not the right way to do it, is it?
Megan Augustyniak: No. And I'm looking to Katie as I say this, but I take a lot of pride in, the structure of our social media team and how we really have developed content specifically for each of our social media channels. What you're gonna get on Instagram is not gonna be the same on Facebook is not gonna be the same on LinkedIn or Tik Tok, but you know, it's coming from Northwestern Medicine. We take a lot of pride in that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. So as we're talking about this, and we're thinking about Northwestern Medicine, when you talk about top health care brands in the country, and when I said Northwestern Medicine on Tik Tok? Why is it important to reach 17 year olds when we think of healthcare? I'm trying to get the person that needs the colonoscopy or has got, you know, a heart attack. Why are you trying to reach 17 and 18 year old?
Katie Hunter: Well Bill, the thing about 17 and 18 year olds is hopefully they're gonna get older and they'll age eventually. So what we are able to do on Tik Tok by speaking to the gen Z demographic is understanding their content preferences the way they like to be talked to, and the way they like to learn, early on. Right. We also know that 50% of gen Z does not have a primary care physician. So that's a huge opportunity to bring them into our healthcare system, whether that's through urgent care, whether that's through primary care, just letting them know, Hey, as you're an adult seeking adult medicine for the first time in your life, we're here. And hopefully they'll begin that journey with us and stick with us as they grow their families. And as they age into some of our other social channels.
Megan Augustyniak: If those are even still around when gen Z is 40. Yeah.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Well, when you think about it, Facebook is for older people and you said Instagram is starting to age a little bit. And of course Tik Tok is the hot thing, like, what's next? Thank you. Imagine Tik Tok and 10 or 15 years being, oh, that's where the older people are.
Katie Hunter: Well, have you heard about Be Real yet Bill?
Bill Klaproth (host): No, I haven't. What is that?
Katie Hunter: That's the next one.
Bill Klaproth (host): Is that what's next?
Katie Hunter: That's next. In my opinion, Be Real's next, that's what I'm seeing activity around. Although Clubhouse looked like it was gonna take off for a while and then it fizzled, so we will have to see.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, so what is Be Real?
Katie Hunter: Be Real is really fascinating. So I talked about the casual post trend, right? Like gen Z is moving away from these really stylized, like aesthetic posts and more towards the like photo dump, really casual. So Be Real is an app designed to facilitate that casual authenticity, the app. randomly sends you a notification at any time during the day, and you have two minutes to take a photo. It takes a photo simultaneously on your front camera and back camera at the same time. and you only have two minutes to do this, so you have to take a picture wherever you are.
So if it pinged me right now, I'd be like, okay, well, I'm recording the podcast with Bill and Megan and I'd take my picture and post it. Yeah. You can only see other users posts. If you post on Be Real. Yeah. So very interesting. most of the people that I see on the platform right now are in that gen Z category, maybe gen alpha, too. I don't know, very young, but it's emerging and it's got some interesting functionality.
Megan Augustyniak: That could be, I mean, not to derail our conversation here, but that could be really interesting for Northwestern Medicine. You know, like, what talk about Inside the OR, or, I mean, right. It'd be pretty cool. So yeah, maybe we'll have another podcast, you know, this time next year, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): Wow. I love. Yes, please. I'm all in. All right. You heard it here first with Megan and Katie. All right. So final thoughts. This is gonna be a great webinar, Docs on Tik Tok, mastering clinical edutainment. Final thoughts, Megan, let's start with you. Anything you wanna talk about? Tik Tok social media? The floor is yours.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. So, I mean, we, now got a year and some change under our belt on Tik Tok and we've really uncovered some really awesome learnings. We've identified who our audiences, how quickly can we turn around content? What are some of, you know, the obstacles that we need to overcome? What are the trends that we should be exploring? Should we continue doing this or abandon that? So we're really excited for where Northwestern medicine is going, into the next, you know, fiscal year and calendar year. Just as a kind of a sneak peek in what we'll be sharing on our webinar too, is some of the new content that we're gonna be exploring that other health systems could also consider, we're gonna be exploring some paid support.
So boosting our content, really trying to feed that For You page. And really, I think what I'm most excited about. Trying to tap into what we call our UGC or user generated content. Katie has, done a great job of developing custom content for this account. But now that we've established ourselves on this channel, people know to find us on Tik Tok. And so they're sharing their experiences, whether they. Work here, or they're a patient here or a caregiver here, they're sharing what it's like to be a phlebotomist for a day or what it's like to undergo a mammogram for the first time.
So we're looking for ways to quickly repurpose that and support our really successful UDC efforts. So that's gonna be an exciting thing for us, heading into the new year and we're excited to tease that out and share it with the other folks, in our webinar in August. So more to come on that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Megan, thank you for sharing that and for giving us some insight on the webinar, coming up in August. I know it's gonna be fantastic. Final thoughts from you, Katie.
Katie Hunter: Yeah, for sure. I guess final thoughts on Tik Tok. I would encourage folks to think about Tik Tok as that top of funnel discoverability, social media platform for you. And what's really important about Tik Tok is it's the only social platform that does not make you pay big bucks to get in front of that new audience and an audience that's like highly primed to like your content. That's really the value of Tik Tok. And once you can sort of convince, folks on that vision, like this is our discoverability channel, this is our place to reach new audience that aren't following us on any other platforms yet, and explain that value of the For You page that sort of helps, folks to see the value of a Tik Tok presence for especially a healthcare brand.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Really interesting. Okay. One more question. Sorry. As you both finishing up. I'm sorry. More questions. So obviously very excited about Tik Tok is F,acebook really viable still? You know, when you were saying with Tik Tok, it doesn't cost you a lot of money with Facebook. If you're not paying, you're really not playing because organic reach is so low. Is Facebook still viable for you? What's your crystal ball for Facebook in the future? Katie, we'll start with you.
Katie Hunter: Well, you know, like I said, I'm spending most of my time on Tik Tok these days and Facebook is a part of the conversation, but more interesting is Google. So I've noticed in my user behavior and also in, folks younger than me, gen Z folks, they tend to search especially instructional or how to content on Tik Tok before they search it on Google. And so I've heard this anecdotally and I've seen a big response on social when I've brought this up. And when my peers have brought this up, from others, Yeah, we're searching on Tik Tok. So I will be looking out for analytics from Google and from Tik Tok about search volume, across both platforms, to sort of see if there's a trend there too.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Well, Megan, you're the social media manager. What do you think about that? Facebook? I'm gonna put you on the spot.
Megan Augustyniak: Facebook's an enigma, or meta, should I say. I, do still think there is an opportunity for Facebook. I'll speak for Northwestern Medicine, it was our first social media channel. It still to date has the largest, number of followers and for many people, it can be the first touch point of the brand. Like he was saying, if someone goes to Google and they type in hospitals in Chicago or Northwestern or Northwestern Medicine, in addition, to nwm.org, our website popping up. Facebook might be there as well. And they'll go there and they're gonna wanna see a phone number, hours.
They want to see positive and negative reviews. They may wanna look at photos. So I think what we're really identifying, this year, especially is, you know, as I mentioned earlier on the podcast here is we were taking a lot of our, what I'm putting in air quotes, but I know this terminology, but our organic content, and then also putting paid support behind that content. But what I think we're realizing is the organic content can be separate from that paid content. What we have found just kind of through trial and error is when someone, is interacting with their Facebook newsfeed, or coming to our page, the content that they're really gravitating towards is that sort of raw content.
It can be photo albums of our patients or our employees. It can be, a little quick testimonial video. this is where we also share some of our news articles, we've got a subject matter expert speaking on a super hot topic and they were featured on the today show or CNN. That's what we're really finding, is kind of the secret sauce organically. And then where we really take off on paid support content, so things that might live outside of our organic feed is the general health and wellness content that drives back to Nm.org. This is our health beat blog.
This is patient stories, our breakthroughs and care. We've also got, a podcast series ourself, that lives onm.org. So this is where, when we. Paid support behind that content. We're reaching the right audience at the right time, that's gonna make the right healthcare decision and come to Northwestern Medicine. But organically, I think we're finding there's a different way that people wanna engage with that content. And we see that and we recognize that. So I definitely think there's still a space for Facebook. but we just need to approach the different content. just a little bit differntly.
Katie Hunter: So, you know, what I would add too, is it really seems like, on Facebook we can do more on the paid ad strategy side, and also on Facebook, we're able to take users off of Facebook and onto nm.org. On Tik Tok, we don't have clickable links within organic videos. The only way to get someone off of TikTok and onto nm.org is to put, paid support behind a video, or to have them click a link in our bio, which is, you know, a little bit of friction. So Facebook is, a great place for that content where we're driving them away from Facebook into nm.org to a preferred landing page or an article.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. Which is, very much like a natural user movement on that channel. It is not so much people really aren't inclined to leave Tik Tok to go somewhere else or to leave Instagram and go somewhere else. Facebook that's a very end LinkedIn, those are link heavy social media channels. So Katie brings up a really great point there that that's where we can really feed longer form content and drive people back to our website.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, there you go. Asked and answered. Thank you so much. You two are great. This is gonna be a great webinar and we'd love to have you back on some time. Thank you so much for your time today, Katie and Megan, really insightful and informative and a lot of fun. Thank you both for your time today. We appreciate it.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. Thank you Bill. We really appreciate it too.
Katie Hunter: Thanks Bill. It was a blast.
Bill Klaproth: And you can join Katie and Megan, this August at SHSMD's online certificate series titled healthcare, social media, 2022 trends and strategies. Just go to SHSMD.org. That's S H S M D.org/education. For more information and to register today. And if you found this podcast helpful, and again, how could you not please share it on all of your social channels. And please set this subscriber follow button to get every episode. This has been a production of Dr Podcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See you.
Docs on TikTok: Mastering Clinical “Edu-tainment”
Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.
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Bill Klaproth: On this edition of the SHSMD Podcast. So is your hospital or healthcare system on Tik Tok? That's right, I said it Tik Tok. Are you thinking about it? Are you wondering about it? Is there something going, I should check into this a little bit more. Well, we're going to talk about docs on Tik Tok and mastering clinical edutainment, as we talk with Katie Hunter and Megan Augustyniak of Northwestern Medicine. Yeah, NorthwesternM edicine they're on Tik Tok. Dig it. It's pretty cool. So they're going to preview their upcoming webinar for , which is happening in August. It's all about Tik Tok. So if you're wondering, gosh, should I be on Tik Tok? And what do I do? Make sure you keep listening to this podcast and make sure you sign up for that webinar. So let's talk to Megan and Katie, right now.
This is the SHSMD Podcast, Rapid Insights, for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing communications, and public relations. I'm your host Bill Klaproth. And in this episode, we talk with Megan Augustyniak, social media manager at Northwestern Medicine and Katie Hunter, senior creative specialist at Northwestern Medicine. Join Katie and Megan, this August at SHSMD's online certificate series titled Healthcare Social Media 2022 Trends and Strategies. Just go to shsmd.Org. That's S H S M D.org/education for more information and to register now. Katie and Megan, welcome to the SHSMD Podcast. We start every episode of the SHSMD Podcast with rapid insights.
One quick tip. Someone can use to make their marketing communications better today, Katie you're up first. Give us your rapid insight.
Katie Hunter: Thank you, Bill. Thanks for having me on. So we are here to talk about Tik Tok today. So my rapid insight is about Tik Tok videos. When it comes to creating short form content for this platform, keeping your content short and simple is key. It can be really tempting, especially for healthcare marketers to work in lots of information and details about every subject that we cover. But Tik Tok is so good at serving your content to the right audience, that they will find that engaged audience who will ask those follow up questions. And this will give you a better opportunity to engage with your audience on an ongoing basis, conversationally versus trying to jam pack a lot of information into one longer.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. I love it. Keep it short and simple. Katie. Thank you for that rapid insight, Megan. You're up next, give us your rapid insight.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah, thanks Bll. my rapid insight, can apply to any of our social media channels at Northwestern Medicine. At the end of the day, people want to see themselves in our social media content. They want to know that when they come through our hospitals that they're going to be seen, heard, respected that they can trust their physicians. And so we're always striving to make that content, speak to our audience on Tik Tok and allow them to again, see themselves in the social media material. You know, if they feel like they can ask questions, if they can feel like they themselves could be a patient here. that's really what we're always trying to do with our clinical entertainment.
Bill Klaproth (host): Thank you both for your rapid insights. We appreciate it. And we're looking forward to your upcoming webinar Docs on Tik Tok, Mastering Clinical Edutainment. I love that. Katie, let me start with you. It's so good. So Northwestern Medicine, this great healthcare system you think Northwestern Medicine on Tik Tok. So you launched your Tik Tok account in April of 2021. Why did you feel that Northwestern needed to be on Tik Tok?
Katie Hunter: Right. So that tone, I just heard from you Bill, that what? Tik Tok for Northwestern Medicine? I heard a lot of that in the early days of developing our Tik Tok strategy for NM too. That's why we actually went around to our marketing organization with a, what is Tik Tok deck back in 2020. So before we pitched to the organization, the strategy for our platform and where we thought we might fit in this space, we did general information sharing with the organization about what the platform was, who was successful on it, and what video content was sort of starting to emerge from the platform.
Then about six months later, we went back to the organization and because they already had that familiarity with the platform from our first presentation, we were able to add a little bit more. So in the second presentation, we looked at the landscape, we looked at other healthcare systems and we were able to identify some major players in the space in healthcare that were starting to create accounts on the platform. So now we sort of had established the buy-in, in that our stakeholders knew what the platform was. And they saw competitors in this space. So the third time we came to them was in 2021. And that was finally with that strategy that, NM needs to be here message.
And that was primarily driven by volume on the platform. So TikTok is the fastest social media platform to reach billion users. got there faster than Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all those guys. So the volume was a big push for us in becoming a presence on the platform. Just how many users were there and then how much time users are spending on the platform every day. So we know that users spend an average of 52 minutes on Tik Tok, and that's just a huge amount of time, compared to all of our other social media apps. So those were really strong reasons why we felt like Northwestern Medicine needed to participate in the conversation that was happening on Tik Tok.
Bill Klaproth (host): Katie, it sounds like you really had to lay the groundwork then with the leaders there before getting this going, you said it took three times.
Katie Hunter: That's right. Yeah. And I find with new social media platforms and emerging platforms in general, they can be really intimidating, especially in process driven organizations like Northwestern Medicine. And so to get in front of our stakeholders multiple times with information about the platform and to sort of do it incrementally helped establish that sort of framework and safety and baseline knowledge so that we could all feel confident that there was an understanding of the platform and our role on the platform when we finally started our launch.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, it sounds like a really important first. Is to get that buy in as you mentioned. And Megan, then over the past year, you've learned to efficiently create content that inspires and educates the generation Z audience, while still conforming to those tight, big Northwestern Medicine brand standards. How have you done that?
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah, that's a great question. And we really used our existing social media channel strategy as our north star, so whenever we're developing content for any of our social media channels, we want to create something that is educational, engaging, and inspiring. But we also keep in mind that each of our social media channel, just like somebody would flip on the TV and go to any channel for different types of content. The same can be said for Tik Tok versus Instagram versus Facebook. You're not gonna go to lifetime to catch sports. You're not gonna go to the food channel to, catch a horror flick.
So we always keep that in mind when we're developing content for our social media channels. but. Always again, that underlying message that we want to engage. We want to inspire and we want to educate, we are the number one health system in Illinois. We're 10 in the country, and we have a lot to share on Tik Tok, but what Katie did a really great job of doing is laying the groundwork for who is on Tik Tok. It is a much younger audience. It's a different style of video. we as again, that number one health system in Illinois, we're not necessarily gonna be doing these super, trendy dance challenges, or anything of that nature. What's our space? What's our message?
And we realized that we have physicians that can in 30 seconds, maybe a minute, minute and a half explain something to a younger audience that they can retain as, useful knowledge, as they're considering health systems in Chicago, in Illinois, near Illinois, this can be a trusted resource for them when they're considering that healthcare options. A lot of people are. Considering their general healthcare every day, how should I be sitting at my desk? How much fiber should I be eating in a day? what does, a suns spot look like that could be cancerous? Those are just general, everyday health tips and we have the leading experts to speak to it. So that's what really helped to drive and coin our clinical edutainment phrase.
Bill Klaproth (host): I love that, clinical edutainment. That's so good. And Megan, it sounds like you really need to know your audience. This is not long form content, generation Z millennials, all of us really have shortened attention spans we're really generation Z. So it sounds like you're really building this content for them and their attention spans and what they're used to, consuming media, is that right?
Megan Augustyniak: Exactly. And you know, when we first kicked off this TikTok, we realized it was a much younger audience that, in our other social media channels, we weren't necessarily speaking to. Facebook skews much older. Instagram is starting to grow older as well. What we've actually realized in this, you know, first year is that we are on Tik Tok in addition to that gen Z audience starting to capture a slightly older audience, the millennials, I factor myself into that. So, we're now kind of, Pressed with I don't wanna say a challenge, but it's like, okay, we are still speaking to gen Z, but now we're also speaking to a larger pool of audience. So we're always keeping our thumb on the pulse with who is actually coming to Tik Tok and specifically our Tik Tok.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. And then Megan, how do you come up with the topics and what are gound rules for content for Tik Tok?
Megan Augustyniak: Another great question. We, at this point, I give props to, many of our team members. We have monthly content brainstorms and we are planning our content two to three months in advance. We're actually gonna be heading into our October content brainstorm if you can believe that. And we really carve out an hour to an hour and a half with folks from all across the marketing department. It includes Katie and myself. So we've got creative services. We've got social media. We've got communications, our media relations brand, service line. We're bringing all these different, thinkers to the table.
And within those brainstorm, we have a document in front of us that really helps to steer that conversation. So we're always keeping top of mind, our hero of service lines, cardiovascular, neuro. it could be our DNI efforts or community efforts, neuro, being one of them again. So we. kick off our brainstorms with that, what's happening in that space. What's trending in that month? What are some things that we really need to pay attention to? Again, I'll use October as the example, we know that October, in the oncology space is gonna be huge for breast cancer awareness month.
So we kick off our brainstorms with that. we've got a lot of existing content that we can leverage, but we also use this opportunity to think of new content. We then go into, kind of a tier two bracket in our brainstorm, and that's gonna be more of the topical and trending, for better or worse. Is there a COVID 19 surge? Should we be encouraging people to get flu vaccines? Is it back to school or the holidays? Changing in weather? so we're always, making sure that in addition to the health topics, that we're also speaking to the everyday topics.
we use this as a very free flowing opportunity to share ideas. But as we're thinking through those ideas. So if say, we're talking about COVID 19 and say there's a fifth rollout of the vaccine and it's the third booster, what content are we going to be either creating or repurposing? But what helps to keep us within those guardrails is our social media channel strategy, engaging, inspiring, entertaining. What experts can we leverage within Northwestern Medicine, can we drive back to, any of our sources, whether it's the, the website or our blog or to an existing video? What makes us uniquely qualified to talk about this? And so we're always keeping that in the back of our mind, as we're throwing out idea.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, I love. That, paying attention to the hero service lines, and then putting that, did you say it's a, monthly planning session? Is that what you said, Megan? Or is that
Megan Katie: weekly?
Megan Augustyniak: It is. No, it's a monthly planning session. And so again, in the month of July, we are going to be meeting next week to talk about October. So we're always planning a few months ahead. and we carve out good solid, hour, hour and a half to think through what content we're gonna support for that month.
Bill Klaproth (host): Absolutely. And then Katie, Megan mentioned leveraging existing content. How do you fold that into all of this?
Katie Hunter: That's right. So the brainstorm is sort of this like great meeting of the minds where everybody comes together and thinks through ideas for the upcoming month prioritized kind of how Megan laid it out. So after that brainstorm is when we go away to do the creative work. So sometimes this involves creating something, brand new with our team of shooters, editors, graphic designers, and copywriters. Sometimes this means repurposing existing content that we've already created. And sometimes that means, 360 in content from one platform to another. So on the creative side at Northwestern medicine, I said on the creative team, a priority for us is 360.
And I put that in quotes, all of our content that we create. So if we have a big shoot for a video, we want to also take stills. We want to use that footage on our. Different channels in a bunch of different ways, specific to the right tone and voice for that platform. we wanna really be able to get the most mileage out of all of the production work that we're putting in to create our content, and then be able to sort of use it on all these different platforms, in the most appropriate way with the most appropriate tone and voice. So whenever we're shooting something for Facebook, we are thinking, how can we use this on Instagram or on Tik Tok?
And specifically a really great example of how we've done. This is with our, ask me anything content for Instagram. So ask me anything was a show that I pitched when I, came to support the social media team from a creative perspective, and it involved bringing our physicians into an Instagram story setting to take live questions or in realtime questions from our followers on Instagram. We used the open ended question sticker to facilitate this and that stickers really great because it also anonymizes the responses. So we're able to respond to questions without giving. Patient information in a public Instagram story. So these shoots were going great for us.
We were doing this programming for about a year and a half before we came to Tik Tok. And when we launched our Tik Tok channel, we thought this would be a great opportunity to repurpose a lot of that. Ask me anything content. So now when we shoot and ask me anything, Instagram story, for Instagram, we're also taking all that footage from that shoot and creating three to seven extra videos for Tik Tok. And in that way, we're sort of creating an ecosystem where all of our content is able to be used in multiple ways, but always with that specific, correct tone, depending on the social channel
Megan Augustyniak: Work smarter, not harder, right?
Bill Klaproth (host): That's right. That ecosystem of content. You're just watering it and it's growing. I love it.
Katie Hunter: That's right, that's our garden.
Bill Klaproth (host): Katie, you used an interesting term when you said I pitched a show. Do you look at your marketing efforts or your social media efforts like it's a show like it's a production? I've never heard anybody say, Hey, I pitched a show for Instagram.
Katie Hunter: That's right. Yeah. So a lot of the work that me and, the creative directors Anne Gelfer and Anne Sedgwick at Northwestern medicine have been doing here is creating serialized and programmatic content for our social media channels. So this involves creating Programs that our viewers can return to and get used to seeing for all our social platforms. A great example is our Inside the OR program, which runs for Facebook and YouTube. This is a three to four minute surgery reality show where we really take viewers inside the operating room for variety of different life saving procedures, that run the gamut from fixing a hip, which is a procedure that everybody might have it some time in their life to these really technical and complex, brain surgeries.
We think about all of our content for social in sort of a couple buckets. We have our programs, our serialized content, like Inside the OR, like Ask Me Anything, that our viewers can expect to see from us on a regular basis and viewership on that successful programming really our baseline viewership. Then we also have one off ideas on a monthly basis that come outta that brainstorm or maybe ideas that are a little bit bigger and should be serialized and turned into programs. And then we also have just in time content, this is stuff that, maybe we need to release a message to our followers in the next couple days, there's a trending news story that involves us, things like this. Those are sort of our three buckets just in time, serialized or programmatic content. And then the sort of like one off monthly content.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, it's interesting how you'll look at this. I love it. It's really cool. So then back tot Tik Tok again, how do you optimize and adjust? What do you look at and go, okay. We get it on that better. Or. Hey, let's do this next time, and I think we'll get better conversion. How do you do that?
Katie Hunter: So what was really interesting was, when we started on Tik Tok, we were posting all of our videos to both Instagram reels and to Tik Tok. And what we learned pretty quickly was a high performing video on Tik Tok did not translate directly to a high performing, video on Instagram reels. The audiences on these two platforms were different and their preferences when it came to the type of content, the length of content and even the style of that content, they vary from app to app. And so what we try to do, with Tik Tok is, follow it really closely. I spend a lot of time on the app, looking at trends that have to do with style and voice, not just, trending sounds or dance moves or memes.
But truly like where we're picking up on this casual post aesthetic, that's taking over all of our social platforms, even Instagram, where users are, they tend to post something that looks a little bit less edited or a little bit less constructed. So, guess it all comes back to sort of speaking the right voice for that platform. And when it comes to Tik Tok and I like to, talk about it next to Instagram, because the style is so different. Tik Tok really is. Fast casual, informative, short form video, whereas Instagram, you know, it's changing slowly, but it still tends to be the more put together, buttoned up content that's a little bit more formal, a little bit more planned.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, that's really interesting how you're following the trends, because it sounds like you don't wanna be perceived as outdated on Tik Tok. You said the casual post is kind of the way things are moving that fast casual. So you want your, Tik Tok content to mirror that is that right?
Katie Hunter: Yeah, that's really where the clinical edutainment piece comes in. Right. So Tik Tok is the best social media platform in the game, in my, opinion because of the For You page. This is the homepage for Tik Tok. It's where users automatically wind up when they download the app. And this is a page that's specifically designed based on your preferences individually, to show you videos that are right for you. When it comes to the For You page, it's one of the only user interfaces that allows for negative feedback. So on Facebook, you can like something, you can heart something, you can react with a care.
You have a few reaction options, but Tik Tok, I can swipe away from a video and give it that negative, response. So in capturing that user behavior, TikTok is able to refine the customization of their For You algorithm for each individual user. A lot better than the other social platforms. So what does all this mean for healthcare providers that are creating content for Tik Tok? This means if you're not speaking the right language, or if you don't look right, you don't have the right style for the platform, a user will swipe away really quickly. speaking that right language becomes even more important in an environment like Tik Tok, where that swipe away negative feedback is so quick and easy to do. And that algorithm is so highly and uniquely, tailored to each individual user.
Bill Klaproth (host): This is a really great. So thank you for sharing all of this. Let me ask you this. Should everyone consider being on Tik Tok? When is it right for someone to be on Tik Tok? You obviously know these, platforms in and out. You're talking about, well, Instagram is different than Tik Tok and this way sounds like you really gotta live and breathe these platforms. So you really understand them. Some health systems, hospitals might not have the time for that, who should be on Tik Tok as far as the, the healthcare space?
Katie Hunter: Yeah. Well, you know, like Megan was saying, we treat each of our social platforms, like a TV network, right. So you wouldn't go to lifetime to see sports . I don't think a brand should be on Tik Tok if they're not able to find that sort of, correct tone for the platform. you have to be able to bring a little bit of humor, smile to your posts on that platform. Although we, don't say funny, but clever maybe, we don't really like people who don't have a sense of humor about themselves. So why would we like a brand who doesn't have a sense of humor? So it's important on Tik Tok, to seem, authentic and to seem real.
And really, I think with looking at Tik Tok's growth over the past two or three years, looking at, developments related to search on Tik Tok, I really think every brand should be on Tik Tok just because. Where the users are at this point. Yeah. And we see from the user behavior, they're asking us questions, they're tagging us in videos, and we wouldn't be around to do that community management and that great customer service if we weren't on the platform.
Megan Augustyniak: I totally agree with everything Katie said, you know, any brand, can be on any social media channel as long as they, Belong and act like they should be at the party. I'm putting that in air quotes. We've seen, organizations outside of healthcare where it's, taking content and, putting it here, here, here, here, here. And it's all the same. but what they fail to recognize is that the user experience and the audience and the consumption is entirely different. And you know what Katie and team have really done a nice job with Tik Tok is again, really making this content specifically for that channel.
So again, Any health system, any hospital, any other organization, it can be something a little bit more, buttoned up and conservative like healthcare or even, way outside the box. Everyone deserves a space to be on, the social media channels and Tik Tok specifically. But it really requires deep reflection and a dive into like who we're going to be on this channel. And, making changes to our content if we find that, okay, maybe our audience doesn't like that, we certainly don't wanna get into a habit of just speaking to ourselves where we're speaking to an audience. So, as long as, health system or organization thinks about that, anyone can play.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Megan, that's a great point about one post. And here, here, here, here, it's just, it's the identical post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and that's really not the right way to do it, is it?
Megan Augustyniak: No. And I'm looking to Katie as I say this, but I take a lot of pride in, the structure of our social media team and how we really have developed content specifically for each of our social media channels. What you're gonna get on Instagram is not gonna be the same on Facebook is not gonna be the same on LinkedIn or Tik Tok, but you know, it's coming from Northwestern Medicine. We take a lot of pride in that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. So as we're talking about this, and we're thinking about Northwestern Medicine, when you talk about top health care brands in the country, and when I said Northwestern Medicine on Tik Tok? Why is it important to reach 17 year olds when we think of healthcare? I'm trying to get the person that needs the colonoscopy or has got, you know, a heart attack. Why are you trying to reach 17 and 18 year old?
Katie Hunter: Well Bill, the thing about 17 and 18 year olds is hopefully they're gonna get older and they'll age eventually. So what we are able to do on Tik Tok by speaking to the gen Z demographic is understanding their content preferences the way they like to be talked to, and the way they like to learn, early on. Right. We also know that 50% of gen Z does not have a primary care physician. So that's a huge opportunity to bring them into our healthcare system, whether that's through urgent care, whether that's through primary care, just letting them know, Hey, as you're an adult seeking adult medicine for the first time in your life, we're here. And hopefully they'll begin that journey with us and stick with us as they grow their families. And as they age into some of our other social channels.
Megan Augustyniak: If those are even still around when gen Z is 40. Yeah.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Well, when you think about it, Facebook is for older people and you said Instagram is starting to age a little bit. And of course Tik Tok is the hot thing, like, what's next? Thank you. Imagine Tik Tok and 10 or 15 years being, oh, that's where the older people are.
Katie Hunter: Well, have you heard about Be Real yet Bill?
Bill Klaproth (host): No, I haven't. What is that?
Katie Hunter: That's the next one.
Bill Klaproth (host): Is that what's next?
Katie Hunter: That's next. In my opinion, Be Real's next, that's what I'm seeing activity around. Although Clubhouse looked like it was gonna take off for a while and then it fizzled, so we will have to see.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, so what is Be Real?
Katie Hunter: Be Real is really fascinating. So I talked about the casual post trend, right? Like gen Z is moving away from these really stylized, like aesthetic posts and more towards the like photo dump, really casual. So Be Real is an app designed to facilitate that casual authenticity, the app. randomly sends you a notification at any time during the day, and you have two minutes to take a photo. It takes a photo simultaneously on your front camera and back camera at the same time. and you only have two minutes to do this, so you have to take a picture wherever you are.
So if it pinged me right now, I'd be like, okay, well, I'm recording the podcast with Bill and Megan and I'd take my picture and post it. Yeah. You can only see other users posts. If you post on Be Real. Yeah. So very interesting. most of the people that I see on the platform right now are in that gen Z category, maybe gen alpha, too. I don't know, very young, but it's emerging and it's got some interesting functionality.
Megan Augustyniak: That could be, I mean, not to derail our conversation here, but that could be really interesting for Northwestern Medicine. You know, like, what talk about Inside the OR, or, I mean, right. It'd be pretty cool. So yeah, maybe we'll have another podcast, you know, this time next year, Bill.
Bill Klaproth (host): Wow. I love. Yes, please. I'm all in. All right. You heard it here first with Megan and Katie. All right. So final thoughts. This is gonna be a great webinar, Docs on Tik Tok, mastering clinical edutainment. Final thoughts, Megan, let's start with you. Anything you wanna talk about? Tik Tok social media? The floor is yours.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. So, I mean, we, now got a year and some change under our belt on Tik Tok and we've really uncovered some really awesome learnings. We've identified who our audiences, how quickly can we turn around content? What are some of, you know, the obstacles that we need to overcome? What are the trends that we should be exploring? Should we continue doing this or abandon that? So we're really excited for where Northwestern medicine is going, into the next, you know, fiscal year and calendar year. Just as a kind of a sneak peek in what we'll be sharing on our webinar too, is some of the new content that we're gonna be exploring that other health systems could also consider, we're gonna be exploring some paid support.
So boosting our content, really trying to feed that For You page. And really, I think what I'm most excited about. Trying to tap into what we call our UGC or user generated content. Katie has, done a great job of developing custom content for this account. But now that we've established ourselves on this channel, people know to find us on Tik Tok. And so they're sharing their experiences, whether they. Work here, or they're a patient here or a caregiver here, they're sharing what it's like to be a phlebotomist for a day or what it's like to undergo a mammogram for the first time.
So we're looking for ways to quickly repurpose that and support our really successful UDC efforts. So that's gonna be an exciting thing for us, heading into the new year and we're excited to tease that out and share it with the other folks, in our webinar in August. So more to come on that.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah, Megan, thank you for sharing that and for giving us some insight on the webinar, coming up in August. I know it's gonna be fantastic. Final thoughts from you, Katie.
Katie Hunter: Yeah, for sure. I guess final thoughts on Tik Tok. I would encourage folks to think about Tik Tok as that top of funnel discoverability, social media platform for you. And what's really important about Tik Tok is it's the only social platform that does not make you pay big bucks to get in front of that new audience and an audience that's like highly primed to like your content. That's really the value of Tik Tok. And once you can sort of convince, folks on that vision, like this is our discoverability channel, this is our place to reach new audience that aren't following us on any other platforms yet, and explain that value of the For You page that sort of helps, folks to see the value of a Tik Tok presence for especially a healthcare brand.
Bill Klaproth (host): Yeah. Really interesting. Okay. One more question. Sorry. As you both finishing up. I'm sorry. More questions. So obviously very excited about Tik Tok is F,acebook really viable still? You know, when you were saying with Tik Tok, it doesn't cost you a lot of money with Facebook. If you're not paying, you're really not playing because organic reach is so low. Is Facebook still viable for you? What's your crystal ball for Facebook in the future? Katie, we'll start with you.
Katie Hunter: Well, you know, like I said, I'm spending most of my time on Tik Tok these days and Facebook is a part of the conversation, but more interesting is Google. So I've noticed in my user behavior and also in, folks younger than me, gen Z folks, they tend to search especially instructional or how to content on Tik Tok before they search it on Google. And so I've heard this anecdotally and I've seen a big response on social when I've brought this up. And when my peers have brought this up, from others, Yeah, we're searching on Tik Tok. So I will be looking out for analytics from Google and from Tik Tok about search volume, across both platforms, to sort of see if there's a trend there too.
Bill Klaproth (host): Right. Well, Megan, you're the social media manager. What do you think about that? Facebook? I'm gonna put you on the spot.
Megan Augustyniak: Facebook's an enigma, or meta, should I say. I, do still think there is an opportunity for Facebook. I'll speak for Northwestern Medicine, it was our first social media channel. It still to date has the largest, number of followers and for many people, it can be the first touch point of the brand. Like he was saying, if someone goes to Google and they type in hospitals in Chicago or Northwestern or Northwestern Medicine, in addition, to nwm.org, our website popping up. Facebook might be there as well. And they'll go there and they're gonna wanna see a phone number, hours.
They want to see positive and negative reviews. They may wanna look at photos. So I think what we're really identifying, this year, especially is, you know, as I mentioned earlier on the podcast here is we were taking a lot of our, what I'm putting in air quotes, but I know this terminology, but our organic content, and then also putting paid support behind that content. But what I think we're realizing is the organic content can be separate from that paid content. What we have found just kind of through trial and error is when someone, is interacting with their Facebook newsfeed, or coming to our page, the content that they're really gravitating towards is that sort of raw content.
It can be photo albums of our patients or our employees. It can be, a little quick testimonial video. this is where we also share some of our news articles, we've got a subject matter expert speaking on a super hot topic and they were featured on the today show or CNN. That's what we're really finding, is kind of the secret sauce organically. And then where we really take off on paid support content, so things that might live outside of our organic feed is the general health and wellness content that drives back to Nm.org. This is our health beat blog.
This is patient stories, our breakthroughs and care. We've also got, a podcast series ourself, that lives onm.org. So this is where, when we. Paid support behind that content. We're reaching the right audience at the right time, that's gonna make the right healthcare decision and come to Northwestern Medicine. But organically, I think we're finding there's a different way that people wanna engage with that content. And we see that and we recognize that. So I definitely think there's still a space for Facebook. but we just need to approach the different content. just a little bit differntly.
Katie Hunter: So, you know, what I would add too, is it really seems like, on Facebook we can do more on the paid ad strategy side, and also on Facebook, we're able to take users off of Facebook and onto nm.org. On Tik Tok, we don't have clickable links within organic videos. The only way to get someone off of TikTok and onto nm.org is to put, paid support behind a video, or to have them click a link in our bio, which is, you know, a little bit of friction. So Facebook is, a great place for that content where we're driving them away from Facebook into nm.org to a preferred landing page or an article.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. Which is, very much like a natural user movement on that channel. It is not so much people really aren't inclined to leave Tik Tok to go somewhere else or to leave Instagram and go somewhere else. Facebook that's a very end LinkedIn, those are link heavy social media channels. So Katie brings up a really great point there that that's where we can really feed longer form content and drive people back to our website.
Bill Klaproth (host): Well, there you go. Asked and answered. Thank you so much. You two are great. This is gonna be a great webinar and we'd love to have you back on some time. Thank you so much for your time today, Katie and Megan, really insightful and informative and a lot of fun. Thank you both for your time today. We appreciate it.
Megan Augustyniak: Yeah. Thank you Bill. We really appreciate it too.
Katie Hunter: Thanks Bill. It was a blast.
Bill Klaproth: And you can join Katie and Megan, this August at SHSMD's online certificate series titled healthcare, social media, 2022 trends and strategies. Just go to SHSMD.org. That's S H S M D.org/education. For more information and to register today. And if you found this podcast helpful, and again, how could you not please share it on all of your social channels. And please set this subscriber follow button to get every episode. This has been a production of Dr Podcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See you.