6 Easy Peasy Ways to Tell your Online Story

Stories matter. Especially in health care. Let’s take a look at how you can tell your stories digitally.

Because sharing who you really are, deep down to the core, and exposing your vulnerabilities is the key ingredient to creating connections.

1. Gather ‘happy ending’ stories. Coach employees to share and listen to stories whenever they’re communicating with patients. Then turn those encounters into brief patient stories that illustrate your brand’s values. For example, stories of how you’ve welcomed patients, or managed patients’ belongings—any story that ends up with things going well for the patient.

2. Use your stories to create patient-story-based blogs. Set a goal to post one story a week. Within the content, include a Twitter hyperlink or a sidebar that says, “Tweet This.”

3. Create a Pinterest pinboard with patient pictures and stories. The great thing about Pinterest is that the “main character” in the story is the real star. Your organization seems to take a back seat, but your values shine through.

4. Twitter each story’s headline or key message, then link followers to its blog or pinboard. If a story is on-going, be sure to keep everyone posted.

5. If a patient posts a complaint on your Facebook page, don’t avoid it—use it. This could actually be a great opportunity to support your brand. Use this as the beginning of a story your followers can witness as it unfolds. Do whatever you can—as soon as you can—to turn that conflict into a story with a happy ending.

6. Create an internal Facebook site where employees can share inspiring stories about their experiences with patients. Sharing patient successes goes a long way to deepen internal branding for your employees. That means they’re more likely to live the brand when dealing with your patients.

Share personally-engaging stories with your readers—and help them feel for themselves what your brand is really about.