eHealth 2014

Interacting with professionals and public via social platformsThe experience of the Sri Lanka Medical Association

Dr Rikaz SheriffMedical Officer in Health Informatics, PDHS, Western Province

Council Member, Sri Lanka Medical Association 2

3

4

Outline

• The existing situation in 2012• Setting up the online platform• Methodology• Results via analytics• Conclusions• Recommendations• Future plans

5

Existing situation in Late ‘11

• Website www.slma.lk• Official Email• No Social Media• No Mailing List• SLMA Newsletter was printed & distributed• CMJ was online via SLJOL

6

Starting small. Thinking BIG.

• Planning in advance.• Build a team.• Minute everything.• Think of a comprehensive online cover.

7

“But is it in line with SLMA policy?”

• SLMA Corporate Plan 2009-2012– Objective 3: Promote professionalism, good medical

practice and ethical conduct among doctors.– Objective 5: Provide opportunities for continuous

professional development…– Objective 7: Educate the public on health related

issues– Objective 8: Enhance closer professional and

scientific links between medical and professionals allied to health care

8

“Would anyone use this?”

85

15

7

Total PopulationInternet PenetrationFacebook Users

9

Setting it up

• Email Mailing List• Website• Abstract Management System• Payment Gateway• Facebook• YouTube• Online SLMA Newsletter on ISSUU• Recent Innovation: Twitter SMS + DropBox

10

News from SLMA & Others

Ratified by SLMA

Uploaded to website

Link tracking software

Social media publishing

Bulletin Production

Bulletin Moderation

Bulletin Publication

Production Cycle

11

Facebook + Twitter

• The information was then posted to Facebook.

• Posting policy was at least seven per week.• All forms of inquiry aside from advertising and

‘colorful’ comments were welcome.• Scheduled posting.• We currently have 12,500+ fans on Facebook.• Twitter SMS

12Facebook Page

13

Source: www.socialbakers.com

14

YouTube

• A mixture of educational videos and mini documentaries.

• Since producing, editing and uploading videos is time intensive we have posted infrequently.

• Requires knowledge in video editing.• Also requires a camera and tripod!• YouTube links were posted via email.• We have around 45 subscribers and 10,000

views.

15

16

General Analytics

• The increase in memberships.• The increase in email subscribers.• The web view count per article.• Amount of visits to website.

17

Link tracking

• Platform used Bitly.com• Free link tracking service• Will track time, source and location of clicks

from the Bit link• Useful in tracking in how many views actually

converted to clicks ( = increased interest)

18A snapshot of Bitly analytics

19

Facebook Analytics

• Once again gives excellent insights into both general demographics and particular posts

• As of September 2014– 90+ % of fans were from Sri Lanka– City wise Colombo were more than Kandy users for

example– Male:Female ratio was 2:1– 90% of users were below 35 years of age.– Through the 12000 fans we can reach 1 million users.

20Facebook’s various analytic tools

21

YouTube

• Despite the lack of videos Google’s analytic engine can deliver very precise stats.

• From our video views we learn:– That 75% of views were from Sri Lanka– Male: Female ratio was 3:1– The average viewer was above 35 years of age– Access was 75% by desktop and 15%from mobile

22

Social posting frequency vs. reach

01/07/2

013

29/07/2

013

26/08/2

013

23/09/2

013

21/10/2

013

18/11/2

013

16/12/2

013

13/01/2

014

10/02/2

014

10/03/2

014

07/04/2

014

05/05/2

014

02/06/2

014

30/06/2

0140

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

23

Time of day vs. Reach

Morning Noon Night0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

24

Is this reaching Sri Lankans?

Year 2013 Year 20140

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

25

Views by category

General Administration Medicine Obs & Gyn Paediatrics Public Health Surgery0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

26

SLMA posts vs. Non SLMA

SLMA Non SLMA0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

27

Click conversion from Email & Social to Website

Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14

Email 376 2031 2444 952 1196 1120 904

Social 162 199 183 42 60 100 73

Organic / Other 11765 12722 10997 4802 4405 5339 4159

1000

3000

5000

7000

9000

11000

13000

Axis Title

Disruption in email service

28

Social Activism

29

Customer feedback

30

+ve effects

• 8,000 + Email List.• 12,500 + Followers on Facebook.• 10,000 + Views on YouTube.• Better than average attendance in workshops.• Increasing attendance at a scientific sessions.• Improving membership numbers.

31

Conclusions

• The social channel and especially the email channel seem to be directly associated with web traffic

• The posts were fairly well viewed whatever the discipline

• The views were improved when looking at Non SLMA news items rather than SLMA news items

• The social media channel has achieved its objective in being a public arm of the SLMA

32

Recommendations• Building rapport with the professionals and public

should be in your corporate objectives.• Your annual budget should have a place for IT &

Social Media• A social media plan should include a top notch

website and very reliable email solution. Think about how you can get your membership to utilize these channels.

• Hire a person competent in IT in your staff.• Have council members responsible for the IT side of

things.

33

Recommendations

• Train your in-house staff in social media & bulletin and better yet hire a company to do it for you.

• Have a clear email and social media policy• Use the analytic tools to the fullest• Learn how to use your smartphone to keep track of

all your emails and social media activity.• Have fun! After all its social media!

34

Future Plans

• Online CPD• Streaming Lectures

35

My thanks to…• Prof Vajira for breaking the dam.• Dr BJC Perera and Dr Palitha Abeykoon for

regulating the flood.• SLMA secretaries Dr Lasantha, Dr Samanmali

and Dr Ruvaiz • Deepal Wijesooriya and Prasad Ranatunga for

social team work.• SLMA Staff for sending the news on time.• UniverSL Software for dedicated bulletin

work.• Allah (swt) without which nothing is possible.