Social Media Ambassador
Guidelines and Procedures
Goals
Why do this? Our mission is to help as many people as possible receive the treatment and care they need, as well as keeping alumni, current family members of loved ones in treatment, and community members engaged about what the facility is doing currently. These are just some of the goals that social media provides and you’re helping us to achieve by being an active Social Media Ambassador:- For those searching for a treatment facility: Searching for a treatment facility when you or your family is in crisis is stressful and it’s difficult to choose the right one. Social media is wonderful in being able to give searchers a peak behind the curtain to see what life will be like in treatment, the personality of the staff and facility, and to help validate that what we say on our website, brochures, and in meetings is true.
- For those with loved ones in treatment: Family care and are comforted by seeing what is happening at the facility while their loved one is in treatment and they aren’t able to see them.
- For alumni: When you’ve had a positive treatment experience, you want to stay connected and alumni can also help spread the word of the care and compassion they received while in treatment.
- For clinical partners: Clinical partners refer to programs who have great reputations, who can help their clients, and who they know. You’re helping them get to better know the facility and the team by the work you’re doing and what you’re sharing so they feel comfortable that your facility can help their clients when they need it.
Before we go further, we want to point out what the Employee Handbook says regarding social media. You’ve seen this before, but it may have been a while.
As a Social Media Ambassador, you are charged with sharing on your facility’s social accounts so, #1 won’t apply to you in the same way if your posting about your facility, on your facility’s social accounts,through the Social Media Ambassador program’s posting process.All of the rest still apply!
Any questions? Just ask!
Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare respects the right of any employee to maintain a blog or web page or to participate in social networking, Twitter, or similar site, including but not limited to Facebook and LinkedIn. However, to protect Company interests and ensure employees focus on their job duties, employees must adhere to the following rules:
- Employees may not post on a blog or web page or participate on a social networking, Twitter, or similar site during working time or at any time with Company equipment or property.
- All company rules regarding confidential and proprietary business information apply in full to blogs, web pages, social networking, Twitter, and similar sites. Company information that can’t be in a post through a conversation, a note, or an e-mail; also shouldn’t be disclosed in a blog, web page, social networking, Twitter, or similar site.
- If an employee posts something on their blog, web page, social media, or a similar site, and if the employee mentions the Company and expresses either a political opinion or an opinion regarding the Company’s actions, the poster must include a disclaimer. The employee posting should state that the opinion expressed is their personal opinion. This rule is necessary to preserve the Company’s goodwill in the marketplace.
- Posted content on social media accounts that is discriminatory, obscene, defamatory, libelous, or threatening is forbidden. Company policies apply equally to employee social media usage.
- Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare encourages all employees to keep in mind the speed and manner in which information posted on a blog and social media is received and often misunderstood by readers. Employees must use their best judgment when posting for Odyssey Brands and their accounts. Employees with questions should review the guidelines above and consult with their manager for more clarity. Failure to follow these guidelines may result in discipline, including termination.
We manage over 50 different social accounts and after a few years we’ve found a few best practices we think will help you keep your posts engaging, easy to read, and on brand.
- Personalize posts to your facility and be creative:
Your followers are looking for a connection and content specific to your facility. Stick away from generic posts and instead post something happening there. (example: Instead of a post saying Happy Holidays, share a photo of decorations, activities, art, or something that shows how it was celebrated there.) - Variety:
Share exclusive content that people following won’t get from other pages that are similar andmake the content fun and creative. (example: Don’t post only activity or art photos. Mix up the subject matter in your content or do a mixture of photos and videos to share it in different ways.) - Captions and Tagging:
Keep captions to the point and always proofread! Tag your location on posts and tag other accounts if the post involves other facilities or places your visiting so they can share the content with their followers. Use hashtags that are relevant and trending to help more people see you posts. - Frequency and Time of Day:
We’ve found that posting 2-3 times a week is great and recommend scheduling posts on Monday through Friday during the day (weekends and evenings don’t get as much engagement). - HIPAA:
Stay HIPAA compliant and don’t share anything that identifies a client or shares PHI if the reader zooms into a photo (example: faces, tattoos, computer screens, etc).
Need an idea? Here are a few ideas for posts.
- Testimonial Tuesday: Pick a 5-star reviews on Google for your facility.
- Staff Spotlights: Highlight a new hir, an employee who is doing outstanding work, or if someone was promoted into a new role.
- What’s happening at the facility: Artwork, chili cook off, goat yoga, costume party etc)
- Holiday Celebrations: How the facility or community is celebrating.
- Observations: Mental Health Awareness Day, Pride Month, Women’s Health.
Odyssey will share upcoming, relevant national or global observation days, weeks, or months with you throughout the year, so you’ll know what to plan for. Have one your facility is celebrating that we don’t have on our list? Let us know!
Stay on Brand
Each brand has their own logos colors, and fonts. Stay consistent and on brand by using the right ones when creating in Canva.
The logos, colors, and fonts are listed on this handy page we built for you in Canva: https://www.canva.com/brand (Create a free Canva account to access)
Recommended Image Sizes
Each social media platform has different recommended image dimensions, so the pictures are clear. They will typically resize images for you, but photos may not be as clear as a result.
- Here’s a link to a handy image size guide: https://bit.ly/3Cz8EOu
- Instagram image dimensions are best to use across all platforms.
- Creating a graphic in Canva with specific dimensions will make easy to save and use for all platforms
- The marketing team has templates available in Canva for posts that we will share with you so it’s easy to keep the social accounts clean, organized, and all flowing together.
- Make sure you setup a free Canva account to view and edit these templates
HIPAA Imagery Guidelines
HIPAA was created several years before social media was, so there are no specific HIPAA social media rules. However, as with all healthcare-related communications, the HIPAA Privacy Rule applies whenever covered entities, business associates, or employees use social media networks.
There are many benefits to be gained from using social media. Social media networks allow us to interact with patients and their loved ones and get them more involved with the facility. Facilities can quickly and easily communicate messages and provide information about new services. Facilities can attract new patients via social media networks. However, there is also considerable potential for HIPAA rules and patient privacy to be violated on social media networks.
IMPORTANT:The HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibits the disclosure of any text about specific patients and images or videos that could result in a patient being recognized.
Before sharing a photos, check to be sure:
- There are no faces of clients: Blur them out if so
- Make sure distinct hair, tattoos, or other features can’t give a person’s identity away
- Be socially conscious about all pictures taken inside the facility
- Make sure stock images being used promote inclusivity (race, gender, different features, etc)
Sharing Links
It’s important to share links to content you’re referencing or to a specific page on your website that you want followers to visit.
- LinkedIn and Facebook: If you want to provide a link on either platform, the link will be clickable
- Instagram: They won’t allow links to be clickable but still provide them for your followers
- To shorten your link: Shorten links so they stay visible in your captions by visiting bitly.com to generate a new shorter link for you to use in your post
TL;DR
We get it. Lot to read. While we’ve provided more depth on many subjects for you, if you’re wanting to get started quickly, here are the cliff notes.Best Practices:
- Personalize posts to your facility and be creative vs generic
- Variety is the spice of life
- Keep captions short, tag as appropriate, and proofread!
- Schedule posts during the work week and during the day
- HIPAA: Don’t share anything that identifies a client or PHI.
Ideas of Content to Post (also ask us about ideas too!)
- Staff Spotlight
- Testimonial Tuesday
- Holiday Events happening at the facility
- Any content from events happening at the facility
- Observations such as Mental Health Awareness Day
Graphics, Branding, and Links
- Make sure graphics are the correct posting size (handy guide: https://bit.ly/3Cz8EOu)
- Stay on brand(the right logo, colors, and fonts)
- Share links to relevant content and to pages on your facility’s website
Comments
- Marketing can help hide/block spammers or those posting inappropriate content
- Are there productive things to be learned from negative comments?
