Facebook’s Organ Donor Initiative and Your Healthcare Organization

As someone in healthcare, you know it's no secret there is a shortage of organ donors. If you have a service line which specializes in transplants, the new Facebook organ donor initiative is a great reason to interact with your followers on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

For more information on the Facebook organ donor program, watch BlueSpire's Interactive Marketing Strategist Jason Douglas cover the topic on KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate for the Twin Cities. The program introduced this week is a push to help the 112,000 Americans currently waiting for organs. By the end of the first day 100,000+ users had declared themselves donors.

Although many companies are slow to get into social media, it's not just fun and games. Social media can help you not only interact with your target demographic, but also raise awareness on important issues.

Here are 5 ways you could promote your healthcare organization’s offerings and mission on Facebook, focusing on the organ donor status initiative:

• Include instructions on your page that help people sign up for your state’s donor program.
• Post instructions and encouragement for fans to update their status.
• Share stories about transplant patients who have benefited from a donor’s organ on your Facebook page, including quotes from doctors and other hospital staff (all in good HIPAA compliance of course).
• Use your other social media profiles like Twitter and YouTube to spread your stories and encouragement for people to become donors and change their Facebook statuses.
• Host a day on your page and other social media profiles where you encourage people to change their status.