PRESS RELEASES

Vancouver, August 19, 2021— As Louisiana experiences the worst outbreak of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the USA, Hootsuite has enabled its largest non-profit, academic, healthcare system, Ochsner Health, to implement a comprehensive social media strategy, drive the dissemination of critical COVID-19 related information, and curb misinformation.

With the state averaging more than 4,300 new COVID-19 cases per day, the organization is finding meaningful and engaging ways to reach new audiences with critical messages related to COVID-19 by engaging its health care professionals directly on social media. Through a strategy powered by social intelligence, the healthcare system is showing its human side to boost brand awareness and has garnered a 129% year-on-year increase in social media engagement.

Today, more people get their news from social media than from newspapers. For those aged 29 and under, social media is the most common source of news, topping all other information sources—making social the key place to share healthcare-related information, according to Hootsuite.

“There are now 4.48 billion social media users around the world,” said Hootsuite CMO, Maggie Lower. “Social is the key to raising public awareness about prominent health concerns such as the COVID-19 pandemic and imperative to scaling information to reach diverse groups of people. Through the use of Hootsuite’s most powerful tools, Ochsner Health has been able to educate the people of Louisiana in the most effective way possible.”

Ochsner Health used Hootsuite’s integration with Talkwalker to quickly find and respond to conversations on social media, tracking both positive and negative sentiment and spotting critical comments on social at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

“Globally, one in four of us goes online to find answers to healthcare questions every week,” said Simon Kemp, analyst and author of Hootsuite and We Are Social's Digital in 2021 Reports. “As the world becomes increasingly reliant on channels like social media for everyday health advice, those health authorities that are building their social media strategies around education are already one step ahead.”

“We can be much more proactive and preventative in our approach to healthcare on social media,” said Melinda Daffin, Manager of Digital Content, Ochsner Health.“We know that content that comes from a real person is more authentic, so we’re featuring a greater number of employees in our storytelling. You can see a lot of people saying negative things on social media, but they tend not to respond negatively to a nurse.”

“Hootsuite allows us to respond quickly to rapidly evolving narratives on social media through trusted medical experts,” added Katherine Staiano, Director of Digital Content at Ochsner Health.” With their tools, we can take to Facebook Live to address a new rumor, and release content based on solid, factual data.”

To drive authenticity in its communications and share important vaccine-related information, the healthcare authority used Hootsuite Amplify to harness the power of employees who were already active and engaged on social media—leading to 80% brand awareness across Louisiana.

Today, Ochsner Health has 431 ambassadors representing employees from across the organization and has 86% activation among brand ambassadors, enabling the health authority to reach a larger cross-section of its growing audience on social media.

Amid the fourth wave of the pandemic, Ochsner Health is analyzing audience insights via Hootsuite Impact to hone its messaging and create more effective content. By showcasing its human side at a critical time, Ochsner Health has been able to secure:

• A 129% year-on-year increase in social media engagement

• An 86% activation among brand ambassadors

• A 5% increase in traffic to its corporate website from social media in 2020

• An 80% overall brand awareness across Louisiana

Read the full Ochsner Health Case study here and find out more about Hootsuite’s products and services here.