Why Twitter?

In the world of marketing, many people would tell you twitter is ideal for marketing because of the short quips that you can post, the real-time engagement with potential clients or customers and because it's an ideal place to share customer reviews.

Of course, standard marketing and healthcare marketing are different beasts entirely and so some of the ideal pieces of twitter use don't apply and what other businesses may see as an easy asset to pump for a good return on investment (ROI), is not so simple for healthcare in general.

In part this is because HIPAA laws. As you can imagine, it can be tricky to share a review of a patient while not confirming that they actually attended or did not attend a treatment center. That information is protected by HIPAA, remember the "PHI" that we have to protect.

The good news is that Twitter is not entirely "dead" to us. In fact, it can be a great way to share blogs and other posts to promote web traffic. It can also be a method to promote conversations that can allow for "social monitoring".

Social monitoring refers to the ability to help guide and control the conversation that occurs via the replies and retweets of the initial post. This can be ideal for helping to change the conversation around stigmas and to get people talking about mental health and addiction with a more critical, yet positive, lens.

Using Twitter For Behavioral Health

We've put together a comprehensive guide of the best ways to use Twitter for local business. Check it out by clicking the button.

A Marketer's Horror Story: How Social Media Cost More Than a Job

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Of course, Twitter hasn't always been simply a gold mine for marketers. It is one of many social accounts and it is CRITICAL to always be sure where you are posting when you send out a tweet. Here is an example of a time where a marketer didn't do some double checking before posting and it went very wrong.

In early 2011, the marketing agency and marketer in charge of Chrysler Auto's Twitter account had a major four-letter flub. This story begins with a bad case of road rage and ends with the marketer losing his job and the marketing agency losing a massive contract.

The marketer was driving around Detroit on their way to work and took a minute to put out a tweet that read:

"I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to ****ing drive,"

In hindsight, while they may have thought this quip to be clever to share with their personal followers, it may not have been the best choice to tweet it. Especially since it didn't go out on their personal account but on the official Chrysler Auto Twitter account.

Now, those of us familiar with hosting multiple Twitter accounts via our mobile devices know this- but for those that don't... when you are in charge of multiple accounts via Twitter, you have access to all of them by a simple click of a button.

It can be very easy to not recognize what account you are on at times and that is part of why we always need to double check and then triple check just to be sure.

Aside from the double dose of irony, Chrysler had to do major damage control while they also terminated their contract with the agency and the person in charge of the account lost their job!

So, before you post anything... check once, twice, and once more for good measure.