Mayo Clinic launches Spanish-language healthcare social media initiatives

Te sientes mejor?

Don’t understand what that means? Then the Facebook Mayo Clinic en espa ol and@ClinicaMayo Twitter sites are not intended for you.

Mayo Clinic, a stalwart in healthcare social media, announced Tuesday it launched two social media sites in Spanish to target the Hispanic social media community (That first sentence, by the way, means “Are you feeling better?”). The sites will help connect Mayo’s Spanish-speaking patient base, which continues to be an important source of revenue for the health system.

About 30 percent of Mayo’s international patients are Spanish-speaking. Many American patients speak Spanish too, through Mayo officials could not say what percentage American Spanish-speakers are among their entire U.S. patient base.

According to the U.S. Census, 16 percent of the U.S. population is Spanish speaking, making them the largest minority. More and more companies are targeting them with focused communications strategies. In the 2011 TeleNoticias-Latino Wire Hispanic social media survey, 81 percent of respondents said they plan to increase their use of social media as part of their overall Hispanic marketing program next year.

“Our Spanish-language social media presence is designed to connect Spanish-speakers worldwide,” Emily Hiatt said – adding there’s a particular emphasis on South America.

Already @ClinicaMayo has more than 1,100 followers whileMayo Clinic en espa ol has 42 “likes” so far.

Hiatt said she could not find any other top hospital in the U.S. which has a similar Hispanic-focused social media presence. “Whether or not we’re the first, we believe what we’re creating represents the most robust Spanish-language social media presence by a leadingU.S.medical center,” she said.

Mayo’s Dr. Victor Montori, medical director of the Center for Social Media and an endocrinologist, believes that the institution’s overarching goal of patient safety will be well served through these two channels.

“Our desire is that Mayo Clinic offers an authentic and honest voice that promotes the interests of patients in an environment that is plagued by an otherwise unreliable and commercially biased source of information,” Montori stated in a news release. “Social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter also allow us to listen to the patient’s voice in a more clear and direct manner.”