Implementation and Evaluation of a Social Media-Based Communication Strategy to Enhance Employee Engagement: Experiences From a Children's Hospital, Pakistan

Abstract

Social media can complement organizational communication strategy which is integral to employee engagement. However, successful case studies which can allow replication are limited. The objective of the study is to describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a social media-based communication strategy in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. The leadership of the pediatric service line developed an intervention plan to engage the employees with the newly reframed vision to improve patient and family experience. An online communication platform—Facebook page—was created for all employees of the pediatric service line. The strategy to influence employees was based on Cialdini's six principles of persuasion. Implementation of the strategy between October 2017 and December 2019 was evaluated for reach, discussion themes, and outcomes using the framework by Murdough (2009). Quantitative indicators included total posts, mean comments, and reactions per post. Posts were qualitatively analyzed with an emergent approach for insights into the discussion. The analysis revealed a total of 9,085 posts, with mean reactions per post of 8.4, mean comments of 7.2, and active viewership by 90% members on average. In terms of post types, photos were the highest (4,779), while videos were the lowest (1,163). Qualitative analysis indicated 54% of the posts were of the theme “inspirational and thought provoking,” while the greatest engagement was generated on the theme “challenges and solution.” The authors conclude that the strategy was successfully implemented to maintain active membership, engage employees in meaningful conversations, and have them express intent to execute quality improvement projects.

The Experiences of Stakeholders Using Social Media as a Tool for Health Service Design and Quality Improvement: A Scoping Review

“…Facilitates collaborative relationships. Social media is beneficial for collaborative relationship building between individuals, groups or organisations [ 37 , 40 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 56 , 63 , 66 , 67 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 73 , 77 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 86 , 88 , 89 , 91 , 93 ]. Social media facilitates collaborative relationships in a variety of ways including by fostering conversations and connections between groups who rarely talk [ 37 , 43 , 56 , 63 , 67 , 69 , 80 , 82 , 86 , 89 , 91 ], making mobilisation and collective action easier [ 46 , 48 , 70 ], strengthening existing relationships [ 73 , 77 , 86 ], and providing a platform for incidental peer support within QI-focused activities (provider-provider or consumer-consumer support) [ 40 , 66 , 67 , 71 , 81 , 82 , 86 , 88 , 91 , …”

“…Improves clinical practice. The relationship-building capacity of social media was also seen to improve clinical practice [ 39 , 69 , 72 , 81 , 91 , 97 ]. This occurred through service providers gathering insights into the lived experience of healthcare consumers and improving practice or creating new interventions due to these insights [ 39 , 91 , 97 ], and by facilitating peer learning between providers [ 69 , 72 , 81 ].…”

“…Facilitates positive organisational culture change. The use of social media in QI and service design was seen to facilitate positive organisational change [ 51 , 52 , 63 , 66 , 69 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 78 , 81 , 82 , 84 , 92 ] through increased organisational transparency [ 51 , 52 , 66 , 69 , 74 , 84 ] and flattening of hierarchies [ 63 , 71 , 81 , 92 ]. Using social media to be transparent around organisational processes helped consumers to better understand organisations [ 51 , 52 ], increased trust in organisations [ 51 , 52 , 81 , 84 ] and could improve an organisation’s reputation.…”

“…Two studies found no correlation [ 49 , 55 ], one study found there was a correlation [ 65 ] and one study found a correlation in some areas and not others [ 50 ]. There are also concerns that some of the artificial intelligence (AI) technology used to gather and classify data through Twitter may not actually be reliable enough to replace human classification [ 42 , 51 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 81 , 86 ]. This may be an issue when organisations use data gathered through social media to inform their QI activities, especially organisations dealing with large volumes of data and/or those using social listening methods to gather their data.…”

Scaling Nurturing Care Interventions in the Health Sector: A Theory of Change Perspective

“…Framing was followed by a shift toward human-centered practices modeled by those in leadership positions using an innovative social media strategy ( 10 ) as an opportunity to mentor the next layer of managers ( 11 ). Staff were provided space to express their challenges.…”