Steven Christiansen, M.D., started his own blog before starting his ophthalmology residency. He talks about why he became an early adopter with a blog and social media and how he expects this will pay dividends throughout his career. His social media prowess has allowed him to develop a social media culture within his residency program and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Listen and meet Steve!
This post corresponds to our latest podcast episode of “Russ and Randy” – a podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing. We hope you like “Interview with Steve Christiansen, M.D. | Successful Implements Twitter in Ophthalmology.”
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Steven Christiansen, M.D. and I met about 4 years ago at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting. I had been recruited to lecture to the “Young Ophthalmologists” (YO) of the AAO. “YOs” are comprised of residents and young ophthalmologists in their first year of practice.
Steve and I realized we shared a zest for Internet marketing and social media. Recording took place in an office adjacent to the convention hall using separate lavaliers and an iPhone.
Early Adopter of Social Media
Steve realized that starting a blog, even before his career started, and promoting his content through social media might blossom exponentially through a 30-40 year career as an ophthalmologist.
He started EyeSteve.com and stated to promote himself and www.eyesteve.com via Twitter; @EyeSteve.
After starting residency, Steve tells how the Ophthalmology department became impressed with his social media expertise. He has since helped the Ophthalmology department of the University of Iowa create a social media culture using Twitter.
Steve recollects that the intended audience of doctors and alumni of the department really didn’t even have Twitter accounts when the endeavor started. What is surprising, with time, many of the faculty and other residents have since started Twitter accounts and it has proven to be a powerful communication tool especially when many in the group are attending a meeting.
Steve has many scientific publications, but most notable for us is his recent publication in the journal “Twitter at the 2014 and 2015 Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Ophthalmology”, Ophthalmology, Vol. 123, issue 8, p1835-1837, published online August, 2016, www.AAOJournal.org.
Dr. Christiansen notes that in both instances (residency department and AAO), the use of Twitter by Ophthalmologists was basically zero, but has grown as a useful social media communications tool.
Same Content – Different Audience
Regardless of your platform; website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc., your content must be relevant to your audience. If it’s not relevant to your audience, then it becomes spam.
It’s a potential problem for all of us, does our content, intended for our doctors, appeal to our patients and vice versa?
As you’ll hear, using the same platform (and one account), can probably work very well and to your advantage as Steve explains.
All the best!
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Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing
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