Now That We Have 1 Million Followers, What's Next?

Background:  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health’s (OWH’s) vision is for all U.S. women and girls achieve the best possible health. OWH works to educate the public by providing accurate and relevant digital health information through websites and social media.

Program background:  The Pew Internet and American Life Projectreports that women are more likely than men to use social media, and that more than 80% of online women look for health information. Early on OWH recognized the unique capability of Web 2.0, or the social web, to reach a new segment of online women. Since the launch of our first Twitter channels in 2007, we have been a leader in providing health messages to women where they already are – on social media. Our success in social media is built on the foundation of Web 1.0 technologies – our flagship websites, womenshealth.gov and girlshealth.gov. According to ForeSee survey results, accurate, high-quality health content remains the primary reason more than 1 million people visit our sites each month. This same high-quality women’s health content is used to create engaging health messages across all 7 of our social media channels. OWH is eagerly embracing Web 3.0 and mobile web by implementing responsive design. Our goal is to provide women’s health information anytime, on any device of any size. Although OWH’s health content is already written in plain language at the 8^th-grade level or below, we continually streamline our health content to accommodate the mobile, on-the-go user. Another aspect of Web 3.0 is the wide availability of analytics. Many users focus on maximizing publically-displayed analytics (number of followers, likes, shares, etc.) although digital communicators have an increasing array of metrics and tools available that may provide more nuanced measures of impact. OWH utilizes a shifting combination of tools to gather and analyze information, then uses the analysis to continually improve processes, content, and engagement.

Evaluation Methods and Results: We continually adjust our metrics to meet new goals or accommodate new technologies.  We rely on specific tools to determine our impact and then update our content strategies accordingly.  Currently we use Google Analytics, ForeSee Results, Facebook Insights, Hootsuite, and TweetReach, in addition to publicly available metrics such as number of followers. Discrete campaigns, launches, or redesigns often begin with formative research such as focus groups, unstructured interviews, and usability testing. With a continually increasing subscriber base, OWH currently reaches a combined 1 million subscribers through social media channels. @womenshealth and @girlshealth are the 2^nd and 3^rdmost popular HHS Twitter channels. Each month more than 1 million users visit womenshealth.gov. 

Conclusions: OWH relies on Web 1.0 technology, static health information websites, as a foundation for Web 2.0 (social media) and 3.0 (mobile) content. Analytics should inform a comprehensive strategy for all types of digital information in order to reach as many people as possible.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Organizations should embrace new online technologies, maintain existing online channels, and experiment with metrics to continuously refine their content strategy.