COMMUNICATIONS

Start a Revolution: Leveraging Social Media to Build Your Brand Ambassador Program

Looking for a case study on how to revolutionize the way you communicate with and inspire your employees, and develop those employees into brand ambassadors by building community, connection and culture? Then look no further than Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), a 13-hospital health network serving communities in 10 counties across eastern Pennsylvania. At the SHSMD 2023 conference, communications professionals from LVHN shared the secret sauce of their successful brand ambassador movement.  

Twice a year, LVHN surveys its 23,000 employees, known as colleagues at LVHN. The survey seeks to identify the network’s strengths and areas for improvement in the eyes of its colleagues. More than two-thirds of colleagues typically complete the survey, telling LVHN what’s working and what’s not, according to Pamela Riddell, MBA, the vice president of communications at LVHN. 

“They told us that they love their peers and working at the health network, that they are proud to work here, and would refer their friends and family to us,” Riddell notes. “We wanted to capture that feeling and release it to our colleagues and community, so about six years ago, we invited a group of 250 colleague ambassadors—people who had been nominated for and won awards, or who tended to step up and join committees—to be part of our brand ambassador launch.” 

At a group gathering, they shared their stories about why they were “#LVHNProud.” “One young woman who lost her fiancé, another whose family member had cancer and others described the support they received from their LVHN community,” Riddell recalls. “We acknowledged them all with a personal handwritten note and gave them all colleague ambassador jackets—a uniform, so to speak. Then we interviewed some of them and developed a compilation video with their stories, which remains one of the most popular videos on our social media in terms of views and engagement six years later.” 

That video helped popularize the health network’s #LVHNProud hashtag, and when LVHN planned a brand relaunch a year later, the ambassadors got behind the network’s new tagline: “Your health deserves a partner.” 

“Our ambassadors attended pop-up parties throughout the health network where we previewed our new brand spot and video for all colleagues, and at these parties, we asked them to complete this sentence: ‘What does it mean to be a partner?’” Riddell explains. “The top response was ‘a partner always has your back,’ and we used that in our messaging.” 

The brand ambassador program helped to build unprecedented support, connection and community at LVHN during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Riddell says, sharing an emotional video chronicling the network’s “first 100 days” during the pandemic. LVHN’s 196 “COVIDSTRONG” blog posts earned more than 120,000 page views, and there were more than 5.3 million page views of the main LVHN website and nearly 1 million engagements on social media. The LVHN communications team was named content team of the year for 2020 by PR Daily for its crisis communications work.  

“So, what does the colleague engagement survey tell us we need to work on? One thing colleagues told us, having just survived a global pandemic, is we need to better address emotional health needs,” notes Kirstin Reed, MHA, LVHN’s manager of internal communications and engagement. “Colleagues want to see their leaders and know they are listening.” 

To address this, the team revolutionized its internal communications platform and strategy, launching LVHN Insider, a two-way communications tool with a mobile app, website and email engine, which launched in 2021. “Our previous internal communications platform was one-way only, but LVHN Insider allows user-generated content—creating a conversation—encouraging colleagues to share their own messages, which makes people feel seen, heard and listened to,” Reed says. 

When leaders visited hospitals and units within the health network, they took photos and shared their experiences on LVHN Insider. “These posts have been very popular, because people are excited leaders are coming to them,” Reed notes. “Over time, leaders have become very creative. For example, our vice president of nursing at LVHN’s flagship hospital came up with ‘pop-up nurse appreciation’ events and posted selfies from these events on LVHN Insider. Then other nursing leaders brought pop-up events to their units as well.” 

Colleagues are encouraged to share their own selfies on LVHN Insider using the hashtag #LVHNProud, with guidelines as to what should and shouldn’t be posted. On occasions like National Make a Friend Day, Patient Access Week and Certified Nurses Day, the platform is flooded with dozens of enthusiastic, supportive user-shared posts. “Our engagement around Patient Access Week was so great that we posted much of it on our public-facing social media,” Reed says. “People in our communities love to see the colleagues behind the care.” 

In its first year, the communications team hoped that LVHN Insider would engage at least 60% of staff members—an ambitious goal that it promptly blew past within the first six months. The first year exceeded 80% engagement, and since then, the platform has sustained approximately 88% engagement.  

“It’s an essential element of building our community and creating brand ambassadors throughout the system and to the general public,” Riddell says. Other health systems can achieve the same success, she adds, noting, “Celebrate and cultivate your unique culture, start a movement, and build community and elevate the colleague voice.” 

PHOTO: BIGSTOCK/DOLGACHOV