As consumers, we seek and value
Subject Matter Experts (SME). When investing in a new car, big screen TV, mobile phone or mutual fund, we are guided by opinions of well-respected topic experts. When traveling as usual, popular apps like Trip Advisor or Yelp lead our way, while J.D. Powers and Consumer Reports are frequently referenced product sources. With daily information overload and complex decisions to make, identifying SMEs is an essential life skill to learn and teach those we care about.
To be clear, with Communication Wellness, you and your skillful colleagues are the SMEs, a fact to be immensely proud of. With purposeful whole-person care priorities and “Did You Know?” comorbidity education, it is fascinating to contemplate the hearing care-related version of social currency. In
Jonah Berger’s brilliant book,
Contagious, he outlines what makes information go viral.
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Among key concepts detailed is
social currency, which, with social media prevalence, is a dynamic mechanism to capitalize upon the status of association.
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As Berger states,
“Just as people use money to buy products and services, they use social currency to achieve desired positive impressions among their families, friends, and colleagues. So to get people talking, companies and organizations need to mint social currency. Give people a way to make them look good while promoting their products and services along the way.” He uses Snapple facts, e.g.,
“A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber” to highlight how informational sharing is driven by remarkability…
Remarkable things provide social currency
because they make the people who talk about them, well, more remarkable.” (Berger, 2013, p. 36, 37)
If Snapple facts like a bouncing ball or that a hummingbird weighs less than a penny are remarkable, then with those we seek to serve, primarily patients and other healthcare professionals, “Did You Know?” facts are as well. Consider these…
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Risk of Falls: Approximately 2/3 of emergency room visits for adults ages 65-85+ are for falls, and falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths for adults ages 65+.
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Dementia: Hearing loss, while closely associated with dementia risk and severity, is also the single most modifiable risk factor.
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Heart Disease: Your ears can be a “window to your heart” as inner ear sensitivity to blood flow as well as vessel trauma may enable hearing loss to be an early indicator of and screening test for heart problems.
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As talented researchers methodically create evidence-based insights, much of which is publicly available, hearing care professionals who aspire to be whole-person care leaders must exhibit subject matter expertise as
educational curators who nurture and mint comorbidity-related social currency. With wellness referrals, remarkable patients are practice advocates who share hearing-related
“Snapple facts” with those in their circle of life. “Uncle Jim, did you know that your diabetes and kidney disease may increase risk of hearing loss? You should see a trusted hearing care expert to have it checked.” With medical referrals, is it remarkable that primary care doctors and other specialists seeing 100’s of patients a month, dozens whom have comorbidities or difficulty hearing, refer so sporadically? Instead of 1-2 referrals month, if that, imagine how crafting healthcare-related social currency could
substantially increase service opportunities.
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We should enthusiastically exchange educationally-targeted social currency with more of our patients, local healthcare providers, senior living community residents and many other quality of life advocates. Driven by a remarkable multiplier effect, we will systematically spread the word faster about why
Better Hearing is Better Healthcare. As we realize from washing our hands often these days, many kinds of healthy habits can be contagious.
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In next week’s issue, we will discover how subject matter experts amplify their social currency voices by
Educating Well Monthly and caring to share daily. Best practices who do earn more dollars and for a multitude of patient-centric reasons, it just makes sense.
What social currency would you like to share more effectively? Tell me about it…
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Bruce Essman
CEO
High Definition Impressions (HDI)
314.276.7392
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