Branding hospitals on social media through health professionals

Towards a communication model

Authors

  • Pablo Medina Aguerrebere Canadian University Dubai

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.38819

Keywords:

brand, corporate communication, health professionals, hospital, social media

Abstract

Hospitals are facing a constantly changing context in which patients are becoming more demanding, public health education initiatives are regarded as increasingly important and hospital business models have to take account of constantly developing medical technologies. In order to better interact with internal and external stakeholders, hospitals try to reinforce their corporate communication strategies as well as their brand reputation by means that include using social media platforms. This literature review paper aims to better understand why health professionals have the potential to play a key role in hospitals’ branding initiatives through social media. First, I report the findings from studies of concepts related to corporate communication, branding and the connection between social media and personal branding; and, second, I propose a communication model – what I call the PMA branding model – to help hospitals build a brand reputation based on health professionals’ participation in corporate communication initiatives led by hospitals on social media. The paper concludes by showing that the PMA branding model consists of organisational tools based on a rigorous methodology that will help health professionals participate in branding initiatives led by the hospital through these platforms.

Author Biography

  • Pablo Medina Aguerrebere, Canadian University Dubai

    Pablo Medina Aguerrebere holds a PhD in Corporate Communication (University of Navarra, Spain, 2011) and is currently Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Communication at Canadian University Dubai (United Arab Emirates). He delivers several courses including corporate communication, public relations and media management, and leads different research projects related to corporate communication and branding in health organisations.

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Published

2021-01-15

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Aguerrebere, P. M. (2021). Branding hospitals on social media through health professionals: Towards a communication model. Communication and Medicine, 16(3), 238–250. https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.38819