Supporting Social with Subscriber Tagging

I used to use a notebook for everything. Absolutely everything. Every time I saw a story that was "social media worthy", I would scribble down the story ID in my notebook. Then I would close my notebook, go off for a cup of tea, and carry on with my day. Then I would go back and look through my notebook and find pages of numbers and scribbles and a general mess which looked something like this:

So what is subscriber tagging?

We ‘tag’ stories on Care Opinion so that we can search for them or report on them thematically. Tags are added by the author in the story telling process when we ask them “what was good?” and “what could be improved”. Our moderation team will also add tags when published stories. For example, if someone has shared a story about fantastic communication but haven’t added that tag when we asked “what was good?” then we’ll do that in moderation. Tags can cover a whole range of themes such as “staff” “clear explanations” “pre-op assessment” “endometriosis”. All of these tags can be used to help you search for relevant stories. If you need help with using all of the search features available, sign up for our webinar programme or check out this blog. The tags that authors and moderators add are visible to everyone who views the story. 

However, as a subscriber, you can do more with tags. When you read a story in your subscription, you can add private tags that only you can see, or subscription tags that other members of your subscription can see. To do this, scroll down to the bottom of the story text until you see this:

Click on “Add a tag” and you will be able to add your very own customised tag. Use the drop-down menu to select whether you would like it to be private, shared within your subscription or public. You can also categorise using polarity which will only be visible to you or members of your subscription. 

This is how I keep track of the stories I would like to share across our social media platforms. When I’m looking for a story to share on our social media, I search for my social media tags and select the story I want to share. That way, I don’t have to rely on my notebook! If you need more help with adding your own tags, we have a blog for this right here.

The best thing about these tags, is that I can add them for everyone in my subscription. This means that if I’m not at my desk, my colleagues can search for my social media tags, and find the stories I was planning to share. Because anyone in my subscription can now search for these tags, they can be used collaboratively across a service. For example, if you’re in the Patient Experience team and see a story that you want to share, you can add an agreed tag enabling your comms team colleagues to regularly use the tag to search for content that you’ve suggested.

Speaking of comms teams, they’re the missing link in all of this. Sharing stories and generating stories is a vital part of your Care Opinion journey and your comms teams are uniquely placed to help with this. In the next couple of weeks, we’re going to share a case study on the comms team from NHS Grampian and the amazing work they’ve been doing around embedding Care Opinion. Watch this space. Until then check out this blog for tips on involving your comms team. Happy Tagging!