"We're thrilled to have reached this point," said Bernell Dorrough, web marketing coordinator for the USA College of Medicine. "Two and a half years ago, we had 350 followers, so achieving this goal reflects a 28-fold increase."
Facebook launched in 2004, and by September 2014, it reported having 864 million daily active users worldwide. The USA College of Medicine launched its official page in May 2011 and uses it to share information, photos and videos about students and faculty, as well as the USA Physicians Group.
The college also has a presence on other social networks, with hundreds of followers on both Twitter and Instagram, but Dorrough says Facebook has proven to be the best way to reach the largest number of people.
"We share one or two posts most days,” he said. “An average one will be seen by more than 1,000 people, and popular ones often are seen by more than 10,000 people.”
The Facebook page is an important part of the college's overall digital marketing strategy, which includes the website for the University of South Alabama Health System (www.usahealthsystem.com) and the Med School Watercooler blog (http://medschoolwatercooler.blogspot.com).
"Because Facebook pushes content to users through their newsfeeds, we can share information with people even if they haven't navigated to our website or blog on their own," Dorrough said. "That makes Facebook an incredibly valuable way to draw users to those sites."
Other official Facebook pages within the USA Health System include USA Children's & Women's Hospital (www.facebook.com/usacwhospital), which is approaching its 20,000th follower; USA Medical Center (www.facebook.com/usamedicalcenter); and the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute (www.facebook.com/mitchellcancer).
