How MyMichigan Health runs social media for a multi-hospital network

The challenge: Managing social for 26 entities with no real data

Manual posting hid the full picture

MyMichigan Health used to run social media manually across every channel. Each platform had its own basic analytics, but nothing gave the team a full picture. There was no way to see how much content the team was publishing by topic, no visual content calendar, and no way to monitor sentiment across communities online. Before Brandwatch, the workaround was spreadsheets. “It was challenging and time-consuming,” Jessica said. 

Building brand awareness across newly acquired hospitals

The stakes went up when several area hospitals integrated into MyMichigan’s growing health system, including one in a region with limited existing brand recognition. Leadership needed to understand how each community felt about the health system and how to reach them, but the team had no way to track sentiment or conversation by location.   

To get the much-needed data, MyMichigan Health looked for a single platform where they could schedule content, track what communities were saying, and report back to the leadership by service line and location. 

“We knew in order to expand our social strategy, we would need a solution that would combine all of these needs into one platform,” Jessica shared.

Making the business case for social media

Running social media for a multi-hospital health system as a team of one leaves little room for guesswork. Without analytics showing what was working, Jessica had no way to strengthen the strategy or show leadership where social media fit into the organization's broader goals.  

Healthcare organizations are placing greater emphasis on data-informed decisions, and posting content is no longer enough. Jessica looked to better understand audience behavior, show impact, and connect MyMichigan Health communications efforts to outcomes leadership cared about.

The solution: Centralizing social media operations on one platform

MyMichigan Health evaluated Brandwatch against competitors and found that the Brandwatch suite covered the gaps they were looking to fill: scheduling, listening, and analytics, with ongoing support.   

That support became critical early on, when MyMichigan Health needed to set up social listening for four medical centers across different locations as part of a brand awareness campaign but needed additional support in developing the queries internally. Brandwatch's team stepped in and helped set up targeted, location-based listening queries. “We reported on that information for over a year, and it was integral to our campaign,” Jessica said. 

Organizing content to prove coverage and impact

With the platform in place, MyMichigan Health leaned on Brandwatch's Labels feature to organize content by service line, location, and topic – a small feature that changed how the organization validates its strategy. 

“Labeling is the feature that really took our social strategy to the next level,” Jessica said. “We use it to organize and categorize our social media content by service line, location, and topic, making it easier to identify trends and measure performance in a targeted way.”  

That structure gives the team hard numbers to push back on assumptions. When stakeholders assumed a specific area wasn't getting coverage, Jessica pulled a report showing exactly how much content ran there that month. 

Speeding up content creation with Brandwatch's AI

MyMichigan Health also uses Brandwatch's Iris Writing Assistant to enhance efficiency while keeping human expertise at the center. The team leverages this AI tool – built directly into Publish – to brainstorm content ideas, draft social media copy, refine messaging for different audiences, and develop campaign concepts more quickly. That frees up time for what matters most: strategy and decision-making, which remain firmly in Jessica's hands.

“With the ability to use AI to generate posts, we can make sure all our messaging is always engaging and laser-focused on our target audience,” Jessica said. 

Results: Building a strategy that leadership believes in

Before Brandwatch, MyMichigan Health lacked specific data needed to support its growing social media strategy.  

Today, the organization runs its annual social media strategy based on Brandwatch data – and uses it to win executive approval for new programs. 

“Our biggest success has been using Brandwatch to make social media more strategic and measurable,” Jessica said. "The platform has streamlined content management, strengthened our crisis monitoring, provided valuable audience insights, and enabled us to use data to continually refine our content strategy and demonstrate the impact of our communications." 

Reporting that reaches leadership

Every month, Jessica sends reports to her colleagues which cover top-performing posts, trending content, and benchmarking against competitors. “We have data to back up our social strategy,” Jessica said.  

Those same reports documented the impact of the brand awareness campaign for the newly transitioned hospitals. Using Listen, Jessica tracked sentiment and conversation volume in the target communities, then presented the findings to the executive team.   

“To be able to present that to our executive team has been an enormous help, because then they can strategize and say, let's work on this,” Jessica said. 

Faster, more confident, data-driven decisions

Brandwatch's analytics also changed how MyMichigan Health approaches content itself. This year's strategy called for more video, and the data settled a long-running question about production value. 

“We're able to establish that raw, cell phone video often performs and engages more than full-production content," Jessica said. 

Spotting potential crises before they escalate

The organization uses Brandwatch to monitor conversations, track brand sentiment, and identify emerging trends. During crisis situations, the platform provides real-time monitoring that helps MyMichigan Health quickly identify developing issues, assess public sentiment, and coordinate timely, accurate communication. 

For a healthcare organization covering 26 entities, that visibility matters. The team can now respond faster and with more confidence, knowing they have a complete view of what's being said and where. 

What changed operationally

The platform reduced administrative friction, allowing MyMichigan Health to focus more on strategy, content quality, and using data to win approval for new programs. The organization can now: 

• Manage and schedule content across multiple platforms in one place
• Monitor and respond to audience engagement in real time
• Track conversations, sentiment, and emerging trends across 26 entities 
• Use analytics to make data-backed decisions by service line and location
• Demonstrate the impact of social media to executive leadership

“The analytic capabilities have made a significant impact. We can make data-driven decisions based on targeted areas such as service line, locations, content type, etc.” 

Key takeaways

Managing social for multiple locations is hard to do well without real data behind it. MyMichigan Health's experience shows what’s possible when a one-person social team has the right platform in place: 

• Full visibility into coverage and ROI through organized data by topic and location
• Easier leadership buy-in by connecting social results to outcomes they care about  
• Faster crisis response through real-time sentiment monitoring across all communities Scaled repetitive tasks using AI while keeping strategy in human hands 
• Scaled repetitive tasks using AI while keeping strategy in human hands 

Ready to build a data-driven social strategy for your organization? Learn more about Brandwatch’s Social Media Management and see how our platform can help you prove value, gain leadership support, and manage social at scale.