A major health insurer is taking to social media to drum up interest and awareness for their cause; but in this case it has nothing to do with health care reform. InformationWeek reports that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Wisconsin has launched a major social media program designed to address concerns about customer service and promote a healthy lifestyle.
Through its Twitter account, Anthem is attempting to connect with patients who are experiencing customer service problems and deliver real-time solutions. This can include long hold times, customer service complaints, and complaints about cancelled coverage.
Anthem has also partnered with celebrity trainer Bob Harper from NBC’s The Biggest Loser to deliver a series of videos and postings on how to get healthy through their own YouTube channel and Facebook page.
“At Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, we understand that more teens, adults and even seniors are logging online to tweet, network, or blog about their daily activities, likes, dislikes, among other things,” said Larry Schreiber, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin. “Tools such as Twitter and Facebook provide an additional means of communicating with our members and all consumers in the communities we serve in a way that’s convenient and of interest for them.”
However, it remains to be seen how successful the pilot program will be – Anthem currently only has around 250 followers on their official Twitter and Facebook pages, with all of the Facebook forum postings coming from the company.