Heart of Matter: Puget Sound Blood Center’s Sean DeButts
What was your role at Puget Sound Blood Center prior to moving into your social media role?
After graduating from Western Washington University with a Public Relations major, I worked in Puget Sound Blood Center’s call center as a Donor Services Coordinator for 17 months. This was the perfect job to show me the ropes of the organization’s system. I researched and designed the social media program during the last five months of that position, in addition to making calls and recruiting donors.
How did you convince Puget Sound Blood Center that social media was a good way to engage your blood donor constituency?
Puget Sound Blood Center ran with the idea from the beginning. David Leitch, Director of Donor and Volunteer Resources; John Reagan, the Regional Recruitment Manager; and my present supervisor believe that now is the time to reach people and create new donation opportunities through social media. Use of social media is growing exponentially and it opens up far too many donation opportunities (for blood, marrow, cord blood, etc.) to be ignored.
What sites are you deploying with the launch of Puget Sound Blood Center’s social media program?
Our main tools will be Twitter accounts, a twtvite account, a Facebook Fan Page, and a Facebook Application we have created. These channels will allow people to schedule donations, invite friends, and organize drives without even leaving their profiles. We also have a MySpace page and accounts on YouTube, Flickr, and Whrrl so that donors can upload real-time media of themselves donating and organizing blood drives. This will also let patients that Puget Sound Blood Center has helped share their stories. We are currently creating separate Twitter accounts for each blood type so that we can alert donors when their blood type is at emergency levels. Puget Sound Blood Center will also have Twitter accounts for several major donor regions, such as the University of Washington and Washington State government offices in Olympia.
How will these programs work together effectively?
Each site will reference the others so that donors find what best suits their needs. The Facebook Fan Page and the Facebook application have a dialogue for submitting ideas and planning long-term blood drives. The Facebook Fan Page will be especially crucial for dialoguing with student ethnic organizations and minority groups with rare marrow types. Non-caucasians currently have only a 20 percent chance of finding a matching marrow donor, although its really easy to join the marrow registry. Twitter may be useful for those who want a shorter time commitment and who want to mobilize others through viral messaging. It may also be a popular option for businesses.
Please tell us about the first Puget Sound Blood Center Blood Drive tweetup on June 23, 2009.
The information packet is a good summary of our first @BloodCenter tweetup and how others can support our effort.
Puget Sound Blood Center Links:
Twitter: @BloodCenter
twtvite
Facebook Fan Page
Facebook Application
MySpace
Contact:
Sean DeButts
Social Media Coordinator
Puget Sound Blood Center
Work Phone: 425.462.4383
SocialNet@psbc.org
www.psbc.org
www.linkedin.com/pub/sean-debutts/a/387/702
Thank You
I want to thank Sean DeButts and the Puget Sound Blood Center for taking time from their busy schedule to talk with me and also Pelago Whrrl Headquarters for lending us their beautiful conference room for filming.
~Jeris JC Miller
@dakini_3
Seattle Social Media Profiles Heart of Matter
