Mrs. Crow noted that content styles can vary and should reflect the strengths of the content creator. Example: She has a more outgoing personality and good sense of humor. Thus, she makes videos and audio clips that are more fun and entertaining. Other creators may focus on producing content that is inspirational, purely educational or even controversial at times.
Mrs. Crow explained that social media should encourage a dialogue between the podcaster and listeners. It’s important for hosts to solicit and respond to feedback, engage with listeners, use listener suggestions to guide future content creation and ask listeners to help spread the word about the podcast.
Going Viral
The session’s final speaker was Paul Sufka, MD, a rheumatologist at Twin Cities Orthopedics, Eagan, Minn., who discussed the viral strategies used for the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance.
In March 2020, Leonard Calabrese, DO, vice chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases, suggested via Twitter (now X) that rheumatologists create a secure registry that could be used by patients and providers to catalog cases of COVID-19 infection in individuals with rheumatic diseases. Dr. Sufka joined others to help make this happen. Within months, more than 30,000 cases had been reported through the registry.
The success of this effort demonstrated several important steps necessary when seeking to go viral: establish a website to direct online traffic to the product, use various forms of social media, create an email list serve to communicate with stakeholders and reach out to partner organizations to help spread the word. A registry, such as the one developed by Dr. Sufka and colleagues, should create its own brand with an engaging name and logo, just as a podcaster would. The COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance has continued to be hugely successful and the lessons learned from its creation and deployment can guide those in podcasting and social media.
It’s no surprise that this session was a hit. Each speaker was charismatic, thoughtful and experienced. Hopefully, the session inspired attendees to pursue their own podcasting dreams.
Jason Liebowitz, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.
Reference
- Rundles RW. Effects of allopurinol on 6-mercaptopurine therapy in neoplastic diseases. Ann Rheum Dis. 1966 Nov;25(6 Suppl):655-656.
- The mechanism and drug interaction—allopurinol and azathioprine and risk of bone marrow suppression. EBM Consult LLC. 2024.
