More healthcare organisations and nursing agencies are tapping into the benefits of social media to communicate with nurses.

With social media statistics for January showing Facebook hit 10,703,340 users in Australia, YouTube had 11 million unique visitors, Twitter and LinkedIn hit 1,800,000 and WordPress at 1,500,000, social media has become the key tool for companies to keep in contact with shift workers in the healthcare profession.

And nurses fit the social media profile. Statistics show 86 per cent of females aged between 18 and 50 are active in social media – which is the nursing profession’s main demographic.

Leading healthcare recruitment provider Healthcare Australia looks after a total of 11 Facebook pages for its brands, including Nurse Jobs Australia, Nursing Agency Australia, Malvern Nurses Agency and WA Nursing Agency.

Healthcare Australia brand and online marketer Bekim Ahmedi said social media enabled the organisation to open up a two-way conversation with healthcare professionals.

“Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter receive more visits than search engines and enable you to communicate directly with a targeted audience whether they are existing or potential employees, as well as create viral content,” he said.

Mr Ahmedi said the organisation had more than 3000 fans across its pages.

“We have chosen to communicate via Facebook as it is the number one social media network with the greatest level of engagement,” he said.

“It is also the platform that our employees are already using on a daily basis, so the choice was easy.

“As there is a large amount of shift work that takes place within this industry, our employees have free time at different periods throughout the day.

“Social media allows you to logon to Facebook and see a post at any time. It is also accessible across multiple locations.”

Healthcare Australia also utilises Twitter @HealthcareAus and LinkedIn and has plans to explore sharing relevant video content with a YouTube channel later this year.