Abstract:
Public Relations Strategies on Private Hospital Websites is a qualitative research. The main objective of this research is to study public relations strategies on private hospital websites. The data was collected by content analysis on selected websites along with in-depth interviews among website public relations managers. Data was collected from five private hospital websites based on their monthly rankings by Truehits.net, which is operated by Government Information Technology Services. The websites of these five private hospitals comprised the top 5 ranked sites in the hospital subcategory of the health category from January to May 2009. The research findings are as follows: 1.The forms of public relations employed on private hospital websites are one-to-one communication, one-to-many communication, many-to-one communication, and many-to-many communication. The public relations contents on private hospital websites are corporate data, services information, public relations news releases, frequently asked questions, contact information, interactive data, knowledge data, and individual services data 2. The website design strategies of private hospitals are related to the objectives of website use for public relations from three separate perspectives. First, from the perspective of marketing public relations, the strategies involve (a) presentation about potential services on the website, (b) presentation about the corporations expertise on the website, and (c) development of website content based on the needs of the target group. Second, from the perspective of building corporate image, the strategy of the websites is to collect maximum positive content. Third, from the perspective of building and retaining good relationships with the target group, the key strategy employed by the websites is to build convenience as an important website feature. 3. The website public relations strategies of private hospitals to attract visitors and generate repeat visits include (1) strategy of linking to other websites without payment, (2) strategy of publicizing the website address in traditional media, (3) strategy of offering complete content required by visitors on the website, (4) strategy of increasing value for content on the website, (5) strategy of providing useful content to visitors, (6) strategy of entertaining visitors, (7) strategy of maintaining up-to-date content on the website, (8) strategy of building two-way communication on the website, and (9) strategy of building a membership system on the website.