Healthcare organizations are being increasingly requested to publicize their sustainability efforts on digital environments and social media, in part because previously passive patients are now becoming active customers. This paper investigates how leading healthcare organizations are using Facebook to communicate their sustainability, in terms of their focus on different components of the 3Ps (people, profit, planet) and interactive communication strategies used on social media. A content analysis was made of the Facebook posts (n = 6145) of healthcare organizations in the Forbes Global 2000 (2017 annual ranking) from 2015 to mid-2018. Our findings show that the social component of sustainability prevails over environmental and economic issues, although it does not seem to generate increased consumer engagement (in terms of users’ likes, comments, reactions, etc.). A data visualization dashboard was developed to help managers in benchmarking competitors and assessing how they can increase response rates and public engagement on social media, thus encouraging the active participation of users. The study also provides useful insights for communication managers in identifying how to use deliberative tools to develop consumer relationships on social media and aligning companies and consumers regarding shared sustainability themes.
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