I've written about mobile sites before. But I think it's worth mentioning again. If part of your social media and web marketing program doesn't include a mobile version of your hospital's site, make that your organization's New Year's resolution.

Why?

At our hospital, many of our physicians already have one, two or eight different mobile devices. And they are curious to learn more. We're even having a tech fair at the hospital next month, with software and hardware sales people on-hand to show off their wares (and take orders).

What does this mean for you?

Even if you're not sold on building a mobile site yet, know this: More people are using mobile devices to communicate. You need to pay attention and recognize that it is another way to meet their needs.

Our numbers are reflecting this. We launched our mobile site at the end of April 2010. Since the launch, our iPad visitors have increased 10-fold (1,040%); iPhone visits up 10%; and Droid up 141%.

Yes, the numbers are nice to share internally (as a kind of job security measure), but what's most reassuring is that it's being utilized, and we're meeting the needs of our ever-increasing mobile customers.

We're still going strong. We're in the process of developing a mobile app for release in a few weeks.

But that will be another post. Maybe you'll read about it on your iPad.