Orital Digital Healthcare Consultancy

Social Media Basics: 5 Easy Steps to a Strategy

April 6, 2011

Millions of people are now using social networks to help make decisions about their healthcare. It’s not just patients who do this; clinicians also have peer-to-peer discussions about diagnoses and treatments.

So why is social media so popular? Because it gives us easy access to like-minded people, and advice from those people carries a lot of weight because we trust them. It has the power to change behaviour without any face-to-face interaction.

To gain a competitive advantage in the pharma industry and to take advantage of the opportunities to engage with target audiences and develop new types of relationships, it’s worth developing a social media strategy. Consider the following pointers when working on yours:

1. Learn the formula

A social media strategy can be distilled into three basic formulae:

Technology + Social Interaction = Social Media (SM)

Social Media + Your Objectives = SM Strategy

SM Strategy + Successful Implementation = Value

It looks pretty basic but if your colleagues do not understand Social Media, they will not be able to understand or implement your strategy. So train them! Then give them tools and templates to support them through the implementation.

2. Focus on objectives, not new technologies

Don’t get bogged down with specific SM platforms and technologies. Focus on your business objectives and decide whether or not SM can help you achieve them. The real value lies in why and how you use SM. If there’s no benefit for you and your target audiences, spend your time and money on something else. Don’t force brands to implement an SM strategy. Give them the tools and training that allows them to make their own decision at a local level.

3. Focus on evolution, not revolution

SM is new to everyone. It’s evolving rapidly, so avoid ‘big bang’ strategies because they’re cumbersome, inflexible, and tricky to implement. And remember that pharma takes time to accept new things, so introduce SM at a pace your organisation can manage. Offer guidance and support where needed to avoid overwhelming the organisation with too much “new stuff”.

4. Don’t overcomplicate things

Keep your strategy simple and your colleagues and your target audience will thank you. Don’t try to reinvent the internet. Patients and clinicians aren’t looking for cutting-edge design. They want relevant information that’s easy to engage with and the chance to interact with like-minded people. You can only give them what they want once you’ve discovered what that is.

5. Measure what you do

Remember that you’re investing in online relationships. It’s not always possible to measure them quantitatively, but you can still get a good sense of the success of your efforts by asking a few key questions:

• Are people engaged and making return visits?

• Are they using your resources as you expected?

• Are you having any effect on their behaviour?

• Is understanding of your products improving?

• Are you feeding what you’ve learned back into your other channels?

• Is your strategy evolving as your insight and competency improves?

Remember: social media can seem scary, but it’s just a new way for people to communicate with each other. And for you to communicate with them.