It’s difficult to know where to start as there are no clear guidelines when dealing with social media and healthcare and in a highly regulated industry there is always the need to clearly define risk vs. benefit.
However, I’m of the opinion that a managed risk can reap significant reward.
Why do it?...
Have clear objectives when integrating social media into your wider PR campaign: do you want to raise awareness in a therapy area, or perhaps want to be able to engage with healthcare professionals in a less corporate environment? Or perhaps you would just like more people to come to your website? Either way, be clear as to why you are making the effort to engage in social media and what outcomes you are expecting from it.
Content is king…
Create content that is suitable and appropriate for your audience and allows them to share their thoughts and insights with their own communities. Monitor your audience engagement and alter your content accordingly if needed. Create content that is engaging and is ‘share friendly’, it doesn’t necessarily always have to peppered with corporate messaging. Sometimes a picture taken at your Christmas party can have more impact as it shows the personal side of your business. Make sure that the content isn’t too word heavy, and targeted to the audience that you are trying to engage with.
Small steps…
Start small when taking the tentative steps into the social stratosphere, use the less complicated portals that you are already familiar with and can manage easily. Your social media pages will need nurturing and plenty of content before you start seeing lots of ‘follows’ and ’likes’. Use types of social media where you have complete control over the content to begin with so you can clearly see the best way to manage your activity and develop your accounts. Start with a blog and monitor comments with an outlet via twitter to be able to share your content. Commit to updating the content at least once a fortnight as an absolute minimum.
Use your employees…
Have social media ambassadors; engage with your employees already using social media and ask them to share content and interact with your company. Ask them to engage with your social media platforms two or three times a week and hold focus group meetings to be clear on your objectives from this activity. Have clear guidelines for employees that have been agreed upon by your key oversight sectors; PR, Marketing, IT and legal/risk management etc.
Risk management…
Have reporting measures in place, monitor your feeds for any negative comments and feedback and then deal with it appropriately. You don’t necessarily have to respond to negativity, but this is an opportunity to allow you to gain insight into your audience’s views and to clarify misinformation where needed. Have a strategy in place that is agreed upon with your PR team as to what to do if you are subject to internet trolls and lots of negative feedback. How much negativity is too much for you to have on your online communication? Managing a balanced social page is a tricky task, if it’s too full of corporate bumph you are less likely to have people interact with you.
Holly Waite
A new recruit to Purple, Holly has joined our healthcare team this year to help manage and grow our pharma accounts. Holly has experience both in house and agency side in delivering high profile PR and marketing campaigns across the sports and leisure, third sector, consumer and healthcare industries. When not in the world of communications, Holly a keen sports fan, can usually be found court side at a local basketball game, in a kickboxing ring, or watching her favourite football team compete for the title!