Developing and Implementing a Social Media Strategy

Developing and

Implementing a Social

Media Strategy

Medical Technology Insights:

© 2013 The Atticus Group, LLC. All rights reserved

enable large groups of people to communicate with one another. These sites also permit the sharing of resources and information, and through this sharing, the development of both social and professional contacts. With the introduction of Web 2.0, many

companies quickly jumped on the social media bandwagon as it became vital for them to keep up with the fast changing pace of technology, or risk being left behind.

Social media can be beneficial for businesses in that it provides a chance to build affinity with consumers and establish real and personal connections within a target market. Similar to every business plan, a strategy must be carefully planned out in order to achieve maximum success, especially when marketing in the biomedical industry. Social media is essentially another kind of information platform, a way for the world to become smaller for businesses so that they can efficiently get their information and products to the correct consumers. However, while other types of information platforms present a one-way type of interaction, social media presents a type of two-way

communication. In this model, both creator and consumer are active participants.

Consumer-generated content on a company’s social media site presents both benefits and risks to a biomedical company. Establishing a social media presence can be a vital part of a company’s effort’s to obtain consumer feedback and also functions as a way for the company to inform the public and the scientific community about their work. However, these sites do fall under the spectrum of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which in turn, creates other risks and factors to be considered.

This white paper will provide suggestions on how to successfully

business success. Currently, 79% of companies in the United States use or plan to use social media to support their business effort’s (Harvard Business Review, 2013) illuminating how beneficial it can be if used efficiently. The following are 3 key areas considered when planning a social media campaign, based on the author’s experience and knowledge in the art of social media marketing.

Establishing the Correct Presence

The first step in a successful campaign plan is deciding whether social media would truly benefit the company’s growth and success. To do this the company must determine whether the target market exists on these types of platforms.

Today, the top three most utilized social media networks are; Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (The Washington Post, 2013). Each of these platforms presents different benefits, capabilities and audiences. Facebook, the most popular of the three, reaches the largest audience. Since Facebook is not geared toward any specific market, it is optimal for companies looking to reach a wide variety of consumers. Facebook easily allows users to upload content, whether it’s photos, videos, information, or statistics, and has a large character limit. Twitter, the next most popular social networking site, has almost as large of an audience base, but it’s content is limited to 140 characters. While Twitter does support the sharing of photos, information and videos, this limit often present some issues in company efforts to communicate a message to their target audience.

The third most utilized network, LinkedIn, is specifically for users in the professional world. LinkedIn suggests for users to become “connections” rather than “friends”, illustrating its

professional nature. While LinkedIn does

“Establishing a social

media presence can be a

vital part of a companies

effort’s to obtain

consumer feedback and

also functions as a way

for the company to

inform the public and

the scientific community

about their work.”

Medical Technology Insights: Social Media as Leverage Vol. 2, No. 1

3

“One of the biggest

mistakes companies

make while using

social media is trying

to spread themselves

too thin. In this type

of marketing

approach, quality is

always best over

quantity.”

most users focus their efforts on widening their professional network, as opposed to informing the public about company products or goals.

While most companies today are choosing Facebook for their social media efforts, YouTube, a popular video sharing website has just as many users as Facebook, which at this time is more than one billion (The Washington Post, 2013). While this site is limited in it’s capabilities by only permitting the sharing of video content, businesses are finding that it’s also useful for building brand awareness. Consumers may tire of reading long content and this site presents an entertaining way to host information and engage the audience in the content. Aside from the benefits this channel offers, it does present the downside of including ads in all videos uploaded to the site, which for some company efforts isn’t ideal.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make while using social media is trying to spread themselves too thin. In this type of marketing approach, quality is best over quantity. It is much more productive to have a highly detailed page with informative content than multiple pages that do not provide much substance.

As with every new marketing plan, the costs and benefits must be analyzed. The major benefit of utilizing social media is it’s low financial costs. It is essentially the most intelligent way to economically market a product. Many employees will already have a basic idea of how to use the site, which also takes away the financial burden of training an individual to efficiently run the site.

While the economic costs of running a Facebook page and training an individual to ensure it’s success are low, the time commitment is higher than other forms of marketing. Because the content is easily created, it means that consumers

will come to expect constant updates. While weekly content updates are suf-ficient for newsletters and websites, this approach will not be successful in the social media world. Content has a way of becoming static fairly quickly on social media site and failing to update content frequently will give the impression that the company is not serious about their work, which in the biomedical world can be disastrous.

Maximizing Success

When the Internet became accessible to the public in the 1990’s, many in the business world assumed it would be another fad that would quickly lose steam. Yet, 18 years later, it remains deeply instilled in the inner workings of every corporation in the United States. Social media is the Internet of the new millennium, and it certainly is not going anywhere anytime soon. Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide use social networking sites daily (Media Bistro, 2013) and that number will only continue to grow over the next few years.

Not only is social media here to stay, many companies have tested and proven how it’s use can lead to business success. According to the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report “83% of marketers found social media to be important for their business”.(Social Media Examiner, 2013) The difficult part when creating an online marketing strategy however is that the minute guidelines are set in place, new updates are released from the site and

everything must be adjusted accord-ingly. While it might seem daunting at first keeping up with the never-ending tide of changes, there are three things to always avoid in this process. This means that for all companies who have yet to take the leap into social media, now is a better time than ever.

The main aspect that sets social media apart from other kinds of marketing

plans is the user’s ability to completely revolutionize the content in seconds. This means that the actual content matters more than ever.

As mentioned above, too little content can be fatal for company efforts. However, just as damaging is having an overabundance of information. The first thing to avoid with social media

marketing is the act of clogging the company’s page with too much of the same old news. This alone has the capability to drive followers elsewhere for their information, such as or a source that does not fill their newsfeed with the same post repeatedly.

The second thing to avoid, which many professionals are failing to come to terms with, is referred to as the “80/20% rule”. Because social media is intended for a type of two-way communication, when visiting the company’s page, it’s visitors are in fact looking for a “social” experience. While it is essential to promote the brand or product that the page is designed for, consumers are not looking for a sales pitch. Posts, or the content being shared should focus mainly on information that the audience can relate to or are intending to learn about. Hence, 80% of the content should focus on information pertaining to the audience, while only 20% should focus on the company or product. This method is proven to not only help the company to stand out against similar competitors, but presents the opportunity to engage with the target market.

The final thing to acknowledge and avoid in the social media world is the failure to respond to followers. While there will always be consumers looking to portray a company’s efforts negatively, those with questions about information posted should be addressed in a timely manner. Many companies find the best way to make sure each follower is always met with a prompt response is by directing

this specific responsibility onto an individual in the company. This method will ensure that no comment ever goes unnoticed, and for those looking to tarnish the company’s image this

position will also serve to protect against those efforts.

Table 1. Things to avoid

• Overloading the social media page with too much content or similar content repeatedly

• Focusing too much of the content on the company rather than the

audience

• Ignoring the audience

The Watchful Guard Dog

All medical and bio-medical-technology companies in the United States must consider the FDA and it’s policies before making any business related decisions. As referenced before, social media is constantly updating itself, which makes it difficult to place restrictions on. Because social media sites are

essentially another type of information platform, content is protected by the first amendment, which protects the right of freedom of speech. Included in this protection is also the freedom of commercial speech, with direct-to-consumer advertising falling under this spectrum.

With the content contained on social media having the tendency to change daily, it has complicated the FDA’s job of pinpointing a violation within the system. With a major increase in the volume of content on the Internet, the FDA must monitor these sites even more carefully. While the FDA acknowledges that the industry has for the most part handled social media correctly, they have taken action against “misleading promotional materials” (US Department of Human Health and Services, 2013).

“All medical and

bio-medical technology

companies in the

United States must

consider the FDA and

it’s policies before

making any business

related decisions.”

Medical Technology Insights: Social Media as Leverage Vol. 2, No. 1

5

About the author:

As a part of her summer internship with The Atticus Group, Jenni Donovan has advised the company and it's clients on social media and related communication strategies. Jenni is beginning her Senior year at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in both Communications and Justice Studies. She is currently a member of the Marketing and Advertising Club at UNH, and upon graduation, would like to pursue a career that takes advantage of both her communication and marketing capabilities and her strong desire to travel.

FDA guidelines do allow the promotion of a product, but it is not sufficient enough to state the benefits alone, the risks to consumers must be clearly advertised as well when promoting medical products on social media. With FDA guidelines being as undefined as they are at the moment, it means that medical technology companies must cautiously navigate the world of social media. However, companies nervous of these unmarked waters can be

comforted by the fact that many biomedical companies have already implemented social media campaigns and have proven these platforms to be beneficial to their efforts. It appears that by benchmarking and building off of what other companies have done with social media, while at the same time being compliant with the FDA, a

company can successfully navigate these waters. However, with social media constantly revolutionizing itself, companies must continue to educate themselves on the changing guidelines and trends in the industry and

implement updates onto their sites in a timely matter.

Conclusion

As with any business decision, imple-menting and executing a strategy is the most important part of a successful plan and social media is of no exception to this. It is crucial to have every aspect of a social media campaign decided before the page is presented to the public. This includes, but is not limited to; deciding

whether the target market utilizes social media, which specific social media plat-form to use for the campaign, avoiding the mistakes past companies have made and maximizing success by taking advantage of every benefit these sites have to offer for marketing to an audience. All of these items must be addressed, and for medical technology companies, they must be addressed while at the same time keeping up to date with current FDA guidelines.

References:

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Companies Don't Know - Harvard Business

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2. Harrison, J.D. "Small Business Advice: Which Social

Media Sites Are worth the Time and

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3. Bennett, Shea. "One In Four People Worldwide Use

Social Media [STUDY]."AllTwitter. Media Bistro, 18

June 2013. Web. 31 July 2013.

<http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-worldwide-growth_b45043>.

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Industry Report." Social Media Examiner RSS. Social

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5. "For Consumers." Keeping Drug Advertising Honest

and Balanced. US Department of Health & Human

Services, 5 June 2013. Web. 31 July 2013. <http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUp dates/ucm355270.htm>.

Do you need help with the development of a strategic marketing plan for your novel medical technology or tactical support for your Company’s marketing initiatives? The Atticus Group can help. Contact us at:

The Atticus Group, LLC 80 Daniel St., #455 Portsmouth, NH 03801 Phone: +1.603.969.5421 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.theatticusgroup.net