The Role of Social Media in Healthcare PR
Tuesday September 7, 2010 | No Comments
By: Rosemary Valenta
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Despite the confused chatter around social media in all business sectors, what digital communications boils down to is simply another way to express brands to consumer and business audiences.
After all, what does a solid communications program look like?
• Discussion of brand through third party experts, such as media and other trusted sources (celebrity spokespeople, key opinion leaders, experts in the field, nonprofit entities, etc.)
• Audiences that include professional media and consumers; purchasers and end-users
• Build sand sustain brand awareness
• Drives interest in brand, ultimately resulting in noticeable (if not measurable) differences in target behaviors, such as enhanced name recognition, positive response to brand and perhaps even increased sales
With that in mind, let’s look at social media. How could we use digital communications to support the program pillars above? To list just a few:
• Leverage KOL program to include KOLs discussing their use and experience with the product
• Offer surgical videos, live-Tweet procedures and before/after photos
• When working with KOLs, incorporate opportunities to blog for professional media sites as another way to manage visibility
• Offer KOLs to highly trafficked niche consumer blogs for regular Q&A feature series or other editorial benefiting the blog’s readership
• Launch a unique brand blog and link through to other topical sites to enhance authority and SEO
• Work with trusted channels to incorporate brand news into their content
• Provide links back to regulated and controlled content
As with all avenues of public discussion, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Respect the capabilities and limitations of each digital channel – just as public relations is not advertising, so are Facebook and Twitter completely different channels. Don’t create a Facebook group or page and sit back, expecting it to magically do well on Twitter, which requires frequent, targeted content updates. Twitter takes lots of care and feeding, but smart administrators can leverage single posts as Facebook updates as well, through platforms such as Ping.fm (for connecting to both personal Facebook pages as well as groups and/or pages) or the trusty TweetDeck (which cross-populates across popular social media forums but doesn’t-yet-support Facebook pages or groups).
Relinquish control (a little) – yes, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are heavily regulated, and no one is promoting irresponsible marketing. But it’s important to note the difference between meeting regulatory guidelines and attempting to manage every online conversation to corporate messaging. Just like reviews at Amazon, online conversations are largely comprised of open feedback and comment. Companies willing to hear and respond to feedback from the marketplace generally win more trust than those that do not. Look at the recent example of JetBlue, which responded to the headline-making story about one of its employees through a single, eloquent Twitter post.
Be a Boy Scout – However, while participating in open communication forums is a “do,” being unprepared is a definite “don’t.” Wise companies – and PR firms – will have a crisis communications plan in place before turning on any large-scale digital communications effort.
Listen up – At the end of the day Twitter and Facebook are just two more tools in the PR arsenal. Use them wisely, listen to your audiences (that strange new professional-consumer-interested bystander-media-hybrid) and be creative. Paying attention to the direction and content of online discussions may also make the brand more authentic and responsive to critical audiences, so don’t turn your back once these efforts are launched. Listen in. Speak up. Repeat (often) for digital communication success.
Other Articles to Consider:
Social Media in Health Care: Barriers and Future Trends via iHealthBeat
Digitas SVP: Pharma Marketers Must Listen Before Joining Social Media Party via eMarketer
FDA Warns Pharmaceutical Firm Over Advertising on Social Media via iHealthBeat
5 Examples of Social Media in Healthcare Marketing via TopRank
by PascaleCom
ShareThisBe honest, Be transparent – NYT collects crisis management tactics from BP to Toyota
Tuesday August 24, 2010 | No Comments
With technology and media outlets providing constant syndication of news, both positive and negative, recent examples of crisis communication show companies experimenting with practices in traditional crisis management. Allison Potter noted this article in the New York Times, discussing the latest tactics used by Toyota, BP, and others during recent PR struggles. The moral? Be honest, transparent, and realistic when addressing the public – All of which will be ensured with a great PR firm backing you up.
Read more about crisis management in “In Case of Emergency: What Not to Do” via New York Times
by PascaleCom
PC Team Expands – Meet Suzanne Miller, International PR Specialist
Tuesday August 17, 2010 | No Comments
Pascale Communications, LLC is proud to welcome Suzanne Miller to our virtual PR team! From her home in the Midwest, Suzanne will share her experience working with healthcare clients seeking exposure in US and foreign markets.
“Suzanne’s international expertise will prove to be a great asset to our clients looking for expanded and international exposure,” said Georgette Pascale, PC’s President and CEO. “With additional experienced team members specializing in foreign and new media, our growing PR team is ever-more exciting and promising!”
Learn more about Suzanne on the “Who Are We?” page – Welcome, Suzanne!
by PascaleCom
PR vets discuss new media integration for the press release of the future
For veterans of public relations, the onslaught of new media has vastly altered the meaning and value of so-called “traditional” PR tactics – Namely the press release.
Consumer and new media specialist, Rosemary Valenta, spotted this recent Mashable article calling on several PR professionals, all of whom have pioneered the relationship between traditional media communication and social media, to explain the PR industry’s adoption of the versatile and far-reaching voice of new mediums like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to develop the press release of the future.
For those of you wondering “Why do I still even write press releases?” the post also features a fantastic video demonstrating a new “Pitch Engine” for social media releases, helping users make press releases more media-rich as well as integration and syndication of information easier and more efficient – Very cool!
Read “The Future of Public Relations and Social Media” via Mashable Business
by PascaleCom
Consumer PR team lands great coverage for hepatitis C therapy
Thursday August 12, 2010 | No Comments
PC was hired by Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals to build visibility for their hepatitis C retreatment therapy, Infergen. Infergen received FDA expanded labeling last month and is competing with the news of promising future therapies, all still involved in clinical trials. Some of our successes to date utilize the “Why Wait?” message, connected to treatment of hepatitis C and mitigating its negative effects on the liver. Increased awareness surrounding this misunderstood, ”silent killer,” was also an important component of this coverage on Washington’s WUSA. It’s not only an IV Drug User’s illness, just ask Shep…
by PascaleCom
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