Put the building blocks in place for effective social media

If you survey the landscape of pharmaceutical social media, the most prominent examples are the companies that have carved out a large swath of social media real estate.  You will see microsites, YouTube channels and mobile applications.  To some, it can be disheartening and overwhelming when you calculate the amount of time and money that is sunk into these efforts.

But fear not, large-scale healthcare social media efforts do not have to happen overnight.  I have advocated here before that a slow and steady approach to social media is prudent—particularly in the regulation-heavy environment of the pharmaceutical industry.  A phased-out approach allows you to put the building blocks in place, and it also has the added bonus of spreading out the cost.  Social media does not have to be exorbitantly expensive out of the gates.

First, let’s start with why some social media engagement strategies are so expensive.  It’s just like the economics class you took in college; there is a significant barrier to entry for elaborate social media programs.  The development of a microsite to house the piles of interactive content you have recently developed does not come cheap.  The sheer cost of developing the site, let alone maintaining it, can turn many companies away.  Once you have the site up, you have to provide resources for consistent engagement.  It’s not social if you aren’t engaging.  This too comes at a price.  So you can see why the larger foothold a pharmaceutical company places in social media the more the tab balloons.  In addition to added price comes added risk.  This is not to say these strategies are flawed.  Quite the contrary.  But building up to this level of social media engagement both maximizes effectiveness at each phase and minimizes sticker shock.

While the barrier to entry for something like a microsite might be high, the majority of social media platforms have minimal to zero barriers to entry.  The general purpose of developing a microsite is to house and publish different types of content, share educational material and interact directly with customers.  A couple of problems: many companies starting out in social media do not have the brand muscle to direct people back to a newly established site.  Instead, a better approach is to realize that people have already staked out their congregating places on line.  Why not go where they are and provide content of value?  My agency’s principal (and my boss), uses the analogy of leaving a trail of bread crumbs.  That trail will be followed and people will find their way back to the origin.  If you must have a social media hub, why not consider setting up a presence on Facebook?  Here you can post videos, relevant news articles, engage with customers and share your industry commentary.  Oh, and did I mention, it’s free?

Look, social media is hard and any way you chose to engage is going to cost money and demand expertise.  The point is: don’t shy away from giving social media a shot because you only see monolithic companies with monolithic budgets to match giving it a try.  There are building blocks to getting to that point—pillars that are critical for success.

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