NEWS & VIEWS

Who said you can’t be social in healthcare?

by Brightworks Marketing Team - September 20, 2018

Sure, the rules make it pretty tough to engage on social media when you are a healthcare brand, but it can be done, and done well! In the last few years we’ve taken a new approach to social for our healthcare clients (true, one product is regulated as a device, which makes it easier) and we’ve seen the results… and the awards. We landed 14 major honours in the last 5 years for our social programs, including a Silver W3 Award, a Silver Communicator Award, and a finalist position at the PM360 Trailblazer Awards. How did we do it? 

• Don’t pretend to be an expert if you aren’t! We’ve engaged social influencers who are deep into the specific disease state to help curate content and guide the way.
• Think of the audience first. Too often brands look to social as a marketing channel, and their pages are worse off for it. Build equity through providing value, and earn the right to market by building trust.
• Tell brand stories. Don’t just post, tell a story and have a voice. This is what agencies are good at, and this is where the real effort is.
• If you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all. Everyone needs to be at the table, and on board with social as a channel. Brand Managers need to be committed, regulatory has to commit to reasonable SOPs and the agency team needs to be dedicated.

A great example of all this coming together is Diabetes Innovations, the community we helped build with BD. It is now the largest in Canada, and the 4^th largest in the US! Check it out here, and if you need help navigating social for your brand, you can always give us a call.