Editor’s Note: Just prior to PR News’ Healthcare Social Media Summit late last month in Baltimore, PR News and partner Crisp, a company specializing in social media risk, held a Communications Leadership Roundtable, convening 12 senior communications professionals for a 90-minute exchange about trends, developments and best practices.
Among the major themes to emerge from the discussion was the emphasis on integration. Communicators not only stressed the importance of integrated campaigns, which has been a trend for quite some time, they also noted the importance of integrating measurement. “You can’t measure in silos,” one said, noting that a communications effort may have performed well in several areas and failed in others.
Again on measurement, several supported a holistic approach where the results of paid, earned and owned media are merged into a single measurement score, represented by a number.
Integration and PR Education
Other moments where the theme of integration arose included a point where several communicators were discussing the importance of getting brands to expand their communications horizons. It is important, one said, to avoid focusing on doing “just one thing,” such as communicating on a single social channel, since “it could be gone some day.” Another executive agreed, “Get your blinders off…companies need to achieve goals, not do one thing.”
Along the same lines several communicators urged industry representatives to encourage educators to make integration a priority with PR students; “schools should merge specialties,” a communicator said.
Another added, “I was at a college fair and was shocked to find so many 21-year-olds saying, ‘I want to do paid social…or I want to be a community manager’ and that’s it. Students need to realize the [communicator’s] job includes doing many things…none of us does one thing anymore.”
While federal regulations protecting patient privacy often are cited for cooling enthusiasm in healthcare toward using social media, the roundtable participants didn’t seem overly concerned with the issue. On the other hand, several recommended that communicators forge strong bonds with members of your company’s compliance and legal departments.
The following is a summary of some of the questions posed and comments made during the discussion. The participants, who are listed in the graphic, were told in advance that they would not be quoted for attribution.
Where is your organization in terms of breaking down silos and integration? Who owns social in your world?
“We’re totally integrated…it’s a marketing and communications umbrella,” one executive said. “We use lots of tools and don’t exclude anything. The question for us is about getting the proper mix [of tools and channels] for a particular campaign.” Said another communicator, “This is why we want our people cross-training…we want them to be able to look at campaigns holistically.”
“We ask what behavior are we trying to encourage” from consumers. The answer determines the elements included in a campaign.
Similarly an executive commented on how to approach crafting a PR plan. “These questions come out of my mouth at least three times a day when I’m talking with staff: Who are you trying to engage? Who are you trying to talk to? Hopefully this keeps people grounded.” As a general rule, this executive said, “marketers are looking for big audiences, we in communications are looking for a few names.”
Another executive said, “The struggle for us is how to measure…the days of starting a campaign and leaving it for six months before you measure are over…you have to look at some things daily since there are changes every day…sometimes your social works but traditional media doesn’t.”
Measurement Tools
Speaking of measurement, what tools do you favor?
“For the bottom line we use Google Analytics, but also Hootsuite Enterprise and Simply Measured, which Sprout Social acquired.”
“We had a tool developed for us. We told a measurement firm what matters most to us and they put it into an analytics form. It gives us a number…five and above is good, below five is not…we use the tool only for social, but eventually we’ll use it for everything.”
Another executive concurred with that line of reasoning. “If you want to take an holistic approach, you need to measure everything…you can’t look at things in silos.”
There was a consensus, though, about what one participant called “drowning in data” and how “easily it can happen.” This executive’s company also had a score developed for it, which took six months. But the executive admitted, “The score doesn’t help us too much. We use it externally, though.”
What about applying what’s measured to business objectives? “That’s still a work in progress,” this last executive admitted.
Legal and Compliance
When healthcare communicators gather, regulation is an oft-mentioned subject. What are your views?
The consensus was that solid groundwork should precede a social media effort. “Reach out to compliance and legal to build a relationship and an understanding…schedule face-to-face meetings…bringing food usually works.”
Another insight was that part of the problem for healthcare companies making the foray into social are the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “loose guardrails…they’re not black and white…it’s more of a feel thing,” one communicator said.
There’s also the issue of communicating on social with people during their worst moments as they suffer from a sickness. “We want people to feel loved” when they visit our site, one executive said, “but it’s tricky…we can’t say, ‘We’re glad you’re not feeling well.’”
Several executives noted the reluctance of companies to engage in a conversation on social. It’s for this reason that communicators need to clearly explain to management what social media entails.
Another executive said, “A company I worked with didn’t want to hear stakeholders’ comments [on social]…when they saw criticism they wanted it to be removed.” The group agreed that if at all possible stakeholder comments should not be removed from a site because they provide valuable insights.
Social Tools
What’s the most effective social tool for you?
Responses to this question ran the gamut, from LinkedIn and Twitter to Reddit, Snapchat and Facebook, which emerged as a prime place to do social monitoring since so many people use it. Doximity, the healthcare social networking site, also was mentioned.
“A lot of doctors are on Twitter, so it’s a big platform for us,” one executive said. Said another, “You can’t escape Facebook…and Instagram is useful because it’s part of Facebook.” Added another communicator, “Anything with a consumer theme works on Instagram...for example, ‘A Day in the Life of’ series about someone with psoriasis.”
Another executive noted, “Our corporate leaders post their thought leadership articles on LinkedIn…I’d like to get on Reddit, it’s massive and under the radar…there are lots of important discussions going on there.”
Facebook Support
There was plenty of support for Facebook. One communicator called it “the Google of healthcare…it’s not sexy and it costs more to reach people, but everyone’s there…and we want to connect with people, it’s friends-and-family-heavy and since our brand is personal it’s been a huge revenue driver for us.”
Speaking of Facebook, an executive noted, “An under-used aspect of Facebook is Groups…your brand can gain a lot of traction if it can be authentic as a host of Group.”
What challenges do you face getting your teams to be more digital?
“The words you use internally matter…we don’t use the words digital or traditional, just media…be intentional, tell people over and over what you want to do,” said one participant.
Another agreed. “Focus less on swim lanes such as marketing, sales and PR and more on integration.” This executive added that such a mindset encourages staff to become familiar with many tools and methods.
“Turnover is good [since it allows you to find more well-rounded employees]…any good communicator I’ve seen [has the ability to do] digital and social…it’s not rocket science…and it’s not a generational thing…I’ve seen young people who aren’t good at digital and social.” The executive added, “You want a level playing field so you need to offer a lot of training in all fields…it’s also important to form teams, so they can cross-train each other.”
Your budget is 20% higher for social. How do you spend the money?
The answers were wide ranging, though the connective tissue was the desire to know more about target audience members and how to engage them. Spending more on paid influencers and paid posts were popular responses.
Said one executive, “I’d spend more on doing good, quality research about who’s in our community, what’s working for them, who’s engaging with our content and then building personas…it’s always a challenge to get [companies] to invest in research.”
Another executive said, “I’d spend half on paid and half on training for an employee advocacy program.” Getting companies to spend on video and other visual material is a challenge, several participants noted, so they’d advocate more spending there.
“60 percent,” another executive said, “would go to contextual content marketing and 40 percent to making our web site more user friendly…you only get one chance to get people to visit your site…if it’s not good, they won’t stay.”
“I’d spend the additional budget on paid,” said an executive echoing one of the dominant responses, but also 10 percent on technology and A.I. “I want to find tools that tell you what topics are resonating rather than guessing about what the topics are.”
