Healthcare Social Communications

This morning, I attended another great seminar from the Business Development Institute and founder Steve Etzler. The subject matter was social communications for healthcare companies and organizations. It's a much-debated and feared subject, given the regulatory boundaries in which pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers operate. Here are some highlights from the speakers.

Marc Monseau, Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media, Johnson & Johnson

• 61% of HCPs have read a blog, and 79% have watched an online video for personal or professional use
• J&J has had 80,000 downloads of their mobile Black Bag app geared towards doctors are a real-time health news feed
• J&J has created some closed communities for connecting professionals (vision care, diabetes)
• J&J maintains strong relationships with doctors and especially with nurses via BlogWorld, Facebook, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter
• Marc's basics: listen to the conversation, establish your role, identify key influencers, establish policies, streamline approval process, resource appropriately, empower teams, remain flexible
• Marc uses Google Reader to track the most influential health bloggers/writers
• Funny moment: J&J reads a statement any dinners where they host doctors, saying that they won't object if the doctors would prefer to pay for their meal

Brian Mulligan, Assistant VP of PR, North Shore - LIJ Health System

• Getting your extended corporate message onto social media is like fitting a square peg into a round hole
• The challenge: YouTube is fun, but HIPPA is serious business
• North Shore LIJ refuses to put press releases on their Facebook page

Fred Muench, Associate Director of Research, The Partnership at Drugfree.org

• Patients are using social media to extend their health care
• 30% of patients have e-communications with their HCP, but up to 70% of them WANT to have e-communications with their HCP
• 78% of patients would like a counselor automatically alerted if they relapse
• HCPs are concerned that their patients aren't getting reliable information in the social health forums
• People are having virtual AA meetings in Second Life (seriously ... Second Life)
• Largest growing population they are starting to cater their materials for is the U.S. Hispanic market

George Tunstall, SVP, Sales & Business Development, Within3

• Within3 creates online health communities for pharmas, medical associations, HCPs
• Virtual advisory board meetings can get satisfy the Sunshine Law by not paying for doctors' travel and accommodations
• Health care communities aren't launched; they're cultivated.

Bradley Jobling, Office of External Affairs, Columbia University Department of Surgery

• Columbia has patient bloggers reach out to them for advice
• They run 11 different Facebook pages around various topics
• NY-based doctors have such a strong offline network among their peers that they don't really use Sermo or Osmosis to information-exchange
• You can't do everything you want at once. Pick one program to kick off a social media initiative.
• They participate in sharecare.com

Engagement Span

This week, I'm in Austin, TX, at my company's leadership summit. A collection of great minds have come together to share their experience and ideas on where marketing and online communications is headed.

It's a new year, and this social media rage will continue to grow and to change. That seems to be the only constant -- that things in social media are always in flux. That's what makes this so exciting.

Some great nuggets from the talks:

• Customers only spend 1% of their time in the actual process of the purchasing action. The other 99% of the time is spent learning, assessing, reading reviews, etc. Companies need to concentrate their efforts more on that 99%.
• Great applicable quote from Wayne Gretzky: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."
• Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams: "You don't have to be a 'person of influence' to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me."
• Imagine if companies used social media research when they developed: New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, Smith & Wesson mountain bikes, McDonald's Arch Deluxe.
• When you interact, you learn. When you learn, you improve. When you improve, customers appreciate it. When customers appreciate it, they help you learn more.
• About 92% of Americans get their daily news from multiple sources. (from Pew Research)
• Message to companies: Don't build a website that people come to; build a website that people come back to.

You're Not Last

Each day, I see companies that think they're still far behind in social media. They each believe that everyone else, including their competitors, is way ahead of them in terms of their social media prowess and expertise. But the thing is, nearly everyone thinks this. Not everyone can be in last place. That would mean everyone's also in first place.

Social media is still in its infancy. And you're not really any father behind than your competitors. Even if you have a competitor who seems like they're way ahead of the pack, that just means they tried out something first. There are no real "standard ways of doing something" -- it's just a way of doing something.

Point being, if you haven't at least dipped your toes in the social media (media, really) pool yet, go for it. But do it in a thoughtful way, just as you would take on any new business venture. Namely ...

1. Be sure your social media policies and guidelines are in place.
2. Claim your name. Sure, you have www.mycompany.com locked up, but do you have "MyCompany" locked up for YouTube? Twitter? Flickr? Or any number of hundreds of social media channels?
3. Figure out who will be handling this. Reality check ... it's not a job you can just pawn off on the receptionist.
4. Train and empower your employees to use social media.

Mind you, these are broad strokes, but at least it should get you thinking. And by the way, Merry Christmas!

When Social Media Takes On Customer Service

Companies start their social media outreach for a number of reasons and from a number of starting points: PR, sales, marketing, corporate comms, HR, IT. Whatever the reason they started their social media channels, they quickly realize that the discussion branches out into just about every area that the business covers.

The key is to plan ahead for that. It may have been the case that a shoe company started a Twitter profile to talk about their corporate and social responsibility, but the conversation then turns to color offerings or return policies or shipping or coupons. The tide of social media conversation is an unstoppable force, so don't try to fight it. You have to go with the flow but be prepared for it. Don't be naive to think you can truly steer the conversation to your liking. As best, you can nudge it in a certain direction ... for a time.

One area that companies often don't consider when starting their YouTube channel or Twitter profile or blog is customer service. Inevitably, customers will find a way to reach a company to voice their complaints. A company may have a 1-800 number, a 'Contact Us' form on their site, or even a live Web chat, but when they truly want to voice their complaints, they'll turn to social media. Just look at @comcastcares. Comcast realized that frustrated customers were taking to Twitter in droves, and they got there to listen and to respond.

As the head of marketing, or human resources, or IT, you might think that customer service "isn't my area," but it is, inasmuch as it is the company's responsibility. If you're in charge of your company's social media channel, there is no area that isn't now your responsibility. Your customers will just see COMPANY NAME on the Facebook page and think that it's a way to reach your company with questions -- any questions. Customers don't make distinctions like CSR, PR, IT, internal comms, etc. They just want answers. And with (very public) customer service complaints on social media, it's even more important to resolve them.

The advice I've always given when it comes to customer complaints on social media is "publicly acknowledge, privately address." What that means is that you should respond to the complaint in the same open forum in which it started but then resolve it privately. Some other considerations:

• Respond quickly. Time is of the essence when it comes to responding to issues in social media. For one, you don't want other customers piling on and starting a conversation thread that "you suck." Second, responding quickly shows that you are, in fact, on top of social media and that you're listening.
• Acknowledge the complainant. When responding, do not issue a blanket statement that could have been pulled from a press release. It's a person doing the complaining, so talk to them like they're a person. Address them by name. Be human.
• Don't (necessarily) apologize. I learned long ago that there's a difference between saying "I'm sorry" and saying "I apologize." For former implies sympathy, while the latter accepts responsibility. When someone complains about a service issue or a bad product experience, you have no idea if it's true or that it happened in the way the customer explained. You should express concern for the situation while not accepting responsibility, unless you know that it is true. For example, someone complaining about a known product defect is not arguable. Instantly admitting fault could show up in court documents later, if it came to that.
• Request their info. In the public social media response, tell them that someone will be in touch with them. Then, if you can get in touch with them directly (Direct Message, Facebook mail, etc.), then ask them for their contact information (phone, e-mail) so that you can privately address the situation.
• Listen. The customer who complained obviously had a reason for doing so. It may be warranted or completely unfounded, but they still have their reasons. You have to hear them out no matter how erratic they may seem. I'm convinced that 51% of customer service is simply saying "I hear you."
• Resolve it. This sort of goes without saying, but the other 49% of customer service is actually resolving the issue. Whatever you do, do not respond that you'll look into the issue and then never get back to the person. That can (and probably will) make the situation worse, since you not only didn't fix the problem, but now, you've created another one by ignoring the customer.
• Close the book. When the customer service issue has been resolved, you can go back to the comment thread and say as much. Better yet, kindly ask the customer, where appropriate, if they can comment about how their issue was resolved.

Before customer complaints start finding their way into your social media channels (and they will), you need to have a plan in place on how to address them. Who will they be sent to internally? How will they be tracked? Who will respond?

These are areas that may not be part of your job description, but when you oversee your company's social media outlets, they all become your responsibility. Develop a plan to deal with that.

Follow the Conversation

Too many brands are still trying to bring the audience to them instead of going out to them. How many promotions have you seen where you have to go to www.whatever.com to participate? The best social media tactics from brands are the ones where they're in the thick of it. They're going to where people are talking about [whatever] and getting in on the conversation. They're Tweeting, commenting, forwarding.

Also, far too many promotions and brand contests try to integrate social media merely by having a "Tweet this" logo on the page. That's not using social media to its potential. Who's really going to use those canned Tweets like, "I'm getting the most out of my day by signing up for [BRAND]'s newsletter. Get the most out of your day here:" Who talks like that? And when you get to the site, it's that same Web 1.5 Flash-heavy static content site.

I hate to boil complex issues down to one-liners, but hey ... short atttention spans and all.

1. You don't want people to come to your Web site. You want them to come back to your Web site.
2. To get involved in social media, follow the conversation.