Something old, something new

In some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Despite the constant chatter around social media in all business sectors, digital communications boils down to just another way to express brands to consumer and business audiences. After all, what does a solid communications program look like? It involves discussion of the brand through third-party experts, such as media and other trusted sources, including celebrity spokespeople, key opinion leaders (KOLs), experts in the field and nonprofit entities. It reaches audiences that include professional media and consumers, purchasers and end-users, and it builds and sustains brand awareness.

A solid communications program drives interest in the brand, ultimately resulting in noticeable (and hopefully measurable) differences in target behaviors, such as enhanced name recognition, positive response to the brand and perhaps even increased sales.

With that in mind, let's look at social media. How could we use cutting-edge digital communications to support the time-tested program pillars above?

• Leverage a KOL program to include thought leaders discussing their use and experience with the product or service. When working with KOLs, incorporate opportunities to blog for professional media sites as another way to manage visibility. Don't forget to offer these third party experts to highly trafficked niche consumer blogs for regular Q&A feature series or other editorial content benefiting the blogs' readership
• Launch a unique brand blog and link through to other topical sites to enhance authority and search-engine optimization
• Create partnerships with trusted channels, such as major advocacy groups or leading niche bloggers, to incorporate brand news into other content streams
• Provide links back to regulated and controlled content, such as technical, professional or trade articles describing the product and its benefits. Doing so helps provide another level of credibility to both consumer and scientific audiences.

Know your channels
Respect the capabilities and limitations of each digital channel. Just as public relations is not advertising, so keep in mind that each outlet has different advantages, disadvantages, best practices and demographics. Always go back to your objectives – who are you talking to, about what and why? Use these answers to create a brand presence. Individual campaign, project or event flavors should live under that umbrella in a way that is consistent with the brand, the objectives and the type of content being distributed.

Administrators can use platforms to manage social networks simultaneously through platforms such as Ping.fm, an administrator can update Twitter, Facebook and more than a dozen other social networks all at once. Similarly, TweetDeck is a browser that connects you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. Users can update their status, posting photos or videos, and post comments directly from the TweetDeck site.
 
Relinquish (a little) control
The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are heavily regulated, and most experts are smart about drawing the line between acceptable risk and irresponsible marketing practices. While avoiding excess risk is not only smart, but also necessary, it's still important to find a balance between meeting regulatory guidelines and attempting to manage every online conversation to conform with corporate messaging. Just like reviews at Amazon, online conversations are largely comprised of open feedback and comment. Consider using content such as existing media coverage, links to content created by advocacy groups and nonprofits related to the topic or vertical, and share out key opinion leaders' statements or comments about the industry as a whole or product/service specifically. Interspersed with approved original content, this provides enough material for a robust Twitter feed. Having clearly stated disclaimers about participation guidelines is another way to assuage legal departments while starting and positioning a professional group on LinkedIn.

However, while participating in open communication forums is a 'do,' being unprepared is a definite 'don't.' Be a Boy Scout: be prepared. Wise companies – and PR firms – will have a crisis communications plan in place before turning on any large-scale digital communications effort.

These plans should include a basic set of guidelines for responding to everything from standard troll posts (eg, remove), answering customer service issues (request a direct message to help address the issue, or provide a toll-free number for expedited service) to crisis communications (eg, immediate points of contact at agency, client site and legal), as well as developed and approved core messaging documents that can be leveraged to create official statements or responses as needed.

Measurement
The best advice we have for selecting a vendor to monitor your social media traffic? Look for both quantity and sentiment, to help track not just your official posts but also trend or topic related spikes (or dips) that can help with strategic communications planning. Having an agency team monitor for increases in followers and fans is great, but you'll ultimately get more value through a comprehensive monitoring process.
 
Listen up
At the end of the day, social media is just one more tool in the PR arsenal. Use them wisely, listen to your audiences (that strange new professional-consumer-interested bystander-media-hybrid, aka you) 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.

The author
Rosemary Valenta, Account Director and social media guru, Pascale Communications, can be reached at rosemary@pascalecommunications.com