Help your biomedical group take the right steps towards creating a healthy social media plan. 

Technology may be moving faster than the speed of light but it doesn’t have to leave you behind. Here’s a guide to help your biomedical group get serious about creating a healthier social life in 2013.

Why Is It Important for Your Biomedical Brand to be Social?
Social media has been around long enough that it’s time to get serious and really answer this question. Many of us jumped on the social bus before there were any roadmaps at all – simply to have a presence. And while visibility is important, today strategy will win. Those who formulate goals and have a plan for achievement will be most successful in social media in 2013. If you’ve been here a while, it’s time to learn from your travels and give more thought to the route ahead. The good news for biomedical brands that are new to social media is that there are now examples to study to help you gain ground faster.

Whether you are a veteran or a newbie the first task is to answer this: What’s the value in having your biomedical institution on the social scene?

Bring in Internal Team Leaders
To define the true value of social media for your organization and begin to formulate a strategy, get your department leaders together. Remember this is about being social and breaking down those pesky silos. So, whether it’s through group brainstorming sessions or private interviews, understanding the goals of your Development Director, C-level Executives, Marketing/PR Directors, Sale Managers, Educational Director, etc. is key. Are there specific areas of research you want to grow? Are there educational opportunities that you want to bring more awareness to? Are there specific recruitment goals your institution has? These answers will help you decide if social media has value and if it does, you can begin to formulate tangible goals that you can bring into a realistic social media plan for 2013.

Dedicate the Proper Resources
Those doing social media well in 2013 have dedicated staffing resources and created a daily plan for how social media benefits their overall marketing efforts. So, whether you have one person or a team, to be effective it’s important to create formal social media positions and responsibilities, rather than adding them on as a side dish to someone’s full plate.

Review Your 2012 Social Media Life
If you’ve been on the social media scene for a while take a look at your efforts. What activity stands out? What are your strengths/weaknesses? Did you have set goals in 2012 and, if so, were they attainable? What platforms proved to be most effective? If you are new to social media take a look at similar or competing organizations. Social veterans should do this too – the transparency of social media has many benefits. Use the information you find in your research to help form possibilities for your 2013 strategy.

Reconnect with your SEO
Social media drives online activity to your website and blog where hopefully targeted conversions are taking place. Review your online analytics as well as your specific keywords to see how well your intentions are working.

Develop Your 2013 Social Media Strategy
Elements of a successful strategy can include: list of tangible goals and a plan of action for how social media can help you achieve those goals; team members who are responsible; schedule of activity; frequency of posts; where content comes from; platforms used; types of posts; blogs/organizations will you follow, contribute to, and share; and, most of all, a general philosophy for how your institution will be “social”, interact and grow your followers.

Get Your Internal Team Onboard
Once you develop a plan share it with department leaders to help them take ownership and encourage internal participation. This should be a fairly easy task given that you included those VIPs early on. You may also include them in your quarterly review process and make adjustments as their needs have changed.

Review Your Progress Regularly
Quarterly reviews are a smart way to see if you are still on track. Don’t hesitate to make adjustments as the organic and immediate nature of social is part of its beauty.

Happy Trails!
Sure, at the very least social media can simply continue to reinforce your marketing efforts and enable your biomedical group to grow interest from potential donors, research investigators and the media. It is a more personal and immediate vehicle for keeping your circle informed and excited about what’s happening right now.

Imagine where it could take you if intentionally built your own road map.