Using the Social Media Center


The RHSC Social Media Center is a repository of information to help you better understand the social media landscape and to provide education on how to connect with customers, media, bloggers and other important influencers by using collaborative 2.0 tools.  In the Center you will find articles from best practices in PR 2.0 healthcare to how to use  resources including social media releases and RSS feeds.  You will also be able to access other social media expert blogs, the latest articles on social networking and community building, as well must attend social media and web 2.0 conferences/events.

Healthcare PR and Social Media 101: What will the FDA allow?


By Betsy Raymond Stevenson, posted February 1, 2010

This series’ goal has been to make you familiar enough with social media to assess your company’s options and best interests in bringing social media into its communications mix.  Over the past four weeks we have explored LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  This week, in the last post of this series, I will give you resources to track the FDA’s position on the industry’s use of social media, certainly an important factor in any decision you make.  Used well, social media will be a game changer in public health.  This is an exciting, if challenging, time. How often do public relations and marketing communications have the opportunity to use a technology for such great public good?

Spend your ten minutes a day this week getting familiar with these resources:

  • #fdasm.com — Fabio Gratton created and maintains this site for “everything about the FDA, Internet & Social Media.” He’s not kidding.  It’s a great resource.  You can catch up on and keep track of the FDA’s current social media policy deliberations, as well as the heated and creative discussions on the topic on Twitter.
  • Eye on FDA — Mark Senak has been following, interviewing, commenting on, and chiding the FDA for years in his popular and insightful blog.
  • SocialRx — Steve Woodruff’s SocialRx will give you good resources to continue your exploration of social media. This site also has an excellent list of the leading industry bloggers.
  • Pharmatweetical – John Mack’s site “at the crossroads of Twitter and the pharma community” is a place to converse about pharma news and developments.
  • Social Pharmer — Shwen Gwee, now with Vertex, created and maintains this social network for people “interested or involved with social media and the healthcare community.”

Thank you for following Healthcare PR and Social Media 101.  Was it useful?  What other topics would you like to see explored on RS Snapshot?  If you know others who would like this series, please share it with them!


Healthcare PR and Social Media 101: Facebook


By Betsy Raymond Stevenson, posted January 24, 2010

This week you’ll be looking at ways pharmaceutical and biotech companies are using Facebook to connect with patients, caregivers, and potential and current employees.  I want to thank Jonathan Richman, author of the ‘Dose of Digital’ blog, for making this post so easy. Jon has created a Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki that is the single best resource I’ve found to see how the healthcare sector is bringing social media into the communications mix. 

 Since we are beginning with Facebook, click on the Wiki’s Facebook link.  It will take you to an alphabetized list of branded and unbranded pages and apps, beginning with Accuminder and ending with Bayer’s Strong@Heart.  Take some time each day this week to visit a couple of sites on the list.  Suggestions to help you get started:

  • Gardasil Facebook Page — Merck: the first pharma page on Facebook, with more than 100,000 members
  • MS Champions — EMD Serono, Inc. and Pfizer, co-marketers of Rebif
  • ADHD Moms — McNeil Pediatrics
  • AstraZeneca Careers
  • Labs are Vital — Abbott Labs

 For the end of the week: Has seeing ways other companies are using Facebook given you ideas on how your company could use Facebook to build trust, support compliance, provide resources, make connections or recruit staff?


Healthcare PR Social Media 101: Exploring Twitter


By Betsy Raymond Stevenson, posted January 17, 2010

Welcome back to the second week of Snapshot’s introduction to social media for healthcare communicators. If you are just joining us, you may want to see the first installment of this series, Taking LinkedIn to the Next Degree, below.  This week, we will focus on Twitter.  Yes, I know, I know….  Do it anyway. If you still think Twitter is a waste of time by the end of the week, you don’t have to go back.

Twitter’s value is in who you choose to follow and, eventually, in who chooses to follow you and your company. Blogger Michelle Greer compares social media tools like Twitter to cell phones, writing “You don’t get a cell phone and say, ‘Let me find numbers to plug into my phone to justify the use of this object.’ You think of WHOM you would actually want to call and THEN you plug their number in. It’s the conversations that make the medium interesting.” And, for your company, worthwhile. The only way to discover Twitter’s value is by trying it out.  Set aside ten minutes a day this week to:

  • Set up your Twitter profile at http://dailytwitips.com/twitter-2/ Make this a personal profile, not a company one, as you’re testing the waters at this point
  • Put key words into Twitter Search and follow the most interesting names that come up. Some examples:  healthcare, public relations, pr, pharma, biotech, FDA, names of reporters. You can also put these words into Technorati Search to find the leading bloggers on your topics.  Many of them will also be on Twitter.
  • Now put in #nameofyourcompany and #nameofothercompanies.  This is a valuable tool to see what people are saying – or not saying – about your company, your products, your partners and your competitors. The hashtag indicates a topic as opposed to a name.
  • Check in at different times of the day to see what the people you are following are posting. This is called “listening” and it’s the best way to learn how people and companies are using Twitter.  
  • That’s it. If, at the end of the week, you still don’t think Twitter has any value for you or your company, you don’t have to go back.  But, I think you will.

Social Media 101: LinkedIn to the next degree


By Betsy Raymond Stevenson, posted January 11, 2010

Most of you reading this are already on LinkedIn. But how many of you are using it for anything more than growing your list of connections and joining some industry and school groups?  You can begin to discover LinkedIn’s potential to become your go-to professional resource personally and for your company.  Think recruiting, for example. This week, set aside ten minutes a day to try the following:

  • Choose three people in your LinkedIn network and write recommendations for them.  Make a commitment to write at least one recommendation a week for the next four weeks.
  • Reach out to some of your contacts (not necessarily the same ones you have recommended) and ask if they would write recommendations for you.
  • Join a group in your field, or start visiting a group you belong to already, and follow its discussions with intent. Look for a question you can answer or an opinion you can comment on – and do it.  Make a commitment to do this once a week for the next four weeks.
  • Post a question asking for help or information.  LinkedIn has groups for just about every specialty you can imagine.  I found my IT support and a vendor to conduct biotech investor/VC surveys this way.

If you still have some time at the end of the week, please share your experiences and tips for others by posting a comment.  Next week:  Twitter.


What do the FDA and google have in common? They are making changes that will impact your company’s communications


By Betsy Raymond Stevenson, posted October 1, 2009

So much is happening in social media that will impact pharmaceutical PR and marketing that it is hard to know where to begin in this first post.

The FDA has called for a much-needed public hearing on social media and the internet.  The hearing is scheduled for November 12 and 13, with registration closing on October 9. The FDA will accept written and electronic comments through February 28, 2010.  This is an important opportunity for healthcare communicators to have input into new regulatory policy that will impact their ability to manage their organization’s reputation in the digital world. For valuable commentary on the opportunities and challenges posed by this hearing, read Shwen Gwee’s take on Med 2.0. Mark Senak makes excellent suggestions on what industry communicators can do to prepare effective comments, and provides a link to the announcement on the Federal Register, at his blog  Eye On FDA.

Read on …


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