In order for #bigpharma to have a successful social media strategy, you must break the internal silos.
Why?
- Social media reflects your brand and the entire organization, not one department
- Different skill sets and efforts are required in social media
- A flow of information and communication among departments is mandatory
- External audience interests go above and beyond individual department interests
- Consumer interacts with your brand across multiple channels and expects a consistent, unified experience
What are some of the hurdles for #bigpharma to overcome?
- Getting rid of *who owns what* mentality
- Multiple accounts on FB, Twitter shows your siloed structure
- Not responding immediately to online questions, comments or posts
- Siloed social media content makes it impossible to provide consistent messaging
- #Bigpharma is still relying heavily on external agencies
- Most social media strategies fail because of internal problems
How should #bigpharma organize for social media?
- Fight silo thinking – think as one company
- Have clear processes and structure in place
- Involve all departments on social media (in other words not owned by one department)
- Speak with one voice to your external audience
- Your external customer/audience is a priority
What does a social media structure look like?
- Have in place a social media expert team
- It is about coordination, exchange of learning and understanding what works and rapid response
- A must is an access to senior management, for quick responses
- Seek people with different talents – social media managers (expert in social media), social media strategists (establishes the strategy), community manager (connects to the outside world)
- Outsource as little as possible – build your own internal team and know how within the company
How to deal with company culture?
- If you are still trying to sell social media within the company your company is very far behind
- Embrace the opportunities of social media and how it can enhance changes within an organization
- Embrace social media as a core competency
- C-Suite leaders need to have as a requirement social media competencies
- C-suite management need to be asking also: How is our content performing? Are we responding and engaging online? What is our audience saying about us?
