Non-Pharma Marketers Please Note: While this post focuses on pharmaceutical marketing, I strongly believe it can benefit health marketers outside of drug firms.  The goal of the Path of the Blue Eye project is to expose you to helpful information from other industry segments.  Open yourself to ideas  from outside of your industry silo and you will benefit, today and in the future.

When I first started giving talks focusing on the importance of social media for the healthcare industry, it was enough to focus on social media 101.  In those days, people were skeptical about the benefits and impact of social technologies on their work.  Today, that’s no longer sufficient.  People get that social media is important.  Now, they want information that will help them successfully integrate these technologies into their marketing communications initiatives.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of coordinating a 3-hour social media workshop at Digital Pharma with Jonathan Richman of Bridge Worldwide and author of the Dose of Digital blog.  (Digital Pharma is an annual conference designed to educate pharmaceutical executives on the latest trends in digital marketing.)

Our goal was to satisfy attendees’ craving for actionable information on how to plan, approve and evaluate a pharmaceutical social media marketing initiative.  To meet this objective, we developed a simulation focusing on this topic.  We divided workshop participants into five teams and gave them the job of developing a social media initiative from scratch.  They also had to address the compliance issues associated with their idea.  Compliance is always a difficult topic.  But, it’s become even more important now that FDA is holding a public hearing on this issue.

Rather than being intimidated, workshop participants dove right in, developing some very innovative campaigns in less than an hour.  During the compliance-focused part of the workshop, we had a very intense conversation about whether it is appropriate (or safe) for drug firms to move forward on social media-related initiatives without firm FDA guidance. One person from a major healthcare company that is very active in the social media arena (speaking for herself and not her company) argued strongly that delay is not an option. She believes it is the drug industry’s responsibility to move forward and show the FDA what is possible.  Waiting for guidance that may or may not be satisfactory could be a serious mistake.

Pharma Marketers: If You’re Ready to Move, These Workshop Materials Are For You

Workshop participants completed each task using detailed worksheets I developed focusing on social media marketing planning, compliance and evaluation.  These worksheets are based on my work with drug firms and other health organizations.  I have also provided our full workshop PowerPoint presentation.

• Click here to download the worksheets
• Click here to download the PowerPoint presentation

Here’s to your success.

Read More from Walking the Path:

1. Planning and Evaluating Digital Media Campaigns for the Public Sector
2. Off-Label Marketing & Social Media: What’s Big Pharma’s Responsibility?
3. Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Media