Practical PR 2.0
Take the Next Step in Social Media
Meghan Hindman
2008 Research Fellow, Society for New Communications Research
Vice President, Director of New Media, Dorland Global Public Relations
www.sncr.org
The Old World of Communications
HCPs
Competitor
Employees
s
Policy
Partners makers/
gov’t
Novartis
You
Oncology
Message Control
Influencers Patients
Media Lobbyists
The New World of Communications
Message Control
You
New Media Review
Web 2.0 technologies & practices that enable people use to
create and share content, opinions, insights, experiences and
perspectives
Tools of New Media Include:
Blogs
Wikis & Collaborative Tools
Podcasts
Online Video
Social Networking: MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn
Virtual Worlds: Second Life
News aggregation: Digg, Health Ranker
Photo sharing: Flickr
Social bookmarking: del.icio.us
Navigating New Media
There are 76 million+ established blogs
Nearly 100,000 new blogs are created daily
Healthcare/Pharma New Media Landscape
More than 113 million
Americans search
online for healthcare
information
82% of women
and 77% of men
online use the Internet
for
health purposes
58% of Internet users
say their last search
affected a decision
about how to treat a
medical condition
Obstacles and Solutions
General misunderstanding/
suspicion regarding lack of Conduct sustainable
control influencer education
program
Entry into new media seen Engage in demonstration
as risky project with early
adopter(s)
Review cost comparison
Competition for resources
of new vs. traditional
(time and money)
media outreach
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
Pharma/Healthcare and Social Networking
Growing presence on more popular social networking sites
MySpace
Facebook (requires login)
Virtual Communities/Networks
Specialty healthcare networking sites evolving
Sermo (requires login)
Nurse Connect
Major presence for patients and patient advocacy groups
Webring
Facebook (requires login)
USA Today article
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
The Healthcare Blogosphere
Four primary healthcare-blogosphere participants:
Journalists
Healthcare biz – Ed Silverman/Pharmalot
General health – Tara Parker Pope/Well
Whistleblowers/Anti-Industry
Dr. Peter Roost/Question Authority
Patients
Yet Another Cancer Blog
Care Pages
Physicians
Kevin, MD, Medical Weblog
Dr. David‟s Blog
Pharma gradually becoming a presence
Alli Alli Connect Johnson & Johnson
Influential-Blogger Outreach
Identify and rank influential bloggers
Journalists
Patients
Physicians
Begin reading/subscription as soon as possible
Forge relationship/foster dialogue in order to saturate blogosphere with
product or corporate information
Encourage posting of information and Web address
Encourage spokespeople to comment/blog
Create ongoing touch points with bloggers
Send relevant news updates as appropriate
Blog Monitoring/Influencer Identification
No true/easy/automatic standard for identifying and rank
influential bloggers
Frequency of posts
Number of profile views
Lists viewership
Number of links
Number of comments
eDrugSearch Healthcare 100
Best method = manual labor
Technorati
BlogPulse
Google Blog Search
RSS
Blogger Relations: Do’s and Don’ts
Never pitch, personalize
Bloggers – savvy and non-savvy – oppose traditional media
pitch
Relationship building is essential to fostering dialogue
Best approach:
Personal
Knowledgeable
Quick
Relevant
Continue learning and reading
Influential-Blogger Outreach
Alternative to one-on-one relations
Sponsor adjunct roundtable session - Healthcare Blogging and New
Media Summit
Position event as relationship-building opportunity for bloggers and
pharma/biotech
Invite patient, physicians, journalist bloggers
Discuss best and worst practices of pharma blogosphere
dialogue
Work with participants to develop best practices guidelines
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
RSS
What is RSS?
Really Simple Syndication – enables content to be subscribed to and
automatically pulled into a newsreader, webpage or blog template
User controlled
Automatically delivers new content
Becoming platform for advertising and delivery of services such
as institutional news
Uses include:
Combat email overload
Online press room updates
Keep your customers informed with a feed for product updates,
specs, troubleshooting, security updates
Employee communications
Monitoring
Utilizing RSS Feeds
Use RSS to announce press announcements
Announce new issues of your e-newsletter
Provide a separate RSS feed for the articles you publish in your
newsletter
If you publish content on different topics, provide a separate RSS feed
for each
Allow your visitors to subscribe either to the email or RSS delivery
channels to receive the same content
If you have an affiliate program, make sure your affiliates can also
subscribe to your affiliate notices via an RSS feed
If you're sending out special notices or updates to your existing
customers via e-mail, create a special limited-access RSS feed to
deliver those same updates via RSS as well
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
The Social Media Press Release
Established journalists looking for more than static content
75 percent of journalists prefer to receive media-rich press releases than a
standard email or Word file
“Press releases with „a song and dance,” PR Week UK,
18 July 2007
“Press releases are nearly useless”, Tom Foremski,
Financial Times
Social Media Release/New Media release combines video, audio and
photo news in one accessible microsite
Template
NutriSystem Canada
Social Media Release v. 1.5
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
Social Bookmarking
What is social bookmarking?
A way to group web pages, blog posts etc. so others can
follow along
Popular Bookmarking Service
Del.icio.us – recently acquired by Yahoo
Attributes
Share valued information and sources
View what friends/influencers/others are saving and reading
Discover interesting articles on topic from others
Filing system based on user generated categories
Social Bookmarking Sites
Del.icio.us
Social bookmarking management site
Collection of favorite link
Keep links to articles, blogs, music, reviews, recipes, and
more, and access them from any computer on the web
Share favorites with friends, family, coworkers, and the
del.icio.us community
Discover new things
Del.icio.us
Access anywhere
Share with everyone
Private bookmarking also an option
Subscribe to tags
General
From specific users
Build a “network” by inviting friends, family, colleagues or
reporters
Facebook application now available
Get started: http://del.icio.us/help/
Social Bookmarking & Relationship
Building
Subscribe to key reporters and other influencers
Research who is reading about the topics you
are interested in order to discover new
influencers
Invite reporters to visit your del.icio.us profile
Encourage reporters and other influencers to
join your network
Pieces of the New Media Puzzle
Social
Networks
Blogs RSS
Social News Social News
Release Bookmarking Aggregation
News Aggregators
Digg = “democratizing digital media”
“Digg” what you like, “bury” what you don’t
Add articles
Invite and track friends
Discuss
Comment on digg posts
Digg comments or bury them
Health Ranker
“#1 Social Media Health Site”
Powered by user
Partnerships available
Social Media Examples
Healthcare and Oncology
Social Networking for People with Cancer
Planet Cancer My Cancer Place
I’m Too Young For This Inspire
My Crazy Sexy Life Care Flash
Understanding Cancer Care Pages/Revolution
My Lifeline Health
The Life Linkage Network The Cancer Support Project
yRoswell Sharing Hope.tv
Survivor Celebration
I‟m Too Young For This! i[2]y
One of Time’s Top 50 Websites of 2007
Blog – The Stupid Cancer Blog
Live Podcasts
The Stupid Cancer Show Monday Evenings
Social networking
i[2]y Web banners
“Pocket PSAs”
Oncology Nursing Society
Podcast series
Audio discussion surrounding Oncology Nursing Forum
Virtual Communities/SIGs
Announcements
Calendar
Discussion Forums
Polls
Web Links
Shared Files
Photo Gallery
Virtual Media Briefings
9th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research: Impact of Exercise on
Patients with Cancer
American Cancer Society
Blogs
Dr. Len‟s Cancer Blog
Facebook groups
Second Life
American Cancer Society Island
Relay for Life
4th year anticipated to be largest contiguous event
2007 Second Life Relay raised >$118K with more than 1,700 participants
Avatars encountered opportunities along the way to have fun while donating
money - lighting virtual luminaries, and participating in events such as sky
diving roller coaster rides, and treasure hunts
Why You Should Take the Plunge
113 million+ patients seeking medical info via the web cannot
be ignored1
Adverse events, off-label discussions happening
39% of patient bloggers are anonymous2
Benefits of social media:
Establish an ethical and forward-thinking presence within the
target communities
Build a collaborative network of allies to disseminate messages to
the masses/relationship building
Peer-to-peer support
Reputation building
More open dialogue with key audiences
More effectively manage/diffuse issues
Mapping Your Strategy:
Questions to Consider
Is the organization really ready?
Are the appropriate decision makers informed
about social media?
What are your goals? Who is/are the
audience(s)?
Do you have access to the technology needed
to achieve these goals?
Do you have dedicated new media champions?
Mapping Your Strategy:
Questions to Consider
What are the legal/regulatory attitudes toward e-
marketing? New media?
Do you have the appropriate resources for
getting staff up to speed? For the program roll-
out?
How much of a time/resource commitment are
you willing to devote to new media?
Have you set metrics?
Questions & Discussion
For more in-depth education
The Society for New Communications Research is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) think tank dedicated to the advanced
study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect
on traditional media, professional communications, business and society.
www.sncr.org
(650) 331-0083
info@sncr.org
Visit our blog at:
New Communications Review
www.newcommreview.com
Journal of New Communications Research:
www.sncr.org/journal
Resources
Healthcare Law Blog
http://healthcarebloglaw.blogspot.com/
Listening – RSS
Rojo, Bloglines, Feedburner, Technorati, IceRocket, Google Blog Search
Communication/Creation – Blog Platforms
Movable Type / Typepad (www.sixapart.com)
WordPress (www.wordpress.com)
Collaboration – Wikis
Socialtext (www.socialtext.com)
Community – Social Networking
Social Platform (www.socialplatform.com)
Blogging Systems (www.bloggingsystems.com)
Results – Monitoring & Measurement
Cymfony.com (www.cymfony.com)
Biz360 (www.biz360.com)
Buzzmetrics (www.buzzmetrics.com)
KD Paine (www.kdpaine.com)
Resources
Education
Society for New Communications Research
Journal of New Communication Research
The New PR Wiki (www.thenewpr.com)
The Cluetrain Manifesto
Naked Conversations
The New Influencers
The Corporate Blogging Book
Strategies & Tools for Corporate Blogging
Blogging for Business
Corporate Conversations
How to Do Everything With Podcasting
Join the Conversation