A Pinteresting Approach to the FDA Social Media Guidelines

When Twitter first came on the scene, I challenged myself to meet and converse with a complete stranger every day for 3 months and then tweet about it (hence my Twitter handle, @talkswstrangers).

My latest challenge to self, (prompted in part by my role as editor of this blog) has been to keep even more on top of what’s going on in social media. I tasked myself with this for 2 reasons:

      1.    Because I’m constantly working in pursuit of a higher Klout score.

      2.    Because part of my job is to find new social media opportunities for extrovertic’s clients within the confines of the FDA social media guidelines for pharmaceutical marketing.

To accomplish my goals, I decided to spend some time every day looking for new social media sites, becoming a member, and participating in whatever it is they are offering. My latest find, Pinterest, describes itself as a “virtual pinboard” that:

allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

What’s so cool about this site is that, other than appeasing my need to gaze at extensive visuals of beautiful clothing and delicious-looking pastries, Pinterest also offers interesting opportunities for the healthcare industry at large.

On my latest visit, I spent some time on the Pinterest healthcare board. Working at a healthcare marketing agency like extrovertic, this particular board piqued my interest. Since there are no rules about or limitations on what qualifies as a certain category, there’s an unspoken anything-goes mentality. When I looked, people had pinned images of: 

      ·      X-rays

      ·      Paul Farmer’s book Pathologies of Power

      ·      Florence Nightingale

      ·      Architecturally beautiful hospitals

The point is, peoples’ personal perceptions of what ‘makes’ healthcare is left open to interpretation via a site like Pinterest. To that end, I think that healthcare and pharmaceutical companies (and agencies!) may have an interesting outlet to tap here. Create a pinboard about a medical condition or category and see what people pin to it. People who suffer from various conditions can have the opportunity to visually represent how they feel—it can be the mood board of the future. Marketers can then derive keen insights into what people are saying about certain categories. It’s market research in its basest form. And yet another way for extrovertic to develop a deeper understanding of our target demographics.

I’m not saying that Pinterest can address or solve all the FDA regulatory issues via social media. Or that it won’t present its own slew of problems. But it seems at the very least worth exploring. This was probably one of my most productive self-challenges to date. Making a pinboard can be an enlightening experience!

-Jamie

Be Inspired.

The #TwitterBlackOut mobilized in the course of two days. Twitter posted a justification for its move to censor Tweets on a Thursday. By Friday, the Twitter blackout had been organized by members of the Twittersphere. The organization and implementation of a global shutdown of one of the Web’s most highly trafficked sites occurred in less time than it takes to fly to Australia. I think that’s pretty amazing.

So what does that mean for a creative like me?

For one thing, social media has changed the way we concept (come up with ideas). In the past, after being briefed on a project, creatives might go sit somewhere, toss around a ball, thumb through a magazine, and hope to get inspired.

Now, we hop onto any number of social media sites and look at what other people find exciting. Just last week, my partner and I were tasked to come up with the look and feel of a client’s unbranded marketing campaign. So we went online and looked at sites like Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. The resulting colors were inspired by a sports team uniform I saw on a friend’s virtual pinboard. The design was influenced by an old album cover someone had Tweeted about.

When it comes to healthcare advertising, it is often difficult to use the social media tactics other industries take for granted. But that’s no excuse for ignoring the world of social media. Even if the regulatory hurdles make it difficult to implement, we can still find inspiration in what we read and see.

How has social media affected your approach to work?

-Jamie

Twitter Cuts To the Truth

It's Sunday, July 3rd. It's pouring outside.

I had to go into the office for a while yesterday, so I feel no remorse in dedicating today to complete rest and relaxation.

Djokovic has just won the Wimbledon title, so I pick up the remote and start channel surfing.

I land at MSNBC and find myself transfixed on something I had vowed never to follow: the Casey Anthony murder trial. But not just any day of the trial –  the closing arguments. 

I miss the prosecution's argument, but catch defense attorney, José Baez, as he tries to raise reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.

He mentions garbage that had been left to rot in the trunk of Anthony's car, possibly creating the "smell of death" that the prosecution has made a focal point of their case. He says the trash left in the trunk included cheese.

Then, he says something that blows my mind.

In wrapping up the defense argument in a trial in which his client may face the death penalty if she's found guilty of the gruesome murder of her child, Baez says to the jury, and I quote:

"They want you to know who cut the cheese."

My jaw dropped. I have no idea what his intent was. Was he trying to use humor to break the tension in the room? Did he not realize that this phrase is used as a euphemism for something else?

I don't know. 

So I do what I've done for a few years now, whenever I want an instantaneous snapshot of people's reactions to something I've just seen or heard:

I search Twitter. 

I find that I'm far from alone in my shock and disdain. Twitter is such an amazing tool for reading the mind of America.

Apparently, the mind of America considers Baez a tool, too. 

-Mark 

 

CouchSurfin' USA

The people asked for social networking.

And God said, "Let there be networking." And so He created MySpace.

But the people wanted more. And they prayed and thumped their chests and cried out for more.

And so God (and possibly Mark Zuckerberg) created Facebook.

But the people were still not satisfied. Neither the Book of Faces nor the Space of Mine sufficiently appeased their desire to be heard.

And so God created Twitter. And He said, “Go forth and speaketh in 140 characters or less.”

And so, the people tweeted.

But the people still were not satisfied. And so God created…

Couchsurfing? 

What is this “couchsurfing” we speak of?

A recent phenomenon (the first couch was surfed, circa 1999), it all began with couchsurfing.org, “a service in which members offer a spare couch – or bed, or floor space – to fellow couchsurfers, at no charge.”

The concept has since grown to include many other sites at which people can rent out apartments and homes all over the world. (AirBnB.com and iStopOver.com are just two popular newcomers to the scene.) 

Couchsurfing takes social networking to a whole new level. Though some say that the very nature of social networking ironically makes us anti-social (interactions are far more limited across a computer screen), this concept allows for entirely new friend-making possibilities.

Couchsurfing networks bring together the virtual and the real. It also brings together random strangers. (Unlike traditional social networks which help us more deeply connect with people we already know.)

So where will social networking take us next? 

And God said, “Ye faithful social networkers, sit back and think about it.”

-Jamie

 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Tweeting

I was browsing the net the other day, thinking about the new movie, The Social Network (which I just saw, by the way, and it’s GREAT), when I happened upon an article that mapped out what Harry Potter’s foray into social media would look like.

One element that The Social Network stressed was the timeliness of Facebook and how nowadays, we all want something that connects us to each-other in a digital setting. It would seem that the world of Harry Potter would be exempt from this desire for intense connectivity. Wizards do, after all, have slightly bigger fish to fry, what with the Dementors kissing and Ogres plundering. In spite of the very Muggle-like nature of the online social network, our favorite four-eyed wizard has, at long last, entered the world of FACEBOOK!

Ok…so Harry has actually been online, having his life tweeted away for quite some time now. But not until recently did an exploratory into what a real-life Harry Potter Facebook page, Youtube account, or Twitter stream would look like, actually exist. Thank you New York Magazine for showing us what Harry would have to say if he were to write posts, update his status, Foursquare himself and “friend“ others. The results are entertaining to say the least, and confirm the fact that if you are not engaged in social media, you’re missing out. 

(My personal favorites are Dobby’s comments. Take a look for yourself!)

And while these parodies offer a few laughs, they also inadvertently demonstrate how a brand can carry it's message and tone across multiple social media channels in a consistent and engaging way.

Enjoy.

-Jamie

Snooki Sighting

Before I drag this once fine blog down into the bowels of tabloid titillation, I want to make one thing clear: aside from a short term fascination with America's Top Model when my daughters were much, much younger, our family has never been a fan of reality television.

Some may find it hard to believe, but we've never watched one complete episode of Survivor, Big Brother, Top Chef, Extreme Home Makeover – even American Idol.

So imagine my dismay when my middle daughter, 16-year old Sophie, upon returning from a lunch date with friends at Johnny Rockets at the Short Hills Mall, excitedly reported a Snooki sighting.

Although I have never seen Jersey Shore, I have, much to my chagrin, seen Snooki. On the Web, in magazines, in the paper, on the news. Somehow, this no-talent celebrity bimbo has the media following her every move, brawl and arrest.

Now she has my daughter and friends following her at a mall.

"Are you sure it was Snooki?" I asked, thinking it probably wasn't even her. Celebrity sightings are pretty common at the Short Hills Mall. I'm fairly certain that Celine Dion was once ahead of me in line at the Verizon Store.

"It was definitely her," Sophie responded. "My friend follows her on Twitter. We checked Snooki's tweets and she said she was shopping at a mall in New Jersey!"

This brought up so many questions my head was spinning:

Why do people even follow a no-talent like Snooki on Twitter?

Why was this no-talent tweeting to her followers that she's at the mall?

Why was my daughter, who's an ardent vegan, at Johnny Rockets?

I'm so confused.

Maybe I should tweet Snooki for her infinite wisdom.

-Mark

Online Hospitals and Social Media: The Prognosis Looks Good

Every once in a while you come across something that demonstrates that you really can teach an old dog new tricks.

In this case the old dog is hospital marketing. Which is why a story I just read at forbes.com almost made me giddy:

Late last month, the Mayo Clinic used Twitter to announce the forthcoming release of a study on Celiac disease. Then it studied who "retweeted" the story, and from those people, it carefully selected a few it deemed qualified enough to get an exclusive look at the actual study. These people – all patients – were then allowed to blog about the study in their own voices. At the same time, the hospital posted a video and audio clips about the study on its own blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The Mayo Clinic clearly understands the importance of developing a dynamic online presence. And how to achieve it. (Although it doesn't take a brain surgeon.) The practice of mixing healthcare with social media has been in practice for a while. Online colleges have always had strong online presences to communicate with students. Many of these colleges offer health science programs and these colleges have done an especially good job of maintaining active social media policies to provide medical information online. But healthcare marketing has gone even farther than traditional social media.

The article also tells of a recent analysis of medical information on the virtual reality platform Second Life, where the researchers found 68 health-related sites alone. These include everything from education tools to information clinics. There's even the Ann Meyers Medical Center, which is run by real-life doctors and nurses and demonstrates how women can perform their own breast exams.

It appears that more hospitals are finally realizing that patients are increasingly turning to the Internet in their search for information and are providing them with not just that, but something perhaps even more important:

An experience.

-Mark