These were some of the Findings:

• PwC believes that Social Media typically consists of four characteristics thathave changed the nature of interactionsamong people and organizations:user generated content,community, rapid distribution, and open, two-way dialogue.
• According to HRI’s survey, 42%of consumers have used social mediato access health-related consumerreviews (e.g. of treatments or physicians).Nearly 30% have supported ahealth cause, 25% have posted abouttheir health experience, and 20% havejoined a health forum or community
• Social media activity by industryorganizations is dwarfed byconsumer activity
• Healthcare businesses started tolisten, but aren’t translating socialmedia conversations into practice.
• Social marketing can evolve into socialbusiness with the right leadership andinvestment of resources
• Social Media enhances communications by creatinga comfortable, often anonymous, environmentfor engaging and exchangingSocial animals: Young invinciblesare most willing to share,baby boomers are least likely
• Based on age factor alone, the “younginvincibles” ages 18–24 lead with themost social media activity, while thebaby boomers ages 45–64 are least likelyto post or comment on any channel.More than 80% of individuals ages18–24 would be likely to share healthinformation through social media, whilenearly 90% of individuals would engagein health activities or trust informationfound via social media.
• Less than half(45%) of individuals ages 45–64 wouldbe likely to share via social media, while56% would be likely to engage.information.
• Opportunity for internal collaboration - And social media is becoming a platformfor internal discussions as well.“Our employees and physicians havehad fruitful and provocative discussionsusing IdeaBook, our internalsocial collaboration tool
• Marketing/communications leaderstend to manage social media strategies.
• Social media information is influencingdecisions to seek care. Forexample, 45% of consumers said informationfound via social media wouldaffect their decisions to seek a secondopinion.
• More than 40% of respondentsreported that information foundvia social media would affect the waythey coped with a chronic condition ortheir approach to diet and exercise
• Willingness to share informa‑tion depends on trust. Sixty-onepercent of consumer respondentsare likely to trust information postedby providers, and 41% are likely toshare with providers via social media,compared to 37% trusting informationposted by a drug company, and28% likely to share information witha drug company.
• Age is the most influential factorin engaging and sharing throughsocial media. More than 80% ofindividuals ages 18–24 would be likelyto share health information throughsocial media, while nearly 90% ofindividuals would engage in healthactivities or trust information foundvia social media.
• Less than half (45%)of individuals ages 45–64 would belikely to share via social media, while56% would be likely to engage inhealth activities.Consumers are willing to have theirconversations monitored if they getsomething in return. One-third ofconsumers surveyed said they wouldbe comfortable having their socialmedia conversations monitored if thatdata could help them identify ways toimprove their health or better coordinatecare.A new expectation is being set onresponse time.
• More than 75% ofconsumers surveyed would expecthealthcare companies to respondwithin a day or less to appointmentrequests via social media, while nearlyhalf would expect a response within afew hours.
• (HRI), hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceuticalmanufacturers can benefitfrom this new form of interactivecommunication
• HRI foundthat one-third of consumers are usingsocial media for health-related matters.Most tellingly, they are choosing“community” sites over industrysponsored sites
• More than 1,200 hospitals participatein 4,200 social networking sites (US data)
• As health organizationscollect more detailed information onits patients, proper safeguards will beneeded to ensure privacy and security
• Based on age factor alone, the “younginvincibles” ages 18–24 lead with themost social media activity, while thebaby boomers ages 45–64 are least likelyto post or comment on any channel.
• More than 80% of individuals ages18–24 would be likely to share healthinformation through social media, whilenearly 90% of individuals would engagein health activities or trust informationfound via social media. Less than half(45%) of individuals ages 45–64 wouldbe likely to share via social media, while56% would be likely to engage.

• 
• The report examines  online sites such as In the Rooms,Recovery Realm, and Addiction Tribe that provide virtualtools to supplement treatment programs by connectingindividuals to the support they need around the clock. The diagram below shows how a range of approaches are used to support the individual.

Recommendations from the report include:

• Embrace social media as amindset, not just a channel
• Take a disciplined approachto planning your investment
• Establish goals focused ontrust and transparency, notjust ROI
• Focus on being accessibleand relevant
• Internally - Shift from silos to networks
• Revamp processes to be relevantat the point of need
• Don’t just talk and listen; analyze and integrate
• Sift through the noise of socialdata
• Establish enterprise social media
• Create a forum to turn listening into innovation
• Collaborate across the industry

Viewpoint: While the report data is US based and the medical system in the US is highly privatised there are still some takeout lessons for Australian health organisations that need to get closer to their health consumers, provide better service, innovation and break down internal silos

Recently WaveMetrix produced a report looking at Millenials and Facebook online engagement produced by a range of academics.

They found that  questions that include the following  elements can help increase online community engagement:

1. Appeal to fans’ expertise – crowdsourcing ideas and information

2 Make it inspirational  -  asking desire focused questions

3. Ask about personal preferences – asking how your product fits into their daily life

Download the full report - Wave Social Media that has a variety of useful case studies

About the Data: The data point on Millennials and Facebook brand engagement comes from a survey of 414 individuals aged 18-29, conducted by Dr. Tina McCorkindale of Appalachian State University, Dr. MArcia DiStaso from Pennsylvania State University and Dr. Hilary Fussell-Sisco of Quinnipiac University.

The site asks health consumers to submit their experience good bad or ugly to the site.

The owners of the site are were founded in the UK in 2005 and since then has grown to be the UK’s leading independent non-profit feedback platform for health services. Patient Opinion Australia (POA) was established in 2012 and, similar to its UK counterpart, is registered as an independent not-for-profit charitable institution.

The Australian site currently has 55 consumer stories uploaded and I am imagining many more are to be added in the coming days and weeks.

The site has a blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page so is nicely connected to consumers on the key social platforms.

Interested in Health and Social Media ?

Join Applying Social Media in Health a group I co-manage on LinkedIn

Join #hcsmanz a Sunday night Twitter chat about all things health and social.

Read more posts on Social Media and Health

• Decentralising your social media content can be empowering and productive for employees. We had a great case study from the Ray White Group discussing the grassroots approach and how it worked for her team
• Governance Is Critical – Lifeline discussed their new online crisis support service and the governance implications
• Specialist Skills – DEC PR discussed the Australian Pedigree Adoption Drive and the fact five separate agencies worked on it to make it a success (Digital Democracy was one of these)
• Advocacy creates Change – Nice case study here from change.org (online petition company) regarding the recent #vilekyle incident
• Trad Media relying on Social – Some good stats here from NineMSN such as 26 percent traffic to ninemsn news is now from social sources and growing
• Understand User Online Behaviour not just the Tools – The Works presented some statistics from their Australian Twitter study  with some of the 2011 findings - people in Canberra were the most aggressive, anxious or sad, particularly when compared to the upbeat West Australians.

These are just  a few of the learnings from the conference for further details you can view #fro2012 where a range of delegates were tweeting each presentation.

The objectives of the report include:

“• To help consumers with disabilities participate online
• To learn which social media applications are accessible
• To support consumers with disabilities in performing particular tasks
• To support the use of social media with assistive technologies and mobile devices

Here are some of the key takeaways as quoted in the report:

-Despite the benefits, all of the popular social media tools remain inaccessible to some degree. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogging websites and the emerging Google+ all feature limited accessibly, denying many consumers with disabilities the opportunity to participate in social media.

-Twitter was rated as the worst website among the popular social media tools when assessed against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Issues include inconsistent layout, lack of keyboard navigation options and font size issues. As a result, an alternative Web portal to Twitter was created independently to address the issues called Easy Chirp.

-The Windows and Mac OS X operating systems commonly found on PCs and Macs contain a number of accessibility features which can help consumers with disabilities access social media. In addition, mobile devices that run iOS such as the Apple iPhone and iPad also contain a number of accessibility features and accessible social media specific apps.

Please download the entire report there are sections on all the main social platforms that detail the key accessibility issues but also how to get around them -

There are so many gems of information it is well worth a read for those with a disability and for those working in the online space.

Fair Work Australia Weighs In

A decision handed down just before Christmas 2011, Commissioner Roberts of Fair Work Australia reinstated an employee of Linfox who had been dismissed for material which the employee had posted on Facebook. Commissioner Roberts noted that Linfox did not have a social media policy either at the time of the employee’s dismissal, or at the time of hearing. Instead, Linfox sought to rely on its induction training and handbook. The absence of a social media policy, Commissioner Roberts observed, was “not sufficient”.

Find out more: mondaq

The National Archives

The National Archives wants Govt organisations to understand when you use social media, you may be generating Commonwealth records.

They recommend that Social Media Policies also include advice on how to manage social media records.

They also recommend updating your agency’s records management policy to include the management of social media records. The content of the two policies must complement one another and be linked to ensure they are updated and maintained together.

Find out more: National Archives of Australia

The thinking goes that if you purchase an item such as guitar the associated regret is one where you compare the guitar with others and feel that perhaps in the end you didnt get the best deal. This is particularly true today when there are so many price-compare search engines.  Alternatively, the regret that is associated with experiences (not stuff ie items) is more associated with not doing the experience and because your experience (ie a holiday) is seen as individual it cannot be compared the way stuff (ie items) can.

So what does that mean for marketers? It gets back to ensuring your products are more than just stuff – ie they turn into experiences that are individual for the consumer. So how does this play out with brands? Nike is one of the brands that could simply been seen as just stuff ie a pair of runners – but by tapping into consumers love of running and experiences they have great content such as blogs and interactive content to ensure the runners move from ‘stuff” to ‘experience’.

When we think about the best of social media marketing moving a product from ‘stuff’ to ‘experience’ is at its core because if you open your brand up to consumers to make it their own you are well on your way to really engaging with that consumer – and lessening that buyer-remorse.

Much of this comes back to socialising your brand –  it gets back to a few Social Media 101s but it is a timely reminder that if you are simply selling a product and not giving your customers the opportunity to socialise and ideally evangelise your brand – well you may indeed have a few regrets.

Some of the insights included:

• The underesourcing of social media within organisations still presents a challenge. I am very aware of this issue after talking with clients but also my Masters students at UTS who are marketing managers and deal with this issue daily.
• Most social marketing departments are severely underfunded
• ROI is still seen as a key challenge though most companies are measuring it
• So how are companies keeping up to date with the latest social media news? Blogs, Peers and Conferences were the top ways to gain news and insights
• The big three platforms are Facebook Twitter and LinkedIn
• Most companies are using a variety of free and paid monitoring tools
• In 2012 Blogs, Forums and YouTube are the platforms organisations are planning for. This seems interesting as they are almost the old-school or original platforms many of us who first entered the space around 2005/06 were originally using. It seems the old platforms are having a resurgence.
• Presence and frequency of content remains a top priority for novices and dabblers
• Social Media leaders will venture into new platforms and focus on processes and tools to help manage their social marketing investment
• In 2011 only half of the respondents reported measuring the success of their programs and those that did measure their primary measure was reach. It looks like there is still some way to go in the measurement stakes in terms of usage and elements measured.
• The most experienced social marketers  plan to invest in robust social media management platforms compared to social marketing novices

View the full State of Social Media Marketing report for more details including a range of charts and graphs

These are just a few things up for review:

1. Audience – Are you engaging with the right crowd? Are you hitting your qualitative and quantitative targets?

2. Metrics – are you happy with the metrics you are collecting? Have you added new objectives along the way and now need to find a metric that relates to them? Are you getting the most out of your metrics tools- for example Facebook updates their Insights tool regularly but are you across the new components?

3.Listening/Monitoring – we all know we need to do it but are you happy with the data you are collecting? is it meaningful and is it time to review your social media monitoring supplier?

4.Staffing – if you are resourcing social media internally what are your staffing skillset gaps? is it technical? content creation? start a skills matrix so you can start the year fresh knowing what skills you need to buy-in or trainup internally

5.Content – as we know content creation is a vital part of engaging in social media – which pieces of content this year hit the mark? which ones missed and why?

6.Competitors – what did your competitors in the space achieve this year? how will this influence how you refine your strategy for next year.

These are just a few things you can review to ensure you start the new year fresh and on track.

Have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year!

The document (freely downloadable) is a 14 page summary that was developed in the US because  drug companies, healthcare professionals and e-patients had been waiting too long  for the FDA guidelines on Social Media.

While our Australian industry has some differing regulations many of the guidelines are appropriate and cover basic areas such as Social Media Rules of Engagement but it also covers individual guidelines on each platform such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

The main editors of the Guidelines were:

Dr. Bertalan Mesko (@Berci) Dr. Felix Jackson (@felixjackson) Silja Chouquet (@whydotpharma) Andrew Spong (@andrewspong) Denise Silber (@health20paris) Rob Halkes (@rohal)

Further Reading

Interested in Social Media and Pharma? you might be interested in these additional sources: