Apparently, the FDA will soon reveal their rules and regs regarding medical device marketing, the Internet, and social media.
Reports that have offered a sneak-peek as to what the "new" FDA guidelines might look like reveal an important finding...
The FDA doesn't really "get" social media.
Two reasons.
The first is based on a main concern that the FDA has regarding how medical device technology marketers and pharmaceutical companies will use social media.
The second is based on the sheer fact that they are trying to regulate (i.e. "control") it.
Let's start with reason number One.
The FDA is concerned that medical device and pharma will "use social media to market their products." To which most people and businesses already thoroughly engaged in the social media space would reply: "Good luck with that."
Social media - and by this I mean blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook fan pages, and the like - is not an effective channel in which to sell your wares.
So what's all the hype about, you ask? Why all the fuss over social media? Because it's an excellent communication channel for brand awareness, demonstrating thought-leadership, and establishing trusted-advisor status - all things that today's prospects, be they medical device buyers, surgeons, manufacturers or consumers, care about.
If the FDA seriously believes that medical device marketers will use Twitter to tweet about their latest and greatest product... or use a Facebook business or fan page to tout their company or sell their innovation... or fill their medical device company's blog with product-related press releases, facts, stats, data, and company-centric information...
... then I challenge the FDA to let them do just that. Because if they do, medical device marketers will fail miserably at social media. Period.
The businesses and people who experience success engaging in the social media space do NOT push their products. In fact, they mention their company, products and services very little - if at all.
What they do do is offer relevant, insightful, compelling, contagious content that is targeted to what their prospect audience cares about.
And they do that consistently.
Let's move on to reason number Two...
While some medical device marketers are waiting with bated breath for the FDA social media guidelines to come out, the reality is that no one, not even the ol' FDA, can control social media.
The concept of "regulating" it goes against the very nature of what social media is all about. And, to an extent, the FDA knows this. This is why it has taken years for them to try to figure out how to legally regulate it without coming across like communist China.
One of the beautiful aspects of social media is that these new communication channels now offer marketing the opportunity to step into conversations never before available.
But as mentioned in reason number One, they should only do so to share in the discussion by offering thought-leadership - NOT to try to control it.
Trying to control medical device marketers so that they can control their social media interactions is a futile effort, in my humble opinion.
This is mainly because marketing lost the ability to control the conversation years ago. But social media can certainly help medical device marketers shape those dialogues by allowing them to show up in contexts that are relevant to their prospects.
Notice I said, shape. Not control.
The social media space also gives marketers the ability to really listen to their prospects and customers and offer information and content that is targeted and relevant to them and what they care about.
I appreciate that this concept may rattle some "traditional" medical device marketers - and I get it. The FDA rules (and reprimands) with a mighty hand. But don't let that be the reason your medical device company dwells in the marketing dark ages.
Let's say your medical device company designs, manufactures, and distributes stents...
An example of a wise and savvy social media marketing move would be to offer blog content that relates to:
Angioplasty
Heart health
How the heart works
Interviews with cardiologist or cardiothoracic surgeon
How fitness and healthy eating can reduce plaque build-up inside the coronary arteries
Heart attack warning signs
The clinical trials process
Drug-eluting vs. resorbable stents...
...and a plethora of other related topics that your intended target audience might care about.
Notice... there's no mention of your company or your medical device.
Same thing with Tweets. Tweeting your company's content-specific blog articles will attract your intended target audience.
Effectively re-tweeting articles, insights and updates indirectly (and on occasion, but very carefully, directly) related to your medical technology is also important.
And we haven't even mentioned LinkedIn, Facebook, and a variety of other social media channels available to strategic, results-driven medical device marketers.
It would seem to me that as long as your original content and information is worded in compliance with already-established FDA communication guidelines - like those for print, and other conventional media-that should be adequate enough.
Because where that content spreads from there... not even the FDA can control.
Lenox Powell is a freelance copywriter for results-driven marketers in the medical device technology industry. She helps these innovative B2B companies improve volume and quality of prospects, shorten sales cycles, and enhance customer lifetime value through strategic and extremely well-targeted copy.
Lenox taps into her extensive in-the-trenches sales and marketing experience to deliver effective content that generates demand for her client's products and services and brings profit to their bottom line.
You can contact Lenox at:
719.528.6711
http://www.LenoxPowellCopywriting.com
lenox@lenoxpowellcopywriting.com
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