Medical Device Marketing, Social Media, and the FDA

Apparently, the FDA will quickly reveal their guidelines and regs concerning medical machine advertising, the Internet, and social media.

Reports which have supplied a sneak-peek as to what the “new” FDA pointers would possibly appear like reveal an vital discovering…

The FDA would not actually “get” social media.

Two causes.

The first relies on a principal concern that the FDA has relating to how medical machine know-how entrepreneurs and pharmaceutical firms will use social media.

The second relies on the sheer incontrovertible fact that they’re making an attempt to manage (i.e. “management”) it.

Let’s begin with purpose quantity One.

The FDA is anxious that medical gadget and pharma will “use social media to market their merchandise.” To which most individuals and companies already completely engaged within the social media area would reply: “Good luck with that.”

Social media – and by this I imply blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook fan pages, and the like – is not an efficient channel during which to promote your wares.

So what’s all of the hype about, you ask? Why all of the fuss over social media? Because it is an glorious communication channel for model consciousness, demonstrating thought-management, and establishing trusted-advisor standing – all issues that in the present day’s prospects, be they medical gadget consumers, surgeons, producers or shoppers, care about.

If the FDA critically believes that medical system entrepreneurs will use Twitter to tweet about their newest and biggest product… or use a Facebook enterprise or fan web page to tout their firm or promote their innovation… or fill their medical system firm’s weblog with product-associated press releases, details, stats, knowledge, and firm-centric info…

… then I problem the FDA to allow them to do exactly that. Because in the event that they do, medical system entrepreneurs will fail miserably at social media. Period.

The companies and individuals who expertise success participating within the social media area do NOT push their merchandise. In truth, they point out their firm, services little or no – if in any respect.

What they do do is supply related, insightful, compelling, contagious content material that’s focused to what their prospect viewers cares about.

And they try this persistently.

Let’s transfer on to cause quantity Two…

While some medical gadget entrepreneurs are ready with bated breath for the FDA social media pointers to return out, the truth is that nobody, not even the ol’ FDA, can management social media.

The idea of “regulating” it goes towards the very nature of what social media is all about. And, to an extent, the FDA is aware of this. This is why it has taken years for them to strive to determine the right way to legally regulate it with out coming throughout like communist China.

One of the attractive elements of social media is that these new communication channels now supply advertising the chance to step into conversations by no means earlier than accessible.

But as talked about in motive quantity One, they need to solely achieve this to share within the dialogue by providing thought-management – NOT to attempt to management it.

Trying to manage medical machine entrepreneurs in order that they’ll management their social media interactions is a futile effort, in my humble opinion.

This is especially as a result of advertising and marketing misplaced the power to manage the dialog years in the past. But social media can definitely assist medical system entrepreneurs form these dialogues by permitting them to point out up in contexts which might be related to their prospects.

Notice I stated, form. Not management.

The social media house additionally offers entrepreneurs the power to actually take heed to their prospects and prospects and supply data and content material that’s focused and related to them and what they care about.

I recognize that this idea might rattle some “conventional” medical system entrepreneurs – and I get it. The FDA guidelines (and reprimands) with a mighty hand. But do not let that be the rationale your medical machine firm dwells within the advertising darkish ages.

Let’s say your medical system firm designs, manufactures, and distributes stents…

An instance of a smart and savvy social media advertising transfer could be to supply weblog content material that pertains to:

• Angioplasty
• Heart well being
• How the guts works
• Interviews with heart specialist or cardiothoracic surgeon
• How health and wholesome consuming can scale back plaque construct-up contained in the coronary arteries
• Heart assault warning indicators
• The medical trials course of
• Drug-eluting vs. resorbable stents…

…and a plethora of different associated matters that your supposed target market may care about.

Notice… there is not any point out of your organization or your medical machine.

Same factor with Tweets. Tweeting your organization’s content material-particular weblog articles will appeal to your supposed audience.

Effectively re-tweeting articles, insights and updates not directly (and every so often, however very rigorously, immediately) associated to your medical expertise can also be necessary.

And we’ve not even talked about LinkedIn, Facebook, and quite a lot of different social media channels accessible to strategic, outcomes-pushed medical gadget entrepreneurs.

It would appear to me that so long as your authentic content material and data is worded in compliance with already-established FDA communication tips – like these for print, and different standard media-that needs to be ample sufficient.

Because the place that content material spreads from there… not even the FDA can management.