14 Signs You've Found the Right Social Media Partner

Outside of internal resources, who does Pharma partner with to plan and execute social media projects?

Everyone is talking about social media, but how many agencies and individuals have actual pharma social media experience? And do we need separate “social media agencies” or can existing agencies take the lead?

These days there are definitely pharma co’s participating in social media, so there are many examples to learn from. A cursory glance at Dose of Digital’s Pharma/Healthcare Social Media Wiki (though not all pharma-sponsored) proves the list of examples is only growing.

Pharma marketers should be particularly interested in who is strategizing and executing these programs, because you can benefit from their learnings. For example, when Intouch (my agency) was building the YouTube GoInsulin page last year, we learned a lot about the process, and we were even teaching YouTube about the pharmaceutical space at the same time.

Everyone and no one is a social media expert. I’m not sure how to quantify “social media expert,” but I do have some learnings and tips on how pharma marketers can make sure the agency doing their social media marketing is the best partner for the job.

1. They have social media experience. They have experience with social media, and they have several case studies where they have successfully planned and executed social media programs. They have proven success and results, and they share those case studies with you. There are plenty of people talking about social media – you need to hire someone that’s actually done it.
2. They have pharma experience. Not only do they need social media experience, they need pharma social media experience. They know the pharma world well, with all its wonderful regulations, restrictions, and limitations. This is paramount. Otherwise you risk spending all your time educating your shiny new social media agency, and they end up frustrated with the limitations. You’re both wasting each others’ time.
3. They have the right roots. They have roots in digital marketing (they understand technology) and public relations (they understand dialogue). I’ve blogged in the past about how social media marketing seems to be the convergence of a number of different marketing disciplines (marketing, public relations, customer support). The agency and its individuals should have holistic experience across a number of fields, because social media is across them too. Does the agency have a history of expertise in print and TV, yet now they want to teach you how to use Twitter? I’m not sure that’s smart. For other perspectives on why traditional ad agencies may not be set up to be good at social media, see this article from Adweek and this blog post.
4. They have experience across several platforms. Just as they should have experience across different disciplines, they should have experience across several social and emerging media marketing platforms as well. Especially if you are hiring the agency to do all of your social media work, make sure they have experience that cuts across several platforms – YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, mobile, tagging, online communities, etc. Take it one step further and consider how social and search affect each other, and seek an agency with experience in search marketing, too, for the best of both worlds.
5. They enable integration. They know how to integrate social media into broader marketing strategies. programs, and campaigns. This means they need to understand marketing as a whole, and they need to have in-house expertise beyond social media including deep digital experience, search marketing, online media, PR, CRM, usability, design, analytics, programming, copywriting, etc.
6. They can do strategy through execution, including long-term management, because social media can be a long-term commitment.
7. They walk the walk. This should go without saying, but as an agency, they are engaged in social media and using it effectively. And they’ve been there awhile (i.e., they didn’t create their agency Facebook page a week before they pitched a Facebook idea to you). Make sure the people working on your social media projects day-to-day understand it too. (And yet understand that still, them engaging in social media for themselves and planning social media programs for you/pharma are two very different things.)
8. They are recognized leaders. They are sought as experts and thought leaders. They attend and speak at conferences, and they are quoted in articles. And in the social media space, (see #7) they blog and comment on others’ posts.
9. They are committed to educating you and your team. They share their experiences and “secrets.” They send you briefs and POVs on emerging issues and technologies in the social media space. They work hard to make sure you understand SM as much as they do, and they do the same for your legal, medical, and regulatory teams.
10. They have a social media team – not a social media dude. Their social media bench is deeper than the one “expert” with the trendy glasses they keep propping up at client meetings.
11. Social media is ingrained in their culture. Organically, social media is part of who they are. It’s not the one expert who was recently hired, or a boutique sister agency that was acquired, or some other add-on.
12. They’re not fly-by-night. They weren’t born yesterday. They’re not an agency that was just formed because of the opportunities social media marketing presents. You don’t want or need a bunch of 19-year-olds testing their theories on your brand under the guise of a hip new startup. Warning letter, anyone?
13. They listen to you. They take the time to understand your overall goals, and they don't want to do social media for social media's sake. They are able to show how the programs they propose will benefit your brand, your company, your needs.
14. They know how to measure social media. Because if they can’t answer the question, “what’s the best way to measure it?” you should be asking the question “why are we doing it?”

Pharmas are looking for strong, capable partners to navigate this difficult space. No doubt pharma’s use of social media will continue to evolve –and hopefully increase. Make sure you have the right partner in place to help ensure your company and your brands are evolving online as well.