Embracing social doesn’t start with “create a Facebook page for our brand” or “we need a Twitter account.” Embracing social starts with thinking about how to create human, meaningful content that people want to engage with and importantly, share.
I’m inspired by this example from EA Sports, the makers of the video game Madden. They wanted to create a second screen conversation for football lovers, which to this point had been dominated by Twitter. So they created gifs—short video clips—of game highlights where Madden players re-create the live action. What I really like is that they created a “Giferator” where fans can create their own shareable clips using the Madden players, choose the highlight and customize a headline. It allows fans to get in on the moment of action and share with their own social network.
What does that have to do with healthcare? Check out Arimidex, an adjuvant treatment for post-menopausal women who have a particular type of breast cancer. The brand is enabling patient voice by creating a “Frame of Mind Studio” in which women can create and share their quotes of inspiration. It’s in its early evolution but what a nice way to engage women and give them a means to share their voice and feelings in a customized, bite-sized way. It tells their friends how they’re feeling. The expressions are like a shot of inspiration. Nice jewel of an idea and a nice, simple way for a brand to enable social engagement.
Be brave. Try something. But make it meaningful and purposeful. We’re in the business of touching lives in a meaningful way and helping them to do something that will improve their lived outcomes.
