We think it’s great that we can count 33 life science company blogs on our list, and we applaud those companies who are leveraging this flavor of social media. You may know that we are blog aficionados, however, and that we are very…ahem…opinionated as to how corporate blogs should be designed, both strategically and tactically. While I’m hesitant to specifically call out blogs that need improvement, I’ll provide my top five ‘wishes’ for them below to help life science companies succeed.

Use WordPress.org. There are several ways in which you can implement a blog ranging from 3rd party sites (e.g., WordPress.com, TypePad) which will host the site for you, to software that is installed on your web server (e.g., WordPress.org). Installing WordPress.org may take a bit longer at the very beginning, but it offers much more flexibility, and the benefits far outweigh any initial delays (which really should be minimal because the software is constantly becoming easier to install and use). WordPress.org is more versatile because there is much more control over the interface and functionality of your blog. WordPress.org installations allow access to hundreds of modules called themes and plugins, giving unlimited interface and branding options. We see several life science companies who’ve produced a blog that looks nothing like their website and has very limited functionality, likely because they’re using 3rd party software with fewer options. As we’ll discuss in the next item, this flexibility allows you to extend the brand of your website. As we explained in an earlier post describing our STIR Social Media system, engaging scientists and maximizing return on investment (ROI) requires creating applications with very specific attributes, so having maximal flexibility is important. (Note: WordPress.com and WordPress.org utilize the same software, the only difference is in where it is installed.)

Think carefully about branding. Everything about your blog should meet the high standards you have for your website. This includes all the hard work you’ve put into your main website interface and ensuring that your brand is represented accurately. We would like to see more life science companies remembering the importance of branding, as many of the blogs have little resemblance to their corporate site. As pointed out by social media guru Chris Brogan in his book Trust Agents, a big part of success in social media comes from garnering trust from your audience. Think about it, would you trust a blog from a company which had no resemblance to the branding you’ve come to expect from them? The MO BIO Laboratories blog is perhaps the best example of a well branded, integrated blog.

Choose a unifying content theme. Alleviating customer ‘pains’ is a good strategy for engaging scientists and achieving a good ROI with social media, something we discuss often. Learn about the biggest issues customers have in your product area, and develop a blog theme which addresses it. Stay focused on this theme, so that scientists know where to turn to with a problem. We see some life science companies having difficulties in this area, they blog about diverse topics which may be interesting, but don’t meet customer needs. A great example of a company that does it well is Accelrys–their blog is targeted and seems to fill a niche for scientists who have questions about their informatics products.

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Along the same lines as extending your brand and having a consistent theme, is to rely on the same resources your company has been using for years to engage customers. We strongly believe that life science companies have been using social media-like strategies and tactics for years, by supplying useful newsletters, posters, and online applications. Why not breathe some fresh life into these resources, providing updates and more web-friendly versions of newsletters, application notes, etc. on your blog? Taking a look at what has worked well in the past will also point you towards a unifying theme for your blog.

Think outside the blog. Some companies who decide they need a blog forget about the the ‘social’ component of ‘social media.’ Personal bloggers start blogs for the love of their subject matter, and naturally seek out other bloggers, interacting with them by leaving comments on their blogs, etc. This is a major part of the reason blogs do so well with search engines–fellow bloggers link to each other, providing the inbound links that show search engines that a website’s content is highly regarded and worth a high search rank. This may sound like just an algorithm, but experience and common sense points to the conclusion that those who engage with the community are more knowledgeable and trustworthy. We’ve seen many life science company blogs set up as silos–independent of their corporate website, and with few noticeable ties to other blogs, twitter/microblogging, etc. (we may be wrong, correct us below!). An example is the Accelrys blog–no blogroll and a link to a twitter account that is inconsistently updated and mostly non-interactive (sorry, had to throw one criticism in!). Those of us who employ many facets of social media know that a synergistic strategy is crucial to success for many reasons, including achieving more engagement, benefiting from the community, and getting more leads. We want life science companies to be successful with social media, and would love to see you engaging with the community more.

We’ll be talking more in depth about first party social media applications such as blogging at our June 22nd Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshop in San Diego. We’d also be happy to give you training or a free consultation to help you get the most out of social media. Contact us for more information, and be sure to subscribe to this blog so you’ll get tips like these. Also, why not start engaging more by leaving a comment below?

To share this post easily, cut and paste: Five Things We Wish Life Science Company Blogs Would Do http://bit.ly/bRFFEm

If you’ve been following this blog or the San Diego Biotechnology Network, you know I’ve obtained complimentary passes for myself and others to blog at life science conferences. I am incredibly grateful to those who have obliged, but I always want more. We’ve all noticed that IRL (in real life) conferences are suffering due to the economy. It is sad to see that several of them are not leveraging the new media model fully to improve their situation. Those of us who live and breathe social media realize that you need to ‘let go’ in order to grow in this new era, something Seth Godin explains expertly in his book Meatball Sundae (which I’ve reviewed along with two other of his great books). Below, find my suggestions to help life science conferences not only adjust, but thrive in this new economy.

Use social media to engage year round. I normally see a flurry of activity from the social media champions of a conference a few months before the event. While this is a great start, the smart conference organizers are engaging scientists all year round. As I’ve covered earlier, social media works best when it’s a sustained effort. You’ll gain a lot, from getting feedback from scientists, to getting more ‘tweet cred’ and followers in the process.

Employ a team of bloggers. I talked with a major life science company who actually canceled a press conference at a recent meeting because there wasn’t enough media there. Do you know how many scientists are dying for the chance to cover your conference? Even if the media coverage suffers due to the economy, a few free passes will go a long way in getting the word out about the conference. You may need to become more involved in structuring the guidelines, etc., but in some ways, you’ll have more control, as those who receive a free pass will feel obligated to cover as much as possible. Give all bloggers press passes as well, so they can access computers and other items necessary for covering the meeting. Want to see great information about bloggers and journalism? See famous science blogger Bora Zivcovik’s excellent blog posts on the subject.

Make your website as informational and interactive as possible. There are three life science conferences I’ve been to in the past year in which the full schedule was not available online before the event. I really don’t know why this happens–how can an attendee plan properly, let alone a blogger? Leading to, and during the conference, your website can be a nexus for scientists to learn about the event. Also, your search engine rankings will likely benefit greatly as well as you add more content to it and get more visitors.

Post all social media policies well in advance. I’ve encountered a few ‘SURPRISE!’ announcements while covering a conference as a blogger, for example the big ‘no tweeting allowed’ signs at one conference last year. The AACR meeting’s social media policies are a great start, and you can see from the twitter stream that when attendees feel encouraged and confident, that more coverage results. In addition, scientists presenting at the conference will feel more comfortable, knowing that such policies exist.

Offer free, good quality WiFi. I talked with Bora Zivcovik about the Science Online conference he holds every year to discuss innovations in online science communication. In 2010, for WiFi support they actually hired the company that handled WiFi for the superbowl. Now, this group likely used a lot of bandwidth due to their nature, but you should consider that WiFi is an important part of getting your conference covered, along with access to power sources.

Live stream video from the conference. In the ‘world’ of social media, live video streaming of conferences is the norm. Mostly, companies use the Ustream service, which is free to users, and I’m sure there are many options. Benefits? Your conference is now viewable and ‘shareable’ globally. You’ll be able to save and reuse the content as you need, a powerful way to get content for your website for the entire year. Worried about people not attending? Face to face networking is still of utmost importance, and many wouldn’t trade that for virtual attendance–my view is that your attendance will remain the same. Indeed, I’ve heard that views of live streamed conferences can be 5-10 times the IRL attendance. Think that will help you to attract sponsors and speakers? Definitely!

Flip cams in the exhibit hall. Know how easy it would be to give some scientists flip cams, and task them to upload videos to your YouTube channel? Dead easy. Exhibitors, attendees, those not attending will love it, as one of the most important parts of a conference is the ‘buzz’ on the exhibit hall floor. Also, I’ve found that blogging a conference is hard work–videos of those who want to spread the word about their products are easy and speak volumes. Think of it as those disposable cameras they distribute at weddings (but be sure to get the proper clearance before distributing videos).

Open, open, open. Conferences run the gamut from very academic (e.g., ASCB, AACR), to those run as a business (e.g., Cambridge Healthtech Institute). Regardless of a conference’s position on this spectrum, benefits can be made from choosing to open up access rather than restricting it. Academic conferences have at their heart goals to further scientific progress–what better way than to encourage dissemination of information? Those worrying about being ‘scooped’ are naive and should realize that unethical behavior, be it word of mouth or information shared online, is a possibility at any conference, and the latter is more easily tracked and punishable. Conferences run as businesses can also benefit from opening up access. There are myriad benefits to speakers and sponsors from providing more access. Smaller fees can be imposed for ‘virtual’ attendance, and likely with a very minimal expense for software and broadcasting.

In conclusion, with every decision you make about your conference, choose the more ‘open’ option. One upcoming conference is restricting all media from their plenary talks. My prediction? It will completely backfire, as nothing motivates a twitterer, etc., more than a restriction, and there will be a large amount of negative attention that will result. Controlling access to information is no longer a business model, but the good news is that there is plenty of progress for life science conferences, and money, to be made with the new model. Try opening up your next conference–what do you have to lose?

To share this post easily, cut and paste An Open Letter to Life Science Conference Organizers http://bit.ly/ajyEzH

When I started Comprendia little over a year ago, I actually had some doubt as to whether WordPress, a software popular for blogging, could be used to create my entire site. With the knowledge I had of web programming and WordPress, some through my personal usage, I quickly developed a branded, web 2.0 site. Now, it appears to me as if WordPress is taking over. If you look closely, you’ll see many websites are using it. Several nice examples of corporate WordPress sites exist here and here.

Why is WordPress so great? It has a highly customizable front end, with a user friendly back end as well. This translates into professional-looking websites which can be easily edited by non-professionals. This combination creates the potential to make businesses of all sizes more functional on-line and responsive to their customers, even if they choose not to use WordPress blogging feature. It is a stellar example of open source software, meaning that developers literally all over the world have written ‘plugins’ and ‘themes’ for it, making it infinitely customizable. Using it, I created the Comprendia site and the SDBN site quickly. Both are branded sites with many web 2.0 features, and I am able to quickly change content. Additionally, search engines LOVE blogs and WordPress can be configured to dramatically improve your ranking, which I’ve used to quickly reach the first page of results for terms that I think are important.

What does the ‘WordPress Wrevolution’ mean for life science/biotech companies? For small companies, it means you can set up a professional looking website with an integrated blog, and it can be branded and doesn’t have to look like open source software. Interesting scientific news and articles can easily be fed into your site, adding functionality and content. Your site can easily be integrated with and leverage other social media, creating a comprehensive strategy gain exposure and new customers. Mid-size life science companies Accelrys and Promega use WordPress for their blogs, even Johnson & Johnson’s JNJBTW blog uses it! Hopefully, this embracing of WordPress means we’ll see more blogs and interactivity from biotech, life science, and pharma companies in the future. Currently, as we’ve covered, the number of blogs from our industry is very small.

My niece Anne is doing a ‘virtual internship’ with me this summer, and some of this includes learning WordPress so she can update the Comprendia and SDBN sites. Typical of her generation, I asked her to do it, and although she knew little about it to begin with, she told me you ‘just have to figure it out’ and picked it up quickly. We can all learn a lot from her attitude, and realize this ‘just do it’ mentality is all we really need, regardless of whether we ‘grew up’ with Facebook.

How do you get started? Check out the links below to get your feet wet. While we encourage you to try it yourself, we can also help you to create a branded and unique website and blog, or integrate a blog with your existing website. We work with a team of designers and developers, and together with you we’ll create a site that will help you to grow quickly. Contact us for more information, check out our Biotechnology Marketing 101 blog series, and sign up for updates via our RSS feed.

WordPress Resources

Special thanks to Anne Warner, student at Indiana’s Taylor University, for composing this list. You can follow Anne on twitter at @anwarner. This is Anne’s ‘Summer of Social Media.’ ;)

I got an e-newsletter recently from a company announcing that they had ‘entered the blogosphere.’ I thought this comment was odd because it was as if they started a blog just for the sake of starting a blog. This ‘on the bandwagon’ sentiment is common and likely in response to all of the hype surrounding social media and blogs.

You probably know that in general I believe that yes, companies should have a blog, and I’m usually happy when any life science or biotechnology company starts one, even if the initial intentions are misguided or vague. One of the catch-22′s of social media is that you don’t often understand a medium until you experience it, something we discussed in our Social Media for Scientists presentation to the SDBN. I do think that the above mentioned company will ‘get it’ over time. They’ll begin seeing a much faster-paced and informative dialog with their customers which will ultimately result in improvement of their products and the attraction of new customers.

However, because of the ‘chicken and egg’ phenomenon of social media, an overall change in perspective will take some time. It will probably be similar to the collective realization by companies that took place 12-15 years ago that they needed to have a web presence. Sometimes, as well, a company doesn’t ‘get it’ until they see an example, or see that their competitor is doing it. How do we ‘jump start’ this process? It begins by realizing that the answer isn’t simply to ‘have a blog’ but to understand greater driver that customers expect to be engaged with now and not broadcasted to. All around, we see examples of companies or even media outlets that are unresponsive, and failing as a result. Examples of those companies who ‘get it right’ do help, but unfortunately there are few in life sciences or biotechnology.

We’ve compiled a list of biotechnology companies with blogs below, and because the number from all sectors is so small, we’ve put them together, as disparate as they may appear. Let us know if we’ve missed any, and we’d love to see this list grow! There are so many valuable ways that a blog or social media can be used, and we are lucky that in biotechnology, there is a wealth of information for us to share. ‘Whether ’tis nobler in the blog to suffer the slings and arrows of social media, or to take arms against the status quo…’ You get the picture.

We also suggest that you look at successful social media examples and blogs in other industries. Also, as the title suggests, consider that blogging may not be the solution for every company. A newsletter, forum, or even starting by making your website more dynamic (web 2.0) may be the right next step. Indeed, companies such as Stemgent have a wiki and a forum, giving them an ‘honorable mention’ in this post.

Need help? Contact Comprendia, we specialize in social media strategies designed to help you engage your customers and grow. We’ll make sure you ‘get it’ from the start by setting up a ‘social media charter’ which will guide and integrate your efforts. We’ll also be covering issues on blogging and social media in our Biotechnology Marketing 101 series, sign up for updates!

Life Science, Biotech & Pharma Companies with Blogs

Special thanks to the friendfeed Life Scientists room for helping me compile this list.