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?

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Each post in our Life Science Marketing Plan series will help you piece together a ‘map’ that is representative of the analyses and learning process that will help you define your marketing strategies and tactics for the year. In the first part of this series, we provided and outline and described why marketing plans are needed for life science companies of all sizes to meet their goals. In this post, we’ll define the first half of the components in detail. Let’s get started!

1. Executive Summary. Even though this part of the marketing plan is at the beginning, it is written at the end. Writing a marketing plan is like a journey, and at the end of it you will have learned a lot and have a clear understanding of the strategies and tactics needed to help you reach your goals. Keep in mind that several people, especially senior management, will read only this part of your marketing plan, so summarize the report here and don’t worry about being a bit redundant. Feel free to reference figures and tables in the report for easy and quick analysis. Also, if there’s a point you’d like to make to senior management (e.g., I need a bigger marketing budget to meet my numbers!) this is a good place to make your case.
2. Situational Analysis. Before getting started on an in-depth analysis, you need to provide details about your products, internal factors, and external trends which will help explain where you’re starting from. Remember that the marketing plan is a tool to help you communicate to others, so this is a good place to step back and set the stage so that anyone in your company who reads the plan will understand it clearly. Be very literal and don’t worry about explaining things you think everyone knows, such as defining the products included in the marketing plan and that big acquisition that occurred 3 months ago (a safe bet you’ll need to include that these days). In this section you will describe broader issues such as the life cycle stage of your products and any history that is relevant such as trends in the industry and current attitudes about your company’s brand.
3. Sales History and Forecast. This is fairly self-explanatory, but sometimes a bit tricky depending on when you are writing your plan. Because you normally need to start your plan well before the year ends, having a full year of sales history is difficult. In my experience, projections are normally used to estimate sales for the current year, and remember that sales fluctuate from month to month (e.g., December is usually lower) so base the remaining months’ sales based on these changes. Sales forecasts for the year that the marketing plan describes may need to be done at the end of the report, as the complete analysis may be needed to make predictions. Consideration of the historical sales growth, the size of the marketing budget in comparison to yearly revenue, and other factors will be important. In addition, my experience has been that ‘top down’ forecasts are sometimes given to marketing and product managers, indicating the revenue growth they must achieve in the coming year. While this is sometimes disheartening, the marketing plan can be used to explain why a higher budget is needed if these growth figures are too ambitious. A general rule of thumb is that the marketing budget should be at least 10% of the annual sales for the products it supports. In practice, I’ve seen the budgets run much lower than this, perhaps because marketing is sometimes under-appreciated in life science companies. However, it’s a good number to shoot for, and a strong marketing plan will provide confidence to the management that you will meet your goals if given the appropriate budget (and be prepared to work hard to reach them if your wishes are granted!).
4. Market Research. One of the objectives of a marketing plan is to ensure that your company continues to be driven by the market. In other words, you need to know about your customers’ needs and about factors that are driving their purchases, and there is no substitute for getting this information straight from them. Market research can be done many ways–you can buy off-the-shelf reports (Price $3-10K), hire a company (broad price range, $5K minimally), or conduct research yourself (price varies greatly). The scale can be large or small, from online surveys of hundreds to phone interviews of 10. Larger and purchased surveys will give you estimates on the size and growth of the market and each company’s share of it, while smaller surveys help you understand your customers more on a personal level (which is very important as we’ve discussed). Another consideration is whether you want the survey to be blind, and whether it should focus on only your customers or more broadly. One of my fantastic mentors Michael Gonzales told me once at the start of a market research project to define very specifically what internal decisions you need to address before you begin, and write each question to definitively provide answers to them. There is no point in posing a question unless it will have an unambiguous effect on a decision that you will make. It is easy to get carried away designing questions related to your company or products, as you’re curious about so many aspects, but keeping your objectives clear helps to focus the effort. Questions should center around the customers’ needs and habits and how they relate to your product development and tactics. What are their daily struggles or ‘pains’ in the broad area of your products? What conferences are they attending this year, and which publications do they read? Perhaps most importantly, you should give customers a chance to give you any feedback they have for you in an open-ended format, as they’ll often have great ideas and opinions and appreciate being heard. Even with a focused effort, you’ll learn a lot about your customers and their needs, and can use the information all year for many different purposes.

   After you’ve completed these tasks, you’re well on your way towards completing your ‘journey’ towards defining your marketing strategy and tactics. The way the pieces fit together will become even more clear after the next post in our series, The Life Science Marketing Plan, Part 3: Components (Second Half). Sign up for updates so you won’t miss anything, and see the whole series here.

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How can life science and biotechnology companies leverage social media to increase visibility, generate more leads, and ultimately improve sales or the value of the company? Comprendia is the recognized leader in understanding how to develop and implement social media strategies tailored to life science and biotechnology companies. Check out our Biotechnology Marketing 101 Blog for more details. There are myriad online social media resources and agencies, but this workshop is the only resource that will provide you with strategies backed by real examples and designed to help you launch campaigns that will work with your life science customers.

In this 4 hour hands-on workshop we’ll answer these questions, giving real examples and materials to help you jump start social media campaigns for your company:

• Which applications and themes work with scientists or biotech professionals?
• How do I integrate social media with existing marketing strategies and tactics?
• What is the return on investment (ROI) for social media, and how do I maximize it?
• How do I get buy-in from the management and motivate my team to participate?

We’ll have wifi so you can bring your computer, ask lots of questions, and head back to the office ready to get started.

Who Should Attend: Business Development and Marketing professionals who provide products or services in a non-regulated environment and are interested in using social media to increase sales, leads, or visibility. Examples: companies who sell research-only products or services to scientists or small to mid-size biotechnology companies that need more visibility. Contact us if you have questions.

As a Participant You Will Receive:

1. Printed workshop materials
2. A highly interactive presentation session from Mary Canady, customized to your needs and using real examples from life science and biotechnology
3. Worksheets designed to help you get social media launched at your company
4. Hands-on, online training and feedback from Comprendia during the session
5. Free follow-on session with Comprendia
1. Review of workshop ‘homework’
2. Guidance for next steps

This is our first in a series of quarterly Social Media for Life Science and Biotechnology Workshops. Sign up for updates to our blog and you’ll be the first to hear. We’re also considering ‘virtual’ workshops or roadshows–let us know if you’re interested.

Check out our Workshops and Training page to see when this workshop is offered next.

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We talk a lot about social media on this blog, and are of course strong proponents of its utilization for life science and biotech companies. One of the aspects we like about it is that the basics of traditional marketing planning are also the cornerstones of social media planning. For this series of posts, we’ll go back to basics and explore traditional marketing plans–beginning with their ‘raison d’etre’ to the details of developing one. We see marketing plans as a journey in which you learn along the way, and we’ll provide one ‘piece’ of the map in each of these posts, helping you to see the big picture by the end of this series.

What is a marketing plan? Marketing plans can be centered around a product, product line, brand, or small company. My experience has been that they are developed early in the fourth quarter preceding the fiscal year they describe. While they can be discussed by a team, normally I’ve seen one person taking the lead in writing the document–of course this is dependent on the scope of the plan. Input can come from anywhere, but the marketing group and the management should own them and have the research to back up the marketing plan’s claims. They can take the form of a text document with figures (e.g., Microsoft Word) and usually include a summary presentation (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint). In theory, they should be considered living documents which can be modified by the owners (in practice this often proves too difficult for the busy marketing professional).

What are the components? Of course you can find marketing plan templates online, and you can certainly customize them to fit your needs. Here are what we consider to be the basics:

1. Executive Summary
2. Situational Analysis
3. Sales History & Forecast
4. Market Research
5. Competitive Analysis
6. Strategy
1. Messaging & Positioning
2. Overall Plan
7. Tactical Plan
1. Events (Conferences, Ad planning, Product Launches)
2. Budget

You’ll often hear the components referred to more generally as strategic and tactical marketing. Overall strategy is determined by the careful analysis of components 2-5 above, and it guides the tactical plan. We’ll go through each of these in detail in subsequent posts.

Why do I need a marketing plan? We all understand that having a plan makes everything work better, but I’ve worked in smaller companies in which it has been very difficult to justify taking time off to write a formal document. Let me give you a few examples for why it is so important, and why it will actually make your work easier.

Consistency. Working through a marketing plan will help you to see your path clearly for your product or product line and to quickly communicate it to others. For example, let’s say your objective is to be the leading provider of fast, high performance protein chromatography, and your target customers work mostly in pharma companies. This is all part of defining your positioning in the market, and will guide all of your marketing materials and actions. Every time you or your colleagues communicate with a customer, write a marketing piece, etc. you’ll be guided by this principle. This will result in a consistent message which will improve your brand perception.

Better product development. Successful companies are driven by the market. In a smaller biotech or life science company, the products (at least initially) are by nature driven by the market, because the company was likely founded based on strong need. However, as companies grow, there is a tendency for scientific companies to produce what they ‘can’ rather than what they ‘should.’ Developing a yearly marketing plan is a great way to get a reality check and to define your product line’s direction and be ready to give solid reasons to back your decisions. Additionally, having a document that can be forwarded to the R&D team is a powerful way to help everyone brainstorm about product development.

Time savings. Your colleague comes to you with a great conference at Cold Spring Harbor which he says is PERFECT for your company to attend. Your answer? Thank him, but point to the marketing plan and indicate that your target market won’t be in attendance, so it doesn’t make sense. Quick decision, no feelings hurt (hopefully), and you’ve pointed him in the right direction as to what conferences he should be looking for.

More bang for your buck. The strength of a good marketing plan is in the power to see how tactics can work together to be more powerful than they are individually. The tactical plan normally takes the form of a spreadsheet or table which list the months of the year and every major planned event, such as product launches and conferences. These can also be cross-referenced with editorial calendars (see our 2010 planning guide). Example? Let’s say your big product is launching in August, but you see that a relevant conference and editorial piece are available in July. By planning ahead, you may be able to work with R&D for an earlier launch, and come out with a bang in month of July with news about your product at the conference and in the editorial.

A marketing plan is a journey in which you step back and look at things more broadly, and spend the year prepared, making smarter decisions and being less reactionary. Of course, a marketing plan can be written any part of the year–there’s no time like the present. Next in our series will be The Elements of a Life Science Marketing Plan. Sign up for updates so you won’t miss anything, and see the whole series here.

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We often get asked by our life science and biotech clients how to calculate return on investment (ROI) for social media activities. Sometimes we are surprised, because the equation is the same as for any marketing activity, and the metrics are often easier to measure than with traditional tactics. We’ve realized, however, that the question is broader than this, and that life science companies want to see the connection between social media activities and their bottom line. We’ll address both concepts in this blog post, and would like to know your thoughts as well.

Like many other ideas that are perceived as being new, social media can indeed be viewed as a new marketing tool, but we arrived at it as a natural progression, and life science companies are a great example. Thus, some of the guidelines we’ve outlined below will be familiar to you, some will be new, and we hope it helps you understand the process of determining ROI for social media in the life sciences.

Establish a baseline. As with traditional marketing, you need to know where you’re starting in order to make sure your marketing is helping you to reach your goals. Several of the metrics are things you’re already tracking, such as sales, growth, web traffic, and conversion. However, you’ll also need to consider more ‘external’ metrics such as mentions on public forums and the ‘buzz’ you create leading up to a product launch. At this stage, do your best to find the information that exists about your company, products, and brand, and realize that it will be an iterative process as you’ll learn more as you go. Thankfully, the cycle times will be much shorter than with traditional metrics, as both the feedback and the tools to measure them are more facile with social media.

Have clear goals. We think this gets at the true ‘heart’ of the ‘ROI for Social Media’ question. Like traditional marketing, you must define your objectives and develop a plan to meet them, with strategies and tactics. What’s new is that you’ll move away from ‘broadcast’ type marketing and into engagement or relationship marketing. Strategies and tactics will differ, because you’ll need to consider things like customer psychographics more carefully and differently, and some of your goals may appear less tangible. For example, one of your goals may be ‘to engage customers more.’ How do you sell this to the management? It will likely correlate with increased revenue, and is no more less tangible than traditional goals such as increasing the number of leads. Some have the perception that social media is random (e.g., people talking about celebrities on Twitter), and can’t possibly lead to a good ROI. If done properly, it definitely can, and having a good plan will lead the way. We’ve provided an outline of our Social Media Charter™ which will help you get started.

Implement and measure. Like traditional marketing, your plan will be a living document which will guide your activities, so follow it and track your results. Besides the traditional, mostly internal ways to measure, there are many ways to measure external metrics, and you’ll soon discover that you’ll be getting more timely, relevant information than ever before. As with traditional marketing, use the equation: ROI = [(Payback-Investment)/Investment] *100. See the table below for some examples. With social media, you’ll find that engaging your customers more may mean that part of the payback comes back differently, such as efficiencies in customer service. For example, if you implement an online forum to answer customer questions, instead of relying solely on phone and email, less time may be needed as the information will be more readily available (think of it as FAQs on steroids). This information accessibility is especially important for life science companies, with highly technical products and customers with questions who often can’t wait. We’re not suggesting you get rid of customer service, rather get them involved–social media will help you to serve customers better and learn more about their needs at the same time.

Examples of Expense and Payback for Calculating Social Media ROI

Rinse and repeat. The beauty of this process is that you will receive information quickly that can be fed back into not only your marketing campaigns, but into improving your products and serving your customers better. You’ll see that your reach is greatly increased and that you’ll receive more qualified leads, which is especially important for smaller companies. These benefits are all part of integrating social media into your overall plan, and we think that once you start seeing the benefits, the ‘ROI for social media’ calculation will be a no-brainer.

However, if you are still questioning ROI for social media in life sciences and biotech, you may want to see more examples and learn more about how it can be relevant to your particular business. We offer free consultations to help get you started. Also, feel free to leave a comment below so we can discuss and answer our ‘FAQs’ (we practice what we preach ;).

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You know I am one of social media’s biggest cheerleaders, especially for life science and biotech as I see enormous potential. However, when planning a social media (SM) campaign, there are some important things to remember about what it isn’t. This list is meant to help you plan and to sell SM to your organization by understanding ways that it differs from what we might expect.

1. Instant. Social media campaigns take time. If done correctly, the end result can be worth much more than what you’d get out of a traditional marketing campaign, but it’s not like flipping on a switch. Keep this in mind during planning, and and define clear objectives for the growth of your campaign, for example number of twitter followers or increase in web traffic. Of course, your ultimate objectives are likely to increase revenue, but these are good indicators that you’re on the right track.
2. A No Brainer. You don’t have to look far to see social media campaigns that have not gained traction or have reflected badly on the company that implemented them. There are myriad consultancies who will claim that ‘it will be as easy as setting up some accounts,’ but the truth is that there is a lot of planning that needs to go into a campaign. Like traditional marketing, and in order to integrate with your existing strategy and tactics, you must understand the customer, your product’s positioning, the competition, and the tools to succeed.
3. Your Mouthpiece. It is tempting to see a large LinkedIn group or a forum as a place where you can talk about yourself or your products…for free! However, if you are only using these venues for this purpose, it will soon become evident and the group members and moderator will tire (and may banish) you. What’s better? Create your own group and cultivate a community that cares about what you care about. Follow the 90/10 rule: spend 90% of the time helping, 10% promoting yourself–if people appreciate and respect you, they’ll listen to what you say. The absolute worst thing you can do in social media is to be labeled as a spammer or as only caring about yourself.
4. A Free Lunch. Along the same vein as the usage of ‘free’ advertising such as LinkedIn groups, there are some that think that Social Media is their way to market their product for free. Now, I do think there are lots of ways that you can save money using social media, but…you may remember someone telling you that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and SM is no exception. Your costs will likely shift from print advertising to online, and from paying fees for broadcast-type Ads (banners, etc.) to strategies, tools, and perhaps consulting for building your campaign theme and implementing it correctly.
5. A Panacea. Social media does not defy the rules of marketing or common sense. If you have a product that your customers do not need, no amount of SM will help you. What’s great about it, though, is that you’ll receive more feedback than you have ever had before, and you’ll be able to turn this information into products that your customers need.

Sound complicated? The best way to understand it is to get your feet wet and start participating. If you’d like a free consultation, we can help you better understand how to succeed in the social media landscape that your life science or biotechnology company operates in.

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You are likely in the throes of determining your 2010 marketing plans and budgets. How should you budget for social media? We’ve been asked this a few times and thought we’d give you some guidelines (of course we have ulterior motives because we want you to have a budget for Comprendia’s services, but as long as we’re clear on that ;). Here are some guidelines for budgeting for social media in your life science marketing plans. Social media takes time to cultivate, and there is every indication that customers now expect to be engaged with these tools, so why not get started now? Here are the items we think you should consider adding, increasing, or adjusting in your 2010 budget:

1. Web 2.0 Upgrades. We’ve written about life science companies and social media, and many of you are just getting started in this area. One of the first steps is to move towards a more dynamic, engaging website. What does this mean? Think about websites like Amazon.com and Facebook, which give users a customized experience when they visit your site. Invitrogen now has user ratings for products, similar to Amazon. Don’t think that you have to jump in with both feet, however, and build something too fancy. You can start with simpler things like polls, resources, or news feeds which will help your customers feel engaged. Adding a blog or forum is likely more easy than you think, ask us or your web team about the budget for these types of upgrades.
2. Training. From strategies, to etiquette, to tactics, this should be a significant consideration for your budget. A social media strategy needs the participation of people inside of your company to succeed. For this to happen, everyone needs to be clear on the messaging and guidelines. There are infamous stories of missteps companies have made that have been devastating for them. Training on etiquette and procedure will prevent your campaign from going viral in a bad way. Make sure that you hire trainers who know your life science customers, as there are myriad social media ‘experts’ available who will likely provide general training which is already available in many forms on the internet.
3. Content. A good social media strategy requires producing more content than you may be used to. For example, newsletters that adhere to the tenets of social media aren’t simply lists of new products, but are more rich resources which help customers with their broader needs. More time will need to be budgeted to create this content. By being creative, and assigning someone who will be the social media champion for your organization, you can likely find content that you can repurpose, which may save some time.
4. Redistribution of Existing Budgets. Have you noticed that banner Ads and email blasts just don’t have the impact they used to? You may want to consider turning some print and online advertising into social media campaigns. This budget shift may mean shifting paid-for services such as Ads into additions to headcount to create strategies and content. Of course, outsourcing is a good way to get started.
5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Other Search-based Advertising. A big part of moving away from ‘broadcast’ advertising is to help people to find you, or pull them in, rather than ‘pushing’ your information to large groups of people who don’t necessarily want it. You’ll need to make changes to your website content to help search engines find you as well as invest (more) in paid search advertising like Google Adwords. As with most other areas of social media, you’ll obtain useful information from these tools, as you’ll be able to see what people are searching for and adjust your product offering accordingly.
6. Outside Consultants. OK, you knew this was coming. While social media will likely ultimately rely upon your existing staff, you’ll need help developing a Social Media Charter™, with training, and with content. Social media likely requires a change in mindset for your organization. Comprendia is the only company that is integrated with the life scientist social media community, and we will use our knowledge and vast network to help you to hit the ground running. If you feel as though you’re a ‘lone voice’ in your organization, trying to get traction for social media, we can help as well, as we have talking points that will help you communicate the importance to your upper management.

How much should you budget for these items? We can help you with a free consultation and also give a short presentation which will help you to ‘sell’ social media to your organization, if needed. We have great examples specific to life science and biotechnology that will make social media tangible to your staff and also inspire them to be creative and participate. We also have the resources to successfully implement your plans in 2010, helping you to increasingly engage your customers and provide the resources and products they need.

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I see enormous potential for life science companies to use social media to engage their customers and grow their business. Sometimes when I talk about it, however, the concepts can come across as being somewhat foreign. Some people wonder how tools like Twitter can help them to grow their business, and are perplexed by the jargon and ‘special world’ that social media marketers seem to live in.

However, social media can be seen as an extension of tools life science companies have been using for years, such as newsletters, posters, and guides. Realizing that social media is really a natural progression of these resources helps to better understand how to create new tools and how to fit them in with your traditional marketing strategies and tactics.

Social media is about stepping beyond your product line and offering customers with resources that apply more generally to their daily ‘pains’ or interests, and allowing them to interact with you and other customers in the process. These resources could be blogs, forums, or groups set up with customers in mind, you can see examples on our compilation of life science companies using social media. While many of these companies are just getting started, check out the Promega or the 23andMe blog for good examples.

While these new tools are more interactive, taking advantage of ‘web 2.0′ principles, many of the ideas are similar to educational materials life science companies have been putting out for years. Calbiochem, now EMD Chemicals, has long provided signal transduction pathway diagrams and reviews to help researchers understand complex phenomena such as apoptosis and angiogenesis, and was also famous for its detergent guide (a favorite of mine). Invitrogen/Life Technologies (past & present!) have distributed several different newsletters over the years, one dating back to 1978!

What’s the take home message? Sell social media to your management as an extension of your existing tools with the added benefit that web 2.0 tools will help you broaden your customer base while collecting more metrics, often in real time.

How do you get started? Use existing content and themes to bootstrap a social media program. If you’ve stopped putting this useful material on the web because you’re putting it in newsletters or fancy flash animations, put it back into your web content as it will help customers who are seeking the information you’re providing to find you (and improve search engine optimization or SEO). Social media is a tool to help you engage your customers more, but realize that it is a natural extension of what you’re already doing. Employ those closest to the customer, such as customer service and sales, to help you devise a plan. Integrate social media with your existing marketing plans–you might even say that you should marry the two…

Yes, there will be some adjustments you’ll need to make when thinking about using new media. You’ll need to think about policies and strategies to chart a course for success. Need help? Comprendia is the only company with extensive social media experience specific to life science, let us help you develop a social media charter so you can hit the ground running with the tools you already have in hand.

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If you’ve been following our Biotechnology Marketing 101 blog, you likely know that we are ‘in the know’ about social media. We’ve used it to grow our own company and the San Diego Biotechnology Network, and we’ll be featuring our work with other companies soon. Check out our Social Media Capabilities page to learn more and to get started!

I’ve recently come to appreciate the true power of RSS, or really simple syndication. RSS feeds are a way for websites to easily communicate their updated information. Because the information is standardized, it can be picked up by other applications which aggregate the information, such as Google Reader (GR, see summaries here and here for help getting started).

So what? You can set up some really cool automated tools to keep up on just about anything on the internet, including topics relevant to science and biotech business. You can keep tabs on the latest work in your field by setting up RSS feeds for pubmed searches. You can also follow blogs and news by searching for ‘RSS’ or looking for the orange symbol on any website, and subscribe. If you’re like me, you’ll actually feel a bit excited when you find a great blog or website, and find that you can add them to GR.

There are also clever ways to feed customized information into and out of GR. You can set up Google Alerts for updates any topic on the web, and feed it directly into GR (choose ‘deliver to feed). This is great if you work at a company and want to keep tabs on your competitors and their products, or even on your own company. You will know almost instantly when updates are made to a very wide variety of websites (you will be surprised how thoroughly the alerts ‘search’ for information), and GR stores all of the information for your future reference. I have even heard of people feeding all of their email into GR!

GR also has clever ways to send information out, which can be handy if you have colleagues or clients that want updates without using GR. You can put feeds into a folder and send the results into a publicly viewable page. You can go one step further and set up email updates via Feedburner, if you really want to make it easy (we used this trick for our ‘Instant Social Media for Scientists‘ email updates).

So, are you ready to wow your colleagues and coworkers by knowing the latest and greatest, as it happens? This post was partly inspired by a San Diego scientist who told me he was doing just that–impressing his boss with his knowledge of cutting edge research through GR. Additionally, using RSS information can help you to become a ‘channel‘ of information for posting items to social media applications such as twitter. Check it out, and start by subscribing to the Comprendia RSS feed!

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