Social Media: There are no rules

The biggest rule of social media is…there are no rules. Social media is a fluid process that is ever-evolving. The most important concept is to do what is best for your brand. Develop a strategy and stick to it. If your audience is not on Facebook, as is the case with many life science companies in B2B, then don’t bother with Facebook. If you only have something relevant to say to your audience once a week, then tweet once a week. It’s true, fewer tweets can lead to unfollows, but those people were probably not that invested in your brand in the first place.

Engage with your audience in the manner and method in which they want to be engaged and you will have a social media plan with positive outcomes. Ensure that your social media tactics match your goals for the engagement and you will see positive traction.

Since there are no rules for social media, I will offer three tips that will help to build and maintain your social media strategy:

1.Engage your audience in the method in which they want to be engaged. If your audience tends to use Facebook to keep up with old classmates and what their brother’s sister’s cousin’s cat is doing at this exact moment, they are probably not interested in discussing blood samples with you via this method. Find them elsewhere.

2. Engage your audience in the manner in which they want to be engaged. If new information or the latest industry trends are important to your prospects’ job performance, deliver this to them either through user-generated content or links to other articles and blogs where they would find useful information on these topics.

3. Do what works for your brand. If you are selling shoes, finding your audience on Facebook is a distinct possibility. If you are trying to land XYZ Pharma’s phase 3  clinical trial for their new oncology drug, Facebook is probably not your best bet. Instead lead them to your user-generated content that highlights your oncology trial expertise through links on LinkedIn, Twitter, email blasts, etc. Look at your brands goals and positioning and decide what best aligns with these.

There are no hard and fast rules for social media. Just like there is not a box that every brand will fit within perfectly. Every brand, and therefore audience, is different and requires unique methods of engagement.