I just had a call with a company struggling to figure out how to create a social media strategy that has a chance of actually reaching physicians and, once reached, that will foster a strong, value-add relationship between them. This is a familiar refrain these days, as pharma, device, and other industry organizations navigate what they perceive as the new, dangerous and opaque social media landscape. This company wasn't pharma nor device but they are still struggling with a lot of the same issues -- how do I find just the docs I care about... once I find them how do I engage them... once I engage them how do keep that engagement from turning on me.
An underlying premise of their current thinking was that social media was something they were supposed to "at" docs or at least "with" docs -- i.e., they needed to be communicating a message through social media channels to eagerly listening docs or trying to make them engage in a conversation about their product. There's a place for this, no doubt, but social media is more than just asking leading questions on LinkedIn, exposing yourself through bitly links on Twitter and making "friendly" product announcements through Facebook. In fact, you don't necessarily have to do any of that to be successful -- sometimes, just being there enough.
I have heard this aphorism many times in the seven years since my kids were born, although usually in the context of things like school plays, "donuts for dads" gatherings and kindergarten graduations. Just by being there I send a message to my girls that I care about them, that I think their pretty cool and I want to spend time with them. While I'm there, my girls are seeing me interact with others, learning about me by the way I interact with others. They get to see me resolve conflicts and they see that others respect me (although it may be too much to ask for that lesson to sink in for a while). If they are nervous or get into a scrap, they know that I'm there for them as a resource at a time when they need me.
This is useful way to think about social media, i.e., it's not always necessary to be communicating directly "at", or even "with", your target audience through these channels -- just being there can send an important message. For example, instead of trying to get prosective new clients to talk with you in a discussion forum, have the conversation with your customers who already love you -- but have that conversation in ear shot of the rest of your target audience. A user support forum is a good example. Prospects get a chance to learn about your product and, more importantly, about how you treat your customers with having to message them directly. This is analogous to letting my kids watch me talk to teachers, kids, other parents instead of just telling them over and over and over what a good guy I am (of course, my kids do not yet have the choice of disowning me). Another example would be making useful, value-add resources available to them wherever they are in the social media landscape rather than making them seek you out. This is especially salient for physicians who constantly remind us that they don't want "yet one more place to go on the Internet" -- they have too many places to find as it is! The kid-friendly analogy here would be telling my kids that if they need me they should go find a pay phone and call me if there's something I can help with.
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