Valdis Krebs says “social capital” is the key for success in the 21st century organization.  Recently, we caught up with Valdis Krebs, founder and chief scientist of orgnet.com. to learn about influence and the power of social networks.  Valdis has been studying social networks since 1987, and is a leading management consultant, researcher, trainer, author and developer of InFlow, social network analysis software for communities, organizations and consultants.

More and more healthcare, medical device and pharma companies are looking to build communities to spread their message.  Valdis works with many industries including healthcare and pharma to identify influence in and outside the organization.  Look for our video interview with Valdis Krebs, more about Influence and Social Capital and the answer to the “quiz” in Part II, post on Thursday, February 25th.

In the meantime, please let us know what you think!  Post a comment on who you would pick in the above network and why.

What can you share with our community about social media jobs in your healthcare/pharma marketing organization?

What social media job roles and titles do you have in your healthcare, healthcare communications or pharma company? What types of roles do you see being added as social media evolves in your agency or pharma company? Where does social media fit in your organizational chart? Is social media incorporated into another job function?  Are social media leaders seen as multi-disciplinary individuals or specialists in your industry?  What skills sets and challenges do you see for the role?

HCSMEU is a Tweetchat comprised of a forward-thinking group of healthcare and pharma professionals concerned about issues in the industry as they effect Europe.  However, participants from all over the world engage with this smart, friendly group led by Andrew Spong @andrewspong and Silja Chouquet @whydotpharma.  More information on HCSMEU can be found at: http://hcsmeu.com

Odom Lewis is proud to be a sponsor of the the first HCSMEU “unconference” to be held in Berlin on March 31st, 2010.   Please follow event details at #hcsmeucamp, see the Agenda, Who Is Coming and How to Become a Sponsor.

Krū is a noun that means healing shaman thought to cure illness.  It is also the name of Kevin Kruse’s company, Krū Research. Why did you decide to launch Krū Research?

Our mission is simply to help people connect with e-patients. We support life science marketers, healthcare or hospital communicators, and public health educators – intentionally trying to benchmark best practices across the different groups. They may all have different reasons for wanting to connect, but at the end of the day they are all trying to engage with a health consumer or caregiver with the ultimate goal of improving someone’s health. We offer publications, events and advisory services to help them connect successfully.

You help life science and healthcare organizations stay on the leading edge of healthcare communications tactics.  Why is this so important today?

At this point, I don’t think e- and social media marketing should be considered even leading edge. It’s crazy that more healthcare marketers and communicators haven’t yet adopted practices that will put them where their audience is.

This doesn’t mean we should stop older forms of marketing, but it does mean that for relatively little money we should be where our customers are, and where they are being influenced, and that’s online.

You recently issued a complimentary E-Book “Using Twitter for ePatient Communications,” a guide for Pharmaceutical Companies, Hospitals, Public Health Organizations and other Healthcare Professionals. What do you feel is the biggest misconception about Twitter?

The biggest misconception is that Twitter is for general corporate communications, but you can’t use it for brand marketing or disease education. There are many examples of public health organizations with large followings on Twitter, and our own research clearly indicates that people will follow specific pharma brands, although they are 3 times more likely to follow a specific person who shares their health condition.

You are offering two bootcamps, tell us about “Social Media for Pharma” and who should attend.

Yes, our Social Media for Pharma workshop sold out within days, so we’ll have to get another one on the calendar soon. The attendees are a mix of marketers from both agencies and from within life science companies. It’s a true bootcamp in that we start the morning with the basics, but very quickly get into case studies. Everyone will roll up their sleeves and visit sites, compare and contrast different approaches, and walk away with a really deep understanding of how and why social media should be part of the marketing mix.

You are also offering “Social Media ROI for Healthcare Marketers.” What are the relevant KPIs?

Relevance, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, right? For some organizations, a relevant KPI might be total number of fans on Facebook. For another, a key metric could be the number of click-throughs to a specific web landing page. The most rigorous will want to actually track back new patient starts or hospital visits or book downloads through the trail of clicks that come from SM. It all comes back to your goal…is it to increase brand awareness and recall? Is it to distribute coupons? Make a sale? KPIs definitely come as a result of goal clarity.

What do you feel are the best tools for Social Media Measurement and why?

Well it depends on what you are trying to measure. A safe recommendation for most health marketers is to start by “listening.” There are about 180 million websites that need to be monitored, however, so a listening program is definitely in order. Begin to listen to mentions of your brand, your competition, the therapeutic area you are working in, etc. When you choose a listening platform you want to make sure it has good quality sentiment analysis, and that it can return results in near real-time—things move pretty fast on social networks!

When will the 2010 ePatient Connections Conference take place?  What were the lessons learned in 2009?  What will be the focus this year?

The 2009 conference was really incredible. We built a lot of bridges across the different health communication domains, and made new connections between patients and pharma, pharma and the FDA, and in other ways.

The 2010 conference is back at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, and it will be held on September 27 through the 29^th. We want to keep the rapid fire short-talk format, the creative pecha kucha sessions and continue to benchmark from other industries. But we’re also going to be adding even more programming with a special emphasis on mobile health and health games.

If you could give one piece of advice to healthcare communications professionals, what would it be?

Approach your social media initiatives with the intent of providing a ton of “authentic value.” It’s actually OK to be a marketer and to promote, but you need to be transparent about it and do it from a “what’s in it for the health consumer” angle. Make it about them, not you. And spend time to really understand your audience – not just market research about their treatment behaviors, but really understand who they are as adult learners, what their online behaviors look like, who influences them, and what types of things are they talking about and looking for.

You can follow Kevin Kruse on Twitter @kevinkruse.

“There are some companies that will never enter social media,”  according to rising star Tac Anderson, Digital Consulting Director with WE Studio D™ of Waggener Edstrom. Who are those companies?  (full video)

Tac was recently the guest presenter at the the first “LiveBar Live” social media event at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York City.  As promised, a number of “cool kids” were in the crowd including marketing and social media folks in healthcare and pharma.  Lively conversations could be found among Ellen Hoenig of AdvanceMarketWoRx and Paulo Machado of Health Innovation Partners on one side of the room, while B. L. Ochman was on the other side telling everyone “what’s next.”  You may know B.L. recently caused a sensation with her research showing there are now nearly 16,000 self-proclaimed social media experts on Twitter, and they are multiplying like rabbits!

So what was the social media advice for healthcare and pharma from a “real” social media expert? Tac says, “Where a lot of healthcare clients really fall down is they’re not allowed to talk about certain things about their business or…clients, that doesn’t mean they can’t talk in social media. I mean, why is that every company thinks they have to talk about themselves when it comes to social media. There is a lot of expertise within your company that can speak to a lot of things related to your industry without ever getting into any of these issues, without ever getting into ‘what is your company doing’ or patient privacy issues.”

“I’ve learned that nothing trumps a lawyer and their decision more so than money, actual revenue….(we’ll) start seeing more and more revenue tied to social media activities.  As we do, that is going to shut a lot of lawyers up…It’s just a risk equation,” according to Tac.

In giving advice about the social media space, Tac reminds brands that the basics of business and marketing haven’t changed and neither have the ways people communicate, only the tools have changed.

Tac Anderson has been focused on social media technologies and communications for the last five years and has an industry blog called, “New Media Comm.”  I first connected with Tac over our mutual passion for the power of Posterous in conversations on Twitter.  By the way, Tac confirmed that the correct pronunciation for Posterous does not sound like post, but rhymes with DOS!

Ellen Hoenig of AdvanceMarketWoRx asked 13 leading bloggers and healthcare thought leaders to share recommendations on what they believed to be the top learning strategies for Pharma and Healthcare marketers in the year ahead.  The result is the eBook,  “Best Strategic Learning Investment for Marketers in 2010?” which is available for PDF download. Angela Dunn from Odom Lewis was asked to participate and her guest post on how to put together a Pharma “Dream Team” for a new and “social” world in 2010 is also included below.

PHARMA’S NEW “DREAM TEAM” 2010

Radical shifts are taking place in leadership needs and business design.  According to the International Futures Forum, we are in an era of conceptual emergency where “the world we have created has outstripped our capacity to understand it.”  According to The Idea Hive, “We need a different vision of leadership to deal with this conceptual emergency. The role of the leader within this complex new world is not to know the answers, it is to ask the questions.”

The rules are not in place for how Pharma can engage in this new and “social” world.  No one has the answers yet. However, the foundation can be built with people who are willing to ask questions, who are willing to learn about the needs and wants of their customers. Who will comprise this “Dream Team” and what questions can they be asking?

The Innovator – Social Business Design

According to the Dachis group, “Social Business Design is the intentional creation of dynamic and socially calibrated systems, process and culture. The goal is improving value exchange among constituents.”  The opportunity is at the intersection of technology, work and society.  How will your business model be redesigned?  How can you improve customer participation, workforce collaboration and business partner optimization?

The Analyzer – Customer Intelligence

Marketing is the new finance.  The next generation of CMOs will need to master customer intelligence. “Transforming customer data into actionable intelligence and measuring the business impact of marketing will be key success imperatives for tomorrow’s CMO,” according to Dave Frankland of Advertising Age. Social media monitoring is transforming CRM, and even these tools are changing rapidly.  How will you use customer intelligence to strategically drive decisions across the enterprise?

The Concierge – Real-time Customer Experience

The companies who first differentiate themselves by having a process to deliver great real-time customer experiences will gain a competitive advantage.  How can you give your customers access to real-time solutions?

The Curator – Information as a Product

Information is as much of a product as anything else you sell.  It is not just about creating the content but linking to better sources of information and making sense of all that is available.  Content “curation” is one of the 10 Top Web Trends of 2010. How will you deliver the information your customers want?

The Influencer – Social Capital

According to Valdis Krebs of orgnet.com, social capital is the key to success for the 21st century organization, “The human assets that an organization uses to reach its goals include full- and part-time employees, contractors, consultants, partners…suppliers and customers.”  Those connected to innovators and thought leaders have valuable social capital. How much social capital do you have? How will you build it?  Who will be your Social Media Strategist?

The Teacher – Visual Learning, Technology and Applications

With the flood of data that has become available, it is easy to understand why organizing this data in a visual form is an ongoing trend.  Video has exploded, new mind-mapping systems are all the rage, and recently, Google launched Google Goggles, a visual search application for the Android phone.  The possibilities are astounding.  How can you simplify information for your customer visually?  How will you use new visual technologies to transform the customer experience?

The biggest investment for this learning will be time and human capital resources. Do you have a “Dream Team?”  Are you ready for 2010?

Angela Dunn is Director of Social Media Strategy & Recruiting for Odom Lewis, a leading executive search firm in medical communications, medical education and pharma marketing.  You can reach Angela Dunn at Odom Lewis directly at 904 425 3540 or at adunn@odomlewis.com.

In reflecting back on 2009, and looking forward to 2010, the best investment any company can make is still investing in the right people and providing a culture where they will develop and thrive.

At Zappos.com, Tony Hsieh has fostered a culture that is emulated by companies worldwide.

In the above video, Hsieh, relates, “I’m talking about all these things that we do for customer service, and it may make you think that customer service is the company’s number one priority, but it’s actually not. Our number one priority is company culture. Our whole belief is that, if you get the culture right, then most of the other stuff, like great customer service or building a long term enduring brand, will just happen naturally on its own, and you don’t need to worry about a lot of stuff that a lot of companies spend their time and resources worrying about.

So, what are some of the things that we do for company culture. Well, it starts with the hiring.”

As you plan for 2010, what investments will you be making in people and your company’s culture?

The above video is less than 8 minutes long and provides great reflection for thinking about evolving your company’s social business design to meet the needs of a more socially networked world.

You have an impressive agency background, please tell us a little bit about yourself and Ideagoras.

I have worked in the advertising industry for the past 30 years, 20 with multinational companies. In the last decade, I specialized in Healthcare advertising, leading and managing change and innovation.

Ideagoras was founded in January, 2009. It is a fully independent startup company looking to bring the new paradigm of Social Marketing to the Healthcare industry.

Great name! Ideagoras means “marketplace of ideas” and was coined by Don Tapscott, correct?

Yes, Wikinomics was the inspiration. It was clear that the new collaborative Web was radically changing everything: politics, information, education…and the way brands were built.

Ideagoras – market place of ideas – as a company name conveyed all the attributes we embrace: disruptive ideas, branding in the new markets of conversations, collaboration, crowdsourcing, innovation, creating talkable brands and “socializing while advertising.”

Who should participate in Ideagoras?  Do you see Ideagoras as a European organization or a global organization?

We have our own in-house team and talented people.  However, we state that Ideagoras is a wiki and an open organization, meaning we are open to the external “wisdom of the crowds.” It is absolutely true that the many are smarter than the few, and talent does not understand boundaries.  You can find very talented people willing to contribute their ideas and suggestions driven solely by the joy factor.  This being said, I see Ideagoras as a global organization. Actually, we say we are based from the entire world.

You use Ning for the My Ideagoras community. Can you share why you picked this social media platform, and how it is working for you?

Ning is an intuitive and friendly social platform. In addition, it is very flexible; you can offer your members the basic utilities, but you can also introduce new ones, according to their “expected experience.”  In less than four months, My Ideagoras, has welcomed over 150 members from all over the world; all of them Healthcare Marketing and Advertising professionals excited about Social Media and its spirit of collaboration.

As a thought leader in the industry in Europe, what is your view of healthcare/pharma’s adoption of social media?  What are the challenges/opportunities for 2010?

Social Media adoption will take time in Healthcare as well as in other sectors.  I would point to two main reasons: the lack of knowledge in the “big and very valuable picture”  and, the fears to embrace failure and deal with regulatory issues.  However,  social media adoption is unstoppable, wanted or not, and those responsible for branding, communication and marketing will have to escape from their comfort zone in addressing social media.

I see many opportunities for 2010: evangelizing social media, monitoring the existing brand conversations, defining social media strategies, designing open ecosystems, integrating social media as mainstream at the communicating mix.  Those few paving the way of social media communications in Healthcare are in a position to strongly demand respect and reciprocity…we are not commodities.

How can agencies help?

Agencies should play an active role in helping clients to understand social media and adopt it.  Many “do not get” what is going on yet.  Addressing social media with their clients is uncomfortable, not only because in many cases they lack skills regarding this discipline, but because doing things differently challenges the establishment and status quo.

Agencies need to be radically reinvented; the model as we have known it is over. Agency professionals must be willing to leave their vanity embedded in the streams of the social conversations that has brought about this “silent digital revolution.”

Under what department in an organization do you see Social Media?  Who is responsible?

As an emerging area of communications, social media is trying to find its place.  Currently, you can find it in e-communications, in PR departments, in the marketing department as well in “no man’s land.” My personal opinion is social media is a radical change in paradigm and has to be adopted by the whole organization, from the top to bottom. Social media mindset has to permeate with everyone throughout the company.  With regards to social media analysis, planning and implementation, I would assign that responsibility to the marketing department.

Anything else you would like to add?

Be social, my friend, and join us at My Ideagoras.

You can follow Ángel González on Twitter at @angel189 and @Ideagoras.

Can You Do the Job As It Is Defined for You?  A Fact Finding Mission