Some of the challenges holding regulated industries like those in health care, finance, or government back from embracing social media are unique, and some aren’t so unique. However, whether the industry is heavily regulated or not, rules and regulation over time often become myth. To read the complete post, you’ll need to go over to Identity PR’s blog, id tags. Thanks to my friends, Nikki Stephan and Brandon Chesnutt for asking me to contribute.
The key to moving things forward in a regulated industry is to separate the weight of the myth from the actual rules of engagement:
There is something incredibly rewarding about helping a business navigate the rules brought by regulation in a way that helps them embrace this new dialogue-driven style of communication to connect them with customers and other stakeholders in a meaningful way, yet also respects the notion that most regulations are intended to protect consumers — never forget that.
There are a lot of things that make social media communication in a regulated business challenging to say the least, but many myths often permeate this environment.
Continue reading on id tags: 3 Myths Keeping Regulated Biz From Embracing Social Media
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As someone who has over 10 years of healthcare marketing experience in a highly regulated industry the biggest obstacle to social media implementation is both internal and external. It’s internal in that too many organizations are not willing to take the risk to communicate directly with consumers and external in that the FDA does not really understand how patients are using the Web for health. Of course a little thing about having low trust of pharma also hurts
Unfortunately, with the internet and the pharmaceutical industry, the fact that the FDA has not proclaimed guidelines has stopped this conservative industry from taking full advantage (or perhaps really any advantage) of using social media. In a very real way, because of the lack of guidelines, those that venture out in social media in this industry often feel “up the creek without a paddle”. In a recent blog post, I posted a picture of a dog in a canoe — hopefully waiting, but oblivious to wait might await him downstream (if the FDA ever decided to act) — http://boxcuttersinc.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/fda-internet-guidelines/