Although social media is becoming a larger part of every medical company’s marketing mix, the book on best practices is still being written. Recently I sat down with Los Angeles-based Copywriter and Internet Marketing Consultant, Derek Rudnak, to discuss the role LinkedIn is playing with his medical device clients. This post is the first of three in this series.
Is social media becoming a larger part of your clients’ marketing plans?
Derek Rudnak – To a greater extent, yes. However, medical device is lagging in terms of best practices being used in other industries. I have found that in terms of social media, LinkedIn has proven to be extremely successful, especially in creating new leads and new traffic to my clients’ web sites.
Really, the function of social media is to engage, and not to treat it like another advertising channel. Through LinkedIn I am increasing traffic to client web sites, which is turning into new leads—especially when I send prospects to strategic landing pages with information that is of value to them.
Is LinkedIn a good way to influence physicians, nurses, group purchasing agents (GPOs) and other decision makers?
Derek Rudnak – You really have two audiences – doctors/nurses (end users) and distributors. By offering valuable content in LinkedIn Groups, I have been able to get doctors and nurses interested in my clients’ products.
Best case, they are going to ask their GPO or their supplier to get the product. At a minimum, LinkedIn Groups have proven to be a good way to get prospects to come to my clients’ web sites to request pricing and samples.