Service Insight: Video killed the radio star …
pharmafile | June 6, 2011 | Feature | Medical Communications | Service Insight, digital marketing, social media
SERVICE INSIGHT
While everyone is going digital, are we forgetting the power of the spoken word? Some days it feels as though we are being swept along on a tidal wave of social media.
It seems that our beautiful language brimming with wondrous words like cantankerous, serendipity, diaphanous and syllabub is being replaced by the shortened phrases of tweeters, facebookers and texters, spawning a new age of communication that maximises character allowance and saves seconds in our ever time-starved lives.
Without a doubt, social media is the biggest revolution in communications since the first radio broadcasts brought the world into our living rooms in the 1920s. Facebook users tipped 50 million in just five months – it took radio 38 years!
In a more technologically advanced age accessibility has been key to its success, and with the number of smartphone users expected to exceed one billion by 2014 – the ability to hop online anytime, anyplace, anywhere is unlikely to slow down at any point soon.
Undoubtedly, one of the main advantages of social networking is its potential to bring together disparate groups of people into communities to discuss and debate issues.
How many of us have spent hours slaving over phone and keyboard with the aim of bringing a group of healthcare professionals together in one room, in one country, at one time? The fact that we can now do this electronically is infinitely more convenient for all parties which in turn saves everyone precious time and resources.
Its power to reach out to large numbers of people and rapidly spread information is also crucial. While in healthcare communications we need to be mindful of our interaction with the general public, we can watch and learn from other industries that use social and digital media to great effect.
Whether announcing private celebrity information e.g. Katie Price’s and Peter Andre’s separation via Twitter, or organising a demonstration in Cairo – for good or for bad – social media is having a significant impact on our planet!
If getting involved in social networking seems daunting, there is nothing to prevent us from listening in. Astute pharmaceutical companies have already realised that there is value in listening in to the tweeters and bloggers, and finding out what is being said about disease areas and therapies.
This added knowledge of what the customer really thinks helps them to bend and shape communication strategies to respond to customer needs without having direct communication.
Amid this thrill of pioneering new roads in healthcare communication, we must be careful not to lose sight of the importance of the traditional ways of communicating, which some would argue are still more valuable and effective – the spoken word and face-to-face interaction.
Face-to-face contact is the most basic form of human communication. It allows us to connect in several ways at once, verbally and through facial expressions, hand gestures and body language.
Expressing ourselves visually makes it much easier for the other party to interpret the meaning accompanying our words e.g. our sincerity, misunderstanding or enthusiasm about a point of discussion or debate.
The ability to see these signals in another person is what helps to build relationships. How many times do you rewrite an email because it doesn’t sound right or you don’t want someone to get the wrong impression?
It probably would have been a lot easier for King George VI to ‘tweet’ to the nation so that he didn’t have to go through the heartache and frustration of overcoming his crippling stammer. However, the power and sincerity of his country-rallying speech on the eve of World War II in 1939 would have been lost without his ability to touch a nation through his spoken words.
This brings us back to which words we choose and how they are used. Although speed and simplicity are of the essence for all of us today, it would be a terrible crime for us to ‘dumb down’ the language that our ancestors worked so hard to create.
Although our communication is becoming shorter, is it any better or does it just mean that we can talk to more people more quickly?
There are plenty of advocates on both sides of the debate but the vital factor is being able to know which approach to use, when and to which audience.
Progress is exciting but what could be even better is if we can learn to combine and weave together all methods of communication to best effect. Quality and quantity don’t always have to be pitched against each other.
Although, using the words of the famous French playwright Voltaire: “It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books.”
C u l8r!
Rachel Hind is senior consultant at Liberation Communications. For more information visit: www.liberationcomms.com
For more information on Service Insight features contact InPharm’s sales team on +44 (0)1243 772 010 or email pharmafilesales@wiley.com
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