After Instagram's recent move to eliminate "like" counts on posts, advertisers worried that they would be unable to quantify audience engagement, but healthcare marketers are optimistic about devising new strategies to engage patients, MM&M reports.
"We should have been designing beyond the 'like' for a while now," Celby Richoux, vice president and director or content strategy at Digitas Health, told MM&M. She described the "like" as a "crutch," noting that there are far more valuable ways to assess active engagement.
"It is now mission critical to be available from a customer service perspective. Patients and caregivers are going to have better experiences getting on and staying on a drug if the maker is A, available through two-way dialogue, and B, transparent about real patient stories as much as possible in this regulated space," Ms. Richoux explained.
Some healthcare organizations may find it "painful" to transition away from the "like" as primary indicator of engagement, but they will soon realize how little impact the counter had in the first place, Melissa Mackey, founder and CEO of health technology platform Reliefium, told the outlet.
"Social media's role in a consumer's life is evolving and a platform's prominence is as well," she said. "Patients are incredibly resourceful and their digital ecosystems are vast. If they want to be heard, they will be, regardless of us or a 'like.'"
More articles on digital marketing:
Where the C-suite stands on marketing execs: from supportive CEOs to skeptical sales chiefs
5 challenges facing digital marketers in 2020: report
Huntington Hospital's solution to the challenge of measuring outreach impact? A DIY analytics platform