"No one else at SXSW has to justify being on the internet," said an attendee at today's session on social media in regulated industries.
It's a valid statement and one that rallied attendees together this morning as we chatted everything from healthcare to finance and alcohol in social media. For those of us working in those spaces, we often encounter initial resistance to doing anything social. For Marc Monseau of Johnson & Johnson, that meant championing the cause internally and starting small.
Another tip in getting started is to include legal early on in conversations about social media. Identify lawyers who might have more open philosophies, include them and get them invested in the business objective and solution.
When getting legal on board with something it's also important to sell it the right way. Shannon Paul of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan recommended having a clear plan laid out with the goals, strategy and an overview of how much work this will mean for the legal team. Be specific about the timing needed on approvals off the bat, she said.
Once the brand is there and active, the next step for many regulated industries, such as healthcare, is humanizing an industry not often thought of in those terms. An attendee from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee shared the lengths they're going to in order to humanize insurance. So far, they've created a Pandora station devoted to helping get heart rates up and they're working with Meetup to sponsor health related groups in Tennessee.
