Want to define the direction of your digital communications strategy?

Social Business Strategist and author of Servant of Chaos – a leading Australian marketing blog – Gavin Heaton, will shed light on where pharma companies should start when planning their digital roadmap at the 2012 Digital Pharma Seminar in Melbourne this Thursday, 16 August, 2012.

According to Mr Heaton, 2011 marked a maturity in the public’s understanding of social media.

“It no longer took time to explain Twitter, blogging or social networks to colleagues, friends and family. It was clear they were ‘getting it’,” says Mr Heaton.

Yet social media is still not integrated into the majority of marketing strategies.

“Social media continues to sit on the far side of marketing. Social is recasting the shape of the marketing funnel and 2012 may be the year of integration, but there’s still a long way to go.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a doctor, patient, mother or child – we’re all consuming the vast amount of data that’s available online,” says Mr Heaton.

“This has led to patients being less reliant on their doctors and healthcare professionals, researching solutions and self-diagnosing online before even seeking treatment.

“For this reason, we need to engage earlier. We need to ensure accurate information is being produced and available to patients in the right place and on the right platforms,” Mr Heaton says.

“The challenge in building a digital roadmap is to figure out where these sites for interacting are.

“We need to map the sites and interactions against audience behaviours and decide how we unite all of these people in a place that allows us to engage with them,” says Mr Heaton.

“At the end of the day, people don’t care whether you have a digital, social or a mobile strategy. They want a seamless, easy experience and to be successful, we have to take this real-life aspect into account.”

Registrations are still open for the 2012 Digital Pharma Seminar in Melbourne. Gavin Heaton will present from 3.30 – 4.00pm at Hilton on the Park, East Melbourne, this Thursday, August 16. To register, visit Melbourne 2012 Digital Pharma Seminar event page.

More in this 2012 Digital Pharma Seminar series:

Twittersphere embraces 2012 Digital Pharma Seminar

How pharma can leverage digital

Digital in the wild: a GP’s perspective on digital technology

Using digital technology in sales detailing

It’s about fishing where the fish are: what pharma should be doing with social media

2012 Digital Pharma Seminar overview