Utilizing Social Media Monitoring to Gain Key Insights from Medical Congresses

Advancements in digital communication have significantly impacted how medical information is disseminated and utilized. Amidst this change, social media has solidified itself as a particularly important platform, especially at medical congresses.

In this article:

• 1. Social Media in Medical Congress
• 2. Evaluating Outcomes: Medical Congress Analytics
• 3. Practical Steps to Implement Social Media Monitoring
• 4. konectar Social Media Monitoring
• 5. FAQs

Medical congresses are professional gatherings held for medical and healthcare communities to discuss the latest research, developments, and medical innovations. These events have a variety of attendees, including physicians, medical researchers, academicians, healthcare professionals (HCPs), industry representatives, etc.

Social media applications in healthcare have increased exponentially with its growing prevalence. Social media's technological advances help capture discussions in real-time and track social media analytics at medical congresses. Life sciences teams like MSLs (Medical Science Liaisons) and MAs (Medical Affairs) seek social media monitoring to track conversations about the event taking place on social media. They also get insights into top HCPs/HCOs talking about specific topics (like devices, drugs, therapies, etc) discussed at the medical conference. They use these insights to engage such influential HCPs for collaboration or use the insights for their own digital media strategic planning.

Social media monitoring involves tracking and analyzing conversations across social media platforms. This process is usually undertaken to gauge public opinion, learn about trends, and spread information.

For life sciences companies, social listening involves analyzing online discussions about medical information, breakthroughs, treatment modalities, patient experience, etc.

Life sciences companies can leverage the insights from social media monitoring in several ways, such as:

Trend Identification

Social media monitoring allows users to understand current discussions and emerging themes in healthcare. In addition, these tools also allow for tracking social media analytics by tracking specific keywords, hashtags, or phrases related to personal interest. This might include keywords like “patient care” or specific disease names for life sciences organizations.

Analysis of how frequently these keywords are used, professionals can identify trending topics, shifting public interest, and emerging medical tools and technologies.

Along with trend identification, social media monitoring also facilitates the identification of top influencers in healthcare. These digital opinion leaders have a significant role in shaping discussions. Social media monitoring platforms thus help life sciences teams to identify key influencers in the healthcare industry and collaborate with them for brand advocacy.

Competitive Analysis

Social media monitoring can also provide insights into competitor strategies and audience engagement. With these tools, life sciences companies can compare their performance with their competitors.

Benchmarking key metrics such as likes, shares, or comments can provide a clear picture of competitors' performance. This comparison can help identify areas where they must change their approach.

Monitoring how competitors launch and execute marketing campaigns provides a possible roadmap for product launch. This can also help decide the timing of marketing campaigns and product messages.

Engagement Opportunities

With the identified hashtags, keywords, and phrases garnering interest on social media, life sciences companies can tailor their content to match their audience’s interests.

For example, if a brand notices discussions about natural remedies on monitored platforms, it might focus content resources on natural product lines. This course of action would increase opportunities for audience engagement.

Monitoring time frames when audiences are most active will help decide the content calendar. In addition, social media monitoring can help determine which types of content generate engagement, helping to decide where to focus resources for maximum results.

Feedback and Sentiment Analysis

Social media monitoring tools are adept at gauging public opinion and emotional responses to a brand’s product, services, or marketing campaigns.

Pharma companies employ tools like natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the tone and emotions expressed in posts and comments. This analysis classifies sentiments expressed as positive, negative, or neutral. By quantifying these sentiments, public perceptions can be effectively judged.

Analyzing feedback can also give insights into product development. It can help brands understand what their customers value in their products and what they dislike. This feedback creates a loop that is crucial for social media tracking and for refining social media monitoring strategies, if needed.

Utilizing social media monitoring tools summarizes outcomes of medical congresses, providing strategic insights that can shape event planning in the future.

Techniques utilized by social media monitoring can analyze both quantitative and qualitative aspects of social media discussions.

Volume of Mentions

Social media mentions tracking is the most straightforward metric that can provide a deeper insight into what topics, hashtags, or keywords are mentioned across social media. A higher volume of mentions signifies greater interest in a topic discussed at the congress.

The volume of mentions can also be used to analyze the context in which the keywords have been used. For example, differentiating between positive and negative mentions provides a comprehensive view of the audience’s reaction.

Media mentions tracking is a preliminary metric and should ideally be utilized with other metrics, such as sentiment analysis and engagement rates. For example, a high volume of mentions can also indicate that the topic is creating greater buzz. However, when paired with sentiment analysis, the emotional value attached to these mentions can tell us that most mentions are negative, indicating concerns that should be addressed.

Reach and Spread

Analyzing how far discussions have spread apart from primary attendees helps understand the global impact of information discussed at medical congresses.

This analysis can help understand which regions or groups engage most with the content discussed. Understanding the reach of topics discussed during medical congresses can also help refine communication strategies. Healthcare organizations can change the channel, enhance the shared content, or consider collaborations with influencers to increase market penetration if a message is not reaching the intended audience.

Tracking social media analytics can highlight how information from medical congress spreads and how far. Life sciences companies can identify networks of individuals who share and contribute to these discussions. This network analysis can lead to the possibility of partnerships.

Using social media to monitor a major medical congress effectively requires careful planning, including choosing a monitoring tool to capture and analyze the data.

This proactive planning ensures the reach of information discussed at the congress. Implementing social media monitoring includes:

Selection of Relevant Hashtags

The first step of effective social media monitoring planning involves identifying hashtags that are officially associated with the congress. Identifying the unofficial hashtags will also provide added insights into public perception.

Identification may involve preliminary research on the event and the organizers.

Setting Up Alerts for KOL Mentions

Identifying speakers and KOLs who are in attendance before the medical congress can yield interesting insights. Setting up these alerts can provide real-time updates so pharma companies can engage immediately or adjust strategies based on audience reaction.

Cross-platform Integration

Different social media platforms cater to different audiences that are segmented by demographics. Integrating metrics from one platform with the other presents a holistic picture of engagement and discussions.

Including social media monitoring in strategic marketing is more than keeping up with digital advancements; it's about playing a proactive role in shaping healthcare discourse. konectar social media monitoring service offers comprehensive insights into the conversations surrounding medical congresses.

konectar's social media monitoring helps identify key opinion leaders (KOLs) driving discussions on the social media platforms, track relevant conversations, and analyze trends during medical congresses. By monitoring hashtag usage and share of voice, it provides valuable insights into the reach and impact of discussions. This empowers teams to stay aligned with industry trends and key discussions.

By integrating konectar into strategic planning, life sciences companies can harness the power of social media monitoring to stay a step ahead in this dynamic healthcare industry. Request a demo today to see how konectar can transform your social media data into actionable insights.