Andy's Answers: Why Sanofi U.S.' social strategy focuses on life, not diabetes - SmartBrief

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Andy’s Answers: Why Sanofi U.S.’ social strategy focuses on life, not diabetes

2 min read

Brands & Campaigns

Retirement, college, marriage, and other important life changes are a big deal already. Add diabetes and you’ve got even more challenges most people don’t see coming. Laura Kolodjeski, director of patient insight for Sanofi U.S., says these surprises leave diabetes patients needing help in the moment. That’s where their project, The DX, comes to the rescue.

In her presentation at SocialMedia.org’s BlogWell conference in Boston, Laura explains how they’ve created a social hub for content related to lifestyle and diabetes. She talks about their listening strategies, how they work within strict social media regulations, and what makes The DX an authentic diabetes resource.

Here are some interesting findings from her presentation:

  • What they don’t hear, they ask: For Sanofi U.S.’ social team, finding topics that matter to their patients means proactively listening to multiple sources. They watch for unmet search queries, work with influential diabetes bloggers, and talk to patient advocates to find their next story.
  • You can’t fake truly caring about your customers: Sanofi U.S. avoids promoting their brand by choosing patient-focused tactics instead of talking about their products. But for this strategy to be genuine, they have to actually care about the people they’re writing for. Laura says they do it by opening up regular conversations with patients and taking every opportunity to meet face to face.
  • Compromises come from asking why: As a pharmaceutical company in a regulated industry, Sanofi U.S.’ social media team often hears “no” from their legal team. Laura says that understanding the legal barriers and respecting other teams involved has helped them avoid getting into trouble while getting their message out there.

Watch Laura’s full presentation below. The slides are available for download.

If you like this presentation, see more great social media case studies like it live at BlogWell Dallas, Feb. 19.