No, I’m Not Tweeting—I’m Marketing

Social media may seem like a haphazard series of tweets, likes, and posts, but behind this evolving technology is marketing potential, and with effective marketing, comes new business. Social media marketing experts Jennifer Minarcik and Ruwaida Vakil will be presenting this topic in the open session “Using Social Media for Marketing: Harness the Power of Twitter, LinkedIn and Beyond” at the AMWA 75th Annual Conference in San Antonio, TX, September 30-October 3, 2015.

Although the Annual Conference does not kick off for a couple months, the presenters have shared a few nuggets of information—a taste of what is to come!

 

• Use webinars as a content marketing tool. Presenter Ruwaida says that when conducting a webinar or presentation, you can use social media marketing for social listening on LinkedIn and Twitter. For example, create a private LinkedIn group for all your attendees and a related hashtag on Twitter. Why? Ruwaida explains (1) “the LinkedIn group allows you to continue the conversation with your attendees” and (2) “the Twitter hashtag helps you listen to and relate to your attendees during and after your webinar.” Ruwaida addresses webinars further in a blog post.

• Create effective visuals to increase exposure. Presenter Jennifer recommends using visuals to bump up your brand’s exposure, ultimately driving more traffic to your website. To create visuals, Jennifer suggests the online tool Canva because it is a great do-it-yourself design tool for creating unique, targeted images. “But don’t just post images,” she says, “add captions and descriptions (for example, hashtags, a website URL, or a ‘Call to Action’).”

• Humanize social media to reach your audience. As insiders, Jennifer and Ruwaida share a final secret, “This year, the goal for anyone using social media should be to share relevant content while becoming more human. Social networks, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube, provide freelancers the ability to create content specifically designed to attract dream clients.” Along with this push to make social media marketing more personal come fresh concepts, such as social selling, content curation strategies, real-time social media marketing, visual content, video content, and advertisement campaigns.

Open up a hard copy of the AMWA Journal or log on to read more about social media marketing in Jennifer Minarcik’s article “The FDA and Social Media” published in volume 30, issue 1. Also, tune in to the YouTube channel Freelance MedWriters for more expert advice.

To join the Twitter conversation, follow @AmMedWriters and use #AMWA2015. To tweet about the upcoming social media marketing open session and follow tips from the presentation, use #AMWA15SM.

For those interested in the open session described in this post, listed below are other related presentations and activities offered at the 2015 Annual Conference. Descriptions, dates, and times for each offering can be found in the registration brochure.

Roundtables

• T-03: Quick-Start Marketing for Freelance Success
• T-04: So You Want To Do a Webinar
• T-07: Nobody Ever Wins in a Twitter Fight!
• T-27: Freelancing: Starting and Marketing Your Medical Writing Business
• S-04: The Social Media Tool Swap Shop
• S-13: Five Tips to Prevent Your Website from Becoming an Antique

Open Sessions

• OS-12: Basics of Content Writing for Medical Practices and Hospitals
• OS-39: How to Make Your Webinar Relevant, Impactful, and Memorable

Workshop

• WS-44: Fundamentals of Freelance Business Marketing

-Christina Bennett, 2015 Annual Conference Planning Committee 

Marketing Your Career by Being Proactive (Open Session 26)

by Sarah Thornburg

You probably know that reaching out to your network in times of need can lead to enormous support. But you may not always remember that if you do not take the time to build your network when times are good, you may be missing out on many opportunities.

In today’s job market, you can never predict what is around the corner. And, in a field that is constantly evolving, you are responsible for identifying your skill sets and matching them to the projects that are the best fit for you. In this open session, moderator Noelle H. Demas and panelists Lisa Balbes and Alison Greenwood provided useful strategies for increasing your visibility and maximizing job searches.

Evaluate your skills and identify your short-term and long-term goals. You might find that you aren’t pursuing the type of work you most enjoy. Also, consider whether what you do today is your ideal job or a position that will help you to transition into your ideal job.

Networking helps you to let people in your life know the type of work you do, and is one way to expand the circle of people who know it. You can network by attending professional meetings, volunteering, or using social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Even if your goal is not to make a change or to gain information, sharing your wealth of experience will help strengthen the medical writing community. And, who knows, it might present you with an opportunity you didn’t even know you wanted!

You can simplify how you manage your career development by making a list of the types of projects you’ve worked on and keeping an active experience summary. This list will help you see where you are in your career and think about where you want to go next. You can also create a concrete growth plan to track goals in categories like “increase skills and knowledge,” “gain credentials,” and “increase your value.”

Electronic resources can help you create a list of interesting companies during a job search or goal setting. Resources like BioSpace, Monster, and Indeed, and databases like ReferenceUSA, Sorkins, and Standard & Poor’s can connect you with information about employers, where they are located, and who their competitors are.

Keep your ear to the ground about the trends in the market by looking for keywords in job ads, reading the publications your customers read, talking to people in your industry, and tracking your company, industry, and market. Just by skimming job ads, and reading headlines in magazines and journals, you’ll gain insight into opportunities that others might not notice.

The bottom line of this presentation was that by evaluating your skills and goals, being aware of trends in your field, and maintaining a vibrant professional network, you can maximize your relationships and leverage your skills so you can recognize and respond to exciting opportunities.