CDC leading social media charge?
In her blog yesterday, pharma marketer Ellen Hoenig-Carlson elaborated on my peanut butter post and said:
“Yet…what I also find interesting is that the US GOVERNMENT seized the moment during this crisis to launch a social media collaboration…”
Food and pharma are highly regulated, especially around health claims. Few companies (Johnson & Johnson is a notable exception) have leveraged social media to interact with consumers.
I find it rather ironic that the very government entities who regulate business communications are providing the majority of peanut recall information in the social media realm.
The CDC has a little site up complete with blog links, video links, e-health cards you can send to friends (!?!), RSS feeds, podcasts and even a link to their mobile web site. And, to fly the flag for safety, you can even put little badges (code provided) on your site.
I love the garbage can - proud to have thrown away products! But hey… if it gets people motivated, so be it!
As Ellen noted:
“WOW! Government actively using and exploring social media, twitter and the like, before private business…
Who would have thunk…
Attention industry and marketers alike…are you ready?”
Perhaps with the government leading the way, they will be able to speak more freely, especially when and where we need them to the most.
