Ethicon Surgical Care, a Johnson & Johnson Company in Arizona will benefit from the new media by gaining endorsement of bariatric surgery from former patients who underwent procedures to reduce weight and treat Type II Diabetes. First hand experiences from former patients may result in increase in surgical volume.

Organizational and market Background:

Ethicon Surgical Care is a company that manufactures and sells surgical supplies. I am responsible for US $45 million in annual sales with eleven head counts including Sales and Marketing, Clinical Managers, and Supporting Staff excluding R&D. The overall market share is 88% despite the highly regulated and contract medical device industry in Arizona. There are only 3 major competitors in the market space. Ethicon Surgical Care has been utilizing “push marketing” for client retention and to stimulate demand of endoscopic surgeries, like Bariatric-weight loss surgery and Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy.

In 2012 only three percent of surgical candidates in Arizona received the bariatric surgery, due to the lack of awareness of surgical treatment for obesity being very low. Ninety-seven percent of overweight patients were left untreated. There were 2,333 overweight procedures performed in Arizona in 2012. The Patient satisfaction rating after the surgery on quality of life improvements is above ninety percent. Ethicon Surgical Care earns an average profit of $2,450.00 for each procedure. My organization has a 97% percent market share in the bariatric surgery space. Current push marketing per procedure acquisition cost is $23.00 USD. The conversion rate is ten percent.

If the organization successfully creates a social media group to discuss the effectiveness of bariatric surgery and gained 100 Facebook likes, it will reach another 13,000 (average of 130 friends per user) people through their connections. Based on the push marketing conversion rate, it would bring an additional 1,300 procedures via social media. This could result in an increase in net profit of $3.0 Million USD.

Ethicon Surgical Care has not utilized any social media marketing simply because the organization has been satisfied with the current profitability and performance. My organization does not have sufficient resources and/or social media competencies to be successful at this point in time. It would face similar issues as that of United Airlines.

After reading likeable social media, I am convinced that “doing nothing with social media” is synonymous to “missing opportunity”. Additionally, it may decrease my organization’s competitiveness if competitors like Covidien begin utilizing social media before we do.

The first step for my organization is to create a social media marketing plan focusing on “Bariatric Surgery Clinical Outcome” and how it improves quality of life after surgery. Include the marketing plan along with the Objective Goal Strategy Measurement, and budget in the 2014 Business Plan. The second step is to complete the legal feasibility assessment in order to minimize any legal actions against the direct patient marketing campaigns. The third step is to calculate per procedure acquisition cost and any net profit margin changes as a result of Social Media Marketing.

Conclusion: My organization will benefit from the new media by creating a social group to endorse and discuss surgical treatment for obesity. This may result in an increase in surgical procedure volume, which has direct impact on the top line sales figure. Furthermore, social media may reduce the current marketing budget if the cost per procedure acquisition would dip below $23.00 USD. The organization however needs to, allocate resources appropriately to minimize potential risks, and build social media marketing competencies in order to be successful.