Looking back on a rollercoaster year
At the start of December, Social Elements turned seven – what a journey it’s been so far! As we wrap up 2024, I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the key moments.
Navigating an ever-changing landscape
It’s fair to say that the past 12 months have been a rollercoaster for many small businesses, including Social Elements. We continue to provide organic social media management for long-standing and new clients in the life science and pharma sectors. But, of course, ongoing economic uncertainty has put marketing budgets under strain. Added to that, we’ve seen the explosive growth in AI – which is transforming the marketing landscape globally. AI offers both opportunities and risks. As marketers, we’ll all need to embrace these challenges over the coming months and years.
Increased demand for paid advertising
This year, we’ve seen increased demand for support with paid advertising on LinkedIn – helping our clients with targeted campaigns to drive business growth.
Paid advertising is such a powerful way to raise brand awareness, drive higher website traffic and generate leads and sales. LinkedIn advertising provides laser-focused targeting by sector, job role, experience, and many other variables – so you can get your marketing in front of your ideal clients. Alongside running campaigns, we’ve also delivered paid ads training for clients. If that’s something you’re curious about, you can find all the details on our website.
Forging new collaborations
This year has also seen our first partnership project get off the ground with Arttia Creative. The project involved setting up Google Analytics for one of our clients. Through our partnerships scheme, we’re teaming up with allied agencies to deliver complementary services for clients – ensuring we can meet all their marketing needs.
Our collaborations haven’t stopped there. In the past few months, I’ve become a member of the The Health House, a newly formed collective of 25 independent health agencies that serve the industry. In September, I attended the group’s inaugural retreat, providing an opportunity to look at how we can foster closer collaboration and support for clients. I came away from the retreat feeling inspired and have since had constructive discussions with other member companies about potential collaborations.
This year, I’ve also joined Female Founders Rise, a network for female-led business owners across all industries. I’m looking forward to connecting with other female entrepreneurs within the network and sharing insights and ideas.
Keeping up to date with industry trends
Continuing professional development is vital to keep up to date with ever-evolving trends in the social media landscape. This year, three members of the Social Elements team (including me) attended UpLift Live – the UK’s first-ever LinkedIn-focused conference.
UpLift Live brought together many of the world’s top experts – including Richard van der Blom, Gillian Whitney, Mark Williams and John Espirian. We came away with the latest insights on everything from live video to company pages.
This year, I’ve also attended a number of other life science and pharma-related events, including the NHS Confederation Conference in Birmingham. We provided live social media support from the event for a client – just one example of how we’re helping businesses engage in real-time in their industries.
Some goodbyes and new faces
In 2024, we’ve said goodbye to two much-loved associates – Sarah Forde and Amy Duthie. Sarah has been with me since the start of my business journey, and she was instrumental in setting up the operational side of Social Elements. I shall miss her guidance and support hugely. I wish both Sarah and Amy all the best for the future.
We’ve also welcomed Mia Camilla and Dr Carly Hayes. Mia is a highly skilled VA who is taking charge of many of the organisational aspects of Social Elements. Meanwhile, Carly, who has a PhD in Genetics, is an experienced medical communicator and social media marketer. I’m proud of the diverse talents and skills our team brings to the table – from social media marketing to copywriting and from graphic design to paid ads. In the new year, we’ll also be looking to recruit a business manager to take us forward to the next stage of our business journey.
We already have several new projects in the pipeline for 2025. Please get in touch for details about our organic and paid social media marketing services.
Alongside our client work, we’re kicking off a series of LinkedIn Live events in January. I’ll be joined by different digital marketing experts each month, covering everything from building a life science brand online to measuring ROI in marketing.
In the first session on 22 January, I’ll be joined by two of our associates (Jo Edge and Karen Bright) for a chat about social media trends for 2025. Keep an eye on LinkedIn for all the details.
As I reflect on the past year and look ahead, I’d like to say a huge thank you to our clients, partners and the incredible Social Elements team. Here’s to another year of learning, collaboration and growth.
About the Author
Lisa is the Founder of Social Elements. She holds a MSc in Medical Microbiology from Surrey University and 20 years of postgraduate experience in scientific research and pharmaceutical drug and diagnostic development. Lisa lives in Welwyn Garden City with her husband, twins, their cat Freddie and their Goldendoodle Olive.
