Meet Marie-Gabrielle, our Product & Engagement Manager

Hello, Marie-Gabrielle, you've just joined the Carenity Team. What's your role on the team?

Hello Candice, my role on the team is to familiarise myself with the habits of the Carenity members and learn from them and their experiences, all to ensure that the forum and Health Magazine are adapted to what they are looking for.

It is important that the promise of being a health site that provides information and facilitates communication between patients is fulfilled and, above all, improved on a daily basis, both in terms of the content offered, the way the forum is run and also in the user experience on the site.

I take pleasure in working on the Carenity platform in order to provide patients with all the information they may need regarding their conditions. Members, whether they are patients or relatives of patients, need to easily find personalised content about their illness. So I'm here to improve their experience on the Carenity site and make it as easy to navigate as possible.

And more specifically, what does your job entail on a daily basis?

My job in the day-to-day consists of a dual mission: the analysis and strategic development of Carenity applications, the forum, the Health Magazine, the survey space; and on the other hand, the community development and engagement strategy.

Why combine these two missions into one position?

The idea is to have a real strategy focused on the needs of patients and their families. To know their needs, their difficulties, what could be better than to have the strategic community management?

What motivated you to get involved with the Carenity platform?

I'm passionate about products/platforms/websites related to human interaction. We can call them social networks. Developing a social network created solely for the purpose of facilitating interactions on topics as important as health makes sense to me. Carenity's mission goes beyond a simple social network: the platform gives patients the opportunity to be an actor in their health.

How do you know what will please and be relevant to members?

The most important thing is to understand the life and daily routine of a patient with chronic illness. If we do not understand the challenges encountered on a day-to-day basis, it is very difficult to adapt the dialogue with our members. In this sense, I focus first on analysing and listening to the members. Identifying their concerns allows me to adapt the community management strategy to ensure that they feel comfortable on the platform and that they have a friendly and caring space at their disposal. On the other hand, I rely on the Community Management team who do a wonderful job of running the forums. They interact daily with our members and know them well.

Then, my experience in the field of health and community management allows me to have a clear understanding of the functionalities that are effective and appreciated by the members. Of course, sometimes I have doubts. In this case, I listen to the feedback from members. To do this, I use different methods. First, using quantitative online questionnaires, I interview Carenity members. The idea is to identify the friction points in the use of the site, or the specific content needs inherent to each disease. An example of friction on the use of the site could be: "How smooth is the navigation on the site? Does it allow you to you were looking for on Carenity?"

The second tool for identifying members' needs is the so-called "qualitative" face-to-face interview. The aim is to have a more spontaneous exchange. This allows us to have a more in-depth knowledge of our members' expectations.

If you wish to exchange with me on this subject, please do not hesitate to send me a private message! 

What are your inspirations or sources that help you create and plan the publication of Carenity content?

Looking at what's happening on other health information sites and the seasonality of the healthcare field are two very important things. We are trying to build a library of content from which our members can draw to answer their questions. This week's example is writing a piece about moles, how to monitor them, how to identify if a mole is at risk. The summer period is propitious for these kind of questions, not only for patients with skin cancer but for all people with moles. As we do not currently have any content on this subject in the Health Magazine, we decided to write an article to inform our members and provide them with some answers on this subject.

What do you like most about Carenity?

Carenity has a real mission of general interest, even if it "only" affects patients with chronic diseases. Allowing users to express themselves through surveys makes sense in a world where patients are not always listened to. Moreover, I really wanted to get out of the advertising business model, which has its advantages, but also its disadvantages. Discovering Carenity's DNA, centred on personalising the content sent to its members, supporting, accompanying and informing patients about their illness, was essential for me.

With time, I discovered that being involved in a project that is useful for society in my daily work had become an absolute requirement for me.
I get up each day to improve a platform that has real value in the lives of patients.

Finally, can you give us three words that describe you?

I think the three words that best characterise me are: caring, empathetic, and hard working.

Many thanks to Marie-Gabrielle for sharing about her role at Carenity!
Feel free to ask her more questions in the comments below this interview!!