The private healthcare giant has appointed Publicis Modem as its global social media agency and has embarked on a five-stage plan to understand how social platforms can be used for branding and customer acquisition.

The strategy is being co-ordinated by recently appointed head of digital communications David Lengen, who joined two months ago from being head of e-business for the Egg and Citibank brands.

Lengen said the company’s social media activity had previously been coordinated on a local level, but that this hadn’t been extended to the sharing of results and experiences across all its markets.

“We recognised that up to now we’ve had a disjointed company approach to social media,” he said. “I’m now looking at a five-step process towards a global social media approach, with step one being to audit what we’re already doing.”

He added that while Bupa will continue to work on its own social sites, such as its How Are You Britain? site, it expects to be more visible across third-party social networks, such as Facebook.

Lengen said Bupa wasn’t looking to create a social media director role at a global level, but added, “It might be something that could be relevant in individual markets.”

In May, Bupa appointed OgilvyOne to manage its integrated advertising account, including digital.