12 | DTC Perspectives • March 2009

A Friend in Health:

A Practical Understanding of

Social MediaBY MARK MILLER

Consumers are more active than ever in the selection and purchase decisions regarding their healthcare—demanding greater access to providers and actively searching for services they currently are not getting frommany of their doctors. Coming to meet their needs are 24-hour, information-packed Internet resourceswhere users worldwide are gathering information about their health.

Today’s consumers, spurred by 21st century ease andaccessibility of high-speed Internet, are living doublelives. While they retain many of the traditional methods

of swapping information about services and products, such asfriendships, community groups and peer networks, consumersare increasingly adopting digital resources to trade experiencesand advice. The Internet has long been a key channel for consumers to

find information, whether on unbranded disease awarenesssites, brand.com sites and/or third party sites. One way thetrend of patient empowerment is playing out online is con-sumer adoption of social media to discuss health issues. Insteadof passively consuming information disseminated by manufac-turers and/or expert third parties, patients are now engagingwith other consumers and swapping condition and therapyinformation on wikis and message boards, broadcasting theirown personal health stories on blogs, and participating inonline patient support groups. For DTC marketers, understanding how consumers engage

and share information online is an important part of the “cus-tomer-driven insight” that is the basis for relationship market-ing program design. Furthermore, understanding the contextfor social interactions presents an opportunity to harness thiscollective intelligence as an integral part of your digital market-ing strategy.

Understanding social media Social media is defined most simply as any site involving

user-generated content. This can take many forms, but a feware particularly important:• Blogs and microblogs (for example, blogger.com and twitter.com)

• Message boards and forums (e.g., healthboards.com)• Social networks (e.g., myspace.com and facebook.com)• Wikis (e.g., wikipedia.org)• Media sharing (e.g., youtube.com and flickr.com)In all of these forms of social media, individual Web users

have the ability to write or upload their own content and tocomment on other users’ content. Most sites are free to usersand allow pseudonymous or anonymous participation. Regis-tration is often required to create content, but once created,content is typically available for all users to read. Many health-related Web sites have some elements of these

social mediums as part of their functionality. These social mediaapplications are focused on building contexts for interaction.For example, Realmentalhealth.com has message boards and blogsand its “Bookmarks” is a social browsing tool very much likeDigg. ICYou.com is media sharing (video, specifically), aYouTube for health. Social media makes it easy for consumers to dis-

cuss healthcare issues – even to the point thatpatients consult fellow patients as one might con-sult a nurse or doctor. Patientslikeme.com and aproliferation of similar startups are building a newbusiness based on the belief thatcollective knowledge sharingwill benefit both the con-sumer and b rand . Th i sdemocratization of health-information shar ing is aprofound shift even fromthe early days of onlinemedical information.

DTC Perspectives • March 2009 | 13

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According to Manhattan Research, 17 percent of Americanadults – 38 million people – are Health 2.0 users. This numberis sure to grow exponentially as social media matures.

The current DTC Health 2.0 efforts Most pharmaceutical marketers are lagging behind mar-

keters in other industries in embracing social media. However,some DTC marketers are making noteworthy efforts to exploitHealth 2.0. Following are a few examples of pharma involve-ment with social media.

This democratization of health-informationsharing is a profound shift even from the early

days of online medical information.

Getting out the corporate messageSocial media allows pharmaceutical brands to go where

their customers are, and to join into their online conversations.Brands can build trust and credibility by having honest discus-sions with their patients. But be warned: brands will suffer ifconsumers believe “their” community is being disingenuouslymanipulated by a pharmaceutical manufacturer.As a low-risk first step to active participation in consumer

conversations, several companies have started corporate blogs,including Johnson & Johnson (www.jnjbtw.com). J&J’s PRteam sought to strengthen J&J’s trustworthiness by building anopen dialogue with customers. The corporate blog was a natu-ral outlet for an apology when a Motrin ad about “baby wear-ing” led to a kerfuffle among mothers, which spread rapidly viaTwitter and blog posts.

Listening to consumer opinionIn the world of Health 2.0 at any given time, someone

somewhere is posting about any health topic you can think of.(Need proof? Just review the forums at www.healthboards.comor www.revolutionhealth.com.) This makes social media anendless font of consumer opinion.Some companies are monitoring the conversations that con-

sumers are having about their brands via social media. Passivemonitoring is a relatively cheap way to measure brand buzz andbrand sentiment and thus the overall health of the brand. Active solicitation of consumer opinion is also possible.

Social media allows easy recruitment of participants for marketresearch efforts. (Obviously, the researcher needs to take intoaccount the potential biases of participants recruited this way.)Some companies are even using social networks to recruit sub-jects quickly for clinical trials, speeding up the pace of research.

Supporting patients and driving salesAlthough it is valuable to use social media to talk or listen

to consumers, the DTC marketer’s ultimate goal should be touse social media to drive incremental sales directly.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli blog (alliconnect.com) is a goodexample of a social media site dedicated to supporting sales. Byfrankly addressing common user concerns and presenting suc-cess stories, it breaks down barriers to trial and helps driveadherence. AstraZeneca’s Ar imidex Celebration Chain (celebra-

tionchain.com), one of the more publicized social media initia-tives, has a more upper-funnel focus. By attempting to usecause-based marketing (donations for breast cancer research) todrive viral promotion, the site seeks to build awareness andbrand favorability.

Although it is valuable to use social media to talk or listen to consumers, the DTCmarketer’s ultimate goal should be to use

social media to drive incremental sales directly.

Best practices for Health 2.0 programsThere is no one-size-fits-all Health 2.0 strategy for DTC

marketers. Health 2.0 marketing programs should be designedbased on careful analysis of factors such as the characteristics ofthe customer base, the goals for the program and organizationalconsiderations. Key questions that should be asked at the onset of any

engagement are:• To what degree has the organization opened up to collec-tive user value; that is, ways in which users can easily lever-age, aggregate and spark collective knowledge sharing thatbenefits both the consumer and brand?• Is the marketing team aware of how social media is bestintegrated as part of a broader digital marketing strategy?• Is the organization comfortable with letting users havetheir own independent voices on your site?

What is Health 2.0?

A good general definition comes from ManhattanResearch. “Health 2.0” includes the followingactivities:

•Visiting a health related message board orcommunity

•Reading a health related blog•Contributing or posting health content online•Participating in an online patient supportgroup

•Exchanging e-mail with physicians•Using a personal health record

14 | DTC Perspectives • March 2009

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• How will we drive users to visit and actively participate inour social media initiatives?• How will we measure on the success of the initiative?

Customer characteristicsAn understanding of patients’ needs and interests is central

to the design of any DTC program. A valuable first step is toperform a survey of your brand’s existing Health 2.0 environ-ment – what your consumers are already doing online. (Seesidebar: Five Things You Should Do Today) Age, gender and therapeutic condition are all important

considerations as you determine the willingness of your audi-ence to engage with socialmedia. In general, youngeruser s are more engaged insoc i a l med i a . Cond i t i on samong younger user s thatindex high in social mediau s a g e i n c l u d e A D D /ADHD and acne. Conditionssuch as emphysema, cancer andCOPD, and enlarged prostateindex higher among olderpatients. Secondary research (from

Manhattan Research, MARS,Forrester or Yankelovich) canhelp you understand the mediasources used by your targetaudience and their overall Webhab i t s . Some b r and s nowinclude social media questions

in their ATU tracking studies. This can help marketers under-stand whether social media participants are representative oftheir overall customer base.

Goals and measurementIt is essential for marketers to define what they want to

accomplish with social media and how it further supports thebrand’s strategy. Without a clear goal, planning becomes verytactical. This often translates into fragmented initiatives wheremany little things are done to gain as broad a reach as possiblewithout understanding who is being reached, how they areinfluenced, and what they could do.

Five Things You Should Do Today

The first step in developing a Health 2.0 strategy is to understand the environment your brand faces.

1. Check the entries for your company and brand(s) on Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) for any false or mis-leading information, or any unsupported negative opinions.

2. Find out what bloggers are saying about you by searching Technorati (www.technorati.com) for yourbrand(s) and indication(s).

3. Listen in on consumer conversations about your brand on message boards—to find them, Google yourbrand(s) or indication(s) plus “message board,” “forum,” or “community.”

4. Evaluate consumers’ depth of engagement by searching Facebook (www.facebook.com) and MySpace(www.myspace.com) for Groups whose names include your brand(s) or indication(s).

5. See what your brand’s detractors are saying about you by Googling “[your brand] sucks” and “I hate[your brand].”

Many agencies will perform a formal social media audit to assess where your consumers are going and howthey engage with your brand.

Example of an ATU tracking study with social media activity questions

Randomize and statements

1 Stronglydisagree

2Somewhatdisagree

3Neitheragree nordisagree

4Somewhatagree

5Stronglyagree

I take an active role in helpingothers better cope with their (condition)

� � � � �

I actively research the latest developments in therapy � � � � �

I actively contribute to onlineforum discussions and blogs dealing with (condition)

� � � � �

I frequently visit online forumsand blogs, but only to read howothers are coping with their (condition)

� � � � �

I don’t really care how others aredealing with their (condition) � � � � �

“The changes we’ll see in DTC over the next few years will beunexpected and disruptive. I look forward each year to attendingthe DTC National Conference as one way to ensure that I amthinking broadly about evolving trends in the pharmaceuticalindustry, media, technology and consumer behavior. No singlecompany, brand team or individual has all of the answers.”

—Joe Shields, Product Director, ENBREL, Wyeth

“I thought the DTC National was invaluable in providing a sobergrounding in why the “new media” is so much more complex forthe drug business than it is for the beer business.”

—Dale Taylor, President & CEO, Abelson Taylor

“For me the DTC National is one of the best venues that allowsDTC marketers and suppliers to learn from each other.”

—Jean-Luc Pilon, Sr Director of a Major Pharmaceutical Company

“As a relatively new comer in DTC marketing, I benefit greatly bylistening to the experiences and advice from many of the DTCveterans from other pharma firms as well as variousvendors/agencies on the latest trends and their predictions aboutwhat the future might hold for DTC in pharma.”

—Marcus Chen, Global Brand Manager, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.

“I have enjoyed how this conference has evolved through theyears. I always leave challenged with a new idea or a new strategy.It does a really good job of giving attendees very valuable andrelevant content.”

—A Consumer Marketing Manager at a Major Pharmaceutical Company

What People are SayingAbout the DTC National

Don’t Miss Insights Including: • The Obama Administration’s Impact on Pharma and DTC Marketing

• Doing More with Less – the Importance of Maximizing Limited Budget Dollars

• The Latest ROI Research from IMS Health and What ItMeans for Your Brand

• Optimizing Patient Engagement through an Integrated Marketing Mix

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For more information or to register, please see the DTC National website – www.dtcperspectives.com under the Conferences tab or call 973-377-2106.

CHECK OUT ALL THE DETAILS…Inside the full conference brochure that came with this issue of DTC Perspectives Magazine.

N A T I O N A L

April 15-17, 2009J.W. Marriott Hotel, Washington D.C.

Mike McCaughanSenior Editor, Elsevier

Kristin DavisDeputy Director, DDMAC

Marci KiesterGroup Leader, DDMAC

Amie O’DonoghueResearch Team, DDMAC

Legislative Experts

Joseph NataleVice President, New MediaJohnson & Johnson

John GerzemaY&R Group’s ChiefInsights Officer and co-author of “The Brand Bubble”

Marketing Innovators

Hear from DTC Thought Leaders Including:

Jean-Luc PilonSenior Director, Consumer Marketing, Sanofi-Aventis

Paula GarrettDirector, Consumer Marketing, Eli Lilly

Melissa ClarkDirector, Integrated Consumer Marketing, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

16 | DTC Perspectives • March 2009

SOCIAL MEDIA

Health 2.0 programs should be evaluated based on return oninvestment whenever possible. Lifetime value of a customer canbe estimated from average acquisition costs and long-term mar-gins. Aside from the per-user economics, there is the Communi-ty Value. That is, how do the different type of interactions amongusers improve on patient outcomes and provide a level of insightfor the brand that otherwise would not have been had.

Program designHaving defined your audience and your goals, you should

be well equipped to develop a productive program that is use-ful and engaging to the consumer. Health 2.0 programs do not need to involve creating a new

social media site – nor even a formal partnership with an exist-ing site. Many marketers are seduced by the latest and trendiestsites, but these are not always the best opportunities. (Think ofthe many ill-considered Second Life islands and MySpace pro-motions in the not-so-distant past.) Simply joining the existingconversation on sites such as WebMD, Yahoo! Health, orpatientslikeme.com is less glamorous, but it may be all that isrequired or advisable for your brand. If a custom-built social media destination does seem like the

right answer for your brand, proceed with caution – and ideallywork with experts to develop the program. Missteps are easy tomake when developing and promoting a branded social media

site. At best, mistakes are likely to result in a low-traffic, ineffec-tual site that’s soon abandoned. At worst, you could do outrightharm to your brand.

Conclusion: Demonstrating potential As consumers have rapidly adopted social media as a central

part of their online lives, Health 2.0 has emerged as an impor-tant new opportunity for DTC marketers to connect withtheir target customers. Although pharmaceutical marketers havebeen cautious about entering this unpredictable new medium,early efforts have demonstrated its potential. By applying a fewsimple best practices, DTC marketers can start taking advantageof the opportunity Health 2.0 represents, while limiting theirexposure to the medium’s risks. DTC

Mark Miller is senior vice president, strategic & analytic consultinggroup at Epsilon. As leader of this healthcare strategic consulting group,Miller leads a team that brings best practices in customer strategy andrelationship marketing programs to Epsilon’s pharmaceutical clients.The team leads and collaborates with client brand teams to developdirect-to-consumer and direct-to-physician marketing campaigns thatencompass market opportunity assessments, business sensitivity analysisand forecasting, media planning, segmentation design, communicationstrategy development and tactical program design. He can be reached bye-mail at mmiller@epsilon.com, or by telephone at (617) 571-7181.

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