Pharmaceutical companies and social media

May 2012

General shifts in Healthcare

Lots of Health related communities

But in the middle east…..

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Not just Facebook

• Social media is any media where two way dialogue can occur, like comments on a news article, engaging in discussion forums, what’s app and bbm messenger on smartphones, Youtube videos, blogs, facebook and more

• Don’t forget Google!

WebMD

• Jan 2012 – • WebMD.com has 107 million unique visitors

each month, and total traffic of 2.24 billion page views in the third quarter of 2011

• WebMD revenues fell about 10% to $20million. Experts and trend strategists suggest that consumers are turning to other sources for medical information i.e. social media.

What’s the problem?

• Critics and users alike have complained that the company is a ‘drug pusher’, putting out content that steers consumers towards drugs manufactured by advertisers such as Eli Lilly

• TOO MUCH OF A HARD SELL. USERS GETTING TURNED OFF

Some more issues

• The site has become tougher to navigate. Numerous ads and banners make for a more noisy and distracting environment.

• Too much content makes it confusing for users to quickly find what they’re looking for. E.g. Searching for a migraine solution is like searching for a needle in a haystack – should one start with symptom checker, Health A-Z or Health Conditions?

• The site desperately needs to be re-designed so that it is more focused on consumers rather than advertisers.

• Outdated content is an issue. Case in point – on the Expert blog ‘Recent Posts’ are dated October 2011 (as of this writing).

Some stats

• 96% of the nearly 23,000 consumers surveyed by National Research use Facebook to gather information about health care, with 28% using YouTube and 22% using Twitter.

• Hospitals, health-care providers and private insurers also are seeing social media as a tool to engage consumers

Pharma companies website traffic

Define your audience

• B2B – you sell directly to doctors and hospitals• B2B2C – you sell to pharmacies and they sell

to customers

• Brand awareness – do you want customers to know your name so that in the pharmacy they choose your product? Or do you prioritize doctors?

PHARMA MARKETING TO PHYSICIANS

The proliferation of small and large communities is the result of physicians’ increasing need to share ideas and discuss clinical cases with colleagues in every part of the world.

The analysis highlights a very complex social landscape, with a very strong community presence in the US, but also a significant presence of more or less large local communities almost worldwide.

http://www.publicishealthware.com/HP3Image/content/facts/maps_social_Final_grande.jpg

Creating content that’s useful to other businesses (nearly all are social)

PHARMA MARKETING TO CONSUMERS

Pharma Marketing to Consumers• One-third of consumers are using Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to seek

medical information, discuss symptoms and express their opinions about doctors, drugs and health insurers, according to a new report

• In the survey of 1,060 people in February, 45% of consumers said information found through social media would affect their decision to get a second medical opinion and 34% said it would affect their decision about taking a specific medication.

• “Those medical providers and payers who are able to use social media are likely to do better in the marketplace as consumers make these decisions,” said John Edwards, a director in PwC’s healthcare strategy and business intelligence practice.

• “But our research shows that consumers’ expectations continue to outpace the ability of providers and payers to deliver.”

• (source PWC Health research 2012)

Do they trust you?

• Consumers were more likely to trust information posted by doctors and hospitals compared to insurers and drug companies, the survey found. Only 42% of respondents said they would trust information posted by insurers and 37% for a pharmaceutical company.

Know your audience! Who are you trying to attract?

Then decide which social network is best.

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA AGAIN?

……All these have the infrastructure, the eyeballs and the apps to make it a really easy experience

REMEMBER THIS?

Why social media – the consumer point of view

• Not everyone is an expert in navigating through your website, or even finding your website

• These days technology has become much more social (think Siri on the iphone)

• Its easier for me to ask someone like me online, its quicker and I trust them more

• Most people’s first experience with the web these days will start with Facebook

Why social media – the physician point of view

• Easier to collaborate and share information• Smartphones are enabling real time comms

and updates• The world is flat more connections = faster

response to problems

WHAT SHOULD YOU BE DOING

Its not always about the channel its about listening

• Geographical and semantic language processing key

• If people are talking about having heart issues and you want to push your pregnancy medication, people will just turn off

• What is the data really telling you? Can you pre-empt something?

It IS about the consumer

• Make sure you’re providing a solution to a problem – are you helping other patients connect with similar people? Are you creating a community?

• Are they finding it hard to get the info they need? Try doing some Google searches with keywords your consumer might use and have a look at the journey

Make sure its legal!

• Do check with your local Drug Regulation Agency to make sure you’re not over stepping any boundaries.

Resource for communities and social media presence of pharma globally

http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-pharma-social-media-wiki/

References

• http://agentd.com/whitepapers/Pharma_20_Heading_Toward_Social_Media_Marketing.pdf

• PWC Health – http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries

• IDC Health – http://

lifesciencesinsight.com/Client/CTP/Files/Lynne%20Dunbrack.pdf

• Publicis Healthware – http://www.publicishealthware.com/en/aboutus/home/entry/0/177

/0/default.html

• Dose of Digital– http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-pharma-social-medi

a-wiki/