An outline of the GSK FaceBook approach, particularly towards moderation. It outlines the opportunities and challenges of using social media in pharma & healthcare.

1. Pharma Social Media
Moving forwards?
24th January
Smi Social Media Conference London
Gary Monk
Digital Healthcare Consultant
@garymonk

2. Statement
• Pharma believes Social Media can benefit the
industry and its stakeholders
Question?
• Have we made progress towards this
statement in the last 2 years?
The audience answered unanimously yes

3. All truth passes through 3 stages
First - it is ridiculed
Second – it is violently opposed
Third – it is accepted as being self-evident
Arthur Shopenhauer
I believe we are somewhere between 2 &
3, with variation between companies

4. Case Discussions
HCP Communities
Corporate Communications
Patient Awareness
I also planned to also cover HCP communities but due to the
level of interest in the GSK case we only covered the corporate
comms topic (another subject for another day)

5. Case 1
Corporate Communications (2 way)

6. GSK was used as an example of best practice.
Disclaimer – I have no professional affiliation
to the GSK Facebook page and have not
interviewed GSK on this interesting subject.
All observations and opinions are my own.

7. GSK FaceBook policy is clear and tends to
explain why certain things are not acceptable

9. but please respect the
following otherwise our
lawyers will be mad at us:
The company reserves the right to remove any
postings at its sole discretion (we work with
serious medical conditions and we can’t risk
unmonitored or unverified medical advice being
published).
B.I. were highlighted for
there excellent use of
We know a lot of doctors and trust
‘human’ language to explain us - they know about health!
their FB policy

10. GSK attempted to
engage with this
persistent
detractor, and later
adopted the
seemingly sensible
policy of allowing
his posts but not
responding

11. GSK Initiatives
GSK post many of their
positive initiatives on their
FB page

12. Sometimes strongly attacked
A select few detractors often seize upon
these positive posts and attack GSK, in a
very strong manner. It is impressive they
allow most of these comments to stand

13. But have strong popular support
But GSK have a very strong following and
receive many positive comments and praise.
Often from employees and ex-employees

14. GSK successes
Corporate achievements are highlighted

15. Often attacked by a small
‘hardcore’ group
Again the same individuals will often attack these
achievements, and accuse GSK of hypocrisy

16. Used for HR / Recruitment
GSK use their FB page as a
tool for recruitment

17. GSK usually respond
And importantly try to respond
to enquiries…..

18. Including ad-hoc questions
….including this ad-hoc
product question
posted under an HR
post on recruitment

19. ‘Mild’ Criticism
Criticism is not always severe – this example
shows a mix of praise and criticism

20. Employee Feedback/Criticism
Some employees offer mild criticism that many of the
corporate events and visits tend to happen at the
company head office

21. Very Strong Criticism related to
tragic personal stories
This was a very tragic post, extremely critical of GSK, that
caused some debate particularly around a potential
adverse event (the product names have been redacted
here). The purpose of showing was that despite criticism
of GSK, they have been very brave in allowing these type
of posts to be shared

22. Managing Global PR
Global issues were often posted on the GSK
FaceBook, where the team would usually respond, in this
case pointing the community to an apology on Panadol

23. Yet with community support?
Interestingly there was criticism of GSK for responding to
the critics! And some criticism of the critics.

24. Leverage Positive Stories
What GSK do brilliantly is post regular news
items, particularly on positive news items, not directly
related to GSK. This helps fill the FaceBook wall with
positive commentary and quickly ‘bury’ negative
comments further down the news feed. The next 2 slides
are examples of this, particularly the London Olympics.

25. Formula 1

26. London
Olympics
2012

27. Despite the majority of comments being positive, this post
shows you can’t please all of the people all of the time

28. Positive Comments
significantly outweighed
Some Stats Negative Comments.
Note this analysis only
• 2 month snapshot Nov & Dec 2012 considered comments
that were
• 15 Posts positive/negative
directly to GSK as a
• 3059 likes company.
• 122 comments

29. Key Learnings GSK
• Need courage & self belief
• Have a strategy to respond to negative comments
(or not!)
• Generate positive advocates and news stories
• Have something to say and a purpose

30. Questions or get in touch…..
• twitter => @garymonk
• email => gary@garymonk.com
• linked In => www.linkedin.com/in/garywmonk
• phone => +44 7776 242276