Pharmaceutical companies and social media - B2B and B2C thoughts

1. Pharmaceutical companies and
social media
May 2012

2. General shifts in Healthcare

3. Lots of Health related communities

4. But in the middle east…..

5. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

6. 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!

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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• Outdated content is an issue.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).

10. 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

11. Pharma companies website traffic

12. 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?

13. PHARMA MARKETING TO
PHYSICIANS

20. 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

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

22. PHARMA MARKETING TO
CONSUMERS

23. 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)

24. 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.

25. Know your audience!
Who are you trying
to attract?
Then decide which
social network is
best.

26. WHY SOCIAL MEDIA AGAIN?

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

28. 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

29. 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

30. WHAT SHOULD YOU BE DOING

31. 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?

32. 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

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

34. Resource for communities and social
media presence of pharma globally
http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-
pharma-social-media-wiki/

35. References
• http://agentd.com/whitepapers/Pharma_20_Heading_Towar
d_Social_Media_Marketing.pdf
• PWC Health
– http://www.pwc.com/us/en/health-industries
• IDC Health
– http://lifesciencesinsight.com/Client/CTP/Files/Lynne%20Dunbrack.pd
f
• 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-
media-wiki/