34% of consumers said content on social websites would affect their decision about taking a certain medication
A recent report from the Health Research Institute at PwC confirmed that pharmaceutical companies remain slow to adopt strategic social media practices. While 8 of the 10 healthcare organizations surveyed did have at least some social media presence, consumers actually engage in 24 times more social media activity than any of these companies.
PwC’s report, titled “Social media ‘likes’ healthcare: From marketing to social business,” found that half of the organizations surveyed “worry about how to integrate social media data into their businesses and how to connect social media efforts to a return on investment.” Additionally, a majority of organizations “reported that their social media efforts were decentralized and managed by their marketing and communications departments.” In other words, pharma is just starting to get the ball rolling with social media, but their efforts remain at a tactical level rather than a strategic one.
Pinterest does not appear to allow boards to turn off or moderate comments before they go live
If you haven’t heard about the new social network Pinterest, it’s a “virtual pinboard.” It allows users to organize and share internet content (typically images) by pinning it to virtual boards. The boards can be public, so users can follow each other and comment. Per Pinterest, “Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.”
The site is growing rapidly, and according to comScore, in January Pinterest attracted 11.7M unique visitors with the average user spending 98 minutes per month on the site. The site skews female (18-34 years old) and Midwestern.
As a writer I like words, but for visual thinkers Pinterest provides a creative opportunity. A few blogs and a discussion during the last #SocPharm tweetchat got me thinking about the possibilities for biopharma companies and brands. I especially like the idea of using photos to tell the story of a patient’s journey to diagnosis. However, there are a few big concerns.
Facebook is rolling out the timeline format to brand pages on February 29, 2012
Siren is proud to support the Digital Health Coalition, a nonprofit created to serve as the collective public voice and national public forum for the discussion of the current and future issues relevant to digital and electronic marketing of healthcare products and services. Led by Mark Bard and Joe Farris, the Digital Health Coalition held an event on February 6 in New York City as part the ePharma Summit. Bard released and reviewed “Social Media and User-generated Health and Medical Content: Guiding Principles and Best Practices for Companies and Users.” I strongly recommend reading these common sense principles.
All the presenters were excellent, but I’m going to recap the regulatory focused presentations and the changes announced by a Facebook representative.
Mark Gaydos, Vice President, U.S. Regulatory Affairs Marketed Products at Sanofi, started off the sessions by sharing how Sanofi has been able to embrace social media. It’s especially admirable that Sanofi, which took a beating early on via social media, is using the space to have two-way conversations.
Use of these materials results in action: a conversation about a prescription drug
The latest Manhattan Research ePharma Consumer® study confirmed that pharma-supported interactive materials benefit both patients and pharma.
Reliance on pharma-sponsored digital resources among online U.S. adults is significant. The research found “51% of online U.S. adults (ages 18+) use pharma-sponsored digital resources, such as condition and treatment information, disease management tools, doctor discussion guides, or mobile apps or websites.” This validates that the interactive information and tools produced by biopharma are being utilized and appreciated.
For patients with a chronic condition, the reliance on pharma-sponsored digital resources was even greater. The study learned 75% of angina patients and 68% of rheumatoid arthritis patients take advantage of these interactive materials. These findings support Siren’s 11-year experience working with rare disease patients. For many rare diseases there’s a lack of comprehensive information and support tools. Often this need is filled by biopharma companies, and the materials are highly valued and utilized by rare disease patients – and physicians.
it can be in the best interest of public health for a firm to respond to unsolicited requests for information about off-label uses of the firm’s products
While I was enjoying the holidays by sleeping in, sipping wine and spending time with family, the FDA quietly released “Guidance for Industry Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices.”
Ad Age called the document “social media ‘guidelines’” apparently because it mentions Twitter and YouTube in examples. While it isn’t true social media guidance, former FDA official Peter Pitts provides insights to be gleaned from reading between the lines. His big one: “Pharma, guide thyself.”
What I found most interesting in the document is the FDA’s acknowledgment that “it can be in the best interest of public health for a firm to respond to unsolicited requests for information about off-label uses of the firm’s products that are addressed to a public forum, as other participants in the forum who offer responses may not provide or have access to the most accurate and up-to-date information about the firm’s products.”
These patients naturally turn to social media to find information and each other
PharmaPhorum asked Siren Interactive to write a series of blog posts about the world of rare diseases. In the six-part series, titled “Rare is different,” we’re showing how working within rare diseases is unlike other pharma markets, particularly in the knowledge and influence wielded by patients and caregivers.
I wrote the fourth post, “Patients and caregivers are undisputed ‘power users’ of social media.” When a disease is rare, finding information about diagnosis, treatment and physicians is more challenging than for a more common disease. These patients naturally turn to social media to find information and each other. These online connections can be extremely powerful, not only for emotional support, but for treatment information.
Read my post to learn more, including stories from rare disease caregivers who have experienced this firsthand.
the value of any communications network increases proportionately with the square of the number of users
Last week Google+ opened pages up to businesses. When I was setting up the Siren Interactive page I was surprised to find a few things. The first is that there is no verification that you are from the company—for example, by using a company email that gets verified before the page goes live. Google only requires you to check a box that says, “I agree to the Pages Terms and I am authorized to create this page.”
I searched for a few pharma companies and found two pages when I typed in “Pfizer.” I highly doubt that either page is really from Pfizer, so it will be interesting to see how Google handles these imposter pages. This was previously an issue on Facebook, where at one point the fake Sanofi page was more popular than the real one.
A second surprise is that the administrator tools aren’t very advanced. For example, it appears that a brand or company page can only have one administrator. Also, the design of the pages are similar to Facebook.
Is Your Audience on Google+?
Google+ has an estimated 50M users versus Facebook’s 750M, and after an initial wave of enthusiasm, the number of weekly visitors to the site has fluctuated.
Most of the bright people don't work for you -- no matter who you are. You need a strategy that allows for innovation occurring elsewhere
If you ever have the opportunity to hear Todd Park, Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, speak, make sure you do. He talks about data capture and IT systems with such enthusiasm you think you’re at a college pep rally. “Liberate the Data” is one of his mantras.
Viva la Data
Park was in perfect form at this year’s Social Health Summit (#SXSH) held in September. The annual “un-conference” focuses on all aspects of health care: patients, professionals, payers, providers, drug manufacturers and government.
Park shared great information about how innovation around health care is being fueled by the increasing availability of free data. Great applications are being developed and smart people are collaborating to solve some really tough issues. Check out Health.Data.Gov.
In the last few years, I’ve been invited to talk about my favorite topic – social media – to a variety of audiences. On Thursday evening, I spoke at a Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) gathering in New York City. The topic was social media for professional development. Many women (and men) in pharma are intimidated by social media, and I enjoy sharing what’s possible. I especially enjoy recruiting for the weekly pharma marketing and social media #SocPharm tweetchat. Most people are surprised to hear that industry experts are sharing best practices every week on Twitter.
I think an understanding of social media is an essential skill for today’s biopharma marketers. See below for some advice on how to improve your personal social media presence and tips on using LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and SlideShare. Do I hit the mark? Any tips I missed?
I wish I had the attribution for the quote, but “social media is free like a puppy is free,” is an excellent analogy as I note in the video below. I was recently invited to speak about pharma and social media at the annual leadership meeting for ZS Associates. Since I was on vacation during the event, we used Skype to record a video. (Note to self: I am very pale and should never be photographed in front of a white wall!) I provide an overview of the space, why you should be listening online, how to handle adverse events and how to handle the absence of FDA guidance on social media.
