Why Social Media Is Important for Pharmaceutical Companies
Over the terminal twenty years, social media has moved from being a niche pursuit to a global phenomenon. More than half the world's population at present uses social media, with user numbers edging towards four billion. The boilerplate person spends two hours and 24 minutes on social networking sites each day, according to stats on Backlinko.
While this shift has altered many aspects of life – non least how nosotros eat news media and connect with other people – it has been zippo short of seismic for marketing departments.
As users flocked to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, businesses began to understand what this might mean for advertising and east-commerce. Today, more than 90% of marketing executives employ social media and it's rare to find a make without some form of social media presence.
The pharma manufacture, nevertheless, may have seemed ho-hum on the uptake. Given the strict regulations around what can and cannot be said – non to mention what can and cannot be advertised – drug companies simply haven't had the same freedom equally, say, consumer goods companies to promote their products. This means social media marketing, or fifty-fifty information campaigns, tin sometimes exist a non-starter.
"Most of our clients, the pharma companies, have policies that heavily restrict their use of social media and limit their ability to benefit from the wealth of data that could back-trail information technology," says Stephen Folio, co-founder and make and strategy director at Folio & Page and Partners. "Patients are ofttimes not allowed to know almost or hash out the options for treating their condition, in instance they attempt to care for themselves and then sue the pharma company sponsoring the media channel for the worsening of their predicament."
Unfortunately, this tin also serve as an obstacle for healthcare professionals. In some cases, doctors have non been able to admission the data, forums and resources that would help them do their job, in case a patient stumbles across information technology. The good news is that this is changing.
"Overly restrictive regulations are existence updated as governments, healthcare professionals and industry realise that their patient populations may be the most powerful source of data ever," says Page. "It's a source that volition allow for fifty-fifty more than profound advances in medicine, benefiting both club and the inquiry and evolution teams trying to create new blockbusters."
How pharma companies are using social media
For the past xviii years – a timeframe that neatly covers the ascendancy of social media – Page has been focusing on the healthcare sector. He has developed campaigns and make strategy for a range of pharma, biotech, medical device and health and wellbeing brands across many therapeutic areas.
Increasingly, this means thinking almost social media. As the drug development process becomes more collaborative, and patients' insights go more sought-afterwards, social networks are being recognised equally a good way to glean and disseminate information.
"Nosotros recently worked with a large pharmaceutical visitor on a social listening programme," says Folio. "In developing a new drug and therefore a new therapeutic pathway, the visitor realised that by understanding patients' experience of a status, they could then utilise that information to close the gap betwixt their ain medical affairs team, marketing, the healthcare professionals they were targeting and the patients every bit the end user."
The effect, he says, is that the drug visitor will exist able to go beyond their own science, and offer the patient meaningful existent-world clinical benefits.
Another instance is a recent pharma visitor campaign that was developed to support a nutritional supplement brand. The campaign started out past sending surveys to dietitians on LinkedIn, with a view to identifying prescribing challenges. It finished with a pick of educational videos on Vimeo and YouTube, to help overcome these prescribing challenges.
"It's non about the aqueduct so much as the content – video via YouTube or Vimeo or independent within some other platform, such equally LinkedIn seems to be the most successful, equally people don't have the fourth dimension or bandwidth to focus on reading for long periods," says Page.
"Successful use of social media is perhaps defined by the value, relevance and brownie of the content it imparts."
The rules and restrictions
So what rules exercise pharma companies need to follow on social media? Clearly, information technology depends on where you are in the earth, with some countries imposing stricter regulations than others.
In the UK, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry is responsible for setting the guidelines. It states that prescription-only medicines can't be promoted to patients under any circumstances, either via social media or traditional marketing channels. Pharma companies are, notwithstanding, allowed to share information impartially on social media, then long as they comply with the lawmaking.
Given the concerns around overly restrictive regulations, the code has recently been updated, with the 2021 Code due to come into force in July.
In the US, where pharma companies routinely apply television adverts to market their products directly to consumers, the rules are somewhat laxer – they tin can use social media for the aforementioned purpose, and then long as it complies with guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Social media platforms also tend to have their own rules around health advertizement. Facebook, for instance, has banned adverts that imply the reader has specific attributes (including disabilities or medical weather condition), which means advertisers would demand to be conscientious almost wording. YouTube restricts the advertizement of some pharmaceutical products, and companies need prior authority to advertise on Twitter.
Combating misinformation online
Another timely question is whether pharma companies are doing enough to combat vaccine-related misinformation, which has surged on social media in the last year. Since vaccine hesitancy could prolong the pandemic and cost lives, there is a clear need for accurate information on social media.
What'due south more, pharma social media accounts volition need to stay vigilant to targeted anti-vax campaigns. Gamble intelligence company Crisp has warned that vaccine social media pages could be infiltrated by fake accounts, posting false information well-nigh side effects and potentially sabotaging the vaccine rollout.
Page thinks that, while pharma companies could do better here, stemming the tide of misinformation should non be downward to the drugmakers lone.
"Is pharma doing enough to address the public's concerns with regards to Covid-19 and the new, rapidly adult vaccines? The curt answer hither is not enough," he says. "But then once again is the media, with all their experts, doing enough? Are governments and local regime doing enough?"
He thinks, despite the constraints placed on social media, and the obvious challenges inherent in using it, the manufacture has done a proficient task at making sure healthcare professionals and patients stay informed.
"Pharma companies need to present a digital environment that helps time-poor, highly patient-focused professionals notice the information, resource or medical liaison they need speedily," he says.
"Or if they're providing information to the patient, they've got to make the information accessible, relevant and intuitive. The manufacture is proving ever more than capable of using social media – the dots are kickoff to be joined."
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