Social media is still quite new, and there are many companies — and entire industries — which are still unsure how to use it, are afraid of it, and are concerned that the whole thing is a fad.
One great example is this blog about whether pharma should abandon social media, by Zoe Dunn, an American digital strategist. Ultimately, she concludes that yes, pharma can use social media, but only if they commit to the long-term and have a proper strategy in place — and who can disagree with that?
But she doesn’t sound convinced of her own case. Along the way, she airs deep concern about whether social media is a suitable platform for “serious” pharma, and whether it is a sustainable strategy.
I thought it would be useful to address her main concerns point by point, because pharma has been relatively slow to adopt social media, and myths, fears and uncertainties abound. Here goes.
1. Is social media an appropriate platform for pharma? Ms Dunn is concerned that pharma companies really don’t want customers on Facebook and Pinterest raving about their products and being obsessively loyal:
While this kind of brand recognition is critical in the potato chip industry or the mobile phone world, our industry is simply not set up for this kind of promotion. After all, we deal in science, and science is serious business. Personal health is a serious matter, and while it’s true that we want to sing from the rooftops when we are well, it’s quite the opposite when we are sick. Illness is usually not something to be celebrated, or followed, or promoted.
This is a very limited view of what social media can be used for. Firstly, it is rarely about promoting your products directly – doubly and triply true for pharma, with its regulatory restrictions – but about listening to your audience and engaging with them.
When you’re ill — feeling isolated, quite possibly physically isolated, and desperate to reach out to other people who understand your predicament – social media can be a saviour. The internet is full of support groups for patients suffering the worst possible illnesses, where they discuss how they cope with their conditions, and potential treatments. For many, this is a crucial outlet.
Pharma has the opportunity to offer their audience genuinely useful information, and to become an integral part of their customers’ and potential customers’ lives.
(It’s not all sad or serious by the way. In my experience, many of these discussions are lively and actually quite funny. Sufferers have – perhaps need! – a good sense of humour.)
Social media is also about brand equity, reputation management and thought leadership. Witness, for example, GSK’s Facebook page – 88,900+ ‘likes’ – which does a stellar job of portraying itself as a socially responsible pharmaceutical company, talking about its work in the third world and its support for various charities.
Or Merck, which emphasises its maternal health programme, how it helps HIV patients tailor their treatment, and its support for cancer research.
Last but not least, reaching out to potential customers is not the only way social media can be useful to pharma.
Monitoring social media conversations is an important way of understanding how your brand is perceived and is being publicly discussed. It is also a great way of understanding patient concerns.
LinkedIn is a great way to build relationships with NHS leaders, CCGs, private healthcare companies and other stakeholders. It’s also terrific for recruitment and for talking to other professionals. It’s not all about Facebook!
2. Who has the resources to do this properly? Ms Dunn asks:
Can you really support the resources it will require to continuously provide value to your audience?… What happens when a new product director takes over in 18 months and social media is not in her plan? This is not an ad in a journal that you can just stop running. This is a community that relies upon the commitment you have made to supporting them. Then what? Quietly disappearing in the middle of the night leads to feelings of overwhelming disappointment—in a matter of minutes, a company can undo all the good work they have done.
Pharma is no different to any other industry when it comes to finding the resources to run a social media programme. Companies of every size find a level which suits them.
What Ms Dunn seems to be reflecting here is the problem that too many companies – across all sectors – go into social media with an all-singing, all-dancing campaign, and then find it hard to keep up the effort.
We always advise our customers to start off small and then build up. This significantly reduces the risk of taking on too much at once. It doesn’t have to be perfect from the start!
Ideally, you should carry out a proper audit of your resources before designing your social media programme, so that your platform is shaped to suit you — and not the other way round.
As for the new product director abandoning ship 18 months in, this is a sign of a company where there was no real commitment to social media in the first place. Before launching your programme, you need to ensure that there is proper buy-in from the top, and that social media is seen as an integral part of your entire marketing effort. If management understands from the beginning why social media is important, it cannot just be junked on a whim.
In any case, social media is becoming less and less of an optional extra. It’s now a central part of digital marketing. Consumers expect it. Companies who neglect it will fall by the wayside. As respected social media guru Erik Qualman has said….”The ROI of social media is that your business will still exist in 5 years”.
3. Social media is dangerous for pharma
Branded social media is full of pitfalls anyway—with our vague digital guidance (or lack thereof), it’s quite a challenge to communicate responsibly in many digital venues.
It is true that there are many do’s and don’ts on social media which are particular to pharma, as a heavily regulated industry, and those who use it must be very aware of ABPI guidelines.
But these kinds of risks can be minimised, with clear social media guidelines; a social media schedule where material is written and reviewed in plenty of time; and a properly trained social media spokesperson.
Again, good planning and oversight is the key.
I’ll leave you with an inspirational link: the recent Boehringer Ingelheim video thanking its followers for 50,000 likes. They did it; you can too!
What do you think? Is there a place for pharma on social media? Let us know in the comments!
