Location, location, location

The pharmaceutical industry has begun to realise that social media can play an effective role in direct-to-consumer marketing at a relatively low cost of participation. However, how – and equally importantly where – to get started can be one of the more difficult decisions, especially with new platforms or media channels seemingly appearing daily. Not all social media channels are the same and PR professionals struggle with how to use the many channels and tools available effectively. This article provides some ideas and guidance in identifying the appropriate social channels to reach potential patients, advocates and caregivers.

By 2020, it is estimated the Internet will account for nearly 90 hours of people’s weekly media consumption. Of the time that consumers spend online, they are dedicating an increasing proportion to social media, with use of social media growing 50% in the past 12 months alone.
 
Currently, over a third of adult consumers use social media to find health information, making these media channels a prime area to reach potential customers, according to iHeath, which also reports that only 25% of consumers use site disease/condition association sites, 19% use news websites and a mere 10% reference pharmaceutical websites. In other words, conversations on conditions and branded treatment options are taking place whether the pharma industry participates or not.

In the regulatory environment that exists now, pharma companies find themselves at a crossroads. Does one wait for guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration on social media policy (recently delayed until later in 2011 at the earliest) or does one blaze the trail using existing direct-to-consumer advertising guidelines?

The social medium is the message
For those companies making the decision to engage in social media, it is important to develop a strategy that leverages the right channels to reach the desired audience in an appropriate way. As Marshall McLuhan said 46 years ago, “the medium is the message”. While McLuhan’s focus was on television and radio, the same holds true for marketing on social media. Not all social media channels are the same, and with marketers eager to get online, it’s important to consider the right platforms for a product and/or campaign.

Facebook
While Facebook may have reached over 500m users, that doesn’t mean a Facebook fan-page is the best place for every pharmaceutical product. As in traditional PR, the key is to finding where the target audience is, what channels it uses and where conversations about the category are taking place. People aren’t likely to ‘fan’ a product or condition on Facebook, thus associating themselves with the condition to their entire online network, which could include friends, family and co-workers. That has a high ‘ick-factor’ and could be considered embarrassing. As a result, pharma is generally using Facebook for targeted advertising to drive traffic from Facebook to a website or for condition awareness education around less socially sensitive issues.

Conversely, just because a person may not want to associate himself with a product or disease with his/her social graph doesn’t mean he/she won’t participate in discussions about the condition online. The lap-band gastric weight-loss surgery provides a good case study.

A few scattered ‘lap-band’ Facebook pages exist, with a couple of hundred members – not a high number by current standards. However, a deeper dive reveals a very active community regularly using forums and chat rooms to communicate with one another. For anonymity, the groups are often password-protected and/or allow their participants to use anonymous usernames. Often, as users get more comfortable and develop subcommunities of their own, we see these usernames give way to real names, and communities’ members even scheduling arrangements to meet up in person. By developing these communities for its users, Allergan, makers of the Lap Band, can take a thought-leadership approach and allow prospective patients to discuss their personal treatment journeys in an environment more comfortable for the participants.

YouTube
Shedding its reputation of being strictly an entertainment site, YouTube has become a platform that is very attractive to pharma. As of April 2010, YouTube had become the second most popular search engine, behind only its parent, Google. Recent data show consumers are also turning to YouTube for health information, providing opportunities for healthcare practitioners and pharmaceutical companies to engage patients, caregivers and prescribers.

According to research from YouTube, 32% of the video platform’s 180m viewers watch health-related videos – more than the number of people who watch videos about food or celebrities. Additionally, 79% of health consumers have watched videos about their specific health condition, with 93% taking action after viewing, such as conducting further online research as a result of the video they watched (69%) or interacting with their doctor (60%).

With these statistics, it’s no surprise that a handful of pharmaceutical companies have already set up presences on YouTube, with either product or corporate orientations.  Johnson & Johnson was the first to take a step into the YouTube world, developing a corporate site and channels for its major brands.

Recently, Novartis followed suit, and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals launched a branded channel around its treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), called Concerta. However, even before those undertakings, companies had set up unbranded consumer education initiatives on YouTube around diabetes and asthma.

Blogs
Blogs have also become a go-to resource for patients looking for healthcare information, especially among women, whom we know to be the drivers of across-household purchases, including health. According to the popular women’s blogging network, BlogHer, 49% of women who read blogs – approximately 11m women – are interested in health information. That’s more than are interested in fashion/beauty/shopping (42%), sex/relationships/dating (31%) or parenting (27%).

What makes blogs an even more interesting way to reach women with healthcare information is that women aren’t just reading passively, but are actively turning to blogs for answers rather than to social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

Of women who read and/or post to blogs, 64% report they do so to ‘get information’, compared to just 32% of those who participate in social networks. When factoring in that 43% of women read blogs to ‘seek advice and recommendations’, it becomes clear that they aren’t looking for information on blogs for impartial news. They want information with a point of view.

How to get involved in social media
The key to making the decisions about where and how to market a product online is listening. By researching and evaluating where the target audience is active online, PR professionals can develop a targeted social media strategy that is more likely to succeed and deliver the necessary return on investment.

The Author
Kevin Silverman, Vice President of Digital Strategy, Healthcare Specialist in Ogilvy Public Relations’ 360 Digital Influence group, can be reached at kevin.silverman@ogilvypr.com or (212) 880 5210