There was a period of time in the not-so-distant past that social media for the pharmaceutical industry was considered nothing more than a fad.  Skeptics scoffed at the job titles of “social media lead” and “new media director” proclaiming those jobs would be gone in a year.  Those same skeptics swore that regulations, monitoring for adverse events and discussion around off-label usage would curtail any useful social media effort for pharma.

“It’s just a fad,” was the common refrain.  No more.  Social media for pharmaceutical marketing no longer represents a fad—it’s a sea change.  Here’s why:

1.)    The Pharma Strategy Has Changed

The days when pharmaceutical companies would stubbornly insist on filling their pipelines with blockbuster drugs have come and gone.  They still look for that rare blockbuster, but they no longer bet the farm on the one drug that will rake in billions.  Part of this is a simple matter of supply and demand.  There are just not that many blockbuster drugs left out there.  But more than that, medicine has changed from chasing mass-market conditions to disease categories that impact a fewer subset of people.  This requires a more personalized approach to treatment.  How does this impact marketing? Marketing has been forced to respond to the shifting pharma landscape and match its efforts.  In a world of personalized medicine, mass marketing efforts now seem to make less and less sense.  Hitting as many eyeballs as possible does little to move the needle on drug sales of an orphan drug targeted at specific disease states.  The same can’t be said for social media.  Social media marketing programs are designed to engage with the patient at a personal level.  By its nature, social media is best suited for a specific audience with similar interests.  The beauty is this is a two-way street.  Patients are far more likely to be engaged in your marketing efforts if it strikes a personal chord.  Personalized medicine necessitates personalized marketing.

2.)    Shrinking Sales Forces in Favor of Targeted Efforts

Following the move away from blockbuster drugs, pharmaceutical companies no longer have a need for the same massive sales forces of yesteryear.  The benefits of a solid relationship at the direct sales level will never be eliminated, but the army of salesmen no longer exists.  Pharma companies are now scaling back sales efforts in favor of focused outreach efforts.  Glad handing is a thing of the past.  Now, it’s about leveraging your relationships to offer a product or service of value.  How does this impact marketing? Marketing falls directly in line with the philosophy of the new sales model.  In the new marketing mix, pharmaceutical marketers prefer to focus their efforts rather than deploy a wide swath of messages.  An effective social media program can help the focused efforts of a sales force by creating demand at the patient level and awareness at the physician level.  A targeted sales force should be supported by a targeted marketing effort.  Social media allows that to happen.

3.)    Patients Have More Information and Play a Larger Role in Health Decisions

Doctors spend a lot of money, time and energy earning the right to practice medicine.  They are well-educated, smart people that are accustomed to knowing more then the average patient.  But in today’s pharmaceutical world, the patient often has access to as much information as the physician regarding diseases, treatment options and alternatives.  This doesn’t mean the physician is no longer the expert, but it does mean that patients now play a much larger role in their health decisions than ever before.  A doctor no longer has the luxury of being the only person in the exam room that has access to pertinent information.  How does this impact marketing? This dynamic probably plays the largest role in influencing the shift in marketing.  With patients at the center of every decision concerning their health, pharmaceutical companies need to adopt a philosophy that not only considers Return on Investment, but also Return on Health (ROH).  The job of a marketers has changed from pushing information to engaging in a two-way conversation with the patient.  Social media efforts for pharmaceutical companies are now focusing on putting more information at the hands of the patient.  As mentioned above, this creates demand in the doctor’s office but also helps to create a more educated patient community.

4.)    Regulatory Environment is Showing Signs of Life

It’s no secret that concerns around the regulatory environment pose the greatest obstacle to social media engagement for pharmaceutical companies.  Between the great work of debunking those myths and the FDA showing a willingness to consider social media as part of the marketer’s toolkit, the hurdle posed by the regulatory environment looks to be smaller every day.   How does this impact marketing? The impact here is obvious.  Some pharmaceutical marketers have been content to sit on the sidelines purely out of fear.  As the FDA loosens its grip on social media, the pharma industry will surely show a greater sense of urgency to begin the social media engagement process.

There are a probably a dozen more reasons that illustrate the idea that social media for the pharmaceutical industry is more of a sea change than a fad.  But here’s the main point to take away from all of this.  A fad is something that happens in isolation of external forces.  A sea change lines up with, and supports external forces.  Social media for pharmaceutical companies is supporting the overall industry change—not fighting it.