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Archive for the ‘Pharmaceutical Online Marketing’ category

Moving Away from the Term Social Media

December 14th, 2010

Last week I spoke at the Advanced Learning Institute’s Social Media for Pharma Conference. In one of the breakout sessions I was a part of, a debate ensued on whether or not “social media” is the right term to describe a company’s online engagement with its identified audience.

Social media is a term that fits well with the current business lexicon. Media relations, media buys, etc…are all standard ingredients in the marketing mix. Within that context, it’s easy to see why social media was the term assigned to this increasingly vital part of a company’s marketing strategy. ‘Social’ accurately describes the two-way conversation piece of the puzzle and ‘media’ covers the delivery mechanism. Case closed.

The problem for the group I was with was that the term ‘social media’ elicited a poor reaction from their pharmaceutical colleagues. Because pharmaceutical companies are keenly aware of the traditional aspects of the marketing mix, the thinking was that the terms ‘social media’ would be too closely tied to traditional efforts and therefore be seen as an extension of current efforts. Rather than helping to overcome the education hurdle, some feared this actually contributed to the problem.

Alternative ideas that were floated were terms like ‘social relationships,’ ‘social engagement,’ and ‘relationship engagement strategies.’

I understand the motivation behind finding a different name that more accurately reflects the goal of social media. We certainly don’t want to tempt the untrained marketer into treating social media like any other marketing channel. The goal of renaming ‘social media’ is to deemphasize the ‘media’ and emphasize the ‘social.’ At its core, social media is about establishing a relationship with your target audience. It’s about forming a two-way conversation and moving away from the one-directional means of communications of days gone by.

Is social media the perfect term? Probably not. But part of the goal is not only to evangelize, but to educate. Working within the confines of the current business language helps to define social media in terms that are accessible to the business executive. Terms like ‘relationship engagement strategies’ are not part of language of most business executives and therefore marginalize social media to the fringes.

The important thing is that ‘social media’ is just a term. What you call it matters little if you don’t start from the right premise. Maybe we should focus less on what it’s called and more on how it helps to achieve our objectives?

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Posted in Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Public Distrust of Pharma: Abandon Social Media?

December 10th, 2010

Oil.

Tobacco.

Pharmaceutical.

According to Harris Interactive, those are among the least trusted industries in America. Think about that for a minute.

It’s easy to see why tobacco companies are distrusted amongst Americans, and the same can be said for oil companies. But the pharmaceutical industry is in place (theoretically) to treat illness. The general purpose they serve is to make people healthier. Despite that noble goal, they’ve found themselves crammed into the bottom of the bucket with oil and tobacco companies.

This begs the question: is it even prudent for pharmaceutical companies to jump into social media? Trust is a key component of a successful social media engagement and if the general public is already skeptical of pharmaceutical companies the reception could be less than friendly.

True enough. But isn’t this more of a reason to engage than to stay away from social media channels? To be certain, social media is not a silver bullet and will not suddenly flip public perception on its head. However, there is little question that part of this distrust is due to the “Wizard of Oz Syndrome.” In other words: nobody is quite sure who is behind the curtain and what their intentions are. Because of this perceived veil of secrecy public distrust lingers.

Pharmaceutical companies are no different than any other business—they hope to make a hefty profit. By and large, pharmaceutical companies profit over other people’s problems. Perhaps this is the sentiment that drives distrust? There is more to the story though. Most people that work in the pharmaceutical industry don’t see it that way. They truly believe that they provide a vital service, one that is about helping to cure illness and alleviate the burden of disease.

Rather than hide from social media because of distrust—pharmaceutical companies should embrace it for that very reason. By shunning social media channels, pharmaceutical companies merely perpetuate the distrust. Social media will not cure all ills—but it will help on the road to establishing a different type of pharmaceutical company focused not on illness, but on cures.

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Posted in Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Tags: Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Public Relations Pharmaceutical Social Media

The Value of Perspective

December 3rd, 2010

This is not what I did on my break from my blogging.

As you’ve probably noticed, I took a bit of breather from this blogging thing. I’d be lying if I said it was intentional. Between a flurry of end of year new business activity, keeping current clients happy, selling my house in Massachusetts and buying a house in New Jersey—things have been a bit nutty to say the least.

There was some benefit to my small sabbatical. It provided me with better perspective. One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was to make sure you pick your head up from the day-to-day work and take in what’s going on at this very moment. This break from blogging was an opportunity to do just that and enhance my view of the world of pharmaceutical social media.

Here are five valuable lessons that were reinforced during my break from blogging:

1.) The Dangers of the Echo chamber: I’ve written before about the danger of allowing the pharmaceutical social media conversation to become an echo chamber. It’s kind of like a whole bunch of conservatives tuning into Fox News every day—you are only reinforcing what you already believe. Staying within the confines of the echo chamber is a great way to stroke your ego—but it’s a terrible way to win business and move the industry forward.

2.) Questions of Internal Resources Prevail: The common belief is that a lack of guidance from the FDA (tick tock) is the primary roadblock to most pharmaceutical social media efforts. While it certainly is an issue, more programs get tripped up at an even earlier juncture—who the heck is going to run this stuff? Before social media programs get started, it’s critical that an internal social media team is aligned.

3.) Ownership is Still an Issue…But not the Way you Think: The problem of who owns social media is still a major question. However, it’s not a question between PR, social media, digital or advertising agency that dominates the conversation. The real question is should pharmaceutical social media live in marketing? Or is it better suited for another piece of the business?

4.) Perception that Pharmaceutical Social Media is Overkill: In today’s economic environment, many the public at large would rather see pharmaceutical companies develop better research pipelines, flawless manufacturing facilities and improved patient assistance programs. Many find it difficult to see the direct correlation between better health outcomes and pharmaceutical social media.

5.) Beg, Borrow and Steal: Numerous reports have indicated that spending on social media is on the rise. This only tells part of the story. True, companies are looking to ramp up social media efforts, but the overall budget isn’t expanding, it’s just being swiped from other areas. This feeds into the problems of internal resources and who owns the program. Nobody wants their budget to suffer at the expense of social media—so budget wars continue.

Some of the issues raised above are a bit myopic in their approach to social media. But that’s the thing about stepping outside the echo chamber to gain perspective. It’s not about validating your own opinions, it’s not even about figuring out reality. Perspective is understanding the reality of others. The question is: how do we adjust?

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Posted in FDA and Pharma Social Media, Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Tags: FDA and Pharma Social Media Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Social Media

Pharma Social Media: Putting the Patient First

October 20th, 2010

It’s no secret that I believe a strong pharmaceutical social media program centers on the patient. Whether it is clinical operations, selling to physicians or dealing with insurance providers, a pharmaceutical company should be focused on better serving the needs of the patient. This doesn’t imply physicians or other core audiences lack a place in social media (more on this in the coming days)—it simply means that the best pharmaceutical marketing efforts keep the core tenant of patient health front and center.

I’ve put forward the idea of Return on Health and highlighted the need to empower the empowered patient. But this might fall on deaf ears without practical advice. How can you ensure that the patient is at the center of your social media efforts? What does this look like in practice as opposed to theory?

As a starting point, begin by asking how you made the determination that social media is a route worth considering. If your motivation is that you are getting your lunch handed to you by a competitor, you are probably heading down the wrong path. On the flip side, if you feel that treatment options for a specific disease state are being under or misrepresented by a competitor you are in a better position to engage in social media. The point is this: the question you must consider is “how will this help better serve the needs of the patient?”

Now that you have committed to starting with the patient, how about involving the patient in the planning process? Many companies talk about the need for patient engagement yet few involve them in the social media planning process. A “patient advisory panel” can help direct the tactics of a social media engagement for pharmaceutical companies. Rather than making educated guesses on what they want—make informed decisions.

With a better gauge of what patients actually want, you can start to direct your efforts to the appropriate platform. Perhaps through patient communication and your own research you uncover the fact there is a glaring lack of information around a particular disease state. This would indicate that the pharmaceutical company may need to create the hub for interaction. However, you may also uncover that there are vibrant and active communities already existing that are only in need of a little direction or additional information. If your focus is on the patient, it will be clear where the area of need is—as opposed to the area to exploit (which often guides marketing strategy).

These are just a few simple examples of what it looks like to put patients first in a social media engagement. Of course, this only scratches the surface but serves to illustrate the need for patient involvement starts from the very outset of a social media program.

17 comments »

Posted in FDA and Pharma Social Media, Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media, Return on Health

Tags: Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Social Media

What is Traditional PR Anyway?

October 15th, 2010

In many recent conversations, I often find myself delineating between traditional PR and non-traditional PR/social media. This is particularly true in conversations with pharmaceutical marketing departments looking to engage in social media. This is due in part to make a clear distinction between media relations and social media. But I’ve started to wonder, what is traditional PR anyway? What do I mean when I say that and what am I implying? Does the term hold any value?

What I am essentially implying when I say that is that they are somehow different—that social media and PR do not go hand and hand. This couldn’t be further from the case.

I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that we stop using the term all together. There are far too many audiences out there that do not fully understand the strategies and tactics involved in a more refined communications program. But when you get down to it, the idea that there is a “traditional PR” is somewhat limiting.

When people talk about traditional PR, they are talking about media relations, writing press releases, etc…But writing a press release is not public relations. Writing a press release is one of the tactics involved in PR. The real bread and butter of a public relations program is—you guessed it, communicating with the public. How you do that is immaterial.

On the other side, I have always maintained that the most important part of a social media program is the simple fact that it is social. Likewise, the most important part of a public relations program is that you are effectively communicating with the public. Ultimately, you are splitting hairs at this point.

My point is this: the idea that there is a “traditional PR” and a “non-traditional PR” is dated. Social media has changed how we communicate, how we engage with our audience and how we involve the customer in the process. There is no doubt that we are in a new age of public relations that is being pushed forward by social media. But PR is PR. Social media is part of PR.

Do I think tomorrow the term traditional PR should be banned from our lexicon? Of course not. Do I think we should work to encourage a more sophisticated view of both public relations and social media? You bet.

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Posted in Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Tags: Pharma social media Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Social Media

Download Free Pharmaceutical Social Media eBook

September 23rd, 2010

Click Here to download a pharmaceutical social media eBook

The list of reasons why you can’t or shouldn’t engage in pharmaceutical social media is long. Regulatory concerns. Fair balance. Adverse event reporting. The FDA. Off-label usage. HIPAA. Lack of adequate resources. All of these are legitimate issues when considering a social media program.

The list of reasons why you should use social media is not only longer, but also more compelling. Humanizing the brand. Creating brand advocates. Enabling better patient outcomes. Increasing Return on Health (ROH). Establishing a relationship with the patient. Better insights into the patient community. Greater access to information for the patients. A quick response platform during crisis communications.

There’s no doubt, social media in the pharmaceutical industry is a difficult and complex task. It takes careful planning, spot-on strategic guidance and flawless execution. Sounds simple right?

To help navigate the murky waters of pharmaceutical social media, SHIFT Communications (my agency) today released an eBook aimed at offering practical advice on social media programs in the healthcare space. The book outlines many of the issues that are unique to social media in the pharmaceutical space and offers tips on how to best mitigate those challenges.

To download the book, all we ask is that you do one of the following:

Head on over to our site, leave us your email, and the eBook will be automatically sent.
Follow @shiftcomm on Twitter and tweet something along the lines of, “Looking forward to reading @shiftcomm’s Pharma Social Media eBook, via @prforpharma” and we’ll get in touch with the link
Join SHIFT’s Facebook Page and send us a message there

When you stack up the reasons for not being engaged on social media with the benefits of creating sustained engagement the question becomes: what’s the price of being absent altogether? When done effectively, social media has the ability to create a relationship with the patient that was never before possible with traditional marketing platforms.

With this eBook, we hope to provide a healthy dose of both strategic and tactical advice to help move social media programs in the right direction. And of course, as always, I would love to hear any and all feedback you may have.

59 comments »

Posted in FDA and Pharma Social Media, Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Crisis Communications, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media, Return on Health, Uncategorized

Tags: biotech social media FDA and Pharma Social Media Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Social Media Return on Health

Patient Advocates for Pharmaceutical Social Media

September 10th, 2010

One of the initial steps of formulating a pharmaceutical social media strategy is considering what resources will be required and forming an internal social media team. My original thinking on this topic (which you can find by following the above link) is that an internal social media team should originally start in a “command and control” model and evolve to the more sophisticated hub and spoke model.

When you arrive at the hub and spoke, the ideal scenario is to have all departments involved that have customer touchpoints. That means the patient call center, the sales reps, the marketing team, etc…In social media, it’s important to operate under the assumption that any employee with access to the company ultimately serves as an ambassador to your brand. I think this still holds true. However, there is an important piece missing from the social media team—the patient.

This isn’t a concept that should be foreign to a pharmaceutical company. They routinely work with patient advocates, form support groups and interact with the patient during the clinical trial period. Even in other parts of the business, pharmaceutical companies are accustomed to representing interests other than their own. For example, in alliance management, it is important that a member of the organization is continually looking out for the interest of the alliance partner. That person always has a seat at the table.

Following the same logic, shouldn’t the patient always have a seat at the social media table?

If we buy into the concept that a healthcare company involved in social media should do so with the objective of improving health outcomes and informing better health decisions, than a patient should be involved in the planning process. Sure, we can get some of this information ourselves by conducting our due diligence, listening to social media chatter and evaluating the current needs of patients. But there is no substitute for actually speaking with the patient.

Are there some legal barriers to this approach? Of course. But it’s nothing a legal team couldn’t figure out. The FDA is concerned with how pharmaceutical companies push messages to patients, what better way to improve that process than by bringing them into the fold.

Consider it a focus group for social media.

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Posted in Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media, Return on Health

Impact of Pew Report on Pharmaceutical Social Media

September 2nd, 2010

A common question asked by healthcare marketers before engaging in social media is whether or not their patients are online. Past research from the Pew Research Center indicates that people dealing with chronic illnesses are more likely to be active participants in social media. That was one leg of the stool, now comes a second leg. A report released on August 27^th by the Pew Research Center further strengthens the case that social media platforms are a growing and active place for patient congregation.

The report, titled “Older Adults and Social Media,” found that social networking use among those ages 50 and older nearly doubled over the past year. Among the primary drivers that Pew indentifies for this surge is the fact that older adults are more likely to be living with a chronic disease, and are therefore more likely to reach out for support online. Put the two pieces of research together and pharmaceutical marketers have a compelling case for engaging in social media. It should no loner be a question of “if” patients are seeking resources online, but a question of “where.”

While none of this qualifies as an earth-shattering revelation, it does lend a bit of credibility to what we’ve intuitively known all along. For those of us grinding away at each social media barrier it’s always been evident that there is ample opportunity to engage with patients online. We knew it because we see the voracious appetite for content among patient communities. We knew it because patients have long craved a more interactive and empowered relationship with doctors and pharmaceutical companies. We knew it because pharmaceutical companies have unique access to information and data that can provide patients with an unprecedented role in health decisions. We knew it—but much of the data was scarce.

Part of our job as social media advocates is to provide the best indicators possible that point to success. We tend to rely on anecdotal evidence or our instincts. But executives don’t exactly trust our guts and aren’t keen on anecdotes. They want hard numbers that provide a reason to be active in social media. Certainly, a single Pew Research report is not the silver bullet some have been searching for. That silver bullet will never come but the more relevant reports that are released the lesser the barriers to entry for pharmaceutical social media.

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Posted in Pharmacetuical Public Relations, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Tags: Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical PR Pharmaceutical Social Media

Pharma Social Media Mission Statement

August 31st, 2010

Marketing professionals are big on positioning statements. We love talking about value propositions and key differentiators. Give us a pen and paper and we can churn out SWOT analyses all day long. But when it comes to pharmaceutical social media, discipline is all too often abandoned in favor of a shoot-from-the-hip attitude.

Just like any form of communications, social media requires discipline, patience and strategy. Despite its seemingly spontaneous nature, there should be a clear strategy and stated objective. Rather than approaching social media efforts as an opportunity to “increase brand awareness by reaching more consumers,” let’s start at an even more basic level. In pharmaceutical social media: what is your mission statement?

It might seem like a return to that Marketing Communications 101 class you took back in college, but I can assure you that your pharmaceutical social media efforts will benefit from a “mission statement.” I have long stated that a healthcare company’s involvement in social media should focus on the patient. The rules of communication on social media platforms render the old rules of marketing irrelevant. It’s not about pushing a message to the masses but about connecting with a key set of individuals. This is a radical shift in thinking that requires pharmaceutical companies to start from square one and consider what they learned in that Marketing 101 class.

Businesses write mission statements, why shouldn’t your internal social media team? When penning your mission statement for social media dispense of marketing lingo. Don’t use this as an opportunity to put benchmarks for success and outline metrics. That’s not the purpose of a mission statement.

The mission statement should serve as an opportunity to answer the elusive question: “why am I here?” In some industries this is a less critical question, but when you are dealing with health, it’s an imperative question to answer. In writing your social media mission statement, consider how you became involved in the project, what the motivating factors were and how that will determine the strategy you outline. The mission statement that you come up with should serve as a guide book. It can be a document that is circulated at a minimum to the individuals that are part of the company-sanctioned social media efforts and at a maximum company-wide as part of establishing social media guidelines. The goal of honing in on a social media mission statement is to determine the key values your company will uphold and your reason for participating. Thinking about it in this way will help to ensure you stay on track and always engage transparently and ethically. Consider this your code of conduct.

So why are you here? What is your mission statement for pharmaceutical social media?

12 comments »

Posted in Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media, Return on Health

Tags: Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical Social Media Return on Health

The Dirty Little Secret of Pharma Regulatory and Legal Concerns

August 23rd, 2010

My feeling has always been that pharmaceutical marketers have leaned on the regulatory and legal concerns of social media as an excuse for a lack of engagement. Phrases like “my legal team won’t ever approve that” seem to be commonplace. And while legal issues for pharmaceutical social media are important, they are not insurmountable.

The phrase “my legal team won’t ever allow it” is less a commentary on the regulatory environment and more a commentary on the relationship of the communications and legal departments. In other words: the fall back of blaming the legal team is a symptom—the outward expression—of internal strife. A marketing department that is quick to blame the legal team for an inability to execute is really saying: “my company is made up of several distinct factions of people.” That’s a problem.

So forget pharmaceutical social media for a minute and just take an introspective look at your own company. What is your answer to the question: who is my team? In the book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni points out that most managers when asked that question immediately start naming their direct reports. Even when pressed, most managers don’t call out leaders of other teams across the organization. Why is that? Shouldn’t the entire organization ultimately be viewed as one team working toward a common goal? At large organizations with multiple divisions this might be nothing more than a pipe dream, but it’s worth striving for.

This concept has some relevance to pharmaceutical social media. Discussions are often halted at the assumption “it will never get by legal.” Instead of trying to “get things by legal” we should spend more energy on including legal in the process. This tried and true mechanism of halting social media programs is an indication that there is internal dysfunction. Structuring your internal social media team can be a challenge but it’s a crucial step and legal hast to be involved. Next time you have a brainstorm, think about inviting a few individuals from the legal department. Ask for input along the way rather than assuming the answer will be no.

Attorneys are reasonable, smart and creative people. Their jobs are not to halt the creative process of a company. They are paid to protect a company and all of its assets from legal sanctions. The brand image is one of the most important assets to a company so it makes sense that the legal team inspects every minute detail to protect it. But until you start acting as one team and not separate competing forces, chances of a successful social media engagement are almost zero.

14 comments »

Posted in FDA and Pharma Social Media, Pharmaceutical Online Marketing, Pharmaceutical Social Media

Tags: FDA and Pharma Social Media Internal social media team structure Pharmaceutical marketing Pharmaceutical Social Media