Please note: This post was originally published on 11/19/08.

Much has been made about the viability of social media in the world of pharma.  On this blog, we have explored both the challenges of social media for pharma companies and the challenges of traditional PR.  In the year since that original post was written, significant strides have been made and pharma companies are beginning to dip their toes in the social media water.  The question is: why now?

Surely, the same challenges that were present a year ago still exist today.  Corporate bureaucracy? Check.  Heavy regulatory issues?  Check.  Sensitive topics? Check.  Questionable reputations?  Check.  The pharmaceutical industry is so wrought with roadblocks and landmines that few companies have mustered the courage to test the water.  In tech, the saying goes: “No CIO was ever fired for purchasing Cisco.”  Well for PR managers at pharma companies, perhaps the saying should go: “No PR manager was ever fired for issuing a press release.”  But as evidenced by the efforts of companies like J&J, GSK, The Mayo Clinic and Pfizer (to name a few), healthcare companies are growing less wary of jumping into the mix.

So why the steady shift toward social media for pharma companies?  For starters, pharma companies may finally be coming to the painful realization that tried and true methods of marketing are no longer effective.  Consumers have grown tired of the onslaught of ads touting the next great drug for hair loss.  For too long, marketers in the healthcare industry have relied on highly impersonal forms of marketing for issues that are the exact opposite.  Even traditional PR efforts have lost some luster with the average consumer.  It is no wonder then that pharma companies are seeking new ways to engage with the patient.

In some respects, it is surprising that it has taken this long for pharma companies to come around.  When you think of the benefits of social media—direct engagement with the consumer, a captive and targeted audience, a group with similar interests, etc…—social media is perfectly suited for pharma companies.  This is primarily because there are few industries that deal with issues as personal as a healthcare company.  Sure, you might be emotionally invested in the next purchase of your iPhone or car, but few things make as significant an impact on an individual’s life as health.  This personal nature is what has rightfully brought heavy-handed regulation on the industry. It is also this personal nature that has scared many marketers away.  But, this personal nature is EXACTLY why pharmaceutical companies should be embracing social media—not shunning it.  Social media engagement provides those companies with the ability to get past expensive advertising campaigns and to fully engage with their consumer.  Why not become a part of communities focused on managing diseases better or living a healthy lifestyle?  People tend to congregate online around issues they care deeply about—and health is certainly chief among those issues.  The risks of engaging at this level are real and should not be overlooked.  And of course, any social media efforts should be carefully planned and only done with the utmost transparency—devoid of any sense of exploitation.

If the efforts of some of these early leaders is any indication—the pharma industry might just be coming around.

Please note: This post was originally published on 2/6/08

Recently I have been on a pharma kick (not the kind you’re probably thinking).  A lot of that  stems from the fact that my Dad worked in the business for 35 years and my brother has been in it for about 20.  I grew up around the industry and have naturally developed an interest on how it applies to PR.  As I dig my feet in, it has become painstakingly apparent that the pharmaceutical industry presents a unique challenge for PR I have chronicled some of those challenges as they relate to social media.

The industry is wrought with regulations that limit the types of social media programs that can take place.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Even PR in the traditional sense presents an industry challenge in the pharma arena.

The first challenge is that of education.  Pharma companies are continually trying to educate the general public on the need for preventative medicine.  The problem is that people treat preventative medicine a bit like insurance—you don’t want to pay for it until you really need the treatment.  So how do you approach a general public that resists your very mission?

The second challenge relates to the vast array of audiences that make up the “public” in public relations.  In addition to patients, PR programs need to encompass doctors and managed care providers.  Unifying a message for these audiences is a daunting task.

A third challenge is the proverbial elephant in the room—pharma companies have to fight a lack of trust.  Plain and simple: the general public does not trust pharma companies.  Whether or not that reputation is warranted is beside the point.  It is a simple fact that PR programs need to face in order to be successful.

A final challenge relates to the issues many drug companies face with actually getting a prescription from the doctor’s office to the patient.  What I mean by this is that many of the prescriptions that a doctor writes are not filled as is—instead replaced by a generic version of that drug.  And while generic drugs certainly have their merits, imagine pouring millions of dollars into marketing only to lose that patient at the pharmacy.  PR programs have a role to play in this process.

There is no easy answer to some of the challenges I posed above.  In some respects, the use of social media as a PR tool is a step in the right direction.  Social media provides the ability to connect directly with consumers and interact on a more personal level.  To be sure, there are heavy regulations regarding communicating with patients in the pharma world, but it can be done effectively with the proper strategy in place.  This will help to change some of the preconceived notions about pharmaceutical companies.  It will help to create patients that are evangelists for your company, which will in turn lead to more prescriptions making it from the doctor’s office to the patient.  In addition, social media can help immensely in the area of education.  There are enormous amounts of information out there waiting to be found.  Leveraging social media tactics, this information can be made more findable and interactive.

In the end, PR for a pharma company will always be a challenge.  And leveraging social media tactics is by no means a silver bullet for the industry.  It, combined with a strategic approach to traditional PR, simply provides a more realistic shot at success.

Please note: this post was originally published on 12/5/07.

We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the use of social media as an effective tool in a PR pro’s arsenal.  Others across the blogosphere have long chronicled the use of social media in PR.  This is all well and good when you are dealing with consumer PR or even high-tech PR, but what about those industries that tend to fiercely resist social media?  It is easy when you are out on the bleeding edge to throw practicality to the wind.

The pharmaceutical industry is a perfect example of an industry that makes social media tough.  And rightfully so.  In pharma, there are very strict regulations that govern a company’s ability to speak directly to consumers without disclaimers.  This is the reason for the long disclaimers at the end of every pharma commercial that sound like they are being read by that Micromachine Man.

Scott Monty at the “Social Media Marketing” blog has discussed Pfizer’s attempt at implementing social media tactics by teaming up with Sermo to create a social networking site.  As Scott points out, Pfizer is able to get around regulatory requirements by shifting the audience from the consumer to the doctor.  Certainly, this is a valid start and an innovative way to get a foot in the door with social media.  But in the end, social media is about engaging with your consumers.  How to do this in the pharmaceutical world is a question that remains largely unanswered.

The answer is certainly not a simple one.  The FDA cannot let pharmaceutical companies communicate with consumers without regard for what they are saying—the subject matter is just too sensitive.  At the same time, the FDA has helped to create an atmosphere where big pharma companies live in fear of statistical anomalies.  Is it really necessary for me to know that 1 in 3200 people get a headache when they take a certain type of medicine?  There has to be a middle ground we can strike that allows industries like the pharma industry to dip their toes in the social media water.

Could the answer be as simple as asking pharma companies to follow established guidelines such as the WOMMA code of ethics?  If a pharma company chose to interact in a social networking community and disclosed right up front that it was there as a representative of said company, would we meet the requirements of transparency?  As it stands now, that would almost certainly be a violation of FDA law.  But if the company is upfront and honest about its intentions, should we be inhibiting its ability to participate in discussions that are happening with or without them?

In the end, the reason the FDA requires those Mircomachine Man-type disclaimers is to ensure that the consumer is as informed as possible.  By limiting the ability of a pharma company to participate in social media, are we not limiting the information available to the consumer?