This document provides a 7 step guide for pharma marketers on using social media. It begins by defining social media and listing common social media platforms. It then discusses reasons for using social media, including marketing, improving treatment success, business intelligence, product development, and customer support. The document outlines a social media ladder from listening to communities. It notes potential issues like regulatory compliance and adverse events. Examples of successful pharma social media use are also provided.

1. 7 Steps to Pharma Social Media
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How should a pharma marketer think when going into
social media?
By @vortexsurfer

2. 7 Steps to Pharma Social
Media
1. What is social media?
2. Reasons for using social media
3. Social media in your brand plan
4. Social media ladder
5. What can go wrong?
6. What can go right?
7. Great examples

3. 1. What is social media?
 The social media revolution is over
◦ All media is social & can be shared,
commented on, embedded, syndicated
 But, for the sake of argument…
◦ User-generated content
◦ Interactive dialogue between companies,
organizations and individuals
 What is not social media?
◦ Old school content websites

4. 1. What is social media?
 Types of social media
◦ Patient communities
 patientslikeme.com, patient organizations
◦ Healthcare professionals’ communities
 Meduniverse, Netdoktor Pro
◦ Facebook , YouTube, Twitter, Instagram,
Flickr, Pinterest, Wikipedia, Blogs

5. 2. Reasons for using social
media
 Marketing
◦ Increase sales
 Improve treatment success
◦ Influence patient behavior (treatment
adherence, diet, exercise), promote disease
awareness
 Business intelligence
◦ Listen to customers and competitors
 Product development
◦ Engage customers in product development
 Customer support

6. 3. Social media in your brand
plan
 Digital KPIs (fit into your business
goals)
◦ Define KPIs
◦ KPIs fulfilled in the SM channel or
elsewhere?
 Analytics
◦ Measure performance, adjust for higher
KPI fulfillment
 ROI
◦ See actual KPI fulfillment & cost

7. 4. Social media ladder
 Listen
 Promote and advertise
 Publish
 Build your own communities

8. 4. Social media ladder
 Listen
◦ Google Alerts
◦ search.twitter.com
◦ Google Insights for Search / Google
Trends
◦ Tools you pay for – numerous

9. Social media ladder - listen
 google.com/trends

10. 4. Social media ladder
 Listen
 Promote and advertise
◦ Make a fake ad in FB, get an idea of your
target group
◦ Sponsor a therapy area in a Healthcare
Professional’s network

11. 4. Social media ladder
 Listen
 Promote and advertise
 Publish
◦ FB pages
◦ FB apps
◦ Games & gamification
◦ Participate in general forums (use real
name)

12. Syrum by Boehringer
Ingelheim

13. 4. Social media ladder
 Listen
 Promote and advertise
 Publish
 Build your own communities

14. Build your own community

15. Communities
 Check this for more communities
http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare
-pharma-social-media-wiki/

16. 5. What can go wrong?
 Breach of regulatory compliance
◦ Sweden is one of the few countries in
Europe that has guidance

17. 5. What can go wrong?
 Your internal approval process
 Adverse event reporting
◦ Pharmacovigilance process
 Badvocates
◦ Negative sentiment in your channel
◦ Involve communications department and
have crisis management plan ready

18. Badvocates

19. 5. What can go wrong?
 No engagement
◦ An empty Facebook page is just sad
 Time
◦ Will you keep it up a year from now? You
can’t start a community and then close it
 You treating SM like a normal
campaign
◦ Not a one way channel
◦ You must be a part of the dialogue

20. 5. What can go wrong?
 Pharma industry risk aversion – rightly
so
◦ “Facebook would never have started if
they had our lawyers”

21. 6. What can go right?
 Engage customers in dialogue
 Possible high (viral) impact
 Low cost
◦ Lower cost than SEO/SEM
 Offline and online feed each other with
content and traffic

22. 7. Great examples
 Pfizer ”Can you feel my pain?”
◦ Petition site, FB page, Flickr image
uploads
 Meda Linicin (medical device) FB
page
 Genzyme Rare Disease Day in NL

23. Drive4COPD
 Boehringer Ingelheim
in US – multi-channel

24. Last slide
 There are no shortcuts to
engagement. Only great content
works.