Revisiting Social Media Pharma

Partnerships In Clinical Trials 2012 Media Partner goBalto has teamed up with this blog to bring you weekly perspectives on the clinical trials and outsourcing industry. We are very excited to present you with weekly contributions leading up to this year's event.

We are all aware that the Life Sciences industry is focused on increasing /enhancing capabilities related to developing products/solutions that gain market acceptance and achieve successful commercialization.

Here Comes…the Value Proposition of Social Media…Clinical Research Alphabet Soup

Now, imagine that you could possibly reach 535 million people through Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn; this is 7.8% of the world population. If you take this a step further and only count people aged 10-64, one can reach 10% of the globe. Now limit your audience to those born in 2010. A startling 96% of those who were born in 2000 have joined a social network. What if you just wanted to reach people in the US? The US has the highest adoption of social media with 46% of the population. If you then consider the 3.5 billion drugs dispensed per year in the US (11 prescriptions per person per year on average), the social media statistic becomes even more interesting, as it means that by influencing only three channels of social media, it’s theoretically possible to influence your entire target population via social media.

Let’s consider how PepsiCo used social media in increase visibility in 2009 and 2010. In 2009, PepsiCo was “accused” of “Skipping This Year’s Super Bowl” (2009). Yes, PepsiCo, being persistent in social media land, had winning ads in 2010, this time it was “The Best Part” (http://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/?finalist=1264). This commercial was made via a social media contest where there was a contest to create the best ad for a Super Bowl commercial. Can you imagine this kind of commercial being created for one of the most important drugs for the last ten years, what about Viagra, Zoloft, or Lipitor? What would the general public create for these drugs? Could depression drugs be socially acceptable? We think so!

With these facts and the opportunity at stake, all interactive marketing should be leveraged to the maximum, especially social media. However, since many articles have come out recently with regards to the risk of using social media in life sciences, many are acutely aware of the risk in engaging an audience in a heavily regulated industry. This lack of engagement/communication is justified. The FDA has issued no clear policy on social media activity, but, yet, has censured usage. The latest news reports the FDA has again postponed the release of its first draft guidance for social media. And, as well are acutely aware, the life sciences industry is highly regulated. This lack of guidance has many pharma companies tiptoeing in the social media space, or avoiding it altogether.

There are many ways valuable ways to safely and effectively use social media to create value for yourself and your organization.

To provide a couple of examples, imagine listening to conversations here:

Or perhaps, what if you established some videos to interact like J&J has:

And just by listening and interacting you can drive awareness:

Companies can gain competitive intelligence and begin to understand how their product is perceived in the marketplace. Moreover, the value proposition becomes very clear when you start to consider the ability to drive awareness and a possibly shape sentiment! And, this is just the beginning.

goBalto is all about harnessing the power of the web. If you like our blog postings and would like to learn more about how goBalto and the Internet can help pharma and more specifically clinical trials feel free to contact us info@gobalto.com.

About the author:

Rosemarie Truman is the President and CEO of RHT Consulting. She has 19 years of global strategy and transformation experience working with C-suites and Boards of Directors as well as senior leadership teams. She has worked for the leading companies in nearly every industry segment. One of Ms. Truman’s specialties is “growth breakthrough innovation” (GBT), where she has three patents pending. A few of the foundational capabilities required in identifying and driving GBTs include strategic marketing, innovative use of digital channels and an understanding of how to grow “share of voice”. As such, Rosemarie has led many integrated digital media strategy engagements that include the creation of viral social media platforms and subsequent execution of campaigns that lead to increased market share. Her engagements have consistently resulted in >200% increase in share of voice which has led to an increase in market share capture of >50%.

Ms. Truman uses her strategy consulting background and GBT experience to conceptualize and implement a new industry-changing framework for life science companies called Industry Leading R&D Performance (ILRDP). Rosemarie is currently working with a range of biopharmas, biotechnology and medical device companies as well as leading technology transfer government and university organizations. Key focus areas include: over arching strategy development, picking the right growth opportunities, creating breakthrough productivity in development, redefining technology transfer paradigms and workforce strategy. Ms. Truman also leads strategic and tactical marketing for a few companies; this includes three social media platforms across 36 channels.

Ms. Truman completed PhD work in Software Engineering from Oxford University. She also earned an Executive “Mini-MBA” Program, sponsored by Booz Allen & Hamilton, with instructors from Harvard Business School and INSEAD, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Smith College and Princeton University while earning undergraduate degrees in Mathematics, Economics, and Industrial Engineering and Operations Research.