pharma & facebook trends

PHARMA &FACEBOOKThree Emerging Trends

AUGUST 12, 2011The day that Facebook opened comments on pharma’s pages

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

APRIL 2011:Rumors suggest that Facebook will no longer allow Pharma companies to “turn-off” commenting on pages.

MAY 2011:Facebook informs their Pharma clients via email of their change in policy which will no longer allow Pharma companies to “turn-off” commenting on any properties that are not solely dedicated to a prescription brand-name drug.

AUGUST 2011:August 12th is the first day that commenting was opened on pharma Facebook pages. Several companies closed their pages prior to this date but many stayed the course.Companies evaluated their Facebook strategy

Companies are implementing & optimizing their strategies.

(With a few key trends emerging)

ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN PHARMA AND CONSUMERS EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

• Consumers wouldn’t want to talk about their health information on facebook• People would post adverse

events or say bad things• The FDA wouldn’t allow it

What pharma thought would happen:

What actually happened:

• Consumers are sharing their stories and feedback• People are asking questions

about their products• No FDA warning letters

have been issued

TREND 1: RALLYING AROUND A CAUSEPharma companies are using Facebook pages as a great place to build community and awareness surrounding diseases and conditions that they’re working to cure.

TREND 1: RALLYING AROUND A CAUSEMost popular pharma Facebook pages support a cause.• Bayer’s “I am ProHeart” has just

under 50K “likes” with some of their posts generating nearly 400 comments

• Over 64K people ‘like’ Sanofi-Pasteur and March of Dime’s “Sounds of Pertussis” page, which educates parents about Pertussis - more commonly known as whooping cough - a highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease for infants

TREND 2: STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPSRegardless of the industry, consumers will turn to a company’s Facebook page in search of customer support. The moment of truth is how brands handle these situations.

TREND 2: STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPS

Pharma has 2 choices: 1. Delete the comment2. Address the need

While its hard to know how many comments companies have deleted, evidence suggests that Pharma companies are actively addressing their consumer’s requests

TREND 3: SUPPORTING HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALSPharma is keeping all of their consumers in mind – including those that use their products in their daily work-life and put their reputation on the line when selecting them for their patients.

TREND 3: SUPPORTING HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALSAbbott Nutrition’s page dedicated to Night Nurses: • They offer suggestions to help

manage work/life balance for nurses working the night shift

• The page started in January 2010 and has over 2600 likes and an active community of nurses contributing to the conversation

J&J’s Nursing Notes• J&J’s goal is to provide

information to and engage the nursing community

• This page has over 44K likes

WAIT A MINUTE, YOU SAY. ISN’T IT A LITTLE EARLY TO IDENTIFY TRENDS?Well, aren’t you savvy? The answer is YES – it’s a little early.

But in the midst of so many people saying that Pharma shouldn’t be on Facebook, we must give a nod to the companies proving the value of being there for their consumers; to note some of the early

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, baby steps – if you will, of Pharma on

Facebook in its beginning days of real engagement with their consumers.