Time for the pharma industry to realize that social media is not just a placebo?
But why are pharma companies so hesitant to make advantage of social media to promote their products or services? First of all, due to the complexity of the market and legislation, the pharma industry needs more time than average to adopt innovation and trends of all kind. Not having to face strict legal restrictions gives other industries more freedom of movement in their advertising strategies.
Besides that, the delicacy that comes with pharma products and services increases hazards of backfire when the general public starts to share negative opinion and experiences as a respond to the pharma industry’s commercial social messaging. An example: You might consider Facebook for a massive information campaign to inform young parents on vaccinating their children based on evidence-based facts, but are you ready to deal with the anti-vax voices? Conversation needs to be restricted, as medication is a too delicate topic to let the public debate on social media start living its own life. In addition, community management and pharmacovigilance monitoring are time- and budget-consuming processes where solid restriction is essential for pharma companies. Altogether, the industry tends to remain in the safe zone rather than risking moving into the eye of the storm.
No need to be hesitant, do the social media giants believe. They even actively think along on how to facilitate advertising for over-the-counter drugs in the context of social responsibility. Facebook recently decided for Belgium, Italy and Germany to give pharma companies the opportunity to turn off user comments on their social media communication, both for paid and organic. This new approach will avoid for the general public to potentially lead the conversation towards mass hysteria, based on false induction, where the pharma industry is built on deductive reasoning.
Snapchat on the other hand positions itself as the perfect platform for information and sensitization for health-related topics towards teenagers. Some subjects that are an important concern of this generation are often still considered to be taboo or difficult to open a conversation on, like for example contraception and sexually transmittable diseases. Snapchat is not really a controversial social platform due to its informal communication style and absence of abundant negative comments. Moreover, Snapchat considers the distinctive possibility of sharing content that disappears after 24 hours to be the perfect asset to provide this type of information to this audience in an informal way.
The range of opportunities for the pharma industry on social media is highly versatile and nearly untapped. This is remarkable, as social media advertising gives the possibility of more specifical targeting and has a lower CPM than traditional TV and radio advertising. Where at this stage the message stays general and shallow, one type of medication can be recommended to different target audiences with adapted messaging. The same painkiller can therefore be targeted to sports practitioners to relieve muscle pain and to women between 16 and 40 years old against menstruation pain. Age and gender specific medication on the other hand can be targeted to solely relevant audiences. Couch syrup for kids could then be exposed particularly to young parents and pregnancy tests to young women. We are evolving towards a communication where the information for the target audience should be at its most relevant. If not, you risk increasing the gap in running behind on competition. As communication expert, it is a duty to make the marketing mix more appealing and interesting by putting product attributes on the side and by focusing the communication on patients’ specific needs. The impact of pharma marketing will not only increase because we can work more focused with the same budget, it will also improve brand perception and increase differentiation between competitors.
The most impactful advantage of social media advertising is tracking of behavior. A TV commercial overwhelms the broad audience with different messages. What the consumer consequently does in response to being exposed to this advertising? Nobody knows. A funnel approach assures reaching the exact required audience and provides the possibility to collect insights about patient groups’ needs and how we can respond accordingly. It gives us the chance to capture a patient journey and can give insights on drug use and will therefore have a dynamic impact on public health. It is important to realize that pharma ethics are not only concerned with commercial activities, but are more than ever focused on helping people, even though this is not yet the perception of the general public. Imagine a situation where figures from social media are indicating that millennials have the reflex to seize medication way too quickly. Pharma companies will take their social responsibility by taking up an advisory role in moderating drug use. And which channel is the most appropriate to share this advice?
The time that social media was only a communication tool to share personal experiences of individuals is long gone. By adapting to commercial needs, it has instead become a significant and indispensable part of the marketing strategy. Even for an industry as regularized as pharma there is a place on social media. When the industry becomes more daring and gets out of its comfort zone it will eventually find the path towards social media advertising.