Health 2.0 For Pharmaceutical Companies
In practicing what I preach (involvement in social media), I spend a bit of time each day on LinkedIn, following various discussions and participating in a number of groups focused on the future of marketing or industries that I think have great potential for Web 2.0.
Regarding the latter, I think healthcare provides one of the most compelling examples of an industry that is in the process of being transformed by social media. Thousands and thousands of people are online talking about healthcare issues like conditions, treatments, recommendations of practitioners and healthy living. The opportunity is for healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies to figure out how to engage in these discussions in order to build stronger, longer lasting customer relationships.
There are numerous LinkedIn groups focused on Health 2.0 and a lot of smart people within the groups trying to figure out the way through the labyrinth that is today’s healthcare.
One of these very smart people is Natalie Bourre who recently launched a site called Pharmaceutical Marketing Coach that provides free online pharmaceutical marketing training.
I recently sat down with Natalie to talk about the opportunities that Web 2.0 provides for pharmaceutical companies.
A few highlights:
A subset of Web 2.0 for healthcare and pharmaceutical companies is Health 2.0. Health 2.0 is all about content (Web 1.0) and community (Web 2.0). Health 2.0 tools promote collaboration between patients, as well as between patients and their caregivers. Health 2.0 is driving the evolution towards customer-centric care.
Just about any social media application that you can think of has applicability for pharmaceutical companies: blogs, communities, podcasts, collaborative wikis, tagging, user generated content can all play a role. However, these are tactics and they come last. You must start with the customer and overall business objectives first. It is only when you clearly understand these that you should start thinking about tactics.
Despite the apparent Greenfield opportunities that Health 2.0 provides, there are serious risks that face pharma companies should they decide to dip their toe into the social media pool. What if they hear of an adverse reaction to a drug while monitoring discussions or what if all comments about a drug are positive? What is the pharma company’s ethical responsibility to report on or add fair balance information to these discussions?
Considering these issues, the benefits still appear to outweigh the risks. Social media essentially provides a 24/7 focus group that can provide insights on drugs, conditions and treatments that can all contribute to better product development and more effective marketing initiatives.
To start experimenting and gain learning in a low-risk environment, pharma companies should deploy some of these tools inside the organization first. Try a few things, see what works, gauge the reaction of the organization and then think about external deployment.
The full transcript of our interview can be found here.
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