Drug companies and social media: Is there a match?

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Saturday, July 18th, 2009

About the Author

Richard Meyer is a passionate Internet DTC marketer with over 15 years of progressive experience in consumer marketing who`s worked on top pharmaceutical brands like Cialis, Prozac and Sarafem, as well as two years with Medtronic Diabetes. He is currently consulting for his own company, Online Strategic Solutions, and writes a DTC column for PM 360 magazine and blogs for Eye for Pharma in addition to his own blog, World of DTC Marketing.

According to Forrester 3 out of 4 US Internet users use social technology and time spent on social networks is growing at 3X the overall Internet rate. On top of that 93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media. So from all this you might ask why the hell hasn’t the drug industry embraced social media and leveraged it more? The answer to that is that for some reason drug marketing, to consumers, has become to complex at a time when consumers want simple and simple seems to work. However the key question to ask is “do patients/prospects/customers want to talk with drug companies and if so what do they want to talk about?”

Here are reasons that people may want to talk to drug companies..

1. Can you tell me more about how the medications works? Going to any product.com drug site and without a degree it’s almost impossible to determine the method of action for most drugs but in my recent research people do want to understand how drugs work. The drug industry needs to do a lot better job explaining exactly how drugs work and it needs to be in language and illustrations that 8th graders can understand. Legal/Regulatory Risk: low

2. Will your medication interact with my other medications? This is perhaps the biggest question that most patients have when they are considering new medications. While physicians may not have the time to talk about new medications and potential interactions with other drugs pharmacists have been trying to pick up the slack but retail pharmacies are not often the ideal place to discuss prescription medication interactions. In addition there are a whole range of OTC products that are being introduced everyday that could potentially interact with prescription drugs and as we have seen a lot of them are now what the label says they are. Legal/Regulatory Risk: Medium Pharma should always recommend that patients go to their family doctor and stress the importance of building a medical and prescription history so that HCP’s can better diagnose and recommend treatment. In addition patients may ask about drug interactions and ask the wrong question or mispronounce the medication thus getting bad advise.

3. What is the best time to take my medication? Believe it or not a lot of people want to know the best time to take their medications for maximum efficacy. This is also a good time to relay the potential danger of splitting pills to save money. Legal/Regulatory Risk: low

4. Why do your drugs cost so much? Politicians have done a great job blaming the drug industry for high prices but in reality some of the policies implemented by the same politicians have led to these high prices. Inform the public about the costs to develop drugs while at the same time provide a list of resources to help them pay for their drugs.Legal/Regulatory Risk: low

5. Can I use your drug for…? This is where it gets really tricky for the drug industry and where they need to inform patients that they need to talk to their physician. Any suggestion of off label use is going to result in an FDA bitch slap and any suggestion that a medication is right for them without the patient talking to their doctor is also trouble. Legal/Regulatory Risk: Hot

6. What else can I do to get better in addition to taking prescription medications?Basic disease state information and suggestions on things like diet and exercise can easily be recommended but I believe again there would have to be a disclaimer stating that the best course of action is to discuss it with your doctor. Legal/Regulatory Risk: Medium

7. Can I talk to a medical person? Drug companies use though leaders to talk to other HCP’s but I have found that one of the best ways to also use them is for online chats and to write content for websites (added credibility). The key again is that you have to be completely transparent about the physicians relationship and ensure that he talks about general medical conditions and not specific. If necessary move the chat to a third party health portal where your thought leader can talk more about a variety of treatment options.
Legal/Regulatory Risk: Medium

8. The drug industry sucks I want all of you snake oil salespeople to die ! OK, you’re going to get people feel that the drug industry is akin to user car salespeople. The fact is that these people are out there anyway and there is nothing you can do about them except to delete their posts/conversations and insist that they join life on Earth again. Legal/Regulatory Risk: low

Finally the one thing you might want to consider is can social media help me generate awareness about a condition and medication? A site for a new osteoporosis drug that builds a sense of community could do wonders while a site around allergies might not do so well because there really is nothing new happening in that arena. Not to long ago I wrote about the low awareness of male osteoporosis and social media might be a great way to reach care givers a nudge to get their husbands, dad’s or uncles into their doctor for a bone scan before it becomes too late.

The key factor in all of this learning to listen to customers and not talk at them like there is a force field around you. “Marketers don’t understand channels where you have to talk and listen at the same time…” This is especially true for DTC marketers who need to learn to listen more and sell less.