Tag Archives: Facebook

An opportunity to earn the trust of consumers (pharma trust barometer)

Posted on August 30, 2011 | 4 Comments

Well at least the pharma industry is not at the bottom of the list. Gallup has released a new poll on which industries consumers have positive, neutral and negative views. The bad news is that pharma is once again near the bottom and, according to Gallup, has slipped 3% to a negative rating of 43%. While agency people continue to call for pharma to use social media they probably have not yet learned that a key element of social media engagement is trust. When almost half of consumers view your industry negatively social media marketing is not going to make any difference. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business of the drug industry

Tagged Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Gallup, Marketing, Pfizer, Pharmaceutical industry, Social media, Social media marketing

How Pharma Marketing Can Improve (Guest Post)

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 3 Comments

This is a guest post by Brian Shields: Reading through blog posts and tweetchats over the last year, it is obvious that there is a growing angst among the professional marketers within the healthcare space. Perhaps this is a biased sample, since I’m utilizing social media as the major information source and there are obvious frustrations for Pharma in this space. However, a biased sample or not, it is difficult to argue with the data being presented. Pharma marketers are on a path toward extinction and right now, their agency partners are the Paul Reveres ringing the warning bell. Continue reading →

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Posted in Prescription drug DTC marketing

Tagged ePocrates, Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Marketing, New York Times, RealAge, Social media, WebMD

Good DTC marketers don’t look for recognition

Posted on August 22, 2011 | 4 Comments

I know a lot of people in the pharma marketing business and I have to say that none of them are in DTC marketing because they are looking for “recognition”. They are in the business, for the most part, because it offers them a challenge and they believe in what they are doing. If you’re looking for recognition and for a lot of pats on the back you’re not only in the wrong industry you’re in the wrong profession. Continue reading →

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Posted in Working in the industry

Tagged Business, Facebook, Hollywood, Jonathan Richman, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Mental health, Social media

Pharma & Social Media: Who is the voice of the brand ?

Posted on August 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

While we continue to count the number or pages that have been removed from Facebook by pharma companies we seem to overlooking another key question: “Who, within the pharma organization, has the skills and knowledge to talk to consumers and be the voice of the brand on social media ?” Is it PR ? Is it marketing ? Is it someone within medical ? Probably a little bit of everything which is why the biopharma organizations needs a new position created to communicate with consumers via social media. Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Company, Consumer, Facebook, Health, Health care provider, Jonathan Richman, Marketing, Social media

Saluting the pharma social media pioneers

Posted on August 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

While some people, mostly agency people, have been playing tapps for the removal of Facebook branded pages there are still some pharma pioneers (thank you John Mack) who are moving forward with social network marketing. The folks at Sanofi and AZ to name a few continue to experiment with social media and they should be featured at the next social media conference, not for what they did, but to share how they won over legal,regulatory and management. Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Facebook, Internet marketing, Marketing, Pharmaceutical lobby, Rate of return, Sanofi-Aventis, Social media, Social media marketing

Quick survey: Why are you deleting your Facebook page

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

I contacted 5 brands that took down their Facebook pages today for a quick survey and found that the number one reason they were taking their pages down was “too much risk”. When I inquired whether they had heard about some new tools that allowed them to manage risk the answers were “no”. However what I also heard was “it’s just not worth the investment right now in people and other resources”. Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Consumer, Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Internet marketing, Marketing, Rate of return, Social media, Social media marketing

Pharma leaving Facebook, the bigger issue

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

The news today that many pharma companies are deciding to pull their Facebook branded pages misses a telling point. It tells me that either many pharma companies can’t see beyond push marketing or that their legal and regulatory groups have way too much power and are really limiting the effectiveness of DTC marketing. Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Company, Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Marketing, Marketing strategy, Patient, Social media, Social media marketing

Time to change the biopharma organization

Posted on August 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

My post last week on the challenge of retaining people resulted in a lot of great feedback and comments. Before biopharma companies can better compete in an era of changing healthcare it has to look inward at the organization first and foremost. To many big biopharma organizations have way too many layers (matrix organization) to compete today. They have to not only attract game changing talent they also need people who can ask “why are we doing it this way ?” Continue reading →

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Posted in Working in the industry

Tagged Borg, Business, Facebook, Health care, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Pharmaceutical industry, Sales

Pharma abandoning Facebook as engagement is being forced

Posted on August 10, 2011 | 5 Comments

Light the candles, the relationship between pharma and Facebook is nearing an all time low. As Facebook requires brand to engage vistors pharma is saying “NO” and making the decision to leave Facebook. Jonathan Richman is going to be keeping a list of brands that are leaving Facebook and I’m afraid it’s going to be majority rather than a minority. Is there anymore clear indication that pharma marketers don’t see the value in social media marketing and that legal and regulatory people are not ready to assume ANY risk ? Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Facebook, Jonathan Richman, Marketing, Rate of return, Social media, Social media marketing, Television, Web 2.0

Providing a better online product health website

Posted on August 9, 2011 | 3 Comments

While the FDA continues to delay on implementing social media guidelines DTC marketers can do more, a hell of lot more, with their interactive strategies to make them more relevant to consumers. It starts with the realization that consumers are probably going to come your product website and that there is a hell of an opportunity to answer their questions and provide them with information THEY want in language they understand. But it doesn’t stop there. Continue reading →

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Posted in Health information online

Tagged Consumer, Facebook, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Harvard Medical School, Health informatics, Mayo Clinic, Social media

Sure consumers are using social media for health but…

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 3 Comments

According to a post in this mornings eMarketer “In its April 2011 survey, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that 11% of US healthcare consumers use social networks to find or share health information and 8% use blogs. The respondents who use blogs and social networks for health purposes do so to comment about the healthcare system, to comment about doctors and hospitals and to share personal healthcare experiences with others.” The question then becomes who do they want in the “health conversation“? Continue reading →

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Posted in Social media and healthcare

Tagged Brand, emarketer, Facebook, Food and Drug Administration, Health care, Marketing, Social media, Social network