KEY TAKEAWAY: Only 11.5% of marketers can prove the quantitative impact of social Media, according to the biannual CMO Survey by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the American Marketing Association and Deloitte.  Has the social media marketing ship sailed?

Despite the use of social media marketing, almost half (47.9%) of marketers surveyed said they haven’t been able to show the impact yet on their business. More than 40% said they have a good qualitative sense of impact, while 11.5% said they can prove the impact of social quantitatively. That hurts.

What I have found is that DTC marketers want a clearer line between their marketing and ROI. Why? Because there is a good chance that marketing budgets are either going to remain flat or be cut as the political climate around drug pricing starts to heat up.  In addition, there really aren’t any “mass market” Rx drugs in development which means that DTC marketers have to target patient segments very carefully. But, will social media be included?

Procter & Gamble Co., the biggest advertising spender in the world, will move away from ads on Facebook that target specific consumers, concluding that the practice has limited effectiveness. This comes at a time when Facebook has found more flaws in its ad stats, and is making changes to give advertisers more accurate numbers.  It’s the third time since November that Facebook has disclosed reporting errors on metrics that advertisers rely on to plan or measure their campaigns.  In addition ad fraud is completely out of control. The best anyone can do is guess at the amount of fraud.

Here are some examples of mainstream pharma social media use..

INSIGHT:

1ne: DTC marketers should be setting up custom metric dashboards to measure their social media marketing, including impact on bounce rate, time on site and page views.

2wo: Dedicated social media people are also needed to help pharma develop a strategy based on insights from the brand team.  Pharma managers can use agencies, but often only an internal person has the in-depth knowledge required to develop a winning strategy.

3hree: Look to develop communities within your own brands and leverage them to help achieve brand objectives.