The Life Sciences space is very competitive, but also incredibly cautious. And it’s this cautiousness that has slowed the adoption of social media. However, patients and health care providers both rely on the web for information. They want to research and learn independently. Social media provides an opportunity for Life Sciences companies to publish controlled content and messaging, drive inbound traffic to websites, and respond to negative press in a timely and deliberate manner. Social media also provides an excellent opportunity to engage with centers of influence and Key Opinion Leaders. Below are a few companies who have leveraged social media successfully, all the while remaining compliant.
Pfizer has recognized the opportunity in sharing educational content with HCPs and consumers. Pfizer's Facebook and Twitter posts stream on the homepage of their corporate website. Content promotes community involvement, thought leadership and corporate news and press releases. Pfizer utilizes SlideShare which is brilliant. Their SlideShare postings contain documents, transcriptions, and presentations. They remain compliant by avoiding the promotion of drugs through their posts. Also, anytime you link to an external site from Pfizer's website you receive a pop-up that says “This link will take you to an external web site. We are not responsible for their content.” This is a smart additional layer of protection. Pfizer Facebook posts can garner 96 to over 430 likes with about 10-15 shares. Their "good work" and "donations" postings generate the highest likes. Tweets average 1-13 retweets.
Merck is also experiencing similar results. Their "Merck Heroes” postings recognize great things employees are doing in the industry and community. Additionally, some of Merck's content resides on their corporate newsroom and a lot of content is posted on their Merck Engage site and is already approved for external sharing. It's not exactly a blog but more focused on healthy living content. Merck Facebook posts average between 25-50 likes with 1-2 shares per post. Tweets average 1-2 retweets with actual content, like how to control your diabetes, averaging slightly higher, around 5 retweets. In 10 days Merck saw a 6.2% increase in followers on Twitter.
But social media isn't for content delivery alone. Many Life Sciences companies choose to engage on LinkedIn, primarily as a recruiting tool. Through the use of social media tools and marketing automation, recruitment can be targeted, and candidates can be nurtured as well as scored based on their engagement with company content. And even if your company is resistant to publishing on social media, it doesn't mean they can't use the information posted by others. Social media is one of the most powerful discovery and listening tools. Through social media you can gain exposure to competitive information, measure sentiment, and possibly uncover new drug potential based on the conversations of HCPs and consumers.
Social media within the Life Sciences space is still an emerging trend. Many companies are cautious given compliancy constraints, but social media opportunity should not be ignored. Customers and HCPs want to research independently and social media is one of the most effective ways to drive inbound web activity. It’s important that those companies looking to embark on social have a strong social media compliance approval process in place, pre-approved comments and responses, and an internal policy published. Integrate your social strategy into your multichannel marketing strategy. Social tactics should develop advocates, communities, and potential opportunity. Convert unknown visitors to known visitors through form strategies. Use a contact’s digital body language to deliver relevant content to the right audience. Gain insight through client interaction, potential content ideas from shared content and follower feedback, and develop a digital advertising strategy by understanding where your audience engages external of your site.