Ryan LeeContent on social media must be purposeful or it will just be “content pollution.”
Overall, social content strategy received the lowest marks. So much more could be done with social media material, as Carter put it.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), according to the ‘Social Check-Up’ study, has the best social content strategy of any pharmaceutical business. Patient advocacy group tales, relevant podcasts, and reliable studies are just a few examples of the types of material used by BMS to bring value and maintain audience engagement.
The success of your social media content strategy will depend heavily on how well you focus on relevance and implement your plan. material should be able to serve a variety of goals, including sharing at optimal times (such as to promote awareness on specific days), patient-generated material for narrative, and sharing content from third-party sources. Aimlessness is a surefire recipe for “content pollution,” in Carter’s opinion.
Why, for instance, tell the reader that you’re at a congress if you don’t give them anything else to take away from the experience? Who cares if you’re going to a congress if you don’t tell us anything else we could find interesting? The pharmaceutical industry would do well to consider their target demographic and the messages they would find most compelling, according to Carter.
The study applauds Boehringer Ingelheim for making their material mobile-friendly and user-friendly by making use of a variety of formats and styles. For example, the firm frequently employs subtitles on Instagram videos to attract viewers who want to watch without sound.
Putting sponsored social media to the test
Even if social advertising expenditures have been cut due to the economy and iOS privacy changes, Carter insists that sponsored social is still an important tool for pharmaceutical businesses so long as it is used as part of a long-term and strategic plan. (rather than a one-off activation).
There is no need to “just assume” that patients appreciate your material when you use paid, she said. “You can really test versions to evaluate what performs best for specific audience segments, such as various pictures, text, or calls to action. Although I acknowledge the financial expense, I believe this to be an excellent method of assessment and education. After that, you may incorporate that knowledge into your organic writing.
According to Ogilvy Health, Pfizer is leading the pack when it comes to sponsored social media since the firm uses an always-on and peak campaign strategy, as well as because it customizes the graphics it employs depending on the population it’s trying to reach. Furthermore, Roche was singled out for its innovative use of paid marketing, which included obvious A/B testing across platforms including Facebook and Instagram.
Failure to capitalize on social networks’ potential for trust
Ogilvy’s community rating looks at how often and quickly pharmaceutical businesses publish and connect with their followers. It was discovered that Roche had the quickest response time, with representatives often responding to customers’ questions and comments on Facebook and Instagram in less than 24 hours, while other companies took up to three days.
According to Carter, this is a squandered opportunity, since the agency discovered that certain pharmaceutical corporations prefer not to reply to any criticisms on social media. firms that do respond (and do so quickly) are the ones that end up benefiting.
As one commenter put it, “an organization like Roche, who is monitoring comments on their own channel and having that opportunity to respond… it really does allow them to build trust with people who are posting on their posts.”
The research also highlights Boehringer Ingelheim as an organization that succeeds in consumer-facing social communications. To prove that there is a genuine person behind the message, “we noticed that wherever they respond, they always include that person’s name and then also often sign off with their own [community manager’s] name as well,” said Carter.
According to Carter, social listening is a great method for learning about certain internet demographics, while face-to-face market research may help pharma companies network with doctors. Quite a few advisory boards have been held, she noted.determining what they think they need from that pharma company, and then using this data to inform the social media strategy going forward,” the authors write.
Pharmaceutical firms might also benefit from keeping tabs on patient conversations happening on social media sites like TikTok.
“Every day, on TikTok, there are millions of conversations happening between patients with all different kinds of diseases,” explains Carter.
While most pharmaceutical businesses have a social media presence, it’s evident that pharma still has a ways to go before it can catch up to other industries in terms of the effect and consequence of social engagement. However, there is a significant opportunity for those pharmaceutical businesses who invest in utilizing it more successfully, since consumers are showing a growing willingness to connect with health and wellness-related issues on social media.