Category: Pharma

Is Pharma getting too excited about social media?

This is the closing question in a thoughtful interview with
Anish Shindore of Novartis in Spain.
He argues, essentially, that social media is a means, not an end, and that the
real focus should be in developing good drugs, because that is where the real
competition is.

Well, yes and no. Of course, if you have the wrong products,
no amount of marketing is going to compensate. But if you are going to invest
anything at all in marketing, social media has changed the rules of the game.
The ability to target and interact with individuals has meant that what you
say, how you say it, where you say it – it’s just not the way it was even five
years ago.

“We’re not doing social media. It’s just too risky…. It’s a waste of money… We’re doing fine without it.”

And with that one sentence, your plan to bring your company’s marketing into the 21st century is scuppered.

Gaining internal buy-in for a social media programme is still one of the greatest digital obstacles many companies face. In the pharmaceutical industry, it can be particularly difficult. The sector has been very slow to adopt social media, for a variety of reasons, and according to a recent survey by PMLiVE, 17.2% of people working in or for the sector still think that management approval is the biggest challenge of all.

So if you’re a comms or marketing director who understands how crucial social media has become in every sector; or if you are a visionary CEO or vice-president who is eager to reach out to stakeholders – how do you overcome the scepticism of your colleagues and (possibly) bosses?

Talk to executives in the pharmaceutical sector about social media, and there is still a lot of fear, confusion – and disinterest. Many executives are aware that social media has been a powerful marketing tool in other sectors, but are unsure how it can be applied in their own regulated industry, and don’t know where to start.

Indeed, the top digital challenge for pharma companies in 2014, according to a recent survey by Digital Futures 2014, is “unclear strategy”. Working this out must be a top priority both for the sector as a whole and for individual companies, as no headway can be made without a well-thought-out plan of action; dabbling in social media hoping to stumble across a tactic that works is a colossal waste of time and money.

“We really need to make a start on social media, but have no real direction.”

“We have a social media programme, but it’s not accomplishing anything. We’re wasting our resources.”

If you work for, or head, a pharma company, those words may sound very familiar. According to Digital Futures 2014, an online survey of people working in the industry, the biggest digital challenge in pharma this year is formulating a clear strategy.

This is true for pharma as a whole – and also for individual companies. It’s not altogether surprising. Many are still at the very beginning of their social media journey (if that), and strategy is the very first thing you need to work out.

For pharma in particular, the challenges of entering the social media arena can be serious, and therefore many companies are still feeling their way very cautiously. For others (and this happens in all industries), social media is a box-ticking exercise rather than a well-thought out plan.

Social media is still quite new, and there are many companies — and entire industries — which are still unsure how to use it, are afraid of it, and are concerned that the whole thing is a fad.

One great example is this blog about whether pharma should abandon social media, by Zoe Dunn, an American digital strategist. Ultimately, she concludes that yes, pharma can use social media, but only if they commit to the long-term and have a proper strategy in place — and who can disagree with that?

But she doesn’t sound convinced of her own case. Along the way, she airs deep concern about whether social media is a suitable platform for “serious” pharma, and whether it is a sustainable strategy.