Social Media in PharmaMaking it Happen
Gary Monk
Social Media in PharmaMaking it Happen
Gary Monk
Presentation includes speaker notes on slides
@garymonk
garywmonk
[email protected] have delivered social media programmes inside and outside of pharma and understand the challenges, I hope I can share some useful learning’s!
This presentation centres around Facebook, it is the biggest social media platform however the learning’s can be transferred to almost any social media platform or programme
There are other pharma companies on Facebook. These ‘FAIRLY BIG 4’ corporate pages have been compared and contrasted. The Top 2 pages by likes are J&J and Bayer. A subject for another presentation...
This presentation is not about beating up ANY of these companies, rather identifying and sharing valuable learnings
ALL of these companies deserve recognition for being brave and actually going out there into the social space!
Terms and conditions are warm, welcoming and friendly. The language is fun, yet explains clearly WHAT is allowed, in terms of comments and WHY
Example of Boehringer using human language to outline community rules
Boehringer have an interesting approach curating exciting health technology news and innovations in combination with their own news
“So we're changing from just Boehringer Ingelheim 'boring pharma company', just giving out its news, to become more of a news source.”
Quote via PM Live on why they have taken this approach
Approach
The content approach thus combines a blend of internal and external news
Responding
Boehringer respond quickly to questions in a friendly way
Responding
Responses are considered, compliant but warm
Engaging
Boehringer like to ask questions and they usually get a good response
Infographics
Note Boehringers use of infographics and the split between German and English language
• Nice friendly introductory explanation as to what can and can’t be discussed• Very transparent list, If you choose
to list these in your own page, consider how you word these to ensure they remain friendly• Consider the resources required to
deal with non-english or non-local language. What language do your stakeholders want to express themselves in?
Good transparency from Novartis, asking employees to ‘announce’ themselves in Social Media
Approach
Novartis produces engaging content primarily internally focused, around the company
Responding
Novartis are very good at responding quickly. In this case they had to hide a product mention for compliance reasons however responded back with clear next steps for support
Infographics
Novartis also use engaging infographics
Employee support
Novartis employees strongly support the Facebook site and help to dilute any negativity
GSK are clear on what is allowable on their page and explain why
ApproachGSK talk primarily about themselves, they use interesting hooks to generate engagement such as celebrity endorsement i.e. F1 driver Jenson Button. They also had a great sponsorship campaign of the London 2012 Olympics
Historic negative comments
In a previous blog I highlighted historic negative comments to GSK. These seem to have reduced. It is not clear if they becoming less prominent or if GSK are taking a stronger line in terms of moderating them
Non English comments welcome
GSK have a global approach with comments allowed in multiple languages
Strong employee support
Employees are very positive. Even assuming the ‘KILLERS’ comment is negative and not simply an off topic reference to the band of the same name, it is diluted by the positivity cultivated on the page.
Responding
A really nice example of GSK responding quickly and openly to questions about a negative GSK news story. It is very important to get the responses to these constructive questions right, and of course to not hide these sort of comments!
Responding
Another example of a typical response although a little slower
Pfizer are clear what is and what is not permissible. They do suggest people reach out to them which is a nice touch
Approach
Pfizer use strong news articles that people tend to interact with. These are very much focused on Pfizer
Unanswered questions
Unanswered questions
There are several recent questions asked of Pfizer on their page and they elect not to reply. It is important to consider your approach. Usually it is a convoluted legal process that prevents responses being given to questions in a timely manner, rather than a desire not to talk to people
Strong employee support
Employees are extremely ‘loving’ to Pfizer. It would be good to see at least some discussion here with differing view points
Different companies, different tones and styles however some common principles on using corporate social media
Page likes
43367 95748 92989 84545
All companies have significant numbers of page likes
Average post likes
99 153 171 347
Boehringer have a significant number of average post likes, partly driven by rich media such as video and curating exciting and relevant healthcare news
Average post comments
4.4 4.6 5.5 4.3
All companies are generating a similar amount of comments with GSK slightly ahead
# posts last 3 months
25 26 25 37
All companies are generating good interactions with their posts and could consider increasing the volume of quality content that they post
Learnings
• Human and friendly ‘engagement policy’• Defined process for managing comments• Rich content schedule• Approval processes to support a quick &
human response• Stakeholder value?• Consider approach to multiple languages