Pharma’s Top 10 Effortsin Social Media

JD LasicaSocialmedia.bizjd@socialmedia.biz

Top 10 Pharma efforts

J&JGlaxo-Smith-Kline

BayerSanofi-AventisNovartis

AstraZenecaUSBristol-Myers SquibbRochePfizer

Boehringer Ingelheim

1. Johnson & Johnson

Marc Monseaudirector of corporate communications

Johnson & Johnson

Hundreds of reader comments on JNJ BTW & Kilmer house blogs since 2007. (# of adverse events reported: 0 )

J&J purchased the online community Children With Diabetes in 2008 for a reported $6-7 million.

90+ videos on YouTube channel. Rob Haper, J&J's director of video communications, produces videos with human interest angle.

Its division Ortho-McNeil-Janssen launched the ADHD Moms community on Facebook.

Active Twitter presence with 2,120 followers. Twitter grade: B

Johnson & Johnson

The online community’s goal is to promote understanding of the care and treatment of diabetes, especially in children; to increase awareness of the need for unrestricted diabetes care for children at school and daycare; to support families living with diabetes; and to promote understanding of research into a cure.

Children with Diabetes

Johnson & Johnson

McNeil Pediatrics, a division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, selects Mom-bassadors -- women who are passionately committed to ADHD care giving. Here they share their experiences in how they have helped care for, celebrate and support their children to overcome the daily challenges of ADHD year-round.

Mom-bassadors

2. Glaxo-Smith-Kline

Glaxo-Smith-KlineGlaxo-Smith-Kline’s

alliConnect is the official corporate blog for alli, the only FDA-approved OTC weight loss product.Also, allicircles at http://

community.myalli.com/ is a support community.

Glaxo-Smith-KlineThe GSK blog More Than Medicine says it is “expressly uninterested in promoting GSK brands” and will focus on creating a dialogue about the pressing issues facing the healthcare industry in the U.S., says Michael Fleming, senior director of social media at GSK.

Modest YouTube channel with 12 videos.

Modest Facebook presence, with 644 members and 30 wall posts

On Twitter, @GSKUS has 1,485 followers, Twitter grade: B

3. Bayer

Bayer

BayerDidget is a  new social network and blood glucose monitoring tool for young people living with diabetes in the United Kingdom. The network connects directly into each participating youth's Nintendo DS and rewards the user for building consistent blood glucose testing habits and meeting glucose targets. 

Bayer also sponsors MSGateway, a patient community for patients with MS. It has 12,000-plus members, 200,000+ posts and has led to increased global sales of Betaferon. Similarly, myMSmyWAY is a collaboration between Bayer Healthcare, Microsoft and the National MS society.

Bayer developed the Living with Hemophilia website to share some practical tools and strategies for living with hemophilia.

Bayer on Twitter: German only; 239 followers; protects their tweets. Twitter grade: F

4. Sanofi-Aventis

Sanofi-AventisOn May 15, Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis launched Sanofi-aventis.tv, an interactive video news site as part of its global effort to increase transparency and understanding of the pharmaceutical company's operations.

Geoffroy Bessaud, head of corporate communications, said the site is an extension of the company-wide initiative to transform Sanofi-Aventis into a global healthcare leader. “We are setting up new tools for communicating, within the company and outside of the company,” he said. “The Web TV site is part of that.”

The site has six themed channels to reach different stakeholder groups, including patients, healthcare professionals, employees, media, financial analysts and shareholders. It is available in English and French.

SanofiaventisTV is just beginning a Twitter presence, with 496 followers. Oddly, posts are in English & French, instead of separate Twitter channels. Twitter grade: C

5. Novartis

NovartisNovartis has developed CML Earth, a social network that connects Chronic Myeloid Leukemia patients. The site welcomes patients, patient groups and healthcare professionals from around the world.

Facebook fan page with 2,183 fans, but no consistent presence there.

No YouTube presence.

Mediocre presence on Twitter: 3,038 followers; no personality; used as broadcast mechanism. NovartisTrials has 358 followers. Twitter grade: C-

6. AstraZenecaUS

AstraZenecaUSAstraZenecaUS has created My Asthma Story, a stand-alone website accompanied by a YouTube channel around its product Symbicort. The company uses the site and YouTube channel to drive its audiences bi-directionally.

On this channel, viewers hear stories from ordinary people coping with the challenges of asthma. It then demonstrates how Symbicort becomes an integral part of their regimen to manage asthma.

Poor use of Twitter: all of its tweets are outgoing, one-way communications. 1,780 followers. Twitter grade: D

Almost no Facebook presence: fan page with 121 fans and no updates.

7. Bristol-Myers Squibb

Bristol-Myers SquibbIn September 2008, Bristol-Myers Squibb launched the Advanced Breast Cancer Community, an information source and online community for advanced (metastatic) breast cancer patients, caregivers, family and friends.

AdvancedBreastCancerCommunity.org represents the collective thinking of a partnership among 13 of the leading breast cancer patient advocacy organizations in the United States, The Advocate Partners and Inspire. This website changes to reflect new research, treatment and clinical trials information.

No presence on Twitter other than an empty bmsinfo page.

Facebook group has 394 members, 37 wall posts, 22 photos.

8. Roche

RocheOn July 22-23, 2009, Roche Diabetes Care invited 29 diabetes specialists and bloggers to a Social Media Summit. Workshops helped Roche to ‘listen and learn’ from the opinions & input of others.The goal was to help bloggers/online advocates craft a manifesto for working together in the interest of the patient community, and to spur an open discussion about Pharma’s engagement in diabetes social media, including best practices.One output of the conference: a centralized web directory of all diabetes resources, so that patients and doctors would have to remember only a single URL.A second output: patient messaging, with prominent patients connecting more closely with mainstream media to get the word out and help change the image of diabetes to something more positive.No Facebook or YouTube presence.

Roche_com has 1,920 Twitter followers. Twitter grade: B

9. Pfizer

PfizerPfizer is launching its first social networking initiative by teaming up with Private Access. The social network will bring together patients and clinical trial researchers. Once the site goes live, patients will have the opportunity to confidentially post personal health information that will be made available only to researchers studying their particular condition. Trial sponsors can use the network to recruit patients; patients will be able to learn more about the studies that relate directly to them.

Almost no Facebook presence: fan page with 1,880 fans and no updates.

No YouTube channel.

@pfizer_news has 2,371 followers. Strictly one-way communication. Twitter grade: C-

10. Boehringer Ingelheim

John Pughdirector of globalcorporate communications

Boehringer Ingelheim Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim is making smart use of Twitter, using it to post not just company information but to recommend health-related articles and information. Twitter grade: A-

John Pugh, who handles BI’s Twitter account, says 70% of his job responsibilities involve social media and the development of the company's presence in these new channels.

Facebook group with 1,200 members, 85 wall posts, 21 posts.

However ...

While there are a handful of other social media efforts in the marketplace, Pharma remains well behind the curve in social media compared to other sectors such as tech, cable, retail, sports, even autos. Regulation should not be used as an excuse for failing to engage.

CSR: A missed opportunity

One area rich with possibility: Using social media to bring greater awareness to corporate social responsibility efforts. But few pharma companies are doing so.

Good CSR focuses on both bottom line and public good. It extends beyond marketing to tie into strategic business objectives.

CSR extends to internal and external constituents, focusing on building global brand, employee attraction & retention, client and partner attraction & retention.

Campaigns should be tied to Internet-enabled one-to-one gifting. See DonorsChoose, Kiva, UniversalGiving.

Thank you!

JD LasicaFounder, Socialmedia.bizemail: jd@socialmedia.bizTwitter: @jdlasica

Sources:• http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-pharma-social-media-wiki/• Ron Callari, InventorSpot.com• Original research