Part of the WEGO Health KnowledgeSite [3]
Many health marketing communications professionals serve the needs of patients. However, many times their voices are missing from conversations about the effectiveness of resources marketers use to educate and inform the public. To remedy this problem, we have partnered with WEGO Health to provide patient perspectives on how well health organizations are using a variety of new media technologies. Each Communications Resource Review features the voice of a WEGO Health Activist [4], one of social mediaŹ¼s most active 10 percent. These individuals are passionate about helping others lead healthier lives. While these reviews are not comprehensive, they provide health marketers with a sense of how typical patients may react to their efforts.
After a very slow beginning, primarily due to regulatory concerns, Big Pharma has been rapidly developing a Twitter presence [5] over the last six to nine months. As of October 2009, only three of the top ten pharmaceutical companies were not yet “tweeting” (Abbott, Wyeth and Merck).
As measured by the number of “followers,” @Novartis [6] is one of the most popular pharmaceutical Twitter accounts, with 3,780 (as of mid-December 2009), while @SanofiVoices [7] had only 252 (an unfair comparison, perhaps, because Sanofi’s audience is split across other streams, sharing followers with @SanofiPasteur [8]). Boehringer Ingelheim (@Boehringer [9]) and @Novartis have the oldest Twitter accounts, while Johnson & Johnson (@JNJComm [10]) is one of the most prolific “tweeters.”
The manner and amount of use is varied; some pharma companies distribute a Twitter version of press releases, while others engage in interactive communications. There is also distribution of branded tweets.
Interestingly, there seems to be a pronounced preference for Twitter over blogging in the pharma industry. One theory about the pharma Twitter preference was expressed [11] by BNET pharmaceutical marketing journalist/blogger Jim Edwards, “(because) compliance officials and lawyers think it’s harder to get into trouble in 140 characters than it is with the endless sheet of blank web space that is a blog.”
Dive Deeper: Read additional content from the WEGO Health KnowledgeSite.
Amy Kiel is a Health Activist seeking to share information and spread awareness about a wide variety of health topics. Her passions are for mental health, fibromyalgia, and chronic pain issues, but you will also find her sharing information, resources, and speaking out about pregnancy and other important health topics.
Amy's Comments
After taking a deeper look into how pharmaceutical companies are using Twitter I have to say that I find it really is a "mixed bag" in regards to how different companies are using this tool. I find that Novartis, for example, although possibly the most visible "tweeter" is not providing the kind of information that I find helpful as a Health Activist, in fact I found a lot of their posts to be redundant and consisting of the same message sent out in a slightly different format. I also found in their recent activity (as of mid-December 2009), the information to be very technical and not "user-friendly" for the general public.
Overall, I would say the majority of the information linked to by pharmaceutical companies is not meant for the average person. Those with a medical background and specific insight into the pharmaceutical industry might find the information more applicable and relevant. This said, I still found that I could draw out some key points, but again, its relevance for me as a Health Activist was low to moderate. So much of the information I found myself directed to was industry specific and not broad enough to apply to patients, caregivers, advocates and activists, but instead to those who are knowledgeable of the pharmaceutical industry's practices, clinical trials, and financial matters.
On the flip side, I did find GlaxoSmithKline [13] to have a much more personal feel in their twitter activity and often linking to actual blog posts. These posts were written by "real people" even though they may be people who are affiliated with the company in some way, the voice of each post was personal. I also found Sanofi-Aventis to have a much more friendly tone in their tweets and also more relevant information posted. Although they do not seem to tweet as often as some of the other companies, their posts held more value to me.
My overall impression is that there is great variation in the way the different pharmaceutical companies are approaching Twitter. I believe those that take a more general user-friendly approach, will find they are more well-received in the long run on Twitter and that they will be able to develop more of a relationship with Health Activists and prospective consumers as well.