Did you know the average person has seven social media accounts? Social media has become embedded in the daily routines and lives of people worldwide. It’s clear that social media is now a primary way for companies to engage, educate, and interact with their audiences.

Through social media, a pharmaceutical company can:

  • Build brand awareness
  • Engage, educate, and interact with patients and healthcare professionals
  • Create an online community promoting awareness around disease management and prevention
  • Attract the media
  • Connect with industry professionals and peers
  • Engage with researchers
  • Demonstrate the value you can offer potential employees

By now most of us accept that social media works. The question becomes are you using it correctly and are you truly reaching your target audience? Let’s explore what some core components of a successful pharma social media strategy.

Which Social Media Platforms Should Pharma Use?

  • Facebook – With almost 2 billion users, Facebook continues to reign the social media empire with the most engaged users – 74% of members are logging on daily according to Pew Research Center. The Facebook live feature is a great way to engage with your audience. Idea: Stream content on women’s health or host a cardiovascular disease Q&A session.
  • YouTube – With the rise of video in digital marketing, YouTube is an essential pick when it comes to your marketing strategy. With over a billion users on mobile alone, YouTube reaches more 18-49-year-olds than any broadcast or CABLE TV network. Idea: Host a video series recruiting new candidates or feature an educational segment on rare diseases.
  • LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network reaching an audience of 450 million users. A recent study showed that 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn and 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for content distribution. Tip: This platform is an excellent choice for reaching and networking with other health care professionals.
  • Instagram – According to Pew Research Center, this platform is most popular with the 18-24 year-old age bracket, with 6 out of 10 members using the site daily. Since Instagram launched a video “Instagram Stories” feature, the site has been gaining in popularity. Tip: Use this site to spread awareness about your recruiting efforts and company culture.

How Can the Pharma Industry Make Social Media Effective?

  • Establish specific goals – Your pharma social media marketing strategy goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. Ex: I want to post five YouTube videos on obesity prevention to our site in the next 60 days.
  • Generate meaningful content – Knowing what matters most to your audience will drive this initiative. Make the content about topics that are valuable and relevant to your consumers. Ex: new products, R&D, community service, awareness days, and employee recognition.
  • Engage with your audience – The beauty of social is the constant ability to engage with your audience. Think of social as another form of customer service – responsiveness, kindness and trustworthy replies go far!
  • Track your actual results – This can be as simple as creating an Excel spreadsheet to a more established system that includes social media analytics and reporting tools. You can track anything – website traffic, number of followers, video views, customer inquiries managed, etc.
  • Reverse engineer success – As with SEO, success in social media should be reverse engineered to discover why something worked. Once you know why it worked, you can apply this knowledge to increase success in other social media campaigns.

Social media is here to stay and, if leveraged properly, will become a great addition and asset to your overall pharma marketing strategy. By meeting your audience where they are spending their time and looking for information, you’re engaging in real-time providing them with relevant and timely content. As you can see, the benefits of creating a pharma social media marketing strategy are extensive and will generate long-term value to your business and consumers.

How Can We Help?

The emagine team has significant experience with all areas of healthcare, pharma, and biotech digital marketing. From custom website design to paid social media campaigns, we can leverage our industry knowledge to help elevate your traditional social media efforts into something that produces results and true ROI.