Let's Make it a Threesome: One Other Social Media Activity Pharma Can Do Now!

Two other pharma "wise men," ie, my Twitter and Blogger friends Jonathan Richman (Dose of Digital) and Fard Johnmar (HealthcareVox), have suggested ways that pharmaceutical companies should be using social/digital media today.

Jonathan suggested 10 marketing tactics ("Ten Digital Marketing Ideas Pharma Companies Will Never Try (But Should)") and Fard suggested 4 strategies rather than tactics ("A Counterproposal: Four Digital Activities Pharma Companies MUST Engage In Now Or Next Year"). Both have some excellent ideas.

In the spirit of Twitter, ie, "less is more," I would like to suggest one specific social media activity/tactic that can be part of Fard's second strategy, which is:

"Decide whether using a specific social technology is worth the effort – i.e., is it truly a good fit for the company? And, if the answer is yes, commit to building relationships with stakeholders using these tools over the long term rather than on a year-to-year basis."

Note that this strategy is NOT applicable to brand silos within pharmaceutical companies. Brand managers are NOT long-term thinkers. They care FIRST about what's good for the brand and SECOND about what's good for the company. That is, they are not thinking "how can I increase my company's awareness among consumers and investors?"

Also, each brand has different stakeholders -- not all patients and physicians are alike in what they need from a brand. Do they even want a "relationship" with a brand? I, for one, have no need for a relationship with Lipitor! I want a relationship with a company, which consists of people. To me, a brand is not people.

Since social media is all about people, it may not be appropriate for brands to use social media to build relationships through those channels. But, a company can!

On the one hand, at least one pharma corporate blog -- JNJBTW -- has been around for a long time (ie, on a "year-to-year" basis).

On the other hand, we've seen at least 2 pharma blogs that have gone dark in the past year or so: AlliConnect and CNTO411. These were not corporate blogs; the former was product-specific and the latter was therapeutic-specific. (BTW, CNTO411 might just be reborn as a true corporate blog.)

I predict that by the end of 2010, practically every major pharmaceutical company will have a corporate blog and practically none of them will have a drug brand blog.

So the one strategy I recommend for every pharmaceutical company is to launch a corporate blog whose goal is to build a relationship with people (aka, "stakeholders") and improve that relationship over time.

One specific idea came to mind during a recent conversation with a senior director in charge of his company's wellness initiative. One of his goals is to help any patient or physician find patient assistance programs whether the program is offered by his company, by a coalition of companies or by a competitor company. He also keeps track of health reform issues, laws, etc, in the news and publishes an internal newsletter in which he summarizes the news he believes is most important for his company to learn about.

I suggested that this director start up a blog where he publishes his summaries of health reform news and also highlights various aspects of his company's wellness program. The two are tied: readers of his health reform news aggregation/commentary may submit comments asking about how they can get help obtaining free or discounted medicines. In replies, he can guide people to the appropriate areas of the wellness website he also maintains.

All pharmaceutical companies that have Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs) should start up blogs like the one I suggest. It's all well and good to send out a press release announcing your assistance program, but it is necessary to follow-up with a long-term commitment, especially when we are in the midst of a long-term recession. Your stakeholders are going to want to know what you are doing now, not what you have announced last week.

P.S. This represents my further thoughts on the subject of corporate blogs. Previously, I suggested that "Corporate Blog" is an Oxymoron and I cited CNTO411 as the prime example. I still believe a blog must have a personal voice rather than a corporate voice. CNTO411 had such a voice, but since it was focused on one therapeutic area, there was no long-term strategy when the brand related to that therapy took on a different leadership or whatever. A blog like JNJBTW also has a personal voice (Marc Monseau), but it obviously was built with a long-term strategy in mind and will survive when Marc eventually moves on to other things.

The type of blog I suggested above should also have a personal voice -- the person who is most passionate about the subject and who is charged with helping patients. But it also follows Fard's wise advice: it's a good fit for the company and there is a long-term commitment.