It looks like the shine is starting to come off the number one social media site in the world, Facebook.   Now comes word in a  big shift from the stance Facebook took a year ago, when agencies called out the fact that posts published by clients were being seen by fewer of their fans, that  marketers are going to have to pay for reach on Facebook via ads as organic posts are seen by less than 1% of users. Is this a sign that social media doesn’t hold promise for pharma marketers ?  No, not at all.  It’s a sign that you need to better understand your patients and the channels they use to get health information and make decisions.

The very thing that makes marketers want to have a presence on Facebook— the sheer number of users— makes the platform a marketing challenge. You’d better create content that’s relevant, fun, and useful.

In a recent survey 21% of executives surveyed say their employees are mediocre or weak across all digital areas.  Only 8% of survey respondents say their employees are strong in all areas of digital marketing. Nowhere is this more true than within pharma where most organizations are content to be stuck in Web 1.0 while consumers are turning more and more to the Internet for health information. Pharma needs technology people who can strategize and separate hype from reality to both need consumer needs while providing a good ROI.

Although consumers have integrated social media into their daily online lives the popularity of these sites has made it harder to cut through the clutter.  In addition not all disease states warrant a social media presence as there are significant privacy issues.  For example Twitter will now show people ads based on their browsing history.  It’s now more important than ever for DTC marketers to understand their target audiences to determine if they can add value to patients via a social media marketing campaign.

Read at: http://worldofdtcmarketing.com/is-social-media-right-for-pharma/social-media-and-healthcare/

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