My Twitter Audience as of Dec 2105

The following is an "Audience Insights" analysis of my Twitter account (@pharmaguy). You can also learn more about my audience from results to date of my reader survey.

Click on image for an enlarged view.

#Pharma Must Be Social Media Brave & Fast Says Becky Canvin at Ogilvy HealthWorld

"How can the pharma and healthcare industry thrill on social media?"

That's a question Rebecca Canvin (@BeckyCanvin), Social Media Manager at Ogilvy Healthworld, attempted to answer in a guest column (here).

"Over the past few years the myth that pharma companies can’t use social media has been unravelled and conversations now focus on ‘how can pharma do social?’," writes Becky. "This movement brings about unique challenges, but one thing is for certain – as more companies recognise the importance of social media it’s time for pharma to be brave and take their conversations to the next level."

Becky recommends that pharma can do this by "getting the basics right" such as "having online conversations and engaging appropriately instead of just pushing out content on social networks" and "move fast when they receive comments online," which, to me, seems very sensible advice to follow.

Becky cites at least two pharmaceutical companies that seem to be getting these basics right according to results of her company's 2014 "Connecting the Dots" survey. Some pharma pundits, however, implied that Becky is a "young, inexperienced digital" person who "[spent] a lot of money without showing needed results."

Continue reading to find out which pharma companies are getting it right and who dissed Becky!

Read more »

Millennials Trust Pharma Social Media, Mobile Apps & Advertising a Hell of a Lot More Than Their Geezer Parents!

According to findings released today from the Fifth Annual Makovsky/Kelton “Pulse of Online Health” Survey, the percentage of Americans who trust pharma-sponsored social media "a lot" or "completely" increased from 17% in 2014 to 21% in 2015.

The same survey also revealed another trend: In 2010, 88% of Americans were willing to visit a pharma-sponsored Web site (e.g., a drug.com site), whereas in 2015 that percentage decreased to 80%.

Fielded in January 2015 to 1,015 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and older by Kelton, the Makovsky Health survey investigated consumers’ behavior and preferences for engaging with online healthcare information. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Meanwhile, a Prevention Magazine 2011 survey found that 49 percent of respondents who went online for prescription drug information reported seeking this information on a specific brand's Web site. As a consequence of this influence of the Internet, FDA is currently studying how consumers interact with drug.com websites (read this Pharma Marketing News article: Are Drug.com Websites "Fair and Balanced?").

Before commenting on the above results, let me summarize a few other “Pulse of Online Health” Survey results -- especially those related to mobile and wearable devices -- that may be of interest to you.

Read more »