Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - (Page 7) Social Media Assuming Forbes, Mr Israel, and companies like Starbucks are right, what should European Pharma be doing with Twitter? The first thing, says Andrew Spong, STM publisher and the brains behind the STweM blog, is ask itself some serious questions. “Why are they interested in using social media at all?” he asks. “What do they hope to achieve, and on what basis will they measure their success? What timelines are they working to?” Improving communication with patients and doctors is probably the most often cited reason for pharma using any form of social media. This is certainly one area where Silja Chouquet, founder of Basel-based social media coach Whydot GmbH, sees some opportunity. “In the case of patients and physicians, pharma can have a three way communication or simply facilitate the physician/patient relationship by providing infrastructure and content.” This isn’t happening at the moment, however. Chouquet sees five or six Big Pharma companies that have entered the Twitter arena in the last six months or so using it very generally. “Usage is limited to communicating Silja Chouquet with journalists or the general public, pushing out press releases,” she says. For the social media experts this is absolutely the wrong way to go. Echoing Schroeder at Mashable, Matt Rhodes says it is important for pharma to actually engage on Twitter. Rhodes, head of Client Services at London-based social media agency, FreshNetworks, explains, “If you want to build your credibility and Followers, then spend some time searching for people with problems you might be able to help with. Follow them and then send them a message with some thoughts. This kind of interaction will boost your credibility hugely and will mean you’re actually taking part in Twitter. Only when you build this conversational and long-term relationship will you build real trust.” Marketing director Andrew Beaven from market analysts EvaluatePharma agrees in principle, but sees some difficulties. “The problem is the apparent insubstantiality of the medium. Short comments can only really point to other resources, so I think it can be harder to develop a profile as a trusted commentator.” Both Chouquet and Rhodes say that the secret here is not just about using Twitter, but integration with other social media tools and meaningful content. Whydot, with clients like Novartis in its portfolio, is currently looking at potential uses of Twitter around scientific conferences to update those that are not there. “We will have a sort of social media reporting in place using blogs, video interviews, podcasts and Twitter,” says Chouquet. Whether Tweeting one-to-one or to conference absentees, everyone agrees that it’s good to talk and that Twitter makes it easy. Unfortunately, this still leaves the 800pound social media Gorilla sitting square in the centre of pharma’s living room. Engaging in social media of any form means corporate pharma types will have to get their head around the idea that they are in a conversation and that people will talk back. “I see pharma getting into Twitter in a big way for reputation monitoring; it looks to be the perfect place for people to Finding pharma One of the problems with Twitter is that it isn’t always easy to find the people you want to follow. The most recommended search tool for finding Twitter users is Twellow.com, with a 12-page pharmaceuticals listing of businesses and individuals. New Jersey-based consultant Steve Woodruff is putting together a nice list of pharma folks on the Impactiviti blog, and of course we would be delighted to have you follow us @Pharmexecdigi. Meanwhile, here are a few Pharma faithfuls taking their first tentative steps on Twitter. • • • • Johnson & Johnson Boehringer Ingelheim Novartis Pfizer @JNJComm @Boehringer @Novartis @PfizerNews 1 11 NEWS BRUSSELS REPORT 2 FROM THE EDITOR / NEWS 6 TWITTER 9 GENERICS 13 CALENDAR 14 ON THE MOVE CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO PHARM EXEC http://twitter.com/Starbucks http://www.evaluatepharma.com http://stwem.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/pharma-three-steps-to-twitter-enlightenment-how-pharma-can-find-followers-and-be-followed-in-return/ http://www.Twellow.com http://www.twellow.com/category_users/cat_id/315 http://www.whydotpharma.com/ http://impactivitillc.wordpress.com/socialrx/ http://www.freshnetworks.com/ http://twitter.com/pharmexecdigi http://twitter.com/JNJComm http://twitter.com/Boehringer http://twitter.com/Novartis http://twitter.com/PfizerNews http://www.pharmexeceurope.com/europharmexec/newsletter/subscribeNewsletter.jsp
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 Contents From the Editor Social Media Generics Brussels Report Calendar On the Move Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Contents (Page 1) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 2) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 3) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 4) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - From the Editor (Page 5) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Social Media (Page 6) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Social Media (Page 7) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Social Media (Page 8) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Generics (Page 9) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Generics (Page 10) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Brussels Report (Page 11) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Brussels Report (Page 12) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - Calendar (Page 13) Pharmaceutical Executive Digest Europe - March 11, 2009 - On the Move (Page 14)
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