Legal or Not

Legal or Not....Effectiveness Counts

“The tips of my left fingers tingle and go numb.” You are in a chat room discussing extremity numbness and circulation issues when suddenly pops up “drugcorep1“ who starts pushing “Circuflow”, a new drug that improves blood flow to the outlying areas of the body.

How does that make you feel? Intruded upon? Violated? Do you trust the information from this person in your chat room group? Do you want to discuss this product with someone who clearly has a stake in the industry?

Utilizing eMarketing tactics like smartphones, text messaging, videos and websites to reach physicians and patients are smart strategies in our technology driven modern world but what about the realm of social media? A complex issue, even the FDA is taking opinions on the subject and asking: Should Pharmaceutical companies be involved in social media?

With over 60 percent of American adults searching for healthcare information online and study data by Manhatten Research placing the internet above physicians as the most popular health resource for 2009, the instantaneous response would be “YES!” In an attempt to find individualized healthcare information, increasing numbers of people turn to user-generated content to find symptoms and experiences matching their own.

Social media in the form of health blogs, message boards, chat rooms and health related social networks and communities are a convenient means for patients to share information like treatment outcomes, advice and support. Tapping into this digital resource allows a company to target its product to people who need it.

Or does it? Like a 1970 Cadillac Eldorado in Big Al’s Used Car Lot in Texas, this question has many areas to examine.

So far, much of the pharmaceutical industry has been reticent to get involved in social media marketing and with good reason. There is a high level of risk here. Social media is not a regulated format. The industry cannot control what is said about them or their products.

Adding their two cents to the unedited user-generated content opens them to receiving adverse effects reporting by self-identified patients as well as regulatory issues around appearing to endorse untested alternative uses for their product.

If a company does decide to foray into social media, dedicated resources are necessary to present and maintain credibility. This will involve keeping blogs up to date, monitoring forums, and ensuring accurate, fairly balanced, reliable information is put out there. Ideally you want to build customer communities around your area of expertise.

Customers tend to build communities on their own. These communities may gravitate around their country of origin, culture or language. That’s why estudiabetes.org exists - so people with diabetes who speak Spanish have an online resource in their native language. Pharmaceutical companies should pay attention to this.

Hispanics are the largest single minority in the US and more than half of them have broadband at home. According to a Pew Institute study, 67% of online Hispanics think it’s important to have Spanish content online. They also claim to pay more attention to Spanish ads versus those in English and would spend more time online if provided information of interest to their community.

To get involved in social media or not, that IS the question. Whether they like it or not, the FDA and the industry may not have the answer. Its members do.

Social media is a self-regulating organism built around the culture of freedom of choice. People will only read your health blog if they are interested in what you have to say. If they feel you are obnoxiously pushing your product on them, they won’t interact with you. Crickets chirping will be the reward for your carefully planned and targeted social media marketing campaign.

The FDA can decide it is legal (or not) for the pharmaceutical industry to market itself online but legal does not mean effective. Even with regulations in place, the truth is, if members don’t want your two cents in their chat rooms, blogs, etc. you will be cut out of their conversation whether it’s in English or Spanish.

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