Listen More Than You Speak: The Value of Social Media for Pharma

eyeforpharma interviews Henry Anderson, Director of Social Media at Novartis, about some of the fundamentals of a successful social media strategy, including analytics and data intelligence, and creating that perfect ‘digital experience’.



What are the benefits of developing internal social media listening capabilities? How important is it for a company’s internal social media to take place on a single platform? What are patients’ expectations from pharma when it comes to social media, and what is driving these expectations?

According to Henry, one of the most important ways for companies to gain value from social media is through social media ‘listening,’ where publically available information from social sites is used to gauge public opinion on the company or one of its brands. Today, there is an opportunity to build listening capability, which he is keen on doing at Novartis. “Brands are frequently seeking social media intelligence independently through their agencies and yet want visibility across markets and other franchises as to benchmarks and best practises” There is a continual need for coordinated information between U.S.-based brand teams; where as much as 70% of the social activity can be; and the Global franchise teams who are looking across markets for strategy and synergy. In addition, social media listening is often requested in an ad-hoc and last-minute fashion, further leading to silos and fragmentation. “

Looking ahead, a centralized capability addresses communication silos and creates synergies across the business for the delivery of the insights and analysis from this medium. A platform that analyses corporate sentiment as well as franchise-specific dynamics provides a robust set of products and services that can be delivered.

For Henry, “developing in-house social media listening capabilities is an opportunity to enhance the reputation of the social media department within the company as a whole. Everyone agrees social media is an essential channel in the marketing mix and digital ‘ecosystem’ of an organization, but this is not a guarantee of sustained investment. One of the best approaches to prove the value and shift investment is by delivering actionable intelligence in support of key priorities.”

Social media listening does not mean just turning on a dashboard full of keywords and scrolling Tweets; the real value is created when human analysis is applied to interpret the data.

Internal social media capability can also speed our awareness and responsiveness in crisis – indeed, listening technology is capable of supporting a variety of communications and business functions.

However, the real value of social media listening goes beyond its status as a tool for monitoring online conversations. “Social media listening does not mean just turning on a dashboard full of keywords and scrolling Tweets; the real value is created when human analysis is applied to interpret the data. This means we need to look at pairing the technology with resources that understand the customer; someone who knows the franchise or function really well; who is qualified to map the KOLs in this area, and therefore who is best placed to appreciate the relative value of different comments. Basic listening technologies are often simply search tools and algorithms which look for keywords. Proper configuration improves the output, but the subjective element of that data is where listening algorithms don’t live up to human processing power. When I get reports, I tend to choose and favour companies that have the technology and then apply their research brain and their knowledge of the franchise to give that data meaning. Combining the raw processing power of a system with resources that can intelligently process and package the key nuggets will move the internal team up the value chain, from being the ‘report card’ people to strategic consultants providing evidence-based recommendations. Providing actionable material is what will make social media listening valuable to brand teams wanting to move the needle. In my experience, I have never seen an algorithm that can get there – it’s usually people who are able to produce that level of analysis.”

Patients expectations aren’t being set by our industry. I think they are being set by Coke, by Apple, by Chipotle, by Amazon, by IBM, by Doritos.

As for the way pharma interacts with its consumers through social media, Henry believes that pharma is lagging behind other industries. “Patients expectations aren’t being set by our industry. I think they are being set by Coke, by Apple, by Chipotle, by Amazon, by IBM, by Doritos. I think we as an industry are operating based on the old adage that ‘content is king,’ whereas other industries are very good at creating social media ‘experiences,’ and I think consumer expectation is frustrated that this cannot be transposed into the health sector. I think we can learn lessons from these companies about giving the customer a voice. Our industry still relies heavily on the polish, and production-value of broadcast media, but this now clashes with the expectations of consumers who are used to getting involved and having their voices heard.”

If a company is serious about engaging with patients through social media, they should define the scope and scale of interaction and consider options for achieving that – that includes  having real employees entering the conversation. “We don’t necessarily need to build a Facebook page to connect with this community, but instead we should be asking permission for company representatives to participate in some of the forums patients already use. The legal and regulatory teams might be wary of taking this step, but this is a level of engagement where other industries have already made commitments.  Patients expect more interaction from pharma companies, companies who avoid engagement (such as answering patient questions with formulaic answers) will make themselves less relevant.”

A lot of the time innovation has come from people who have proceeded knowing the risks and have been willing to accept some degree of uncertainty.

Yet in order to become more relevant and engage with patients on their own forums, a degree of organization is needed: “behind the scenes, you must think about what has to happen before a patient community liaison position can be created. A dozen things need to happen in order for this person to be able to operate as the voice of the company. There are still questions to be answered over what type of employee this would be – for example, does it need to be someone with a journalistic skill set? Do they need to be medically qualified? Would the best company representative be someone with the disease, or a caregiver? The scale of this person’s responsibilities would also need to be discussed; some comments can be responded to in real time, whereas other issues may need to be passed up the chain.”

Companies may be wary of venturing into areas such as this in the absence of clear FDA guidelines or solid means of measuring ROI. Nevertheless, Henry says, being a leader means sometimes taking risks. “A lot of the time innovation has come from people who have proceeded knowing the risks and have been willing to accept some degree of uncertainty – fostering a culture that is keen to accept the challenges of social media is key to winning a competitive edge in the digital pharmaceutical landscape.”