Applying Social Media In Pharmaceutic Marketing

Social media is all the rage. And marketers are always looking for the latest, very best communication tools. But the use of social multimedia in pharmaceutical advertising is controversial and risky. Generally there are, yet , several ways a drug company, medical device manufacturer, hospital, or other healthcare organization can use social media effectively and safely.

The web is crawling with people eager to share their opinions-good and bad-about drugs' efficacy and safety. Falsehoods is often rampant. Finish prescribing information is often absent. And the guidelines have yet to be fully defined.

The FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) has been slow to issue a decisive insurance plan statement on the use of social media in drug advertising. Never make the mistake of certain that the lack of regulations means that nearly anything goes. On the opposite, the FDA is carefully watching pharma companies'  Medical sales message boards   media efforts for deceitful promotions.

Likewise, never make the mistake of considering that by sponsoring a third-party site, even with an unrestricted grant, you are absolved of responsibility due to its content. Your relationship with a website-however remote control your connection may be and however strong you think the firewall may be-potentially makes you responsible for its content, including conversations in discussion organizations.

So how can a pharmaceutical company use interpersonal media effectively while lessening the risk of regulating infractions? First, maintain as much control as is possible. Second, let four words guide you: "on label" and "fair balance. "

Regarding the issue of control, the safest route is to interact only on websites, branded or compatible, that your enterprise wholly has and operates. There are exceptions. Have you stopped at the "GI Circle" on the American College of Gastroenterology site? The ACG site for physician specialists has numerous corporate benefactors.

It also features a discussion board. The issues for this open online community, however, are generally not patient management issues. Rather, they give attention to issues such as healthcare reform. The common wisdom is to avoid talking about governmental policies or religion. But in social media, even chatting politics is preferred to talking therapeutics.

So past taking risk of recruiting a site where doctors may talk with the other person (and the world at large) if not about the efficacy and basic safety of your product then about its price... and less than hunkering down and not using social multimedia at all until corporate questions get resolved... precisely a pharma or biotech company to do?