How marketers can use patient perspectives to inform their social media marketing strategy

Just like 93 million other Americans, I’ve researched health conditions, treatment options, side effects and interactions of those treatment options via a search engine like Google. I have never looked for health information on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media platform. Yet today, my feeds are flooded with reminder ads and regurgitated content from pharma TV spots. It’s all from the lens of product promotion when companies should be catering to the wants and needs of the patient. We’re all patients in some form or another. So why is it so difficult for us to truly be patient centric when we don our marketer hats each morning?

I’m a self-proclaimed “asker-of-many-questions. So naturally, at the initial planning phases of a social campaign, I have started to ask myself and colleagues: What pharma content do I/you really want to engage with on social media? Here’s a peek at what we’ve come up with:

1. Content that Empowers Patients

We want patients to feel relentless, capable, and strong. Hearing from like-minded patients would certainly empower me. Testimonials are just one way to drive home that this condition doesn’t have to be an obstacle in life, but can actually be a stepping stone to something beautiful.

Biogen recently hired retired pro hockey player Bryan Bicknell as a spokesperson to share his MS fight and promoted it on his SnapChat story. His story resonates with his followers, Canadians, hockey players/enthusiasts, and sport lovers. But, the most inspiring part is hearing how he’s prioritizing his family and focusing his time growing closer with his wife and seeing his children grow.  

See full video of the example here: https://youtu.be/s4KSQU2WImM

The sponsored story leads to this link: https://www.tysabri.com/en_us/home/real-stories/videos.html

2. Content that Supports Healthy Behaviors and Practices

Many ADHD therapies affect appetite and can lead to weight loss and vitamin deficiencies. I know from experience that if I’m not hungry, it’s easy to forget to eat. So how could I use that insight to help support healthy behaviors and eating habits? These are ADHD patients we are talking about, so posting a recipe for a vitamin packed smoothie is great, but you have to go further and focus on ease and making it easy to remember. For Example:

 Here’s another recipe for this week’s bulk meal prep and planning. Tip: Set some alarms throughout the day to remind you to eat, if you haven’t yet. #healthyhabits

 Allergan’s LINZESS even went as far to develop an entire cookbook. That’s some serious ass-kicking value right there.

3. Content that Provides Emotional Support

Personally, an emotional support system isn’t something I’d spend time researching the way I would for condition information. But there is a gap to fill in this space that pharma has the opportunity to fill. Brand can build and support a community on social media to give patients a safe space for discussion—AND it doesn’t hurt that you’ve now created a highly-relevant space to conduct social listening to inform additional ways you can improve your patient-centric marketing approach. If the idea of an open discussion gives med-leg-reg the chills, consider unbranded social accounts.

Take for example Novartis’s unbranded website “Living Like You,” a support site with blog posts and articles, an interactive questionnaire with a very light touch of MS disease-state education. What a valuable tactic! That’s the kind of content patients want to see on social media. And you guessed it, they have a Facebook Page, a Twitter, and a dedicated Pinterest board.

Trying to keep up with the latest innovations, new digital tactics, and emerging technology, while still maintaining fair balance in such a highly regulated industry can be a headache. When it comes to art and design, the best strategy is to keep it simple. Marketing should do the same. Don’t let regulatory challenges make you forget the most basic principle: We are all patients, and we all have insights to share.

Can we band together and save social media from pharma’s cookie-cutter, sales-y tagline posts and start using social media to provide patients real value? I say, yes.