Top Three Drug Companies in Social Media:

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What is the "social share of voice" among pharmaceutical companies online? While some drug companies have been reluctant to embrace social media for fear of running afoul of FDA regulations that govern the advertising and promotion of prescription drugs, others are embracing social networks to help brand and position their companies in a positive light with consumers and practitioners. Here are the TOP TEN Pharma companies that are presently using social media to reach out to larger audiences.

1- Pfizer
Pfizer, maker of the well-known drugs of Viagra and Celebrex, is exploring social media by teaming up with Private Access to create a social networking site. That will bring together patients and clinical trial researchers. Once the site is up and running, patients will have the opportunity to confidentially post personal health information that will only be made available to researchers studying their particular condition. Trial sponsors can use the site to recruit patients and patients will have an opportunity to learn more about the studies that relate directly to them. Presently following 852 on Twitter, Pfizer News currently has attracted 2512 followers (at the time of this posting).

2- Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson has established a digital footprint in social media. The company's YouTube channel now has over 90 videos. Its corporate blog was Marc MonseauMarc Monseaubuilt around a simple question that serves as its premise - 'everyone else is talking about our company, so why can't we?' Marc Monseau is the director of corporate communications and manages the company's corporate blog and its Twitter account.

3- Bayer
Bayer enters the social media space in a unique way that differentiates itself from the pack. It recently launched a new online community and blood glucose-monitoring tool for young people living with diabetes in the United Kingdom.

The tool, named Didget, connects directly into the youth's Nintendo DS and rewards the user for building consistent blood glucose testing habits and meeting glucose targets. ‘Didget World’ supports the Nintendo DS tool, a password protected social network where kids can interact with other users and build their own profile. Based on the popularity of online 'gaming' with young people, this is an ingenious use of social media to help monitor a health condition.

However Bayer's presence on Twitter is somewhat lacking. When anyone, particularly a brand 'protects their tweets' on Twitter, it raises doubt amongst followers whether the company really wants to use the micro blogging platform for interactive purposes? By Bayer protecting its tweets, it is not allowing the public to review the types of messages Bayer is sending out across the Twitterverse. This definitely puts Bayer at a disadvantage compared to the transparency of other Pharma companies on this TOP TEN list.

Attractive Writting For Social Media

The advent of social media has opened up a wide range of opportunities for non-professional writers like me — and probably you too — to write online. Most of us writing for websites or blogs or posting on Twitter likely aren’t trained journalists. Even professional writers trained for print must learn to adapt their writing style to an online audience who experiences content differently than a print audience.

And social media itself has changed writing online – making it more informal and personal. In fact, when you’re writing online these days, you’re writing not only for your audience but also for search engines and social media sites. Add Twitter to the equation and the need to communicate with only 140 characters raises writing for the social web to a new art form.

In this post, we’ve pulled together a collection of articles with advice on writing for Twitter and the social web. We’ve organized these articles into the following topics - general online writing principles, writing strong headlines, writing for Twitter, and writing for search engines.

Read more: HOW-TO: Write Effectively for Twitter & the Social Web

Social Media Marketing Trends: Confusion & Clarification

Time to clear up some of the confusion.

You’ve decided to use Social Media as part of your marketing mix. Good for you! You’ve made it past the first hurdle; recognizing the growing importance of Social Media not just to your marketing, but to your entire business as well. But where do you begin?

While the Internet may be full of articles, posts, tips, tricks, opinions and everything else under the sun about social media, the problem is that there’s so much information available that it can be overwhelming. So I’ve distilled what I tell my clients into three, easy to digest “principles.” Once you understand them, and I mean really embrace them, then not only will all the rest fall into place much faster, but your results will be better too.

So, without further ado; when using Social Media for marketing, you must understand the following:

1. Social Media Marketing is very different from “traditional” marketing.

• It’s about building relationships with people, not pushing your message at them. As such, it requires the mindset and commitment of a marathoner, not a sprinter.
• Know that it’s going to take time. While you certainly may get some short term results, you’re also creating value in that you are building long term relationships. Eventually, when one of those people (or their friends) is in need of your service, not only will you have achieved “Top of Mind” awareness, but you’ll also have established at least some degree of trust which helps to build strong relationship much faster.

2. You need to be where your customers are.

• This is simple; if your customers are, for example, using Facebook and not Twitter, then don’t focus efforts on Twitter. You may find some new customers, but are you reaching enough customers to make it worth your time and effort?
• Also, the venue defines the tone of the relationship. Twitter is about quick, short bursts. It’s hard to get intimate unless you already have a relationship with someone. Facebook is much better for developing deeper relationships, but if you don’t have your privacy filters set correctly, you could be exposing yourself and letting your customers learn things about you that you didn’t really want to share.

3. Engage with them.

• I said “with” because you build relationships “with” people and Social Media is all about building relationships.
• While you may only need to be as open as you want to be, you still must let your customer get to know who you are. Learning “what” you do will then come naturally.
• Offer assistance, answer their questions and send them relevant links regarding what they talk about. Show interest in them as human beings, not just prospects.
• Social Media is truly about the soft sell. And who knows, you may develop some great relationships with people along the way.

There you have it. Short and to the point. How do you explain social media to your clients/friends? I’d love to hear all about it, so leave a comment.

Social Media and Blogging

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Over Saturation:
While already in 2008 we’ve seen stagnation in user numbers on the major networks, we’ve seen plenty of new sites appear and get their share of users. The need is near though. Most users willing to use social web applications are already oversaturate. Second rate sites like Pownce or Me.Dium which already gave up or changed their business model will thus disappear.

Services on Top:
While conventional time consuming social sites adding work load to it’s users won’t thrive anymore due to over saturation more and more new services will have their break through that use the existing data and activity for it’s own apps. What does that mean? You won’t have to submit to Digg, you’ll become automatically popular on Microblogging Buzz or elsewhere due to tweeting. People won’t solely watch biased vote biased sites but the real activity on social networks.

Blogging a Must:
While 2008 was still a year you had to convince people in business to blog in 2009 blogs will be standard and those not having one will simply fall behind. With social media and blogs being even on the forefront of a successful presidential campaign business owners who are just aware of the Internet solely offering storefronts and static pages full of corporate and sales gibberish will lose like McCain did.

Bloggers will Organize:
With the increasing professionalism, stress and bad pay as well the danger of being sued or even jailed for blogging, bloggers will start organizing and strike back.

Social media Metrics:
Relationship and social authority measurement will finally surface. Social media influence and success will become measurable and thus make short term tactic like link baiting less attractive than long term engagement. The technology has already been patented and several solutions are being prepared.

Social Commerce:
E commerce and online shopping will become more and more blogging and social media. Conventional online shops offering no way of socializing and feedback will fall behind.
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Social Media and their Relevance to the Pharmaceutical Industry

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Introduction:

Social media are shifting the way that the global economy operates. Internet journals and communities have enabled consumers to communicate their experiences with companies' products and services to other consumers. A consequence of consumer-generated marketing is that relationship management throughout the life cycle of a product is taking the place of mass marketing in consumer-driven industries.

Scope:

Introduction to social media and their relevance to the pharmaceutical industry Sizes and assesses the growth in the blogosphere in the US, Europe and Asia Looks at Blogging in other industries and highlights lessons that pharmaceutical companies can learn Discusses current examples of pharmaceutical Blogging and considers the future of Blogging in the pharmaceutical industry

Highlights:

Strategic use of Internet applications, including online communities and blogs, will allow pharmaceutical companies to increase their awareness of the needs and concerns of their patient and care giver audiences. As blogs and online forums are so frequently updated they can be a good indication of the current market. Companies from a broad range of industries have had success in authoring blogs and hosting online forums for their consumers. Some of the benefits these companies have enjoyed include direct communication with influential consumers, higher search engine rankings for key search terms and the ability to respond quickly to marketplace events. Much of the delay in pharmaceutical companies entering the public blogosphere can be attributed to concerns about the liabilities associated with Blogging. Many embattled companies, which were already dealing with high profile withdrawals and associated lawsuits, have not felt the need to expose them further to public criticism.

Reasons to Purchase:

Identify the best and worst practice lessons that can be learned from examples of business Blogging in other industries. Understand the potential liabilities of business Blogging in the pharmaceutical market. Assess opportunities to launch social media application.
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Online Marketing for Biotech & Pharma Industry

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Last week I meet with few Pharma & Biomedical Marketing Representitive, the detail discussion with them lead me to get a firm conclusion that how Indian Pharma and Biotech segment is totally unkonw about Online Marketing and their impacts on current Bussiness Model and Brand Engagment.

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The topic of online marketing came up and I was reminded of how difficult it has been for the B2B segment as well as B2C for businesses to grasp a hold of the power in social media when one business is marketing to another. The value has still not been understood. They still view this type of e-marketing as not relating to them, when in actuality internet marketing is becoming one of the most effective ways to market online.

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In today's economy B2B companies are decreasing their marketing budget and spending more online. A recent survey by Pharma B2B Magazine revealed that over 48% of those surveyed were increasing their online marketing spend.

Why is there such an effectiveness in online social media?

Truth is, so many people are tired of "marketing speak." Social media allows companies to relate to one another and bypass the fluff & brand engagment.

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Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. Popular social mediums include blogs, message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs.

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The definition alone should reveal to you how important it is that B2B companies explore social media marketing channels.

In a recent study of B2B technology decision makers the following statistics were revealed:

@ 90% Participate in Video
@ 80% Participate in Blogs
@ 80% Participate in Wikis
@ 69% Participate in Social Networks
@ 53% Participate in Podcasts

In the same study it was shared that of 69% of B2B buyers use social networks "primarily for business networking and development."

At a minimum B2B businesses should at least be involved in communities and social network where there customers already are. Explore the opportunity to reach out to key influencers in your target market and optimize your content and social media applications for syndication.

I know that stepping out into social media can feel somewhat daunting for more traditional marketing team, but it doesn't have to be difficult to be successful. Chose a few initiatives that will work well for your company and gain you incremental success until you are more comfortable in really delving into the social media and applications.

Social media enables you to :
@ Share your expertise and knowledge
@ Tap into the wisdom of your consumers
@ Enables customers helping customers
@ Engages prospects through customer evangelism

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Pharma & Biotech Marketer's should integrate Online Marketing strategy for both of business segment B2B, B2C. The purpose of this article is to set a framework for Pharma and life sciences Internet Marketing. In future articles, I will delve deeper into each of the elements that comprise the value chain.