Which pharma companies are succeeding in the social media space?

A new report published by Ogilvy Healthworld (part of Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide) has shed some light on the pharma companies that are leading the way in integrated social media strategies.

“The pharmaceutical industry is becoming increasingly reliant on social media as a key platform for communicating with multiple stakeholders,” states the report.

With the average number of tweets by pharma companies increasing by 530 percent since 2013 and Twitter followers increasing by nearly 300 percent, it’s no surprise that more and more companies are seeing the value of incorporating social media in their marketing strategies.

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The group analyzed the social media activity of 14 pharma companies across 10 social networks and reviewed a week of activity per month over three months.

What they found was that a small group of companies are “connecting the dots” and leading the way in social media by providing meaningful content that actively engages their audiences.

Boehringer Ingelheim was noted as the leader in this regard, being the first pharma company to fully engage with social media and the concept of digital health.

Bayer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Merck also performed well in the report.

The pharma companies that were singled out as needing to catch up included GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk, as well as Lilly, Sanofi, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Ogilvy advised pharma companies searching for a social media strategy to aim to provide content that is relevant to their audience and have a clear set of engagement guidelines.

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“Social media has changed the way pharma communicates—it allows companies to build corporate reputation and engage in genuine, meaningful conversations with audiences,” said Rebecca Canvin, social media manager for Ogilvy Healthworld. “For pharma companies who want to stand out from the crowd, it’s time to be brave, get personal, educate and integrate social media into their wider marketing strategy.”

Six key takeaways to help companies stand out from the social media crowd:

Is your pharma company making the best use of social media?

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