Could Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing?
Google launched a beta version of its own social network just a couple of days ago, Google+. While many news reports over the past day or so suggest that Google+ offers some great features, most also suggest that the network is probably no reason for people to abandon their FaceBook page as an alternative.
However, could Google+ offer a FaceBook alternative for pharma companies? Write your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.
Google+ may be a lower risk option for pharmaceutical companies. One of the features of Google+ is that you can easily share your information with select groups of people. These groups of people are referred to as “circles”. When you add somebody to your Google+ network, you have the ability to place them in a specific circle. The default circles are “Friends, Family, Acquaintances, and Following”, but you can also add some new circles as well. When you share a post or statement, you can then select which circle(s) receive the message, thus eliminating the other circles from seeing your message.
Imagine the benefits for a Canadian pharmaceutical company who wants to have a presence on social media, but wants to keep their online messages for a select group of people, perhaps an online advisory board of healthcare professionals, perhaps patients who have proven they have received a prescription for a particular drug (direct-to-patient information, DTP).
Here’s the catch: Are the circles ‘open’ or ‘closed’? If they are closed, meaning that ONLY the people within the selected circle(s) have access to the message, and cannot share it outside of the circle, then this might be a new option for pharmaceutical companies who want to limit their messages to certain groups of pre-selected people. Honestly, I don’t know the answer to this yet. After 12 hours of being on the network, I am still very much in the testing phase. If you know the answer to this already, please let us all know by writing a comment below.
A little regulatory clarification for those who are wondering: DTC (direct-to-consumer) is not the same as DTP (direct-to-patient) information. DTP information distributed through health professionals is allowed in Canada as long as it is consistent with part 3 of the Product Monograph. It should be reviewed and approved by the PAAB with respect to section 6.4 of the PAAB Code of Advertising Acceptance. The difference between the two is that the target market for DTP are patients who have received a prescription for the drug in question and for DTC it is the general public. For DTC promotion or advertising of a Schedule F drug in Canada, you are limited to mentioning the product name, quantity and price. Anything beyond those 3 items, including disease state, consists of an Rx-DTC violation. Eventually, it is possible that even these 3 items may no longer be permissible: see “Canadian Pharma Rx-DTC getting even more restrictive? Maybe!“
Sometimes it is difficult to determine if your message should be classified as DTC or DTP. If you are uncertain whether you are attempting to do DTC (which is advertising), or DTP, then you might find this ‘regulatory social media thought process’ algorithm helpful.
For more details on what Canadian pharmaceutical may and may not be able to do on social media, see “Highlights from Social Media Marketing in Pharma: What Works in Canada“
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19 responses to “Could Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing?”
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Not really. If they have not been able to engage – and this is a pretty strategic word here – users to follow, support, disseminate and dialogue with the current tools (Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite) G+ only will bring “folders” and potentially, depending on how they leverage the tool and its still promises, silos – a very common place for Pharma companies.
Thanks for the feedback Victor. I agree with your comment that engagement is the primary objective. One of the challenges met by the pharma industry (at least in Canada), is that regulations make it even difficult to initiatiate social media activities. With the way that Google+ allows posts to be targeted to specific, pre-selected audiences, it may be possible for pharma to get past this entry barrier (again, comments are specific for pharma Canada, and probably relevant for most pharma Europe who also have restrictive direct-to-consumer promotion regulations.
Funny that you ask this question as I felt the same way when I first saw the Google+. I would have to imagine that Google was looking over at one of their biggest competitions for money (Facebook), and noticed that when you advertise via Facebook for a Fan Page or Business, others whom like the page are automatically linked to the advertisement. Seeing that a friend “likes” something is a huge motivational factor.
However, it will be interesting to see if this really takes off. My hold-up is that unless I have really, really connected with a brand (either personal or business), and I see their ad on the side of Google will I even think to click that little + sign.
Furthermore, most people won’t even know its there until a marketing or SEO person tell them it is, and then we’ll be dealing in a gray zone.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see
Thanks Jean. You’re right, time will tell. I’m still tinkering with the network, and have yet to understand if ther’es a way that pharma could use this network to ensure that their posts are shared only with the people that are within their circle. Health Canada regulations are a real barrier to entry to social media for the pharma industry.
Hi Natalie – I think a lot of people question whether social media really exists in Canada. Certainly it seems rare. I have asked many people in this field for examples of campaigns that pharma companies are involved in and have yet to hear of anything beyond a few small pilot projects – all with comnsumers and none with HCPs. Are you aware of any? It certainly gets a lot of air-time among pharma marketers but I wonder if it is one of those US-import ideas like “Managed Care” was a few years ago.
Rare, at the moment, ‘yes’. But there are some that exist, even sponsored by Canadian pharma. For example, MSWatch.ca (by TEVA) and the MS Village FaceBook page (by Serono, plus they have other components to their social media activities) have both recently won the DOSIE social media awards, a contest which put these sites up against U.S. and European social sites. Here is a link to learn more about these sites: http://marketing4health.ca/2011/06/msvillage_mswatch_dosie_award_2011/ .
Afexa Lifesciences does an awesome job, if not the best in Canadian healthcare, with the social media activities that they’ve been doing for Cold-FX, something that launched just prior to the 2010 Olympics and keeps growing and evolving. They are not a Rx product, but they are worth checking out. Motrin is also doing some activities, but for such a big brand, I would like to see them do a lot more, be more engaging and more consistent, but at least they seem to be there for the long term.
There are other examples, and many are one-time projects as you suggest, but at least there’s an effort, and companies are trying to figure out what they can do without getting in trouble, while still benefiting the company. It’s a slow evolution, and it’s frustrating.
When it comes to HCP social media by pharma, I am also finding it a bit harder to find out about them. I think it’s because they are closed (to abide by regulations) and as such as rarely promoted once the targeted HCP’s are already participating. For example, I know that TimedRight hosts closed networks for non-profits organizations and clinical groups, Then there’s Impetus which won the Eye for Pharma digital contest last year for the online ad board that they set up for Nycomed. The Canadian Healthcare Netowrk (Pharmacy Post) also won the award, and they actually do a good job at bringing in the social aspect and engage pharmacists. But because both are closed off to the public, you don’t see the details. You can find the links here: http://marketing4health.ca/2010/11/canada_pharma_digital_awards_2010/
We are a ways away from the U.S., but I think to say it does not exist is a bit unfair to those who are putting in the effort. Just my 2 cents. And for disclosure, other than TimedRight, none of the cases mentioned above are clients.
Check out some of the sites mentioned and let me know what you think.
I just did a test with a couple of friends. The Circles are open. I made a post that was directed at one person. She was able to click “Share” and share it with everyone in her circles.
Thanks Yaser. I have been learning the same as well. Since the site is still in beta mode, it will be interesting to see if Google actually puts in a feature to truly limit messages from going outside of specified circles. Mind you, most people probably want their messages shared, so Google may not be tempted to bend over backwards for demands of a smaller market such as Canadian pharma.
Why do you think that Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing ? I seem no point in using Google + for answering pharma,s questions
jeffreylee recently posted..Guess where Dr. Lee is going on vacation?
If the circles can truly limit who sees certain messages, it might remove the barrier that Canadian pharma cannot promote to the public (other than prize, quantity and brand), and maybe they can provide patient information to those who have received a prescription. The more I learn about Google+, the less I believe that the info shared within certain circles are truly limited to those circles. But the system is still in beta, so who knows where it will go.
[...] Could Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing? Google+ may be a lower risk option for pharmaceutical companies. One of the features of Google+ is that you can easily share your information with select groups of people. These groups of people are referred to as “circles”. When you add somebody to your Google+ network, you have the ability to place them in a specific circle. The default circles are “Friends, Family, Acquaintances, and Following”, but you can also add some new circles as well. When you share a post or statement, you can then select which circle(s) receive the message, thus eliminating the other circles from seeing your message. [...]
[...] Could Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing? [...]
Nat, I am curious to know your thoughts on this. Why would this be different then existing tools? Key of success for google+ is the ability of targeting specific audiences. You can really narrow (circles). Not sure what this will change for HPCs. I too believe a lot is happening, but behind closed doors. ALthough, wouldn’t they be proud and publicizing the fact that they (pharma) are doing so?
Hi Marie-Karina, when I wrote the article, the Google+ network was a day old or so, and I had been on the network for about 12 hours. So a lot of the article was based on whether or not sharing of info could be limited within the ‘circles’ (ie. is it truly a gated network or not). I’m still not sure I have the answer to that question, because I have been able to share posts from others to my circles (which would make the network ‘non-gated’ from a pharma perspective). But keep in mind that the network is still in beta mode, and as you sign up for the network, you are forewarned that things will be changing. So it’s still a grey zone, but I’m less optimistic than I was when I first jumped on the network. However, I just read an article today that Google is doing its best to help pharma abide by its regulatory guidelines when using YouTube, a sign that they may be trying to partner wtih the industry in light of FaceBook who is making it even more difficult now since they no longer give special rights to pharma to disable comments on their FaceBook pages (ie. pharma now needs to monitor and edit comments on a continuous basis on their page, or not have a page at all). I’m still in watch-mode on this one.
Thanks Nat; It was really to get your opinion… I haven’t been on it for a long time yet, but I really don’t think that G+ will ever be the appropriate tool for pharma; at least, not differently than facebook.
Re facebook, are you sure? Last time I checked with Facebook (Andrew Peebles, Sales Associate) he told me that pharma will still be able to request to take off the commenting option. They need to submit an official request to Facebook, but Andrew assured me that they will agree if for a Rx drug.
So excited .. just learned that you can ‘disable reshare’ of your posts, therefore, I am back to thinkinkg that Google PLus is an option for Cdn pharma to maintain a gated community and share with a limited, pre-selected group of people.
As for FaceBook now allowing disabling of comments for pharma, I have been relying on reports from All FaceBook (http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-requiring-pages-to-enable-user-comments-2011-05), usually a reliable source (a few other high profile tech blogs have reported the same). But, based on your comments, I am curious to dig further so I will try to contact a few people myself. Definitely another post awaiting to be written. Thanks for the inspiration
Hi there,
Wondering if anyone knows where I can find info on the number of Cdn pharma companies that are using social media for connecting user groups, patients or otherwise. Been searching for days and not really finding anything. Help!
And thanks.
Hi Jeff. Good question. I don’t know that anybody has ever quantified this. I try to document such case studies when I find them, and if I find them interesting or if there’s something to learn from them. The number would be small as there aren’t that many, unless you are also including OTC companies in your definition of ‘pharma’. If you’re looking strictly at pharma companies with Rx products, then the number you are looking for is very small. It is growing, but just slightly. You might want to check the Dose of Digital pharma wiki. They list various health / pharma social media sites, and they categorize them as well so you can look at “Pharma sponsored sites”, etc. It’s not 100% up-to-date, especially from a Canadian perspective. I’m curious to know why you are looking for this statistic, and whether you are from the industry itself (if so, you would understand the regulatory restrictions that make the numbers so low). Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help. A similar question that I would have is ‘how many pharma companies are listening to what is being said on social media, regardless of whether they are participating themselves or not’.
[...] Could Google+ be Pharma’s Answer to Social Media Marketing? Google+ may be a lower risk option for pharmaceutical companies. One of the features of Google+ is that you can easily share your information with select groups of people. These groups of people are referred to as “circles”. When you add somebody to your Google+ network, you have the ability to place them in a specific circle. The default circles are “Friends, Family, Acquaintances, and Following”, but you can also add some new circles as well. When you share a post or statement, you can then select which circle(s) receive the message, thus eliminating the other circles from seeing your message. [...]