March 1, 2012
An overview of recent Canadian pharma ads on FaceBook
Less than 2 years ago, I got very excited when I saw a Canadian pharma ad on my FaceBook profile. It was the first Canadian pharma ad that I had personally ever seen on FaceBook. You can read my post about it here.
We sure have come a long way since then. Throughout 2011 and so far in 2012, I have spotted several ads on my FaceBook profile, by Canadian pharmaceutical companies. In fact, Pfizer Canada might be the first Canadian pharma company to advertise a Schedule F prescription drug name on FaceBook. In Canada, pharmaceutical companies must follow very restrictive Rx-DTC (direct-to-consumer) guidelines. The only things that can be mentioned in the public regarding Schedule F Rx products are product name, price and quantity. The ad below complies with the regulations.
GlaxoSmithKline Canada promoted their vaccine Cervarix via FaceBook ads back in Q4 2011. Although the product name and disease state appear in the ad, it complies with Health Canada's Rx-DTC regulations because Cervarix is a schedule D drug, and it is not promoting a schedule A disease.
Now Midol might not be a prescription drug, but it belongs to Bayer which is a pharmaceutical company, so I think that they deserve kudos for entering the social media advertisement arena. The Midol FaceBook ads were very consumer-savvy, offering a prize and driving traffic to their site by offering entertainment in the form of punishment on the man in the ad - it doesn't sound very nice, but I saw the site and I did not find it offensive at all. It was all in the name of fun.
The rest of the FaceBook ads by Canadian pharma companies that I saw on my profile were all to help raise awareness of certain disease states. As long as no brand name is mentioned, this is a completely acceptable form of promotion according to Health Canada.
There might have been ads targeted to men, or younger / older audience, or other demographic that did not fit my profile, so this is by no means a complete inventory of Canadian pharma ads on FaceBook. If you have seen other FaceBook ads by Canadian pharma, let us know in the comments section. If you happen to have a picture, e-mail it to me and I will gladly add it to the post and give you credit for having found it.
January 10, 2011
Canadians, FaceBook and Healthcare
I am a believer that FaceBook can have positive influence on healthcare. With so many healthcare stakeholders involved on the network, it seems like the perfect place for everybody to get connected. Just looking at the number of people who are members of this network should be enough to make any marketer stop in their tracks and decide whether they should reach out and engage with their target audience on this medium. And over the past couple of years, there have been several reports that have suggested that Canadians really 'like' their FaceBook time (yes, that was an intentional pun, but it is true). The most recent report that I have seen was the one from eMarketer.com's November 29th 2010 post "Canadians Say Yes to Social Media".
Almost 10 million Canadians went on FaceBook per day in September 2010. That is a lot of people when you consider that the Canadian population in 2010 is estimated at just over 34 million people by Stats Canada.
If that is not enough to convince you to at least consider whether FaceBook fits into your strategic objectives, take a look at the video clip below. It is part of Time's Person of the Year issue, in which Time put together a fascinating video clip showcasing statistics about what happens on FaceBook in 1 minute . The statistics are global, not Canadian-specific, but it is worth taking a look at.
The facts from the video are noted below in case you are having trouble viewing the video:
- Shared links: 50,304
- Photos tagged: 66,168
- Event invites: 74,204
- Wall posts: 79,364
- Status updates: 82,557
- Friend requests: 98,604
- Photos uploaded: 135,849
- Messages sent: 231,605
- "Likes": 382,861
- Comments: 510,404
If you need more Canadian-specific stats to help you make your decision, here are a few articles that you might find helpful:
If you are interested in seeing examples of various healthcare FaceBook pages, just go to the Dose of Digital social media wiki. Here, you will find lots of creative uses of FaceBook from all over the world. Keep in mind that advertising and promotion guidelines for healthcare products vary from country to country, so some of the examples that you will find in the wiki may not be suitable for Canada.
I am not suggesting that all healthcare marketers jump on board and set up a FaceBook page. It needs to make sense for your business. Social media is nothing more than a tactic designed to help you reach your organization's strategic objectives. What I am suggesting is that all healthcare marketers should take the time to at least consider whether FaceBook fits their strategic goals or not. For marketers who are not on FaceBook themselves (and I know quite a few are out there), it might seem a little bit overwhelming and obscure to market in this new environment, but that should not stop anybody from at least considering the possibility that the fit might be there for the target audience. Do a little bit of monitoring to see where your audience hangs out, and if they are already on FaceBook, then you might want to join them there.
If you have considered a FaceBook page and decided to forego it, what is stopping you from setting one up? Leave a comment below.
Stay in touch,
Natalie
Connect with me on the following networks:
February 5, 2010
CAMH – Mental Health Conversations on Wikis, Podcasts, and Mainstream Social Media
This week, my blog series will be focusing on several Canadian online healthcare social networks. This is part 5 of 5. The previous posts of the series can be found here;
- Upopolis: Social Media for Kids in Hospitals
- TeenConnector.ca: Where Canadian Teens with Cancer Connect
- CaringVoices: Princess Margaret Hospital Offers Online Support for Cancer Patients
- VirtualHospice.ca: Online Palliative Care Community & Resources
The featured Canadian healthcare social network for today is the CAMH Knowledge Exchange site. I saved this one for last because it is unique compared to all the others that we have visited over the past week, in that the target audience for the online community consists of healthcare professionals mostly, with one special feature for caregivers and families.
It was serendipity that brought me to this site, because I was searching through the CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) site to see if they were hosting any kind of online social networks for their patients / clients. This seemed like a reasonable spot to search considering that the Forrester Inc. Research, April 22 2009 report suggests that people afflicted with mental illnesses tend to be active participants and may benefit the most from online social networking.
As I scoured through the CAMH site, I came across a page called ‘Knowledge Exchange’, which included a wiki. The wiki had very little content, but it looked interesting nonetheless. It is at that point that I connected with Krystyna Ross, the Publisher and Manager of Publication Services at CAMH, and discovered that the wiki had not even been officially launched yet. It is scheduled to be launched in a few weeks, and only a handful of people have had the opportunity to use the site for beta testing purposes. You get a sneak peek of the beta version before it goes live!
What is CAMH Knowledge Exchange?
CAMH Knowledge Exchange is different than the overarching CAMH.net site in that it is specifically designed for healthcare professionals (HCP) (Psychiatrists, social workers, policy makers, nurses, pharmacists, allied professionals). The objective is to collect reliable information for this target audience and to provide them with practical tools and resources. The tools and resources will not be exclusive to CAMH info, but will also include linking to other sites and articles with info that are deemed to be valuable for the HCPs.
In order to be a single source of reliable info, the site also features collaborative tools, such as the wiki, as well as blogging and discussion board capabilities. Other features are planned for future implementation. Users will have the option to set up secured and partially-secured shared work spaces. A couple of wiki projects have already started during the beta period; an international group of HCPs is working together on a paper and another group is revising guidelines related to mental health.
Another key audience for the Knowledge Exchange site consists of the primary care physicians. According to CAMH, family physicians and general practitioners are the ones who see the most patients with mental health and addiction problems. Therefore, CAMH will be including some very succinct information that will have practical clinical use (ie. quick screening tools, tips on when to refer or when to manage patients in own practice). St-Joseph’s Hospital is working with CAMH on an Addiction Toolkit for primary care providers, and there will be additional toolkits to come.
GPs may be able to participate in some wikis as well. This will depend on the wiki and its purpose. Participation in the wikis is determined by the people running the individual wikis and their objectives.
How will the CAMH Knowledge Exchange be promoted?
CAMH will start promoting the Knowledge Exchange site as soon as the official launch takes place. As part of their promotion, here is a copy of the postcard (top image is the front and bottom image is the back of the postcard) that CAMH developed in-house, which will be distributed to HCPs in the mental health and addiction field.
Are there any CAMH social networks that are specifically geared towards the patients / clients and their families?
Currently, there is a FaceBook fan page and two official Twitter accounts for CAMH ( for media updates, and representing the CAMH Foundation), plus a new website set up by family council that represents patients, but no customized discussion boards or online community ... well at least not yet!
Also, on January 18 2010, CAMH announced a podcast series called Teens and Tweens, features interviews with experts in adolescent mental health and addictions, and is targeted at educators, parents, social workers, and others who work with teens. The podcast series will cover various mental health and addictions issues. Listeners will be able to propose topics for future episodes as well as engage with other listeners on the Knowledge Exchange portal.
Are there any advertising or sponsorship opportunities on the Knowledge Exchange site or wiki?
At the moment, CAMH has not decided how they would like to proceed regarding external partnerships or sponsorships. However, CAMH will have opportunities to host sites for other community agencies or HCPs who focus on mental health or addiction. For such partnerships, only Canadian organizations / HCPs will be considered.
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Interested in discussing partnership or sponsorship opportunities with the CAMH Knowledge Exchange, then please contact Krystyna Ross at Krystyna_Ross@camh.net .
DISCLOSURE: I have not been paid to write this article, and the organizations mentioned are not clients.
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This concludes part I of my blog series on Canadian online healthcare social networks. That’s right … there is a part II coming soon, but there is a bit more work left to be done. Stay tuned!
Stay in touch,
Natalie
Connect with me on the following networks:
FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn
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CaringVoices: Princess Margaret Hospital Offers Online Support for Cancer Patients
This week, my blog series will be focusing on several Canadian healthcare online social networks. This is part 3 of 5. The previous posts of the series can be found here;
- Upopolis: Social Media for Kids in Hospitals
- TeenConnector.ca: Where Canadian Teens with Cancer Connect
The featured Canadian healthcare social network for today is CaringVoices . The Centre for Innovation in Complex Care (CICC) sent me a tweet about the network via their CICC Twitter account, informing me that they use this network and are very satisfied with it. So many thanks to the CICC for sharing this information. Isn’t Twitter just the best for communicating with others with similar interests! In fact, you can follow CaringVoices on Twitter, but at the moment, the account is not very active.
Sara Urowitz, Manager, Education Informatics, Princess Margaret Hospital/University Health Network, is responsible for the management of the CaringVoices.ca network. We had the opportunity to discuss the network and below are a few highlights of our discussion;
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What is CaringVoices.ca?
CaringVoices is a national Canadian online community specifically designed for cancer survivors, where they can chat and discuss issues and personal experiences with one another, find current resources about their disease, and take part in online events. Members of all ages are welcome, as are caregivers, healthcare professionals, and those with a special interest in the topic (called ‘visitors’ on the network). The objective of the CaringVoices is to address the psycho-educational, psychosocial and supportive care needs of Canadian cancer survivors.
The network is an initiative of the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). Funding was received from the Princess Margaret Breast Cancer Survivorship Program, The Quilt (Stratford, Ontario), and the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation. The site is supported, hosted and maintained by Klick Communications.
In speaking with Andrew Chak, Senior Vice President - Experience Design and Innovation of Klick Communications, he alluded to the fact that CaringVoices also allows the PMH to extend their patient support program to their patients even after they get discharged.
When was it launched?
CaringVoices was launched in 2006 as an online community for social networking for Breast Cancer with the intent that it would eventually be expanded to support all cancers. In 2008 the General Cancer community was launched, and in 2009 both the Gynaecologic and Hematologic Cancer communities became available.
A Gastrointestinal Cancer community is currently under development with the hopes for a launch in early Spring 2010.
How did CaringVoices gather so many resources for its members?
Much of the success of the network has come from collaborations with community cancer organizations. For example, Ovarian Cancer Canada has partnered with the Princess Margaret Hospital to promote, manage and enhance the Gynaecologic Cancer community, Wellspring has offered events for the CaringVoices community, and Willow recommends the site as a source for breast cancer information. The Canadian Cancer Society – Cancer Information services hosts a monthly event on finding information and resources in your community. There are other collaborations as well.
Also, their event calendar is loaded with events, so there are frequent opportunities for CaringVoices members to learn more about their disease, and even ask questions to the moderator of the event. Here is a sample of their February 2010 event calendar. As a member of the online community, you receive an e-mail notification of upcoming events.
The network does not ask if the new member signing up is from Canada. Is the intent for CaringVoices to be a global or mostly Canadian online network?
The CaringVoices online network welcomes the involvement from non-Canadians, however the mandate is to look for Canadian content, collaboration and sources of expertise, and to attract Canadian cancer survivors.
How many members are currently using the network?
Survivors, caregivers/healthcare professionals and visitors can become members of the site. Registration is quick and simple, with little data required to become a member. In fact, it took me less than 30 seconds to sign up as a ‘visitor’ member.
As of December 2009, there were approximately 2,500 users, nearly 10 million total page views (9,850,000), and over 400 moderated online chat events.
Who can add resources? If external parties can add resources, is there an approval process to ensure that information is accurate and reliable?
The resource section is maintained by the Patient Education and Survivorship (PE&S) program at the Princess Margaret Hospital. The PE&S Information Specialist is responsible for overseeing the resource section. This person reviews and updates the resource section based on needs (for example if a new community is launched, or if something has been triggered by an end-user’s request or posting in one of the forums). Collaborators who have existing resources often share their information with the network.
The Princess Margaret Hospital reviews the resources to ensure that they are reputable, accurate and up-to-date. The information that is added by external parties is monitored, and responded to when necessary, but it is very rarely censored. Only information that is inaccurate, frightening, or spam-like are censored.
What role do the sponsors play?
The sponsors do not have any control or responsibility with regards to the management of the CaringVoices online community.
How is the CaringVoices online community promoted?
Princess Margaret Hospital promotes the community at professional conferences such as Patient Education Conferences, Nursing Conferences, and various cancer survivorship conferences, where they distribute promotional materials including information brochures about the community;
The brochure was created by the Princess Margaret Hospital.
Additional promotion of the online community has been through the collaborators. Despite the limited promotional efforts, the community has grown steadily. It is assumed that survivors who are members of the community are spreading news about it via word-of-mouth.
Which hospitals promote the use of the online community to their patients?
Formal and informal collaborations have been formed with other cancer programs and hospitals. Information about CaringVoices is available through the Hope and Cope program at the Jewish General in Montreal, through the Patient Education program at the Oddette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Hospital, through Patient Education at St. Michael’s hospital and others.
Who organizes and holds the online community events?
Currently, 15 to 30 live 1-hour online chats (via text only) take place on a monthly basis. Most of these events are organized by the Princess Margaret Hospital. The events are moderated by a professional from the Princess Margaret Hospital, trained volunteers, or reps from community cancer agencies, including reps from collaborators. There are 3 categories for the online chat events: 1) Clinical Corner, which is moderated by healthcare professionals (e.g. Chemo Questions, Managing Fatigue etc), 2) Knowledge Café, which focus on living with cancer and are often moderated by community partners (e.g. Talking with your kids about cancer, Managing your Finances, Where to Find Information and Support in your community etc), and 3) Talking Sticks, which are peer-led chats in which members are encouraged to share their experiences with one another.
Are there any advertising or sponsorship opportunities on the CaringVoices community?
To date, there have been no advertising or sponsorship opportunities for pharma / medical companies. There has been pharma funding for the Patient Education and Survivorship Program, but not for the online community itself. In fact, in previous discussions with various pharma companies, they preferred not to sponsor the community due to concerns about reporting of adverse events on the site and the subsequent responsibility of the drug company.
However, for medical / pharma companies who would be interested in supporting CaringVoices, the Patient Education and Survivorship Program at Princess Margaret Hospital accepts unrestricted learning grants in support of online (educational) chat events as long as the company remained at arm’s length.
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Interested in collaborating with CaringVoices, or sharing your Canadian expertise or content, or discussing the opportunity of sponsoring an online event, then please contact Sara Urowitz (sara.urowitz@rmp.uhn.on.ca or caringvoices@rmp.uhn.on.ca ), 416-581-8616.
DISCLOSURE: I have not been paid to write this article, and the organizations mentioned are not clients.
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Tomorrow, we will take a look at an online community for Canadian patients, families and healthcare professionals involved in palliative care.
Stay in touch,
Natalie
Connect with me on the following networks:
FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn
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To ensure that you receive all new updates to this blog, insert your e-mail address in the box in the top-right corner. Your e-mail will remain private and will not be shared with any third parties.January 29, 2010
Do Canadian patients trust others like them?
Next week, I will be posting a blog series on Canadian healthcare social networks; 1 network reviewed per day! These are online communities where Canadian patients (and sometimes patients from other countries as well), share healthcare-related, and sometimes very personal information with one another.
As such, I was interested in learning more about how Canadian patients who connect with one another on online communities trust the information that they are receiving from one another. My immediate thought was to connect with the Edelman group.
If you have ever talked with somebody who either had been diagnosed with a similar disease or was taking a similar treatment as you, did you trust the information that you were given by that person? Chances are pretty good that you would have trusted the information given by that person, but not as much as in previous years.
The 2008, 2009 and 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer reports confirm this. Trust in a "person like yourself" has decreased from 2008 to 2009 (as have most information sources listed in the report), and dropped again in 2010. From the global 2010 Edelman report, 44% of respondents aged between 25-64 years said they would find the information from a person like them to be either 'very credible' or 'extremely credible' (down from 47% in 2009, and 58% in 2008). That's a huge drop over the past 3 years!
[caption id="attachment_332" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Edelman 2010 Trust Barometer"]
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Interestingly, the "person like yourself" is the only group that actually decreased in trust from 2009 to 2010. All other information sources either increased in trust or remained the same. It makes you wonder what happened to make us lose so much trust in people similar to ourselves. Unfortunately, the Edelman report does not give an answer to this question. They do provide insight though, regarding the increase in trust in the other groups;
"In a volatile year, it seems that informed publics value guidance from credentialed experts over a “person like me,” which lost ground as a credible voice of information for a company (figure 8). This desire for substantial information points to why academics and experts, and financial or industry analysts are the most trusted spokespeople for a company."But do these global statistics reflect Canadian trust? The Edelman reports provide global and some country data, but do not break down any Canadian data. The Edelman group in Toronto agreed to dig up the Canadian information for me. However, at the time of publishing this post, the 2010 Edelman Trust report had just been released a few days prior, and the Canadian data was not yet available. It should become available within the next 2 months, and the Edelman group in Toronto has promised to send me some Canadian statistics as soon as possible (yup, I`ll be posting that info for you as soon as I get it). But in the meantime, the Edelman group in Toronto was kind enough to send me some Canadian statistics from the 2009 report;
In 2009, the global trust in a "person like yourself" was 47%, whereas the Canadian trust in a "person like yourself" was 49%. OK, so Canadians scored a bit higher, but not by much. It will be interesting to see what the 2010 report shows, particularly whether the Canadian score will have increased or decreased, or stayed the same over time.
Another point to keep in mind is that a "person like yourself" is not the same as a "patient like yourself". The Edelman report does not specifically discuss trust in health issues from a "person like yourself". Talking about sports gear with another sports fanatic is very different than talking about your cancer treatments with another patient. Medical information can be so technical, yet healthcare can be a very personal and emotional topic for patients. Who knows! Perhaps patients with newly diagnosed diseases or prescriptions might have greater, or perhaps much less trust in another "patient like yourself".
Can we answer the question whether Canadian patients trust others like them? Not entirely, at least not from this report. I think we can infer from the 2009 data that there definitely would be some level of trust. But to what level would we trust other Canadian patients, and how would this compare with other information sources? Those questions remain unanswered, at least from this particular report.
Another study by Essential Research Inc., Essential Healthconsumer, which was implemented in 2008 and published in 2009, suggests that more than half (57%) of Canadian healthcare consumers have greater trust in Canadian sites, whereas 36% trust all (Canadian, American, International) sites equally. However, only 14% of Canadian healthcare consumers who found healthcare information online actually shared it with others online. So it appears that having a Canadian online community might enhance the trust of its members.
The 14% of Canadians willing to share their findings seems a bit low when compared to the Social Technographics Profile tool, which suggests that 18% of Canadian adults are 'creators' and that 29% are 'critics' (ie. participate in online forums) on social media. You can learn more about the Social Technographics Profile here.
I have two theories as to why this might be, but they remain untested opinions, so take it with a grain of salt;
1) This could be a result of the difference in timing of the two studies. The Essential HealthConsumer data was gathered in November / December 2008, whereas the Social Technographics Profile tool includes 2009 data. Social media is evolving quickly, therefore the time difference in collecting the data for both studies could be the reason for the discrepancy as more and more people are becoming familiar and comfortable in using social media.
2) Moreover, similarly to the earlier argument that a 'person like yourself' is different than a 'patient like yourself', the Essential Research data is related to sharing of healthcare information online, whereas the Social Technographics Profile is related to general postings and comments made on social media. Healthcare is very personal and can be emotional, therefore one might expect to see fewer Canadians willing to share such sensitive information online with others. But that very same person might be quite comfortable in sharing information about the new pair of shoes that he or she just bought for a bargain.
And finally, the type of disease state involved might influence whether Canadian patients trust other patients like them enough to share information with them online. Although not Canadian-specific and not trust-specific, the North American Technographics Benchmark Survey of 2008 (Source: Forrester Inc. Research; blogs.forrester.com ─ April 22, 2009) suggests certain disease states that participate the most, and might benefit the most from online communities (see top right quadrant on chart below).
The upcoming Canadian healthcare social network blog series might provide some qualitative information about how much Canadian patients trust others like them. You will notice that the level of member activity on these online communities varies. As you review these various online communities next week, keep in mind the type of disease state involved, the age of the typical members, the various features that facilitate the online discussions, and the sophistication of the management of the networks (most of the networks to be featured are managed by non-profit medical organizations who are juggling funding and personnel with multiple organizational objectives). This might help us better understand why some medical online communities seem to be more effective than others. Hopefully the series will stimulate some thought and discussion, and maybe even motivate some strategic partnerships.
Let us know your thoughts on whether Canadian patients trust others like them by writing a comment.
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A big thank you to the Edelman group in Toronto for their speedy responses and feedback. I was truly amazed at their level of customer service. (Thanks to Scott Evans and Lisa Kimmel for all your help!)
As well, many thanks to Essential Research Inc. for giving me permission to share some of their insightful Canadian data. (Thanks to Don Lajoie for his ongoing support and passion in sharing information about Canadian and e-health.)
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Stay in touch,
Natalie
Connect with me on the following networks:
FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn
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