Market Report Source

Overview

Introduction
Driven in part by the rising cost of medical care, healthcare blogs will become more popular and influential as consumers assume greater responsibility for their own healthcare. Given the growing influence of blogs on consumers, pharmaceutical companies can no longer afford to dismiss comments made about their products by bloggers and, as such, must develop a voice within the blogosphere.

Scope
Introduction to the blogosphere and to pharmaceutical consumers active in this online arena
Investigation of the types of information pharmaceutical consumers are likely to find when they blog search a company and its products
Recommendations for pharmaceutical companies to gain a voice within the blogosphere
Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging – guidelines for using blogs to communicate with consumers

Highlights
Slight differences in the frequency with which consumers access blogs do not result in an observable difference in the influence of a blog author on populations of consumers under the age of 65.

It is important for pharmaceutical brand managers to resist the urge to dismiss comments made by bloggers about their products particularly if these comments are inaccurate. It cannot be assumed that other consumers will recognize factual errors.

Datamonitor recommends that companies that elect to create a blogsite do so by establishing a blog community, made up of key opinion leaders, healthcare professionals and scientists who make regular contributions to the site.

Reasons to Purchase
Identify which consumer groups are most likely to be bloggers and blog readers
Understand the factors that consumers consider when deciding whether or not to participate in an online forum, such as a blog
Recognize how the pharmaceutical industry can use blogs as both a market research and a relationship management tool”

Table of Contents

ABOUT DATAMONITOR

ACTION POINTS Scope of the report THE BLOGOSPHERE AND THE PHARMACEUTICAL CONSUMER What is a “blog”? How big is blogging in the US? Who are the bloggers and the blog readers? Bloggers: Blog readers: Blogs and bloggers are growing in influence Users under 35 access blogs most frequently Frequency of access to a source of health information determines influence Blogs may be less influential than other sources of health information but… BLOGS AND PHARMACEUTICAL CONSUMERS What do consumers find when they blog search? Datamonitor looks at the buzz in the blogosphere Google blog search keyword: “Merck” Negative Coverage: Mixed Coverage: Positive Coverage: Google blog search keyword: GSK’s “Advair” Negative Coverage: Mixed Coverage: Positive Coverage: To be influential in the blogosphere, pharmaceutical companies need to develop a more ‘personal’ voice TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG? Why pharmaceutical companies should join the blog community At a minimum, pharmaceutical companies should be using blogs as a market research tool Building a blogsite Blogsites should allow some level of interaction by the general public. CREATING A VOICE, BUILDING A BLOGSITE Step 1: Invite blog readers Step 2: Keep blog readers coming back Step 3: Direct consumers to more comprehensive sources of information THE FUTURE DECODED Datamonitor’s Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging Key points to take away from Datamonitor’s analysis 1. Negative buzz about a company or a product is inevitable. 2. Within the blogosphere an educated consumer is a company’s best defense against the propagation of inaccurate information. 3. The pharmaceutical industry’s actions within the blogosphere must be above reproach if they are to gain credibility within the online community. APPENDIX List of figures References Research methodology Datamonitor’s 2005 Consumer eHealthInsight Survey Analyst Contacts Kimberly O’Malley, Analyst Markella Kordoyanni, Analyst Jocelyn Young, Research Director Related Datamonitor Research List of Figures

Figure 1: Bloggers are most likely to be under 30 years of age

Figure 2: Blogs on non-health-related topics are accessed more frequently than blogs on health-related topics Figure 3: Few consumers currently access blogs on health topics on a daily or weekly basis Figure 4: Frequency with which consumers access offline and online sources of health information Figure 5: The frequency with which a consumer accesses a source of health information positively correlates with how influenced consumers are by recommendations originating from that source Figure 6: Users who are 65 years of age and older do not access blogs frequently enough to be heavily influenced by them Figure 7: Given a choice of search engines, consumers are most likely to use Google to search for health information online Figure 8: Google blog search keyword: “Merck”

Figure 9: Google blog search keyword: “Advair”

Figure 10: The 35 to 65 age group is shown to be particularly amenable to receiving direct mail Figure 11: The involvement of healthcare professionals lends credibility to online consumer-facing forums, such as blogs Figure 12: When deciding to participate in an online forum, consumers most value their anonymity Figure 13: Consumers most value online forums that provide them with access to the advice of medical professionals Figure 14: Use blogs to funnel Internet users towards more comprehensive online properties and tools for specific treatment or product information Figure 15: Datamonitor’s Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging