Market Report Source

Overview

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 lifecycle 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 caregiver 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 themselves 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 applications to support your company or brand

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Scope of the report

Key findings

CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA

Types of social media

Time-delayed forums

Mailing lists

Newsgroups

Message boards

Blogs

Real-time forums

Chat rooms

Scheduled live events

Finding the right combination

Pharmaceutical/healthcare context

Impact of social media on consumers – why blog?

CHAPTER 3 COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS

Blogging in the United States

Legal issues

Blogging in Europe

Legal issues

Blogging in Asia

Legal issues

CHAPTER 4 LESSONS LEARNED FROM OTHER INDUSTRIES

Product marketing and customer communication

General Motors’ FastLane

Public relations

McDonald’s Open for Discussion

Employee recruitment

Cadbury Schweppes’s UK Graduate Recruitment

What can pharmaceutical companies learn?

Creating a voice, building a blogsite

CHAPTER 5 PHARMACEUTICAL-SPECIFIC CONSIDERATIONS

The informed patient

Consumer-to-consumer online communities and blogs

Corporate blogs in the pharmaceutical industry

Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ BTW

GlaxoSmithKline’s alliConnect

CHAPTER 6 THE FUTURE DECODED

Social media and CRM

Social media as a market research tool

Where to go from here: balancing risks of social media with benefits.

Key points to take away from Datamonitor’s analysis

Negative buzz about a company or a product is inevitable

Within the blogosphere an educated consumer is a company’s best defense against the propagation of inaccurate information

The pharmaceutical industry’s actions within the blogosphere must be above reproach if they are to gain credibility within the online community.

CHAPTER 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Publications and online articles

Datamonitor resources

Additional reading

APPENDIX

Abbreviations used in this report

List of Tables

Table 1: Advantages vs disadvantages of time-delayed and real-time online forums

List of Figures

Figure 1: US – bloggers make up 5% of the total population of Internet users

Figure 2: Europe – bloggers make up just 1% of the total population of Internet users

Figure 3: Asia – bloggers make up 6% of the total population of Internet users

Figure 4: General Motors FastLane blog is widely regarded as a corporate blogging success story in the automotive industry and beyond

Figure 5: McDonalds’ corporate responsibility blog aims to improve relations with the public through an open discussion about nutrition, the environment and community support

Figure 6: Cadbury Schweppes uses blogs to add value to its UK graduate recruitment website

Figure 7: Johnson & Johnson joins the blogosphere with a public blog that focuses on the company and its employees

Figure 8: alliConnect is part of a multi-channel marketing and support campaign for GSK’s OTC weight-loss drug, Alli