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September 2023 - Pharmaceutical

Research finds that pharmaceutical companies are failing to connect via social media at local level: Research has found that despite the number of apps used by pharma companies more than doubling since 2020, firms are failing to engage on a local level with audiences.

Worldcom's Digital Health Monitor aimed to understand how often and effectively pharma companies engage on social media platforms, finding that the majority of companies using social media were not taking full advantage of the opportunities available to them.

The 2023 issue of the Digital Health Monitor analysed 25 pharmaceutical companies based on local reputation, their size and geographic presence including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Abbot and Sanofi. The research looked at their activity across 11 digital channels including apps, blogs, corporate and local company websites, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube and gave them a percentage scores to rate how effectively the mediums were being used. The study found that overall, pharma companies  average ‘use percentage’ for social channels was just 15%. 

The findings revealed that while the social media use is continuing to grow, companies are still missing out on local engagement.

Amongst the key findings was that while each company has a global website, not all companies have websites specific to country. When it comes to blogs, a similar picture was found, with 23 out of 25 companies having a global output, but local blogs specific to country being rare.

Whilst all pharma companies had an international Facebook account (with the exception of Astellas and Merck) Worldcom concluded that it is being used to just 10% of its potential, which it says is mainly due to the fact that companies do not have more country-specific accounts where they can share more localised content. Similarly, while 24 out of 25 companies had a Twitter account (just Astellas did not), 21 companies were given an efficiency score of lower than 20% for effective use of the channel.

Looking at LinkedIn the research found that again, county-specific pages were not common and content in local languages was also not common, meaning that only Novartis and Roche were awarded a LinkedIn efficiency score of more than 20%.

The lack of local accounts was also highlighted for YouTube and Instagram, which says WorldCom needs to be addressed to improve engagement.

Finally, the research found that TikTok is not being utilised at all, which Worldcom says could provide opportunities to connect with younger generations who use the platforms

Serge Beckers, chairman of Worldcom Healthcare, said: “While the use of social media continues to increase, pharmaceutical firms continue to miss out on local engagement. App use has increased but visual platforms like YouTube and TikTok and mainstream social media platforms like Facebook, remain underutilized at a local level.

"Pharma companies are missing the opportunity to convey, at a local level, how they satisfy heightened consumer expectations around topics such as DEI and ESG. While there is strict regulation on commercial topics, the human issues relating to purpose present a significant opportunity for pharma companies to build emotional equity with consumers and influencers.”

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