Leveraging Facebook for Successful Communications in Pharmaceutical Marketing - greyhealth group
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greyhealth group
Leveraging Facebook for
Successful Communications
in Pharmaceutical Marketing
Table of Contents
Facebook Health..................................................................................................3
harma-specific
P
Promotional Offerings........................................................................................4
hat’s Next for
W
Facebook’s Products?..........................................................................................6
It’s More Than a Media &
Tech Platform........................................................................................................7
Privacy and Promotion.......................................................................................8
Summary............................................................................................................. 10
References.......................................................................................................... 11
About ghg | greyhealth group ...................................................................... 12
2 greyhealth group
Facebook Health Facebook is indisputably a huge leader in the technology, publishing, and advertising space, with a wealth of opportunities for engagement and promotion available for companies and brands alike. However, apart from a few front-runners, Pharma At the end of 2015, to more closely partner with marketers have historically not leveraged Facebook Pharma, Facebook launched the Facebook Health for drug promotion or patient community division—a team dedicated to working with development. In taking a look back over the past Pharma companies and their agencies. Since few years, the reason why is twofold. First, and then, the team has worked closely with policy, not surprisingly, Pharma brands are concerned marketing, and product teams to develop about getting in trouble with regulators by not solutions for Pharma on the platform. Facebook conforming to safety requirements, and they are also held its first Health Summit at its NYC HQ put off by the time and costs associated with on June 6, 2017; the event was attended by real-time monitoring of potential adverse events. Pharma (regulated and OTC) and agency teams. And, at the time of writing, the most recent (draft) The focus was on mobile (something that guidance from the FDA on the use of social media Facebook is strongly pursuing, as the majority is from 2014, with no concrete rules defined.1 of traffic and engagement occurs on mobile Second, Facebook has historically been against devices), but also provided information, insights, giving any special treatment to particular and reassurance about its products and industries, citing the need to keep the social commitment to mobile video.4 Following this event, aspect of Facebook just that: social. By allowing Facebook established a presence at Cannes Lions disabling of comments, moderation of content, Health, where Facebook’s Meredith Guerriero, an and different experiences for Pharma, it would be ex-Googler, joined the stage with Allergan’s US moving away from that model and entering Director of Marketing to discuss the Pharma digital a world beyond the platform’s core intentions. marketing landscape. However, in 2015, Pharma spent more than So, with all of Facebook’s efforts at educating $5.2 billion in traditional advertising alone,2 Pharma marketers on the platform and providing with hundreds of millions more in digital and unique products, is it working? The short answer social-media advertising. Of course, that is a is, yes. A recent report by Cutting Edge Information huge volume of ad spend, and Facebook wants shows that 73% of pharmaceutical marketing a piece of that pie to compete with the other teams plan to use Facebook within the next digital media leaders, such as Google, as well 2 years.5 It is, therefore, imperative that agencies as to continue its growth trajectory. On the flip ensure that brands (and their legal teams) side, Pharma marketers want to be able to understand the offerings available, how they are leverage the wealth of demographic, interest, compliant with FDA and corporate regulations, and location data available to message the and why the channel is invaluable as part of a 2 billion monthly global Facebook users.3 In larger digital strategy to meet both branded the US alone, an average of 195 million people and unbranded imperatives. visit Facebook on a mobile device each month; of these people, 1 in 4 is looking for health information.4 In addition, there are currently 70 million people active in Facebook health groups, and so it is the perfect time for Pharma brands to engage with them in a new way.4 3 greyhealth group
Pharma-specific Promotional Offerings
Since the launch of the Facebook Health division, Facebook
has indeed delivered on its promise of creating pharma-specific
products and offerings, and many manufacturers and brands
have already taken advantage.
Probably the most widely publicized product solutions that comply with FDA regulations within
developed with the Facebook Health division the available technology: ISI served within a video.
was the scrolling Important Safety Information This now allows Pharma to take advantage of all
(ISI) unit as a Facebook News Feed ad. Announced the main types of ads within the News Feed driving
at Digital Pharma East in October 2016, Bayer to websites, app downloads, and the multitude of
launched the first scrolling ISI Facebook News other calls to action available from Facebook.
Feed ad for its Betaseron MS drug and
Facebook does still require advertisers to have
Betaconnect autoinjector; this was also the
a Facebook page in order to run ads within the
first Facebook ad from Bayer.6 You may say that
News Feed—something that has often left Pharma
this is hardly a novel approach (after all, banner
ads relegated to the right rail, and, therefore, not
ads with scrolling ISI have been running for years),
visible on mobile. But don’t worry, Facebook has a
but given the restrictions within the Facebook
solution for that as well. See below for more detail
ad environment (ie, no custom HTML for News
on this and other Pharma Facebook solutions.
Feed ads), this is a good example of how Facebook
is partnering with Pharma and developing
Pharma Pages
Facebook now has specific templates that provide more flexibility
for Pharma brands. First, by setting the page to a particular
category, certain features become available. These features include
a dedicated area for ISI on the Home page and About page, greater
control over posts for images or videos of the safety information
to be pinned to the top of the feed, and greater control over the
page tabs. The ability still remains for custom tabs to be added
to further include PI or ISI, as required in HTML. Facebook will
also whitelist the page upon request and, after review, disable
comments and reactions on content. This lessens the burden on
Pharma companies to monitor conversations, although it does
detract from the social nature of Facebook. The disabling of
comments also pulls through to any ad run in the News Feed
that is tied to the whitelisted account.
4 greyhealth group
Pharma-specific Promotional Offerings Click-to-Call Ads7 In 2015, Facebook introduced this feature designed for local business ads. This type of ad includes a call to action that calls a number directly from the ad itself. Such ads offer a unique opportunity for Pharma to connect patients with live nurses or educators. In addition to the scrolling ISI in the ads, Betaseron included this Call Now feature to connect users to a live nurse-staffed hotline.6 Lead Ads8 Facebook lead ads were also introduced in 2015, and these allow data that are publicly available in a user’s Facebook profile to be automatically entered into forms to ease an enrollment process. In Pharma, these could be used to enroll patients in support or savings card programs. CHANTIX uses this type of ad unit to provide savings cards to users via SMS. Closed Groups Groups and closed groups were once a staple of Facebook (there are more than 6 million health-related groups). Recently, they’ve lost some of their appeal, but Facebook still retains support for them. Different from a page, groups allow for communities to be developed around particular topic areas, and by implementing a closed group, brands can control who is allowed access (something not available to pages). One example of this is Colgate’s group for registered dental hygienists. Live9 Facebook Live allows live video to be streamed to all followers of a particular person or page, and people are able to ask questions, react, and engage with the content. After the stream, the video is viewable similar to any other video asset. In many other industries, it’s used to share content from events (something Apple did very successfully at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference, driving enormous engagement). In the Pharma arena, this could be used to share KOL interviews with followers, or to share industry theaters at conventions. 5 greyhealth group
What’s Next for Facebook’s Products?
Over the past year or so, Facebook has evolved its
service offerings and products to court laggard
industries and to capitalize on the tremendous
impact video is making.
The platform continues to evolve as demonstrated in group chats, and the “Discovery” tab within
at Facebook’s annual developer conference Messenger, which allows users to search for bots.16
F8 in April 2017, with announcements about
Some healthcare bots have already been
chatbots, AI, VR, and other emerging technologies10
created for the platform, such as HealthTap’s
that are immediately making an impact in the
bot, which allows consumers to get answers
Pharma industry.
to health-related questions from physicians, or
Facebook was early to the VR party with its Oscar’s bot, which helps consumers get health
acquisition of Oculus in 201411; however, until insurance quotes and information. They’re also
recently, it wasn’t clear where it planned to take currently in closed beta for enabling Messenger
that investment within its overall offerings. In bots to be embedded in business websites.
2016, GSK partnered with Facebook’s Oculus
According to Sensely, virtual triage through
division to create the Excedrin Migraine
AI-powered solutions such as chatbots can help
Experience to allow non–migraine sufferers
reduce nurse time by up to 20% by avoiding
to experience the full symptoms of migraines.12
unnecessary calls.17 When it comes to Pharma
This experience was also rolled out onto a
brands, opportunities exist to help patients enroll
mobile application—a great example of how
in patient support programs, easily and more
VR can be used in the health arena. However, it
effectively answer drug or disease FAQs, and
wasn’t directly tied to the Facebook platform. At
generally enhance adherence by enabling
F8, Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of
greater access to information, such as dosing
Spaces, Facebook’s multiuser VR playground.13
and side-effect details.
This enables users to connect with friends in
virtual reality by logging in with their Facebook Finally, Facebook recently announced Watch,
account and interacting with an avatar. a new tab that will house original content
Opportunities for Pharma could include virtual produced by Facebook partners.18 It is clear
patient communities, particularly in diseases that Facebook has been doubling down on
such as cystic fibrosis, where sufferers are social video for some time, but this is a clear
encouraged not to be in close proximity to push to rival YouTube in terms of social video
each other. programming and ad revenue. It initially launched
only to select users with a small set of content
At F8 in 2016, Mark Zuckerberg announced
and now is available to all users. This functionality
the integration of chatbots into its Messenger
brings a community element to watching video,
platform.14 At F8 in 2017, just 1 year since the
something that could be very powerful in the
initial announcement, Facebook announced
Pharma and healthcare realm. Consider a way
that it had reached 100,000 bots—quite an
to connect community physicians with KOLs, or
astounding expansion in just 1 year.15 In addition
patients with advocates or nurse educators in
to this announcement, it provided enhanced
a new, compelling way.
third-party integrations, the ability to use bots
6 greyhealth groupIt’s More Than a Media & Tech Platform
Many of the elements outlined in the previous pages
focus on Facebook’s role in advertising, media, and/
or technology.
While this is great for healthcare and Pharma to comments, and each post garners great
increasingly take advantage of Pharma-friendly interaction with the community. There is little
promotional offerings, there are other ways need for intervention by the community manager,
Facebook benefits the healthcare industry. but the community manager is on hand to
answer questions and respond to comments
First of all, there is the aspect of health
as appropriate.
communities. According to Facebook, there are
over 10 million health support groups on the The other way Facebook can support healthcare
platform, covering everything from health and and Pharma is in clinical trial recruiting. Historically,
wellness, mental health, and diabetes to very identifying and recruiting the right patient to ensure
niche groups run by patients.4 the trial is successful is something that is very
difficult to do efficiently and effectively. However,
Take these examples in psoriasis, for instance: A
with Facebook’s wealth of demographic-, community-,
psoriasis patient created and maintains several
and interest-based targeting, along with custom
properties focused on the support of patients with
audience, look-alike capabilities, and easy
psoriasis (PsoWhat), and even one to support
optimization tools, this is now something that
patients on a specific therapy (Cosentyx). These
could be done much more easily. In fact, on
have no affiliation to any companies or brands per
September 7, 2017, Facebook’s Health team held
se, but they show the power that community has
a summit titled “Clinical Trials Strategy,” which
to enable self-advocation of better health by
focused on sharing how Facebook’s products
patients. Additionally, they are great examples
can be leveraged to recruit patients.19
of how elements created by brands can be used
by patients to foster ongoing support outside of But companies have already been using Facebook
the branded realm. for this purpose. Facebook has been used to
recruit patients in the cardiology, diabetes,
Pharma brands do play a role in this space as
and oncology spaces with great success. Using
well. One great example of this is Gilenya’s
Facebook to specifically target the investigator
Facebook community for MS patients—a
site markets—leveraging demographic and
community with over 295,000 likes. It has long
interest-based targeting—trials have seen great
been cited as one of the forerunners in pushing
engagement, with recruitment ads leading to huge
the boundaries of how Pharma uses Facebook
increases in recruitment and referral volume and
to support patients, and it leverages real patients
ultimately large reductions in cost per recruit.
called “Gilenya Guides” to share information
This could be particularly important in trials in
about the product and hints and tips about
rare disease or small categories that don’t have
living with MS.
adequate funding to reach the right patient types
In 2016, Gilenya took advantage of the ability and be successful.
to disable comments on the page, and had
As you can see, Facebook’s potential goes far
built a Facebook application that allowed
beyond advertising and technology, and can
moderated conversation within the community
be used effectively to help improve overall
(likely to make managing AE monitoring and
health outcomes.
reporting easier). However, at the beginning of
2017, Gilenya did away with the moderated
application and opened up the page to allow
7 greyhealth groupPrivacy and Promotion
Recent elections in the United States and United Kingdom have
put advertising transparency and privacy issues at the front
of the news—and Facebook has often been at the center of
that discussion.
Privacy has always been something of a • In an effort to improve advertising
concern to pharmaceutical marketers’ LMR transparency, Facebook is currently
teams (especially on social media). Late in testing a solution where users can view
2017, Facebook announced that they were the promoted content being served by a
rolling out measures to provide additional particular brand by clicking the “View Ads”
transparency around advertisements.20 Some link on the brand page. This is currently
of these measures may have an impact to being tested in Canada and expected to
pharmaceutical marketers. roll out in the US before the November
2018 midterms.
The “Why am I seeing this?” or “About
this article” Button20
•E
ach ad running in the News Feed now
allows users to click a button to see who
is sponsoring the ad and the targeting
criteria being used to serve the ad to
users; they are also able to opt out of
future ads by that sponsor and manage
their general preferences.
•U
sers can also learn more about
publishers who share articles or
news-related content. This content is
pulled by Facebook and is not
necessarily controllable by the brand,
so it may be a concern for LMR teams
if brand names and information are
shown out of context with respect to
other components on a page.
Additional Enforcement
“View Ads” Feature21 •W hile pharmaceutical ads are already
•F
acebook allows “unpublished” page under greater scrutiny (for example,
posts—promoted content that does advertisers can’t include ad copy that
not appear on the brand’s page. This suggests they know a user has a particular
allows for segmenting ads to particular health condition), all ads are now being
user groups, or running A/B tests reviewed more closely to ensure they
for content. remain compliant with Facebook’s policies.
8 greyhealth groupPrivacy and Promotion
At the beginning of 2018, Mark Zuckerberg announced a change
in how content will be displayed in the News Feed, with a greater
focus on content from friends and family and content that is more
likely to drive engagement rather than passive consumption.22
Overall, these changes are designed to drive These changes are meant to drive more
a better experience for users, but, of course, trustworthy content and less clutter in the
they may have implications for brands, as News Feed, encourage brands to focus on
page posts may be pushed lower in the high-quality content that promotes interaction,
News Feed. A particular consideration for and result in a more engaged user base on
Pharma brands are pages that are whitelisted, Facebook. It is also unlikely that these changes
with comments disabled. It is likely that these are going to affect promoted posts that are
organic page posts are going to see less a core part of many brands’ Facebook
distribution given the lack of ability for a strategy—after all, breaking through with
user to interact with them. However, users organic content has always been a challenge,
will still be allowed to manage preferences especially in Pharma.
regarding which pages they want to see in
Ultimately, it does warrant a discussion with
their News Feed.22
brand and LMR teams about dialing up the
On January 19, Facebook announced an amount of organic video content, and
update to its upcoming changes, citing a potentially revisiting the strategy for pages
focus on 3 areas of prioritization for content23: that are just used for serving ads and those
pages with comments disabled. It is likely
•N
ews from publications that the
that content posted from open pages may
community rates as trustworthy
have an advantage moving forward in this
• News that people find informative new model.
•N
ews that is relevant to people’s
local community
9 greyhealth groupSummary It is clear that there are numerous opportunities within Facebook for healthcare as a whole, and these opportunities will continue to grow. Many of Facebook’s technologies outlined in this piece are still in their infancy, but the potential opportunities for pharma and healthcare are certainly evident. We’re constantly monitoring the latest updates and are always in contact with Facebook to see how it can best be included as part of a social strategy for specific brands. Interested to see how a Facebook and social strategy can transform your brand? Get in touch. Chris Millsom VP, Digital Strategy Director ghg | greyhealth group chris.millsom@ghgroup.com @chrismillsom 10 greyhealth group
References
1. h
ttps://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guid-
ancesUCM401087.pdf
2. https://www.statnews.com/2016/03/09/drug-industry-advertising/
3. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-us-
ers-worldwide/
4. Facebook Health Summit 2017, June 6, 2017
5. http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/the-most-popular-social-media-platforms-in-
the-
phamaindustry-for-2017-2018-2229634.htm
6. http://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/bayer-s-first-facebook-ad-campaign-features-first-
scrolingisi-a-pharma-ad-facebook-ad
7. https://www.facebook.com/business/a/local-awareness-call-now
8. https://www.facebook.com/business/a/facebook-lead-ads-info
9. https://live.fb.com/
10. https://www.fbf8.com/watch
11. https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101319050523971
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmJW8gYIN4E
13. https://www.wired.com/2017/04/facebook-spaces-vr-for-your-friends/
14. https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/12/agents-on-messenger/
15. https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/18/facebook-messenger-hits-100000-bots/
16. https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/18/facebook-bot-discovery/
17. http://sensely.com/
18. https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/09/facebook-watch/
19. h
ttps://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/facebook-held-a-breakfast-to-promote-clinical-tri-
als-strategyhtml
20. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/10/improving-enforcement-and-transparency/
21. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/10/update-on-our-advertising-transparency-and-au-
thenticity-eforts/
22. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/
23. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/trusted-sources/
All sites accessed January 24, 2018. Information is accurate as of the time of writing.
11 greyhealth groupAbout ghg | greyhealth group ghg | greyhealth group is a 30-year-old, full-service, global health and wellness communications network with the heart and soul of a start-up. Every day we couple our vast experience with unyielding curiosity and passion to create award-winning, multichannel launch campaigns, differentiated branding and strategic positioning, innovative medical education, healthcare-access programs, cutting-edge digital, and scientific and value-based communications. ghg is a wholly owned member of WPP Health & Wellness (wpphealth.com), a leading subholding company created to mobilize and focus WPP’s (NASDAQ: WPPGY) vast resources for the benefit of clients across the full spectrum of health. www.ghgroup.com 12 greyhealth group
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