Only rules for social media is that there are no rules

Aug/25/2008 08:11

"What we've seen with research with consumers is that once they've seen it, they tell everybody," a P&G marketing person said, another reason for the emphasis on buzz marketing vs. conventional media. "The feeling you get is so unique, and women especially love it” . People talk about toothpaste? Yes, John in fact people do talk about toothpaste, underwear, cars, and prescription drugs.

Does pharma use buzz marketing now? The last time I can remember buzz marketing having an impact on a drug were the early days before Gleevec was approved. I have been in a number of focus groups with physicians and depending upon medical condition, most do not talk about drugs like Cymbalta , Lipitor or Levitra. They talk about patient outcomes and what other physicians are doing to have successful out comes with patients. Does anyone really believe that physicians discuss Cialis vs. Levitra or Lipitor vs. Vytorin? Of course more serious medical conditions and the drugs that treat them are often talked about with physicians but again it has been my experience, in focus groups, that the physicians are focused on patient outcomes not the drugs themselves.

When a drug is launched pharma WILL often go to high prescribers for one reason: to start getting the sales ball moving and make some money. Thought leaders are used because they are influencers but also because pharma is in dire need of credible people to talk about drugs and medical conditions. However that influence is starting to decline because physicians know that some doctors are getting big bucks for promoting drugs via “talks” and “seminars”.

P&G’s new product will launch successfully with social media. Why? Simple; women are more relationship-driven. They spend more time on social networks building relationships, communicating with friends, and talking about everything from new products to hairstyles. In social media men transact and women share. Women also do the shopping for the family and P&G knows this.

As Business Week recently stated:

If Slide and RockYou, two of the fastest-growing Web businesses, are any barometer for the future, the Internet is going to look pink. In other words, the future of social media is going to be all about the women. So if you're going to create the next hot Web 2.0 site and you want it to go viral, you'll target women.

It's no shock that men and women act differently online, just as they do in everyday life. The Web is an extremely social medium, and Web 2.0 is all about being social. Traditionally, men are the early adopters of new technologies. But when it comes to social media, women are at the forefront. At Rapleaf we conducted a study of 13.2 million people and how they're using social media. While the trends indicate both sexes are using social media in huge numbers, our findings show that women far outpace the men.

As a result, with the next wave of innovation likely to target women more than men, this gender gap on social networks (and increasingly in all of social media) will only widen. Naturally, male adoption of social media will grow as well. It just won't keep pace with the expanding engagement among female users.

The issue with pharma and social media is that pharma is too product driven. Social media is not about the product it’s about the product performance and how it makes you feel; in other words the BRAND (DUH!)
The makers of Viagra are not selling a blue pill they are selling the feeling of being able to have sex and can’t wait to get home; Cialis is not selling 36 hour sex, it’s selling the option of being ready to respond to your partner without having to worry about taking a pill to kill the mood and all PDE 5 inhibitors are selling confidence. Social media could do a lot to talk about that but it is ignored and in fact most men on message boards are talking about side effects and the use of these drugs with other medications. There are a LOT of posts from women who want to know how they can get their husbands to ask for these drugs.

On the diabetes boards people share stories of medications but again too much of this talk is around the products side effects. Instead of engaging people to tell them how the drugs work, what they should know about the product pharma tries to sell the product benefits rather than the brand benefits. The latest news on the possibility of additional warnings on the label of Byetta has people scared and confused but the stigma of giving yourself a shot versus oral medication remains.

Put yourself in your customers shoes right now: The Atkins diet is bad, the Atkins diet is good, Vitamin D is bad, Vitamin D is good, Byetta makes you sick, Byetta makes you lose weight..consumers are talking to each other because they are confused as hell. It doesn’t matter if it’s toothpaste or a new drug..if it’s out there people will talk about it and the smart marketers are going to take advantage of social media in every aspect.