The Social Way to Success

India Pharma Inc needs to leverage the potential of social media to up its game in times to come.

- Lakshmipriya Nair

Social media, a confluence of technology, data and relationships — the powerful triad for value creation, is helping organisations across sectors create exponential value and causing the emergence of new business models. Recognising its tremendous potential, global pharmaceutical giants like Boehreinger Ingelheim, Pfizer, Novartis, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, GSK and others are also investing a huge chunk of money and leveraging social media to obtain market intelligence, acquire real time customer feedback, disseminate disease awareness and measure brand equity with healthcare professionals. A survey from Indegene titled, 'The Digital Savvy Pharma Marketer, 2016' predicts that 19 per cent of the global pharma marketers' budget would be reserved for spending on non-personal digital channels with social media, mobile apps, and HCP portals topping the list. The study also foretells an increase in social media preference by 38.2 per cent by 2018.

Wariness prevails

The story seems to be slightly different on the domestic front. 'The Indian Pharma Digital Health Report 2015', highlighted that despite maintaining presence in various social media platforms, the level of consumer engagement was quite low among the Indian pharma majors. The study by a digital agency called D Yellow Elephant, which analysed 40 pharma companies in India across 10 key digital parameters, ranging across websites, apps and social media platforms, also pointed out:

Just nine out of 40 companies had score above 50 out of 100

India-specific Facebook page was being operated by only eight companies

Despite a high presence on Google+, only one company was active

Twitter showcases 52 per cent active management (India and global handles)

LinkedIn emerged as the most popular social media platform, but only 14 companies were active