Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PHARMA’S
HAND
FACEBOOK’S POLICY CHANGE AND THE FUTURE OF
REGULATED HEALTHCARE MARKETING
OVERVIEW
After much speculation, Facebook confirmed its plans to remove the disable comments option on most
Facebook fan pages. This policy will be immediately applicable to all new Facebook pages and will be applied
retroactively to all existing pages by August 15. Pending a review, only Facebook pages that are focused on a
specific prescription medication may continue with the comments option disabled.
Ostensibly this means that companies that have been using Facebook as a one-way broadcast tool are going
to be presented with a clear choice: Either find a way to embrace and benefit from two-way dialogue with
your Facebook fans, or remove Facebook from your marketing mix entirely. This will force regulated health
companies to examine not only the risk and benefits of Facebook, but of two-way social communication
overall. There is no correct choice here.
While a Facebook page is not right for every pharmaceutical campaign, we do believe that for most, the
benefits far outweigh the risks and could help usher in a new era of pharmaceutical marketing.
essentially the same, the strength of a brand’s 3. Help Increase Patient Education and Increase
equity can make all the difference. But now a Prescription Compliance: It is estimated that
brand will be less about the product itself, and Pharma loses $30 billion a year in patient
more about the company that manufactures it. non-compliance. This statistic is particularly
Customers who value exchanges with a certain alarming when one considers the time and
company in social media will potentially continue capital Pharma spends to improve patient-
to purchase a company’s product instead of provider interaction. True two-way social media
choosing one with no established relationship. has the potential to serve as a health education
platform by helping to keep patients informed
of the dangers of non-compliance, while
also earning their trust through transparent
dialogue.