Engage and Educate Audiences in Familiar Social Channels

Social media offers pharmaceutical and biotech brands valuable avenues for engaging with healthcare providers, scientists, researchers, patients, and consumers. However, these channels come with unique restrictions for regulated industries. By understanding your audiences, choosing the right channels, and involving your compliance team, you can develop a social media strategy that builds your brand as a trusted resource for educational content and high-quality products.

As with other marketing channels, creativity and interactivity will help you stand out among your competitors on social media, especially when you’re trying to make an impression with patients and consumers. Those audiences, as well as healthcare providers and scientific audiences, regularly seek out health and science-related educational content, so you need to stay current with content that responds to what those people are searching for and adapt your communications to each intended audience.

Social media is ideal for humanizing your brand through inspiring stories, audience feedback, and hosting communities for interaction.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

When using social media for healthcare content, patients and consumers are typically seeking reliable information about topics that directly affect them or their families. They also seek support after diagnoses and opportunities to interact with your company and fellow patients or consumers.

When seeking engagement with patients and consumers on social media, focus on content that achieves one or more of the following goals:

• To answer common patient or consumer questions
• To dispel misinformation
• To keep patients or consumers informed about health-related news
• To inspire and offer support for patients or consumers
• To raise awareness about medical conditions your company treats

Social media marketing is a little different when you are trying to reach researchers, scientists, and healthcare providers. Typically, this audience uses social media for two main purposes: learning more about health conditions and potential treatments or technologies that could impact their patients, and interacting and sharing content with their colleagues and patients. For this busy and science-minded group, focus on:

• Scientifically accurate, transparent content
• Engaging content that gets to the point
• Evidence- or data-based content related to medications, therapies, and technologies that offer promising outcomes and save patients money

KNOW THE CHANNELS

Certain social media channels are better suited to engaging patients and consumers, while others are more appropriate for reaching healthcare providers, researchers, and other scientists.

For patients and consumers, consider creating content and engagement opportunities on the following channels:

• X: This platform is best for general posts that promote your brand or a specific initiative – something you want to get a lot of eyes on quickly.
• Facebook: Since Facebook removed interest-targeting for pharmaceutical and healthcare brands, marketing there has become a little more complicated for life sciences companies. Promoting prescription drugs is also not allowed without prior written permission from Meta. Opportunities to reach your audience still remain, like providing unbranded educational content about health conditions and treatment options.
• Instagram: If you are looking to humanize your pharmaceutical or biotech brand, Instagram is a good place to share inspiring photos, infographics, and patient- or consumer-centered stories.
• TikTok: Use this popular video platform to share short, snappy educational clips that will attract the attention of a younger demographic and inspire patients and consumers to share their stories and experiences. It’s also a good avenue to show the people behind your brand, adding some warmth and personality to your high-tech, scientific, or corporate image.

When seeking to engage healthcare providers, researchers, and scientists, focus your efforts on:

• LinkedIn: This professional platform allows you to reach healthcare providers and scientific audiences directly, targeting treatment – and technology-focused posts and videos based on specialties and locations. It’s also a place where people seek out thought leaders in targeted categories, potentially putting your thought leaders in front of new audiences. To make the biggest impact, put your content in the post versus just sharing links.
• X: Again, this platform is best for getting immediate reactions to brand- or initiative-specific messaging. Since posts on this channel aren’t very targeted, it’s not the best choice for focused dialogue.
• Professional Social Networks:  Tens of millions of healthcare providers, researchers, and scientists belong to professional social networks. These are appropriate outlets to share educational content or engage in conversations about – versus sell – your treatments or technologies.

KNOW THE REGULATIONS

As you know, pharma and biotech companies are subject to strict FDA, HIPAA, social media, national, and local regulations, disclosure laws, and other guidelines and requirements.

This means everything you share on social media must be reviewed by your social media management, compliance, and legal teams to avoid missteps that could lead to legal proceedings, fines, product recalls, damage to your company’s reputation, and more.

According to the FDA, advertisements or other content that mentions a medication and its use must also provide information about potential side effects and other consequences. Pharmaceutical advertisements or content cannot be false or misleading.

HIPAA regulations prohibit sharing protected health information on social media unless your company has written authorization from the person it pertains to.

Each platform has specific regulations. For example, X restricts the promotion of health and pharmaceutical products and services based on what country or region the ad or content will target. Facebook will not allow pharmaceutical or biotech ads targeting patients based on their health conditions.

Your social media management team should research all regulatory and platform-specific guidelines before creating marketing content and then review completed content with your legal and compliance teams.

Some general guidelines to follow for safe social media marketing include:

• Stick to content that is factual, relevant to your audience, and not heavily promotional while making sure it’s also creative and engaging.
• Ensure your messaging isn’t open to misinterpretation or making any claims that can’t be substantiated.
• Avoid comparisons with competitor products whenever possible.
• If you’re talking about the benefits of a particular treatment or technology, you must also disclose the risks.

KNOW THE POSSIBILITIES

Ready to get started or to expand your presence on social media while avoiding overly promotional pitfalls? Consider these possibilities:

• Share company blog posts, news releases, whitepapers, eBooks, and awards on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and link to other news outlets when appropriate.
• Promote community events on any social media channel to encourage in-person engagement with consumers and patients.
• Promote healthcare events on LinkedIn and professional social networks to encourage face-to-face meetings with healthcare providers.
• Feature video interviews with employees, inspiring patient videos (properly authorized), or virtual tours on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
• Host LinkedIn Live sessions or podcasts with physicians, researchers, and willing patients.
• Partner with influencers, creating disease-awareness posts or videos.
• Repost or share relevant content posted by healthcare organizations and news outlets.
• Respond to comments on any content you share or posts you create to show you are a responsive, supportive company focused on patient and consumer well-being and positive relationships with healthcare providers.

Need help honing your social media strategy? Contact LIGHTSTREAM. We have helped many clients achieve and surpass their social engagement goals.