Healthcare in general, and pharmaceutical industry in particular, are both heavily regulated industries, prone to reputation exposure, and at the heart of web users conversations with more than 20% of topics related to this field. If "big pharma" is now efficient on social media in the West, it is still absent from Weibo, one of China's main social media platforms. Obstacles exist, but opportunities lie ahead of those able to have a clear strategy, tools such as guidelines, processes in case of a crisis, and the spirit of social media. Discover what is social media in China, who the Weibo users are, what are the main issues for pharma companies, and inspire from successful best practices of social media marketing and campaigns on this micro-blogging network.

1. Social
media
marke-ng
for
pharmaceu-cal
companies
on
Weibo
July
2013

2. Social
media
in
China
The
most
connected
and
social
country
• China
has
the
world’s
largest
online
community,
with
564M
web
users
in
2012,
74%
of
which
on
mobile
devices
• 95%
of
people
living
in
Tier
1,
2
and
3
ci-es
are
on
social
media
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
China
Japan
Korea
USA
Cross-­‐country
Comparison
of
Social
Media
Usage
[1]
No.
of
mins
avg
Internet
user
spend
on
social
media/day
%
of
Internet
Users
Using
Social
Media

3. Social
media
in
China
An
ecosystem
of
its
own
• Facebook,
TwiUer,
Youtube,
all
have
Chinese
counterparts,
which
are
similar,
but
not
clones

4. Weibo
key
features
A
TwiUer-­‐like
under
steroids
• 140
characters
in
Chinese
packs
much
more
informa-on
than
140
characters
in
English
• More
tools
are
available
for
interac-ons
than
on
TwiUer
(comments,
emo-cons,
polls…)
• Pos-ng
of
pictures
and
video
is
easy,
giving
more
flexibility
for
online
campaigns

5. Pharmaceu-cal
players
on
Weibo
Brands
vs.
influent
vigilantes
• Few
pharmaceu-cal
companies
are
on
Weibo
except
Quin-le
and
Bayer
China
• General
mistrust
&
health
scandals
have
vigilante
groups
taken
to
Weibo
to
evaluate
pharma
brands
&
product.
• Vigilante
groups
publish
industry
news,
and
are
managed
by
well-­‐respected
members
of
the
medical
profession,
with
significant
influence.
Profile
page
of
China
Pharmaceu9cal
Associa9on
Credibility
Evalua9on
Branch

6. Rules
&
use
of
social
media
in
China
Real-­‐name
system
&
poli-cal
censorship
• To
crack
down
on
poli-cally
sensi-ve
issues,
Weibo
users
nos
have
to
register
their
real
iden-ty
• As
a
result,
new
registra-on
dropped
from
20M
new
accounts
per
month
to
2.5M
• That
being
said,
commercial
ac-vi-es
are
largely
unaffected

7. Rules
&
use
of
social
media
in
China
Vigilante
Communi-es
• A
2012
Dartmouth
study
shows
Weibo
helps
to
reduce
bad
drugs
by
pushing
authori-es
to
monitor
and
deter
its
produc-on
• In
provinces
where
Weibo
usage
has
doubled,
bad
drug
produc-on
has
been
discovered
to
fall
by
up
to
42%
in
the
same
period
• Vigilante
groups
can
be
highly
benefical
for
established
brands
with
FDA
approved
products

8. Pharmaceu-cal
industry
online
Reputa-on
as
a
new
risk
and
opportunity
• Pharmaceu-cal
companies
are
slow
to
go
on
social
media,
even
when
US
physicians
are
84%
to
turn
to
internet
to
look
for
pharma-­‐related
informa-on
(2008)
• Chinese
pharma
company
Renhe
Pharmacy
lost
1bn
RMB
in
March
2013
due
to
an
uncorrected
rumor,
re-­‐posted
by
celebrity
Wen
Zhang
to
its
26M
fans
• Proper
guidelines
and
processes
can
mi-gate
these
risks,
as
well
as
monitoring
and
crisis
management
training.

9. Pharmaceu-cal
regula-ons
online
Lack
of
FDA
regula-ons
• Strict
regula-ons
are
imposed
by
FDA
and
other
authori-es,
even
if
they
too,
have
been
slow
to
catch
up
on
social
media
• Clear
internal
guidelines
and
promo-on
of
content
on
ethics,
regula-on,
is
an
opportunity
both
for
branding
and
promo-on

10. Pharmaceu-cal
regula-ons
online
Fragility
of
trust
• In
the
pharmaceu-cal
industry,
customer
trust
and
confidence
are
of
paramount
importance
• Reassurance
is
a
priority,
before
thinking
of
sales-­‐focused
marke-ng
campaigns
• Social
media
can
be
used
to
build
a
rela-onship,
leverage
personal
stories
and
exert
transparency
Collabora9on,
transparency
and
branding:
an
efficient
social
media
strategy
from
Sanofi

11. Pharmaceu-cal
regula-ons
online
Unclear
ROI
• Social
media
ROI
can’t
be
compared
with
tradi-onal
marke-ng
ROI
• With
significant
lower
costs
to
go
on
social
media
and
the
power
of
communi-es
and
word-­‐of-­‐mouth,
there
is
no
reason
for
pharmaceu-cal
companies
to
be
deterred
from
going
social
• Insights
from
social
media
and
trust
built
with
consumers
are
a
first
clear
return,
to
name
a
few

12. Pharmaceu-cal
regula-ons
online
Customers
are
solici-ng
informa-on
• Brands
are
expected
and
needed
online,
to
correct,
answer,
and
interact
with
customers
who
speak
of
them
everyday
• In
a
2013
LSE
survey
of
online
healthcare
forums,
a
quarter
of
the
800
analyzed
posts
explicitly
solicited
informa-on,
and
informa-ve
dialogues
comprise
a
majority
of
conversa-on
threads
• adop-ng
an
educa-onal
and
informa-ve
approach
to
social
media
presence
profiling
can
aid
pharmaceu-cal
companies

13. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Average
Weibo
user
profile
• Highly
likely
to
be
a
resident
of
a
major
Chinese
city
(eg.
Beijing,
Shanghai,
Guangzhou)
• Not
likely
to
create
original
content;
Chinese
users
have
shown
a
high
preference
for
repos-ng
or
sharing
content
• Likely
to
have
strong
engagement
with
key
content
creators
(eg.
celebri-es,
conversa-on
makers)

14. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Product-­‐specific
channels
• Certain
companies
employ
different
accounts
to
engage
different
customers,
segmented
by
its
products
and
services.
• For
instance,
high-­‐class
wine
producer
Remy
Mar-n
set
up
separate
accounts
dedicated
to
different
products,
since
the
customers
of
each
product
class
have
varying
profiles.

15. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Event
organiza-on
and
updates
• For
companies
with
a
heavy
emphasis
on
event
marke-ng
and
promo-on,
Weibo
serves
as
a
very
effec-ve
plaporm
to
keep
followers
in
the
loop
on
upcoming
events
and
in
gathering
aUendance.
• A
good
example
is
Louis
VuiUon,
which
capitalizes
on
Weibo
to
announce
cultural
events,
product
launches,
post
videos
of
interviews,
feature
the
backstage
of
fashion
shows
and
even
reveal
product
launch
teasers.

16. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Contests
&
Sweepstakes
• Contests
and
sweepstakes
are
the
perfect
strategies
to
amp
up
user
engagement
in
a
very
short
period
of
-me,
which
KFC
did
for
Valen-ne’s
Day
in
China.
• The
contest
involves
fill
in
the
blanks
on
the
two
images
posted
by
KFC
to
make
a
complete
sentence.
Par-cipants
need
to
write
down
the
answer
in
comments
box
as
well
and
repost
it
for
a
chance
to
win
a
camera.
The
first
fill
in
the
blank
image
received
1376
comments
and
1524
reposts,
and
the
second
received
747
comments
and
913
reposts.

17. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Social
gaming
• Weibo
offers
social
games,
similar
to
those
hosted
on
Facebook.
Brands
can
actually
create
social
games
for
users,
awarding
them
with
brand-­‐related
awards.
• Certain
companies
can
also
add
a
gaming
element
to
social
interac-ons
and
networking
involving
their
brand.
For
instance,
Nike
gave
users
who
share
its
event
informa-on
copiously
with
branded
virtual
awards,
which
further
proliferated
its
brand
awareness

18. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Crea-ng
micro-­‐subjects
• Like
TwiUer,
Weibo
also
has
the
hashtags
func-on,
which
allows
brands
to
create
micro-­‐subjects
that
users
can
easily
find
and
follow
.
• For
example,
Lancome
u-lizes
the
hashtags
to
generate
threads
of
make-­‐up
-ps
and
personal
styling
using
their
products,
thus
making
it
very
easy
for
followers
to
be
constantly
updated
of
new
-ps.

19. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Discounts
&
promo-ons
• Weibo
users,
like
most
consumers,
respond
powerfully
to
direct
and
tangible
incen-ves.
• Dell
Computer
frequently
uses
Weibo
to
share
coupons,
-me-­‐sensi-ve
flash
codes
and
special
promo-ons,
which
highly
incen-ves
users
to
follow
Dell’s
profile
and
frequently
engage
in
its
threads

20. Social
marke-ng
on
Weibo
Market
research
&
consulta-on
• When
customers
are
included
in
the
product
innova-on
process,
they
feel
a
stronger
sense
of
belonging
and
loyalty
to
the
brand
• A
prime
example
of
a
brand
that
chose
this
approach
is
Vancl,
which
has
one
of
the
highest
engagement
rates
on
Weibo.
• It
frequently
asks
its
consumers
ques-ons
and
organizes
polls
regarding
its
consumers’
lifestyle
and
the
brand.
The
informa-on
collected
is
fed
back
into
the
feedback
loop
and
incorporated
into
the
design
of
future
products.

21. Key
takeaways
An
untapped
poten-al
• Weibo
holds
incredible
poten-al
for
pharmaceu-cal
brands
• Many
brands
are
on
Weibo,
but
almost
none
from
the
pharmaceu-cal
industry
• Pharmaceu-cal
brands
are
on
Facebook,
TwiUer,
LinkedIn,
but
miss
the
huge
Chinese
market
• Obstacles
exist,
but
can
be
circumvented
with
methodologies,
guidelines,
and
monitoring
• Messages
must
be
validated
carefully,
and
a
follow-­‐up
must
know
what
is
being
done
with
the
message
• It
seems
riskier
not
to
embrace
social
media
marke-ng
as
all
trends
show
an
inescapable
shiq
of
aUen-on
onto
social
media.

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23. Thanks!
Mar-n
Pasquier,
Agence
Tesla
Mar-n.pasquier@agencetesla.com
Latest
news
on
www.agencetesla.asia