Speech held by Sebastian Kölsch at the SMI Social Media in the Pharma Industry Conference in London, January 27th, 2010

1. SERVING YOUR TRUE
CUSTOMERS
Patient Engagement via Social Media
1 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

2. MY SPEECH IS ABOUT…
• Confessions
• Observations
• Conclusions
• Solutions
2 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

3. CONFESSION #1
• I‘m not a digital native
• School was way behind
reality
• I‘m trying to always follow
what‘s going on
3 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

4. CONFESSION #2
• Privacy is key to me
• I‘m a Facebook addict
• I like its usability
• All in one: friends, family,
professional contacts,
English, French, German
4 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

5. CONFESSION #3
• Professional networks are
key to specialty areas
• Great career opportunities
• Important industry
information in discussion
boards
5 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

6. CONFESSION #4
• I‘m NOT on Twitter
(at least not contributing)
• It‘s very specialised, quite
complicated, a bit
technical
• It‘s like a vintage car: loved
and kept alive by and very
useful to its fans, but
nothing for the great
public
6 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

7. OBSERVATION #1
• Pharma is waiting for
guidelines
• Pharma is waiting for
“There‘s no
examples substitute
• Pharma is not looking for
outside pharma
experience”
• Pharma considers a forum from a M&S ad
being social enough
7 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

8. OBSERVATION #2
“Pharma uses • Pharma is too focused on
ROI
market research
much as a • But there‘s no questioning
drunk uses a about other channels‘ ROI
lamp post – for
support, not • Nothing is as measurable
as online activities
illumination”
Ian Talmage (via Twitter @pharmaguy)
8 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

9. OBSERVATION #3
• Social Media is public
• HIV, Oncology, MS and
others are probably not the
things to discuss in public
• (So might also be ED)
• Social Media doesn‘t end
with a Facebook page
9 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

10. OBSERVATION #4
• Facebook, but even more
Twitter are just entries
• There‘s still the need of
something behind
• Without a supporting
website, social media is
nothing but an email
newsletter 2.0
10 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

11. CONCLUSION #1
• Observation is good.
But don‘t miss its end.
• Don‘t observe only the
technology, but also your
target audience.
• Be courageous. Don‘t be
afraid of errors.
(Ask your clinical trials
department.)
11 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

12. CONCLUSION #2
• There might be other
solutions than Facebook.
• For every brand there‘s the
appropriate channel.
• If you are into numbers:
KPIs are different, too.
Define them, then design.
• You won‘t be the first!
12 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

13. SOLUTION CASE STUDY
A Multiple Sclerosis Community
13 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

14. THE IDEA
• Providing a platform to MS patients for information,
interaction and support
• Creating an own social network providing privacy
• Enabling local search, private messaging, group creation
• An open forum (post-moderated) “without” restrictions
14 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

15. THE EXTRA
• Some of the features are only for patients already taking
the drug
• The batch number being the key for entry
• Integrated into the offline patient service centre
• Special discussion area about the drug
15 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

16. THE BENEFITS
The Patients
• have an own community they can trust
• can build groups online and later offline
• get new information they can instantly discuss about
• taking the specific drug get valuable extra services without
needing to talk on the phone or seeing a nurse
16 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

17. THE BENEFITS
The Company
• is able to build, gain, re-gain trust
• can follow every discussion and react instantly (by
replying, not deleting)
• has a new way of supporting patient compliance
• is (probably) able to get new patients
17 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

18. KEY LEARNINGS
• When you entered into conversation, never stop it!
• When you launch an interactive tool, be interactive!
• When you open a forum, accept criticism!
• When you invite others into your brand, be prepared!
• When you go for technology, keep on innovating!
18 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

19. THE POWER IS
WITH THE CONSUMER
“The power is with the
consumer. Consumers are
beginning, in a very real
sense, to own our brands
and participate in their
creation. We need to begin
to learn to let it go…”
A.G. Lafley, CEO, P&G
2006
19 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011

20. THANK YOU
• Sebastian Kölsch
• Koelsch Pharma Services GmbH
Habsburgerstr. 90
79104 Freiburg
Germany
• sk@koelschpharmaservices.com
20 Sebastian Kölsch, 27th January 2011