12 Oct FDA Guidelines and Social Media – A Lesson From Kim Kardashian
Move over Kim Kardashian, there’s a new social media queen in town. Last month, Taylor Swift officially surpassed Kardashian in the number of followers on Instagram. But, this is not the only blow to Kardashian’s Instagram this year.
In April, Kardashian was slapped on the hand by the Food and Drug Administration for photographing and promoting a particular drug, Diclegis, to battle morning sickness in her Instagram feed. According to the FDA, her post was in violation of federal drug-promotion rules.
If Kardashian had also noted the drug’s limitations and health effects then the post might have passed FDA standards, but it begs the question: Do pharma brands have a place in social media?
According to the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, out of the 50+ pharma companies, only 15 dabble in the social media space.
As with all other marketing categories, pharma is adding social media to their marketing mixes at increased frequencies. They’re just a bit late to the party.
“The conversation is there,” said Patricia Alves, the Social Media and Community Manager at Boehringer Ingelheim. “People are talking about you, whether you’re active or not. Social media gives you the opportunity to engage in that conversation, to give your position and your statement, and maybe then hopefully change the opinion of one person or two.”
Due to the sensitivity of the product, pharma brands are in the best position to create and dictate their online social communities. They are the closest to the legal limbo they are required to play and know the in’s and out’s better than influencers, particularly celebrities.
Currently, only the corporate pages are being maintained as a place to promote work culture and to discuss research innovation.
But as pharma communities begin to grow and individual brands are granted their own handles, they must remember basic Social Media 101. Each channel, each community has a unique purpose, and brands that do social well, understand the nuances. There will be no exception to the pharma industry.
Years from now, we can all thank Kardashian for being the guinea pig in establishing social conduct for the pharmaceutical industry. So now I must ask, what has T-Swift done for us as social media marketers?
