• by Les Luchter , July 17, 2024

Image above: Pfizer's Facebook page

Big pharma companies should up their use of TikTok and prepare an exit strategy for X/Twitter, recommends Worldcom in its biannual “Digital Health Monitor,” which analyzes and ranks the owned online media presence of 25 pharma firms in 27 countries, including blogs, websites, apps and social media.

Big pharma’s use of TikTok is now at barely 1% of its potential use, Worldcom says, but with Datareportal research showing the platform as a significant and growing adult information source, “it looks like the pharmaceutical companies are leaving a very important channel unattended.”

“TikTok’s reported ad audience may be as much as 30% larger than Instagram’s, [now used at 13% of its potential for big pharma]” the report notes. “Pharma companies should therefore establish and optimize their TikTok presence and actively review and test how TikTok can deliver a healthy ROI.”

While some brands outside of pharma have been cutting back on TikTok, at least on the ad spend side, due to a potential U.S. ban of the platform, Worldcom Managing Director Todd Lynch tells Marketing Daily that, as long as brands don’t share “GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] sensitive” content,  “Tik Tok still has enormous potential, and its impact relies on the type of content rather than on the number of followers.”

“Whilst content will always be king, channels come and go,” Lynch adds. “Brands should continue to use, build content and relationships, and if there were to be a ban, shift to other options.”

He refers to another recommendation in the new report: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." By being “dynamic and diverse in channel use,” he explains, either a TikTok ban or a shift in user preference won’t “overly impact your efforts. If you use social media channels to their full potential, you will set yourself apart from the rest. But make sure to use them wisely,  and have a plan to invite your followers to other channels if a ban does happen.”

One of those other channels is unlikely to be X/Twitter, where big pharma usage has now dropped to 9% of its potential, representing a steep slide from 32% when “Digital Health Monitor” started in 2018.

While international X/Twitter accounts have been set up by all companies, Worldcom says, 15 out of 25 countries score lower than 10% on “efficient use” of the platform. With communication specialists reporting that X/Twitter might see a serious dive in consumer usage this year, the study says, “it may be time for pharma companies to consider exiting the platform or use it to counter misinformation circulating on the platform.”

Abbvie is the leading pharma user of X/Twitter, Worldcom reported, followed by Roche Janssen, Novartis and Pfizer.

Bayer, meanwhile, leads in use of Facebook, followed by Pfizer, Roche, Teva and Sanofi. Following TikTok’s lead, the report notes, Facebook -- as well as Instagram, and YouTube -- has “pivoted to short-form video content to keep users engaged.” So pharma brands should “invest in people or agencies that can create this type of content.”

Bayer also leads in YouTube usage, followed by Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis and Roche.

The study calls YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn, “the low-hanging fruit that companies refuse to pick…With a little more effort on these channels, a huge number of internet users can be reached.”

Wordcom cites LinkedIn’s “reach, user profile, and the network and knowledge-sharing opportunities it offers,” adding that its focus on recruitment can be especially useful, given the fact that key opinion leaders mention recruitment and retention as some of the challenges that the pharmaceutical sector will face in 2024.

Novartis leads big pharma companies in the use of LinkedIn, followed by Roche, Janssen, Astellas, and Daiichi Sankyo.

Overall, for the entire owned online media space,  the latest “Digital Health Monitor” ranks Roche as the top big pharma company, followed by Pfizer, Novartis, Bayer, Abbvie and Sanofi, which had led the rankings a year ago.