Chris Iafolla

Articles by Chris All articles by Chris

• What Secrets Are Your Customers Telling Google? in Marketing: Health on 10/11/2011
  

  When you meet a new friend, it's unlikely that you would walk in the front door of their house the first time you visit. Instead, you'd probably ring the doorbell and wait to be invited into their home. You might follow this same pattern for a few months of visiting -- ring, and then enter. But eventually, as you grow comfortable with your budding relationship, you would probably let yourself in when you arrive. The same principle applies in social media.

• In The Year 2018: Planning Your Marketing For The Next Seven Years (Sort Of)  in Marketing: Health on 09/13/2011
  

  On Aug, 15, Facebook rolled out a significant change to its platform that many thought would be the death knell of pharmaceutical Facebook pages. Until that point, Facebook allowed pharmaceutical companies to disable commenting on their pages through a "whitelisting" process. In a reverse of course, Facebook now only allows that functionality for pages that are solely dedicated to a drug -- no exceptions.

• Content Creation: Where Pharma Social Media Goes To Die  in Marketing: Health on 08/09/2011
  

  Congrats! You've decided to embark on a pharmaceutical social media odyssey. It will be a rewarding endeavor. You've done everything right up until this point: focused on the Return on Health of the patient, set your pharma social media strategy, outlined a crisis communications plan and put a listening strategy in place as a building block to true engagement. You are ready to go.

• Working With Your Regulatory And Compliance Group  in Marketing: Health on 06/14/2011
  

  The goal of your RC team is not to put up insurmountable roadblocks to getting a social media program off the ground. Dealing with RC should not be akin to a root canal. Their goal is to help you. More importantly, their goal is to protect you.

• Establish Your Social Media Risk Quotient  in Marketing: Health on 05/10/2011
  

  It is impossible to eliminate risk when engaging in social media. But to ignore that it exists during the planning process is a treacherous path. Establish your risk quotient from the outset and lay out a plan for mitigating and dealing with that risk.

• Mapping The Pathway To The Patient Engagement Spectrum  in Marketing: Health on 04/12/2011
  

  Every patient travels along a pathway to treatment. That path starts at the health and wellness phase of the journey and leads all the way through to treatment, patient adherence and managing an illness. Most pharmaceutical companies have a firm grasp of the patient pathway as it relates to their drugs.

• Strategy Setting: A Cautionary Tale  in Marketing: Health on 03/08/2011
  

  Change your frame of thinking when developing a pharmaceutical social media strategy. If marketers continue to mistake planning with strategy, social media professionals will never have a seat at the table with key decision makers.

• Content Curation: A Path to Pharma Social Media Success?  in Marketing: Health on 02/09/2011
  

  "Content is king." "It's all about the content." "All good social media efforts start and stop with good content." No matter what tired, overused cliché you use, the prevailing thought is that without creating killer content, your social media efforts are doomed.

• The Importance Of Microstrategy  in Marketing: Health on 01/11/2011
  

  Pharmaceutical companies are used to taking a broadly defined target market and slicing and dicing it a number of different ways. But are they prepared for the next wave of strategy required in today's communications environment -- microstrategy?

• Lack Of Social Media Guidance From The FDA: Push Forward Or Put Programs On Pause?  in Marketing: Health on 12/31/2010
  

  Here I was thinking that this article would be a piece of cake. The FDA intended to issue its guidance on how pharmaceutical companies could use social media by the end of 2010. I thought for sure this column would be prime real estate.

Comments by Chris All comments by Chris

• Content Curation: A Path to Pharma Social Media Success? by Chris Iafolla (Marketing: Health on 02/09/2011)
  

  Thanks for your comment Johanna--much appreciated. You hit on a key point: the model has to be about better patient service and advocacy. This creates a far better framework for decision making and keeps pharma companies pointed in the right direction.

• Do Patients Want Pharma Involved In Social Media? by Chris Iafolla (Marketing: Health on 10/29/2010)
  

  Paula, Melissa, thanks for your comments. Your perspective is not an uncommon one. It is clear that a deep distrust has developed for the pharmaceutical industry. But in my estimation, the majority of patients want health above all else. They want to engage with companies that are invested in their health and improving patient outcomes. Believe it or not, most pharmaceutical companies care deeply about the health of their patients. Do they want to make money? Sure. The idea you raise about misinformation is an interesting one. As I see it, the misinformation that is currently out there is staggering. Patients are advising other patients on dosing, when to stop taking their medications, etc...If anything, having pharma more involved in social media will decrease the misinformation online. Thanks again for your comments. -- Chris

• Forget ROI, Think Return On Health by Chris Iafolla (Marketing: Health on 04/30/2010)
  

  Thank you George, I appreciate that! And I like your three-step summary--nice and simple.

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