Pulsar helps Pharma join the Online Conversation about P.A.D.

Pulsar works with many pharma companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, GSK, and Ogilvy Healthworld, to name but a few. In this blog post, we wanted to give you an example of what kind of insights we can dig out from data for the pharma industry, using an example from one of the many researches we've set up around therapeutic areas: Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.), a disease that restricts blood supply to leg muscles. Here's what we found.

Peripheral Arterial discussion is currently largely dominated by professional health publications and medical research centres. Patients are not hugely involved in the online discussion, and there is little awareness of P.A.D. beyond the medical sphere, due to it being in a relatively early stage of research and under-diagnosis. However, people are slowly reading more about P.A.D. in the news - and they're starting to join in the conversation as a result. Anytime there is a mention of the disease in a journal or newspaper, there is a clear peak in online conversations, with more people engaging in the discussion:

Spikes and conversations involving P.A.D. on Twitter, 01/01-30/04 2016, source: Pulsar

A PHD in Advocacy

Online influencers are not just a hot topic for the tech, FMCG and travel industries. In pharma, these key players can heavily sway public opinion and have direct effects on how companies and their assets perform on the markets. Pulsar identified who was the most influential in the Twittersphere, and found that NYT Health figures at the top of the list, thanks to a feature on P.A.D. gaining substantial traction in April 2016.

Medical journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology are also important news sources. And two doctors rank highly on visibility and number of followers.

Most mentioned social media influencers, source: Pulsar

The Hot Topics that Could Cause Fevers

What are people talking about, when they talk about P.A.D., you ask? We found that other medical conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure were all central topics of conversation, due to them being direct causes of the disease. Mentions of diabetes itself account for 28% of the conversation, especially featuring in the news and on patient forums.

So, much of the discussion online is around the roots of the condition. This also incorporates topics like the effect of lifestyle and health habits on P.A.D. Studies and news articles widely point to the positive effect of regular exercise and walking, while smoking is also a recurrent conversation topic.

The main topics of conversation, in regards to health that arise on social media, source: Pulsar

The Golden Insight

When we looked at the overall discussion, and particularly looked at how patients were discussing P.A.D., we identified that the patient journey could be mapped out into four stages - it follows a similar path as to when you would experience an ailment you'd want to get treated for.

We can clearly see that between diagnosis and treatment there is confusion and lack of action, source: Pulsar

Initially, patients experience symptoms but struggle to identify what they have.

There is then a moment of discovery, where patients might read about the condition in the news, and associate it to their symptoms, realising that they might have P.A.D.

Diagnosis comes later, since awareness of the condition is low and people often delay seeking proper medical advice to address their symptoms. After diagnosis, patients struggle to find effective treatment and medication for their condition, so they revert to lifestyle changes as a result of this.

Conclusion

Social data offers the key point for pharma companies to learn more about their consumers and how they should be marketing their products to them - the customer journey is a key part to that. And most importantly, it can help companies figure out where in the conversation they can really connect with their audience. By identifying at which point in the conversation the online community seems to get lost, brands are now able to develop strategies that intercept that point, keeping the communication clear and concise with the most complicated topics.

To find about how the top 20 Pharma companies use social media to their advantage click for our Social Check-Up report in partnership with Ogilvy Healthworld here – or perhaps you’re interested in our report on Colds and Flu on social media. Another enquiry? Drop us a line at [email protected].