New Report Reveals Pharmaceutical Industry Social Media Pioneers

Ogilvy Health has today released the 2023 Social Check-up report, revealing findings of a social media maturity assessment of 10 leading global pharmaceutical companies.

A tried-and-tested scoring system, previously used across other industries and adapted for pharma, was used to assess the global corporate social media channels of the selected companies, including those that have become household names since the pandemic, such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Social maturity was audited across six categories: corporate identity, social content strategy, social experience and design, paid social, social influence, and social community.

Key takeaways include:

- BMS took first place, with a score of 20.6 out of a possible 30 points, very closely followed by Boehringer Ingelheim (20.3 points) and Roche (19.5 points)

- Influence was the highest-scoring category on average, with all companies showing evidence of working with internal influencers, although more action can be taken to achieve sustained collaborations with external influencers

- There is room for improvement for social experience and design, with the highest score in this category being 3.5 out of a possible 5 points, and an average of 2.9 points

“The Social Check-up report presents social maturity findings for global corporate pharma companies, but importantly, it also provides practical solutions in each of the six categories. These are wide-ranging, from tips on authenticity of content, to allocation of budget for media spend, understanding market-specific compliance regulations for influencer activities, and nurturing existing communities. We have carefully shaped these using our extensive experience and expertise in the pharma social media space,” said Rebecca Carter, head of social media at Ogilvy Health in the UK.

“Most pharma companies have a well-established corporate social media presence, so now is the time to blaze new trails and stand out from the pack. We hope that the learnings in our report are inspiring and guide companies in continuously improving their social media maturity and engagement with key communities,” continued Rebecca.

The 2023 Social Check-up report will be publicly available from Tuesday 21st February 2023 on the Ogilvy website. Spin-off reports providing a deeper dive into each of the six categories will follow throughout 2023.