Life Science Leader Magazine

OCT 2014

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EDITOR'S NOTE LSL LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM OCTOBER 2014 6 tweet, like, and comment more about others than about yourself. Lesson number two — social media = people. Between June 1 and August 17, more than 28 million people on Facebook posted, com- mented on, or liked a challenge post. While plenty of companies posted videos of employ- ees participating in the IBC, none come close to those posted by individuals. Thus, while Pfizer on the surface seems to be doing every- thing right when it comes to social media (i.e., five Facebook pages, eight Twitter accounts, a weibo page [China's version of Twitter], 12 YouTube channels, SlideShare, and LinkedIn), all of its accounts include the Pfizer name. While this approach may be great for brand- ing, it flies in the face of what makes social media social — people. Pharma companies need to allow executives to put themselves out there and participate in social media and avoid the temptation to overly police the process. To Pfizer's credit, Ian Read, the company's CEO, does have a limited LinkedIn profile which can be viewed publicly. He is also a member of the LinkedIn Influencers program. Lesson number three — social media is organic and fun. ALS is a terrible disease. While typical fundraising tactics of guilt can get people to give, the IBC demonstrated that more people will engage if you focus on fun. If pharma wants to get better at engaging with people and improving enrollment in clinical trials, it should try making the process fun. Then, when you find it, don't try to trademark it to prevent others from using. Where is the fun in that? l LIFE SCIENCE LEADER 5340 Fryling Rd., Suite 300 Erie, PA 16510-4672 Telephone: 814 897 7700 Fax: 814 899 4648 WWW.LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM O C TO B E R 2 014 V O L . 6 N O. 1 0 egardless of your opinion of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (IBC), which has catapulted the ALS Association's (ALSA's) charitable coffers to feverish heights, there are valuable business lessons from which pharma and biotech executives can learn. Lesson number one — social media is a very powerful tool. Let's consider some quantita- tive and qualitative data from the IBC. As of this writing, the ALSA received $106 million in donations from more than three million donors. Pre-IBC, the ALSA.org website aver- aged close to 8,000 visitors a day. By the end of August, the average number of visitors per day was 630,000 — a 7,775 percent increase in traffic. If you would have told me a few months ago you could use social media to convince Ophra Winfrey, Martha Stewart, and the second wealthiest person in the world, Bill Gates, to pour buckets of ice water over their heads while getting them to give money in the process, I would have told you to go soak your head. What pharma company trying to get people to enroll in clinical trials wouldn't want this level of engagement? If you want to be able to take advantage of the power of social media, learn how to use it. For example, although part of the IBC's success resides in the fact that people were willing to be narcissistic and post their vid- eos, self-promotion is not the key to success in social media. For example, one of the most important rules of social media success is to VP OF PUBLISHING Jon Howland / Ext. 203 jon.howland@lifescienceleader.com CHIEF EDITOR Rob Wright / Ext. 140 rob.wright@lifescienceleader.com EXECUTIVE EDITORS Wayne Koberstein wayne.koberstein@lifescienceleader.com Louis Garguilo louis.garguilo@lifescienceconnect.com Ed Miseta ed.miseta@lifescienceconnect.com Trisha Gladd trisha.gladd@lifescienceconnect.com SENIOR DIRECTOR OF PUBLISHING Perry Rearick perry.rearick@lifescienceleader.com MARKET DIRECTOR Robert Wilson Robert.Wilson@lifescienceleader.com PRODUCT DIRECTOR Jenell Skemp jenell.skemp@lifescienceconnect.com PROJECT MANAGER Megan Rainbow megan.rainbow@lifescienceconnect.com DIRECTOR, LIFE SCIENCE TRAINING INSTITUTE Bill Beyer bill.beyer@lifescienceconnect.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Dan Schell / Ext. 284 dan.schell@lifescienceleader.com PUBLISHER, CLINICAL & CONTRACT RESEARCH Sean Hoffman 724 940 7557 / Ext. 165 sean.hoffman@lifescienceleader.com PUBLISHER/BIOPHARM & LAB Shannon Primavere / Ext. 279 shannon.primavere@lifescienceleader.com PUBLISHER/OUTSOURCING Cory Coleman / Ext. 108 cory.coleman@lifescienceleader.com GROUP PUBLISHER/OUTSOURCING Ray Sherman / Ext. 335 ray.sherman@lifescienceleader.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Mike Barbalaci / Ext. 218 mike.barbalaci@lifescienceleader.com SR. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Scott Moren / Ext. 118 scott.moren@lifescienceleader.com PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Lynn Netkowicz / Ext. 205 lynn.netkowicz@jamesonpublishing.com MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS 814 897 9000 / Ext. 315 subscriptions@jamesonpublishing.com @ RFWrightLSL linkedin.com/in/robertfwright pinterest.com/rfwrightlsl facebook.com/LifeScienceLeader 3 Lessons Pharma Can Learn From ALS Ice Bucket Fever R O B W R I G H T Chief Editor

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