Uncertainties surrounding the social channel come at a time when many pharma companies are cutting direct-to-consumer (DTC) budgets. In fact, US DTC marketing spend in 2012 declined 22% year over year, according to Cegedim Strategic Data, a healthcare market research firm. And Capgemini classified 33% of pharma companies as digital beginners.
Nevertheless, pharma appears to be paying more attention to social. KPMG surveyed US pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and found that 43% of respondents planned to increase their use of social media with patients, while 7% said use would remain the same. However, 46% of those polled either didn’t answer or didn’t know; social media was the biggest source of uncertainty for respondents. Read the rest at eMarketer.
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