June 7, 2021 | digital health, digital strategy, digital tools, disease awareness, multichannel strategy, omnichannel strategy, social media
The consumer industry has long been leveraging the power of social media influencers with enormous success. But can the highly regulated healthcare industry achieve the same results? Daniel Brackins explores the influencer marketing opportunities for life science companies and answers your questions.
Over the past few months, consumer trust has waned across all institutions, from the government to the media. Trust in traditional sources is now at an all‑time low. However, despite this decline, consumers still trust business. Moreover, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, the only institutions considered both competent and ethical are businesses.1Â
At the same time, we’re seeing a revolution in the role of the voice of the consumer, with 68% of people believing consumers have the power to force businesses to change.1 Today, the most trusted spokespeople in society are academic experts and the every‑day person — more than the government, CEOs, and journalists.
Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies now have an opportunity to not only make their own voices heard but to partner with patient influencers, who have built large followings based on their authenticity and relatability.
Consumer businesses often view social media influencers as a way to speak to their audiences using a trusted persona. While healthcare has been slow to adopt the influencer voice, influencers can help healthcare companies to build trust, especially in an era dominated by fake news with these individuals can also enable life science companies to elevate the patient voice in their communications, leading to a more patient‑centric brand.
Social media platforms have democratized the creation and dissemination of information—anyone can express an opinion and share it with their followers. Their content extends to in‑depth customer reviews and highly personal stories that drive disease awareness.
Consider that when an influencer shares content, 93% of followers are likely to ask their physicians or healthcare professionals for more information about a specific medication, when an influencer shares information about a specific medication, 87% of followers are likely to ask their physician or healthcare professional about the treatment.2
In contrast, studies show that celebrities have very little influence on decision‑making within healthcare. Researchers found that including a celebrity voice in a campaign did not inspire the patient to act and search for more information, discuss the disease with their doctor, or ask for a prescription—the same holds true for expert endorses.3,4
While expert endorsers, or key opinion leaders, remain important for building trust, they are less effective in the diffusion of prescription drug information among consumers.5 Experts make a product or brand credible, but patients see consumer influencers as their trusted peers. Their content is more relatable, especially for patients who are less health literate. As a result, the most powerful campaigns combine the voices of experts and consumer influencers.
This content was provided by Avalere Health
Company Details
Latest Content from Avalere Health
Avalere Health appoints seasoned industry executive Effie Baoutis as President of Medical.
As a single united organization, the company seamlessly connects science and creativity, technology and data, and ability and agility to ensure patients receive life-changing innovations faster.
As Chief Operating Officer, Amar will unite global teams to drive innovation, enhance client solutions, and accelerate growth.
Fishawack Health welcomes Harriet Shurville to the team as Chief People Officer to spearhead integration efforts, champion diversity and inclusion, and cultivate an environment where interdisciplinary teams thrive.
In this white paper, our consultants analyze trends spanning global policy developments, rising inflation, and increasingly complex customer journeys, and reveal a new data-driven approach to archetyping that crystalizes the...
Polymath marketer Ryan Mason leads the newly expanded group, and Jeffrey D. Erb has been tapped to grow the media and analytics team as Chief Media Officer.
Despite significant innovation in the oncology landscape, there is a growing care gap preventing patients accessing and benefiting from innovations in cancer treatment. In this new publication, our oncology experts...
Our policy and market access experts at Avalere, part of Fishawack Health, share insights on the reimbursement challenges for cell and gene therapies and discuss the challenges and opportunities of...
Digital therapeutics can increase the value of medicinal assets, driving differentiation and improving outcomes for patients. But are manufacturers prepared to capitalize on this significant untapped opportunity before the tech...
Fishawack Health (FH) ushers in a new era of data-driven omnichannel marketing with the hire of healthcare marketing veteran Mario Muredda.