On Feb. 15, New York-based Sermo, a physician engagement platform company, and Campbell, Calif.-based LiveWorld, a social media and technology solutions company, released a survey entitled “Changing HCP Behavior with Social Marketing.” The survey found that 57 percent of physicians in the U.S. frequently or occasionally change their perception of a medication or treatment based on content they’ve seen on social media. According to a press release on the survey, 16 percent of those surveyed reported that their perceptions have never been influenced by social media. Forty-one percent of physicians surveyed said they changed their prescribing habits due to social media perceptions.
The press release states that “When looking at how physicians are engaging on public social platforms, the survey findings see a range of different needs being met on different platforms:
- Physicians are turning to private medical groups on social platforms and Facebook is their platform of choice as 52 percent of surveyed physicians reported being part of a group on this platform.
- Physicians find LinkedIn the most helpful social platform for alerting them to Congress and KOL presentations as reported by 35 percent of surveyed physicians.
- Twitter is the platform of choice for physicians to follow hospitals and professional organizations as indicated by 62 percent of those surveyed.”
Further, “Forty-six percent of surveyed physicians reported following fellow physicians or other HCP [healthcare professional] influencers on social platforms. Reasons physicians gave for following these influencers included: their content is credible based on their credentials (27 percent), they are knowledgeable about the topics shared (26 percent), and their content is relatable to my specialty (26 percent). Pharma marketers indicated that they too understand the value of working with influencers as 56 percent of those surveyed have included digital influencer programs in their 2023 plans.
The survey was conducted in two parts. Part one was fielded in November 2022 to more than 200 physicians across multiple specialties in the U.S. Part two was fielded in December 2022 to pharma marketers across pharmaceutical firms.
The full report can be accessed here.
