Twitterama Webinar

Pharma Twitterama Webinar-on Wed, July 22nd 2009!

Why Pharma should be using Twitter & how it should be used. W/ Shwen Gwee, Vertex and Jon Pugh, Boehringer

Webinar Agenda

11:00AM

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: What Pharma Needs to Know Before Engaging in Twitter

Shwen Gwee, Lead Business Analyst,Health Informatics and New Media, VERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS

Intro to Twitter

• How it works- Technical basics- Dispelling myths (eg. it’s just a time-suck)

Statistics

• Adoption/Growth- Markets and demographics

Who’s Doing What on Twitter

• Types of tactical objectives- Examples from outside industry (eg. Customer Support, Marketing, PR/Comms, etc.)- Examples from Pharma/HC (eg. PharmaCo’s,TrialX, PolarWisdom, Hospitals, etc.)

Intro to Hashtags, Summize, and Twitter Apps

• Examples from conferences, twitter discussions (#HCSM), etc.
• Twitter Apps (eg. T weetdeck/Twhirl, T wello, T witter Analytics, Qwitter, etc.)

Examples of Viral Twitter Crises: Motrin Moms and AmazonFail

Tips for adopting/implementing Twitter in Pharma

• Understanding the culture (look before you leap)- Addressing key issues (frameworks and guidelines, etc.)- Start small, start internally- Resources for additional info

11:45     

15 Minutes of Questions for Shwen

12:00

We’re Doing it and So Can You: Lessons Learned from a Pharma Company that Uses Twitter

Jonathan Pugh, Director, External Communications, Boehringer-Ingelheim

Why Pharma Doesn’t Tweet

• Typical objections: fear of adverse event reporting, fear of litigation, time pressures in marketing, belief that its not a suitable channel.
• Pharma employee poll on usage of Twitter

• Stats on who uses or doesn’t use Twitter

Why pharma should tweet

• A communications channel to tell the truth
• A way to listen to stakeholders

Boehringer Ingelheim’s approach to Twitter

• Overarching strategy (Twitter isn’t a strategy it s a tactic)
• Fish where the fishes are
• Virtuous loops of information

Our Target Groups

• Patients and why we should communicate
• Journalists- changing expectations
• Journalist poll on usage of Twitter - number who use or don’t use Twitter

How we are success full in attracting these groups

What Are We Tweeting?

• Press releases
• Links to web resources
• Articles written by journalists or bloggers
• Engage in dialogue / “harmless banter”
• CSR activities

How to measure success?

• Number of followers
• Twitter ranking
• Press articles

Annual Press Conference Live Tweet-Case Study

• What we did and how we did it
• Getting buy-in
• Success criteria
• Key Learning’s

12:45 Q&A with Shwen & John

1:30 Webinar Concludes

If you have any questions please contact Jason Youner at jyouner@exlpharma.com