Despite uncertainties regarding regulations on social media usage by pharma, many of the big players are still getting into the game.

A recent Pharma Marketing Blog post shares some interesting details on Pfizer’s entrance into social media via Facebook. But according to the post, that entrance wasn’t quite graceful:

When I became a Pfizer FB Pfan, Pfizer’s Wall contained a bunch of short “medicine Safety” videos in which patients talked about their medical conditions and medications. I don’t think any mentioned specific products by name.

The pharmaceutical industry is slowly venturing into the world of social media. And like with any advance into uncharted territory, there are obstacles to overcome before the ultimate goal is reached.

The Shed blogger Daniel Siddle takes this all into consideration in a recent post discussing the merits of social media in the pharmaceutical industry and the ways in which it can benefit from interaction with customers.

The post initially mentions the obstacles the pharmaceutical industries faces in terms of marketing products:

Cost: Marketing pharmaceuticals is expensive, especially because it can’t be done until after the drug receives New Drug Approval (NDA).

At first glance, Facebook pages of pharmaceutical companies are just like any other companies’ — sharing links and providing content.

But take a closer look, and you’ll notice that the pages don’t allow commenting or even the “like” Facebook feature.

In a recent AdWeek article, Brian Morrissey discusses the pharma marketing conundrum regarding social media. The article shares how one pharma company is using social media in a limited way:

These days, it’s common for consumers to discuss drugs and treatments on health care social networks like WebMD, as well as on general social networks like Twitter.

Yet the pharmaceutical industry has thus far been unable to participate in social media — not because they are prohibited by law, but because there is a lack of clear regulatory guidelines for marketing on social networks and other web sites.

Still, in April, the FDA sent warning letters to 14 companies, claiming they violated regulations regarding presentation of fair balance in search engine ads, according to AdvertisingAge.

It’s clear that social media has gained widespread popularity amongst the consumer-oriented Fortune 500 crowd. But how about pharmaceutical, biotechnology and devices/diagnostic companies? By and large, they have been reluctant to participate in the social web, instead sticking closely to a Web 1.0 model. That’s the point made in a recent Life Science Leader article by Cliff Mintz:

Indeed, only a handful of life sciences companies have decided to take the social media plunge, claims Jonathan Richman, director of business development at Bridge Worldwide Inc. and author of the popular “Dose of Digital” blog, which tracks social media usage by life sciences and healthcare companies.

It’s clear that business leaders in a range of industries have come to embrace social media channels, including Twitter, to communicate with customers, manage brand reputation and increase brand visibility. But are healthcare executives lagging?

That’s a question Pharma 2.0 bloggers Bunny Ellerin and Eileen O’Brien ask in a recent post:

Tweeting is fast becoming a must-do vs. a what-are-you-doing for business generally and CEO’s in particular. Just last week Twitter published Twitter 101, a guide to help businesses leverage the service. Last month, BusinessWeek ran an article about business leaders who use Twitter and profiled 50 CEO’s from a range of industries. There was definitely an over-representation of tech CEO’s, but BW also talked to those from advertising/pr, construction, research, media, retail. But none in healthcare.

Despite some regulatory uncertainty regarding how the pharmaceutical industry interacts with the public, there are many standout pharma marketing and social media initiatives from which to learn, Socialmedia.biz blogger JD Lasica offers in a recent post.

Lasica identifies the top 10 social media efforts and patient community micro-sites in the pharmaceutical and health care industry:

1. Johnson & Johnson
2. Glaxo-Smith-Kline
3. Bayer
4. Sanofi-Aventis
5. Novartis
6. AstraZenecaUS
7. Bristol-Myers Squibb
8. Roche
9. Pfizer
10. Boehringer Ingelheim

In a slideshow presentation, “Top 10 Pharma Efforts in Social Media,” Lasica offers details of each social media effort, as well as grades each company on their Twitter activity.

We’ve scoured the web and found a great mix of healthcare blogs covering science, medicine, pharma and healthcare marketing topics:

Dose of Digital
This healthcare and pharmaceutical e-marketing blog offers news and thoughts on how the heathcare industry can leverage the digital technologies available. The blog offers information on how patients and doctors find out about products and determine if they are right for them, as well as how digital technologies can make this all simpler for everyone involved.

What if there were no rules in pharma marketing? That’s the question Jonathan Richman asks in a recent post on the iMedia Connection Blog. For healthcare digital marketers—like marketers in every field—innovation is often inhibited by themselves, by external forces and by their own interpretation of external forces. Richman says it’s the interpretation of external forces (regulations, guidelines, etc.) that’s the most menacing.

Most of us are aware of our own limitations. At the same time, most of us know the rules and are forced to live under them. However, many times we don’t really know the rules or understand them. Worse still is when we think we know the rules, but really don’t. When this happens, we essentially create a set of “ghost rules” that inhibit our thinking and that of our colleagues.

According to a recent report “Pharmaceutical Marketing Online: Stuck in Web 1.5″ from eMarketer, despite significant growth in pharma online ad spending, there’s a bit of a disconnect between how pharmaceutical companies view the internet (information delivery channel) and their customers (interact with one another and with brands).

Having restricted their brand sites to mere online information centers – often pages of text and a slow-to-load TV commercial – pharma marketers are missing big opportunities to engage consumers and boost confidence in their brands, eMarketer said.

(Reported by MarketingCharts)