Twitter for Rx Brands: An Experiment Click Here for Additional Resources
A conversation with Kevin Kruse, President of Kru Research, presenting the results of a Twitter experiment in which a fictitious insomnia brand drug Twitter account was set up to determine the value of Twitter to reach a qualified audience of patients.
Aired LIVE on:
Friday, July 31, 2009 Listen to internet radio with Pharmaguy on Blog Talk Radio
You may also visit this Pharma Marketing Talk Segment Page to listen to the audio podcast.
This show and ALL Pharma Marketing Talk shows are available as podcasts via PMT on iTunes (FREE!).
BackgroundNovo Nordisk’s Branded (Levemir) Tweet is Sleazy Twitter Spam!”). As a result, many pharmaceutical marketers began to question if Twitter was an appropriate channel for the delivery of Rx branded information.One bad experience, however, is not enough to answer the question: Is Twitter an appropriate channel for getting Rx brand messages to a qualified patient/consumer audience?
To answer that question, Kru Research decided to perform an experiment by creating a Twitter account for a fictitious insomnia drug. Different profiles and different profile pictures were created to follow people who were tweeting about insomnia. Follow-back response rates were tracked to see how a pharma brand manager can best maximize followers and convert them to new patient starts.
“I think the experiment will generate a lot of chatter,” said Kevin Kruse, President, Kru Research.
Questions/Topics Discussed- Please describe your research project, its objectives, and give us a summary of the results.
- Do the reserach results suggest that Twitter is an effective channel for Rx brand messaging?
Guest Bio
Kevin Kruse is an analyst, researcher and author in the areas of innovative health education, instructional design and behavior change. He leads Krū Research and the e-Patient Consortium. PharmaVoice magazine named Kevin as one of the “Top 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life Science Industry.”
In the last twenty years he has founded, led and sold several businesses that designed and built e-learning for patients, doctors and pharmaceutical professionals. He has keynoted conferences throughout North America and Europe and he has written for or been interviewed by Fortune, Pharmaceutical Executive, PharmaVoice, CLO, HR, T&D, and Training.
Additionally, Kevin serves on the boards of The Library Project, Senior Adults for Greater Education, and Team Capital Bank. As a member of Delaware Crossing Investor Group he invests capital into a variety of emerging biotech companies.
Additional Resources
