Biomedical Engineering Reference
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technology for the safe handling, packaging, and administration of fluid medications,
hosts both a corporate Facebook page “Culture of safety” and a LinkedIn Business
Group. Adding social media tools to the company's marketing tools provides a new
channel for determining how customers feel about Baxa and its products. Furthermore,
connecting and interacting online with customers builds trust and understanding.
Another example is
Atkins
that focuses on the simplicity and flexibility of the
Atkins diet. By offering free starter kit and carb counter guides and three free snack
bars, Atkins helps customers get started on their New Year's resolutions. The com-
pany works with consumers by filming them on a weekly basis to document their
weight loss journey and struggles, and posting these videos on the Web. Since
launch, Atkins' social networking community's membership (
http://community.
atkins.com/
) has grown by more than 1,000 %.
Other pharmaceutical companies have also made efforts to use social media in
their marketing campaigns.
Johnson & Johnson
(J&J) has made successful moves
that put its online presence ahead of its competitors. In July 2006, J&J launched the
Kilmer House blog that introduced the company's history as the first step to start its
social media experience small and start it simple to prove the concept. One year
later, J&J opened its corporate blog, JNJBTW, with more complexity and confi-
dence in the social media to cover recent topics about the company and the industry.
In 2008, J&J rolled out several social media initiatives, including the purchase of
the online community, Children With Diabetes, opening its YouTube channel with
487 videos, more than 4,000 subscribers and nearly four million video views (as on
June 5, 2011). J&J also supports several Facebook network such as ADHD-MOM,
Johnson's Baby, and Neutrogena. J&J has maintained active presence on Twitter
that attracted over 6,000,000 followers.
GSK quickly followed J&J to befriend various social outlets. GSK introduced a
popular 104-s domino video on YouTube for Restless Legs Syndrome in October
2006. The domino starts with the sleeping father's restless legs kicking a book off
the bed to trigger the dominoes, and ends with a TV being flicked on that shows a
spot that reads, “My dad is one of a million people in the U.K. who have Restless
Legs Syndrome.
www.legsinfo.com
.” This video has drawn more than 483,000
views on YouTube today. GSK opened its YouTube channel, GSKvision in August
2008 with 33 videos. Furthermore, to promote the new OTC weight loss treatment,
Alli, approved by FDA in early 2007, GSK created the branded AlliTube channel,
a patient community and a blog to offer support for their patients to fight obesity.
The emotional support provided by the virtual community is well staged on the
website of myalli community: “with alli, you're never alone—change can be
challenging. And you need support from people who care. There are thousands of
people just like you in allicircles-the alli community. They're always here to encour-
age, lend advice and support you at every step of your journey.” Such support leads
to increased patient compliance and success in treatment. GSK also has active
presence on Facebook with 1,289 members and over 8,000 followers on Twitter.
AstraZeneca
invited asthma sufferers to submit videos about their positive expe-
riences with its product Symbicort and essentially create their own advertisements
for the drug. In the 3 months since the site has been live, AstraZeneca has received
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