[Estimated read time: 3 minutes]
There are a number of practical use cases for pharma companies to monitor social media: evaluating industry trends, conducting competitor analysis, monitoring product feedback, or tracking product safety concerns.
Regardless of the goals of social listening projects, all initiatives have one element in common – adverse events (AEs). Any time a pharmaceutical organization engages in social media monitoring, they have to be prepared to uncover potential AEs.
And that’s where social media plans often get stuck.
When surveyed, pharma leaders’ single most critical concern regarding social monitoring is implementing a process to qualify and report AEs. In essence… many are still struggling to answer the questions: what do I do when these AEs arise? And how do I remain compliant with industry regulation?
Here are some best practices:
When monitoring social media, start with the requirements – owned properties. Pharmaceutical organizations are required to monitor the social media properties that they own or over which they have control/influence for AEs.
Start here. Test your processes and gain experience. As business objectives expand and comfort level with social media increases, consider branching out beyond owned properties to monitor the broad social media for adverse event detection, trend identification and product quality feedback.
The volume of data gathered from social media can be overwhelming. Gain the most value from this data by utilizing a combination of social media technology and trained staff. Social Media technology can be used to extract relevant conversations, manage volume, prioritize and queue critical posts, and deliver social reporting. Trained Social Media Specialists should be utilized to monitor, apply meaningful analysis and escalate critical issues.
Leverage your organization’s existing pharmacovigilance (PV) processes to plan and manage AEs identified through social channels. While it may be tempting to separate or wall off social media data and safety information, a best practice is to bring these worlds together.
Once potential AEs are identified through social channels, they should be securely triaged to existing PV processes. This delivers consistency across channels, and allows you to align with regulatory requirements. Take advantage of quality auditing, reconciliation and training processes already in place.
For the 2 remaining best practices, check out the full graphic – 7 Steps for Managing Adverse Events in Social Media.
This article originally appeared on the C3i Solutions blog.
C3i Solutions is a business process outsourcer specializing in global, high-touch consumer, patient and end user engagement.