By Katie Kennedy 
With nurses being among the most digitally engaged healthcare professionals on social media, pharmaceutical companies are planning ways in which to engage with them better online. Here are two case studies which highlight some of the great work pharmaceutical companies are doing to engage these key online stakeholders.
Sanofi and connecting-nurses initiative
In 2011 Sanofi set up the initiative Connecting-Nurses.com, a great resource for nurses which actively encouraged them to engage with one another online and offline via their Twitter and Pinterest accounts, webinars, conferences and awards. In a video interview, Sanofi’s Chief Patient Officer Ann Beal explains that Sanofi’s core mission was to make their organisation as patient-centric as possible. They recognised that patients do rely heavily on nurses for anything from information about diet to managing their condition and so they wanted to find a way to connect with these healthcare professionals. They saw there was a community of nurses who not only wanted to connect directly with Sanofi but also each other. Connecting-Nurses.com was a collaborative approch set up by Sanofi and key interational nursing organisations to encourage nurses to interact, collaborate and share best practices.
Sanofi’s Chief Patient Officer Ann Beal, on SanofiTV
On International Nurses Day 2014 Connecting-Nurses.com joined in with the conversation by hosting a live webcast discussion “Nurses’ key role in prevention, education and therapy” which was promoted via their website, Twitter and Pintrest accounts. They also actively encouraged nurses in online conversation around significant dates such as key conferences or awards.
J&J’s Nursing’s Future Campaign
Another great example of an organization recognising both the specialist needs of a nurse and their growth in the use of digital platforms and responding accordingly is Johnson & Johnson. The company has always been a leader in the social media and digital space and its “Nursing’s Future” campaign is a great example of how it has added different channels to the spectrum in response to relevant need and opportunities. My Creation Healthcare colleague Daniel Ghinn looked at Johnson & Johnson’s Campaign for Nursing’s Future last year. 12 years ago the campaign started off as a website, DiscoveringNursing.com, set up to encourage careers in nursing and address the predicted shortfall.
Over the last 12 years Johnson & Johnson adopted additional digital channels to its campaign as it realised the importance and relevance they could have to its mission. In 2012 the campaign got its own Twitter profile @jnjnursingnotes; now with nearly 4,000 followers, its own dedicated YouTube channel followed soon afterwards and last year they launched a Pinterest page. What’s great about the Nursing’s Future campaign is as nurses start to embrace new digital channels like Pinterest, Johnson & Johnson responds accordingly by building up a presence there.
Video content from Johnson & Johnson’s Discover Nursing Youtube Channel.
As nurses continue to increase their use of social media for professional purposes I predict more pharmaceutical companies will be planning innovative ways in which they engage with them and I look forward to seeing the results.
