Question 1

1. True Digital Opinion Leaders, not just influencers

Accepted Answer

DOL Finder identifies HCPs who shape clinical thinking – not simply those with the biggest public following.

Ranking is based on peer-to-peer impact, including:

HCP mentions
HCP replies
HCP amplification
Topic-specific authority
Professional network behaviour

This focuses on the influence that changes clinical practice.

Question 2

2. Fresh, AI-powered insight you can act on

Accepted Answer

DOL Finder 2.0 brings clarity to complex digital behaviour through (coming Q1 2026):

Natural-language AI search
AI summaries of sentiment and key themes
Transparent explanations of why each HCP ranks as they do
Detection of emerging voices and narrative shifts

Question 3

3. Fast, modern, built for daily use

Accepted Answer

No clunky or slow dashboards. No heavy interfaces. Just a clean, high-performance UX designed for global, regional, and local teams to use confidently.

Question 4

4. Deep intelligence from real-world HCP conversation

Accepted Answer

DOL Finder analyses public digital behaviour where HCPs share scientific views, clinical experiences, and unmet needs. Profile links show their wider channel presence for full-context understanding.

Question 5

5. Ethical, compliant, globally scalable

Accepted Answer

Distilled from 3M+ validated HCP profiles  Ethical, legally compliant data collection  Thousands of relevant HCPs per therapy area  Up to 50 users per indication included  Built for global to affiliate collaboration

Question 6

How do you rank HCPs?

Accepted Answer

Each HCP is given a global rank based on their overall impact within the therapy area. This is a factor of their peer trust, their social reach, their overall volume of posts and their treatment interest. The HCP list can also be sorted by any of these factors.

Question 7

Can DOL Finder identify emerging DOLs?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We rank every HCP in the online conversation within a particular therapy area, so while the highest-ranked HCPs are those with the greatest impact, DOL Finder illustrates many indicators that will provide clues about a less impactful HCP’s potential as an emerging DOL, such as the growth in their activity and engagement over time.

Question 8

Is it possible to access verbatim posts from HCPs?

Accepted Answer

Yes! While the standard implementation of DOL Finder comes with aggregated data, we have an optional verbatims bolt-on available for an additional fee.

Question 9

Can we integrate data from Veeva Link into DOL Finder?

Accepted Answer

Our Enterprise implementations of DOL Finder include unlimited custom integrations with third party platforms. Tell us about your needs and we’ll scope an integrated solution.

Question 10

What is the license model and cost of DOL Finder?

Accepted Answer

DOL Finder has fixed annual subscription fees. Review our DOL Finder price sheet for more information.

Question 11

How does DOL Finder differ from other platforms like Brandwatch and Veeva Link?

Accepted Answer

Brandwatch is an excellent platform for listening to the public social media voice.  DOL Finder uses our unique data source, CREATION Pinpoint, to isolate the voice of HCPs specifically so you can better understand the online HCP community.  Veeva Link Key People is a great platform built for identifying Key Opinion Leaders and includes rich data on traditional offline metrics such as academic publications. While Veeva Link Key People does include links to social media content, DOL Finder is created with a digital-first approach, meaning we focus on all HCPs who are part of the online social media community.  To learn more about how DOL Finder compares to traditional KOL mapping tools such as Veeva Links Key People or IQVIA Expert Ecosystem, read our article, Veeva Link Key People, IQVIA Expert Ecosystem or CREATION DOL Finder: which DOL insights platform to choose?

Question 12

How many users can be added to the DOL Finder platform?

Accepted Answer

A standard license includes up to 40 seats, allowing access to DOL Finder for your wider team. If more seats are needed, there is a low fee per additional user.

Question 13

Can we go have access to more than one year’s worth of data?

Accepted Answer

Yes! The standard DOL Finder implementation comes with one year of rolling data. Additional data is available as an optional add-on feature. Please talk with us about your needs.

Question 14

How do you determine trust?

Accepted Answer

We measure peer trust by analysing the interactions of an HCP with other HCPs within the conversation about a particular therapy area. For example, in the online HCP breast cancer conversation, if an HCP has been referenced (or mentioned) extensively by other HCPs and their own posts about breast cancer are often cited (or re-posted) by other HCPs, then we would score them high for peer trust. Peer trust is an important component of an HCP’s overall online impact, and is a unique metric to CREATION.co, thanks to CREATION Pinpoint®, our global database of HCP social media profiles.

Question 15

I would like to learn more about another topic within the type of work you do. Can I recommend a future webinar topic?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we would be happy to hear from you about any suggestions you may have regarding future webinar topics.

Question 16

Do you share client work in your webinars?

Accepted Answer

In our webinars we share bespoke research, and anonymised case studies of our client work due to our work with global pharmaceutical companies being under strict NDA agreements.

Question 17

What platform do you run your webinars on?

Accepted Answer

CREATION webinars are currently run on Zoom. If you are unable to use Zoom due to a company policy or firewall please email us at contact@creation.co and we can arrange a presentation of the webinar on Microsoft Teams or an available platform.

Question 18

Can you run an internal webinar for my company only?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we regularly run webinars focused on a specific pharmaceutical company and their particular business objectives, often partnering with an employee from that organisation.

Question 19

Who do I contact if the link to the webinar is not working?

Accepted Answer

If your link is not working, or you have any issue accessing the live or recorded webinar you can email us at contact@creation.co and we will help you as soon as possible.

Question 20

Can I share the webinar recording link?

Accepted Answer

Yes, currently our webinar recording links can be shared with fellow pharma colleagues however, we would ask they are not shared with agencies or those unable to register for the webinar.

Question 21

How do I get in touch with the webinar speakers?

Accepted Answer

To get in touch with the webinar speakers you can email us at contact@creation.co and our team will connect you with the respective speaker. During the webinar the speaker will also likely include their contact or LinkedIn details.

Question 22

Can other people read my questions on a live webinar?

Accepted Answer

Questions shared on CREATION webinars can be submitted as private messages to the panellists and hosts. The question & answer (Q&A) feature for webinars allows attendees to privately or publicly ask questions during the webinar, for the panellists, and hosts to answer.

Question 23

Do I need to mute myself on the webinar?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you will automatically be muted on the webinar, and will not be able to unmute yourself, to allow everyone on the call to hear the webinar clearly.

Question 24

How long are CREATION.co’s webinars?

Accepted Answer

Our webinars range from 30 minutes to an hour, including time for questions and answers.

Question 25

What time is the webinar? What time zone is &#8220;EST&#8221;?

Accepted Answer

CREATION webinars are live streamed according to London’s time zone which is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during standard time and British Summer Time (BST) during Daylight Saving Time (DST), or summer time. Webinar start times are also displayed in timezones relevant to New York and Paris.

Question 26

I can&#8217;t make the webinar at the scheduled time. Can I view the webinar at a later time?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you register for the webinar, following the live event you will receive an email with the webinar recording to view at your convenience.

Question 27

How can healthcare companies use HCP social media insights?

Accepted Answer

Using HCP social media insights healthcare companies can gain an in-depth understanding of their customers to answer key business questions and keep ahead of online trends to inform strategic activities across the year.  By realising your HCPs’ concerns you can provide solutions to their unmet needs. Tracking their digital engagement around events or campaigns allows for learning to support marketing planning and strategies for the future.

Question 28

How is social media used in healthcare?

Accepted Answer

In healthcare, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Sermo, and TikTok are valuable resources allowing doctors, students, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to connect with both their peers and the general public on a global scale. More and more HCPs are using social media platforms to have open, honest discussions with their peers regarding their experiences with patient cases and various therapies, as well as to voice their needs and opinions.

Question 29

What are the risks of using social media in healthcare?

Accepted Answer

With the use of social media in healthcare comes a number of risks — the main limitation of health information found on social media being the lack of quality and reliability. Specifically, for HCPs, they have the same legal and ethical obligations to their patients on social media as they would anywhere else, including maintaining confidentiality and anonymity, no matter the intended audience. Furthermore, social media can blur the lines between personal and professional, and it is important for HCPs to maintain that professional boundary not only with their patients but the general public too.

Question 30

How do you use #MedTwitter?

Accepted Answer

#MedTwitter is great tool to keep up to date with latest developments in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, to pose questions to fellow HCPs regarding patient cases, to raise an influential voice in the fight against medical misinformation being shared with the public, and to start conversations on various opinions and views of the newest product launches.

Question 31

What is a patient influencer?

Accepted Answer

The definition of a ‘patient influencer’ and their role within the healthcare industry varies greatly. Generally, a patient influencer is a highly visible and trusted health consumer, who uses social media to share their experiences of living with or caring for someone with a chronic illness. Their goal is to raise awareness of, and help others with their condition. Many patient influencers see themselves as patient advocates, helping others on their health journey, however, their massive online audiences truly make them influencers.  For a list of ways you could engage your DOLs, click here.

Question 32

How do I identify medical influencers (DOLs)?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, we’ve led the way in using data science to identify and profile healthcare professional Digital Opinion Leaders (DOLs) since we first introduced the concept in 2012. Deciding how to identify, profile and engage DOLs is a process as unique as your own goals. So we work with you to define what’s most important in your particular DOL identification and profiling exercise. Below are 10 questions to ask about your DOLs:  Do they post relevant content? Do they have an HCP or public following? Are they trusted among online HCP peers? Are they active in online conversations? Do they have a public influence? Do they have a social media presence? Are they in an existing relationship with you? Are they engaged in the online scientific community? Is their online influence local or global? Do they support other health communities or patient groups? To learn more visit our Digital Opinion Leader Mapping page

Question 33

Who are the key influencers in healthcare?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, we believe that this is the wrong type of question to be asking, as an influencer is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ across the pharmaceutical industry. The key influencers that matter to you will be based both on context and strategy, and it is much more important to align yourself with medical influencers, or DOLs, who are the best fit for your business needs and share your overall key business objective.

Question 34

What is a healthcare persona?

Accepted Answer

A healthcare persona is a way to help identify how HCPs may think, feel and do when engaging with your healthcare organisation.

Question 35

What is unique about CREATION.co?

Accepted Answer

Our vision to transform nations is underpinned by love, service, and excellence and is delivered through our highly specialised CREATION.co family   Our expertise revolves around solving your specific problem(s) and, as such, we tailor all of the armoury required to ensure a bespoke offering  CREATION.co represents a heritage of pioneering in healthcare with a history of innovation enabling us to remain at the forefront of insights-led health strategy

Question 36

What is CREATION Pinpoint®?

Accepted Answer

CREATION Pinpoint® is the world&#8217;s largest healthcare professional database. It was the world’s first database of confirmed online HCPs. Use our powerful online conversation insights tool to track billions of HCP conversations worldwide in private and public social networks, so you can learn what your customers really think.    Currently, we analyse: 3M+ HCP social media profiles 2B+ conversations 90M+ social media platforms and sites

Question 37

Who do you work with?

Accepted Answer

Our clients are often large global pharmaceutical and healthcare organisations that require insights-led health strategy to solve a problem. In fact, we are proud that most of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies have worked with us in the last 5 years across various projects and therapies and of those, lots of them continue to work with us on a regular basis.

Question 38

How can you isolate the voice of the healthcare professional online?

Accepted Answer

CREATION Pinpoint works on an algorithm that identifies potential HCPs based on who they are following, who is following them, the write-up in their profile, the language they are using plus a host of other metrics. We then have a team of expert data quality analysts who manually review these HCPs and, with some desk research, confirm if they are/aren’t HCPs. If they are HCPs, they go into our CREATION Pinpoint engine, which means that when we look at conversations happening on public social media about a particular topic, say diabetes, we filter it through CREATION Pinpoint so we end up only seeing conversation HCPs are having around this topic. In terms of private networks we work with platforms like Sermo which verifies all its members to ensure they are doctors.

Question 39

Can we see case study examples of projects clients have done with you?

Accepted Answer

We have NDA agreements in place with our clients so projects are highly confidential. However, we have a series of anonymised case studies which can be found here.

Question 40

Which HCP roles do we analyse?

Accepted Answer

With the ability to track a variety of HCP roles including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and allied health roles to name a few, we can classify insights specific to HCP role type allowing you to differentiate between differing beliefs and tailor communications accordingly.

Question 41

Which therapy areas do you cover?

Accepted Answer

CREATION.co provides HCP insights in all therapy areas. Having been experts in this field for over 20 years, we have case studies and examples in almost all therapies.

Question 42

What languages do you cover?

Accepted Answer

CREATION.co provides HCP insights in any Language in the world. We use local market language specialists in all countries to ensure you are capturing the local nuance. For knowledge engineering and search, all keywords are entered in their native language and English. This process is repeated for each region in which we operate, and keywords are translated by real people. For content translations (blog posts, tweets, etc) all translations are done by human translators, either from within our team or through third-party translation partners.

Question 43

Which countries do you cover?

Accepted Answer

CREATION.co provides HCP insights in any Market in the world. Our powerful technology can track HCPs across the globe to provide you with insights from their online conversations in any market you choose. We can also identify which other countries are influencing the markets you are tracking, giving you a true picture of market dynamics.

Question 44

What is a Digital Opinion Leader or DOL?

Accepted Answer

Digital Opinion Leaders (DOL), are healthcare professionals (HCPs) that have a large online influence within their area of expertise of the pharma industry, normally using social media platforms to share information and advice.

Question 45

How do I identify DOLs?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, we’ve led the way in using data science to identify and profile healthcare professional Digital Opinion Leaders since we first introduced the concept in 2012. Deciding how to identify, profile and engage DOLs is a process as unique as your own goals. So we work with you to define what’s most important in your particular DOL identification and profiling exercise. Below is an illustration of 10 of our metrics to identify your DOLs.  10 ways to identify DOLs Do they post about relevant content? Do they have an HCP or public following? Are they trusted among online HCP peers? Are they active in the online conversation? Do they have a public influence? Do they have a social media presence? Are they in an existing relationship with you? Are they engaged in the online scientific community? Is their online influence local or global? Do they support other health communities or patient groups? To learn more visit our Digital Opinion Leader Mapping page

Question 46

How robust is social media ‘listening’ to other forms of research?

Accepted Answer

Social media gives you a good overview of a wider audience than maybe a focused group of say 25 HCPs. It also shows you their unprompted conversations which is something that you do not get from traditional market research. Though the average age of active HCPs on social media may be in the younger bracket since these guys are “digital natives”, we are seeing pharma help their KOLs get online by partnering them with DOLs, and more of the older HCPs are begin to see the benefits of connecting to their peers online.

Question 47

How can HCP insights help with launching a product?

Accepted Answer

HCPs are collaborating in open and closed online networks and through their conversation develop and influence opinions in these forums. These digital spaces can also be a place for you to gather intelligence, and to influence opinion. At CREATION.co, one thing that our clients consistently tell us is that when they finally arrive at product launch, the level of activity skyrockets, and rollout can become quite frantic. So developing an understanding of your customers as early as possible will help you to pre-empt and even mitigate that. There are three phases when thinking about effectively bringing your product to market  – pre-launch, launch year, and post-launch. This journey will take place over a number of years. The very beginning of a product’s lifecycle is arguably the most critical for your product and the area where the greatest opportunity for success usually sits. To learn more, read our article about Pre-launch planning & DSLs &#8211; the new ways to create launch excellence in Pharma

Question 48

How can social media monitoring be used to detect fake news about products or treatments?

Accepted Answer

CREATION.co can now identify where misinformation is being spread and pinpoint information gaps. Thanks to a unique global database of online HCPs combined with advanced analytics techniques, we have developed a five-step methodology to rapidly identify misinformation associated with any product or therapy area of your choice, as well as areas where information is lacking. For more information visit our Fake news Detection page.

Question 49

What is Drug Safety Monitoring?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, we can use online research to support safety signal detection and evaluation. Social media provides us with the resources required to gain drug safety profile insight, inform product decisions, and improve patient safety and experiences. We use the latest advancements in social media analysis to quickly identify safety signals relating to your product(s) and evaluate the associated context. For more information visit our Drug Safety Monitoring page.

Question 50

How can I engage with a Digital Opinion Leader?

Accepted Answer

We have been helping pharmaceutical companies with their HCP engagement strategies for the past 20 years. Based on our experience and expertise, here are our top 3 ideas on how to best engage with your HCP Digital Opinion Leaders: Run a training course specifically for your HCP DOLs to educate them in an area they may be expressing a lack of certainty about. They could then be empowered to share the learnings with their followers. Provide educational resources published in their preferred format which they would be able to easily digest and repurpose. Be where your HCP DOL customers are by finding out which congresses they are attending, which sites they are using, and which social media platforms they are on. That way you can focus your outreach to them in the right place. For the rest of our list, check out our HCP engagement strategies article.

Question 51

How do I create a DOL strategy?

Accepted Answer

Once you have identified your Digital Opinion Leaders, you need to consider how to engage effectively with them. However, before you start thinking about identifying DOLs, you need to put this into context with your long-term goals and think about what would make a Digital Opinion Leader for you. You need to consider: Do you want someone who is leading the patient or peer community?  Do you want DOLs with a global following or who are more influential locally?  Do you want an opinion leader who is vocal about certain topics?  Does it matter to you the role type they are in or is it just important that they are leading your community?  Do they have the same values as you? If you start by answering these, and other strategic DOL questions, you will have a much clearer picture of what a perfect DOL would look like for your business.  Remember, there is no single set of metrics that defines DOL impact. Individual pharma companies should design goals that reflect outcomes aligned with their business objectives. As well as ensuring those objectives also align with the goals of the DOL and, in some cases, the patient community. At CREATION.co, we spend time ensuring those objectives have been discussed and with a pre-qualified database of nearly 3 million global HCP social media profiles, we can adjust our metrics to ensure the DOLs we identify are the right ones to support your goals.

Question 52

What is a DSL?

Accepted Answer

DOLs suitable for marketing or commercial teams might look different to those suitable for the medical teams. CREATION.co have therefore identified a subset of Digital Opinion Leaders – Digital Scientific Leaders (DSLs). DSLs are HCPs who possess all the qualities of a DOL but have a specific focus and influence in the scientific conversation within the therapy area.    DSLs are driving the discussion around latest study and trial data, testing and diagnosis, and mechanism of action of treatments. In other words, they have a natural inclination to lead and shape the scientific dialogue amongst their peers online. They usually have higher scientific credentials and use their media for peer learning, education, and collaboration.   To learn more, read our article about Medical Affairs: best practice for identifying online HCP thought leaders

Question 53

How do you know where the HCPs are located?

Accepted Answer

As our research is done from public forums when we classify each HCP in our system, we use the data they publicly share about their location.

Question 54

How are these HCP insights different to work we would get through standard HCP market research?

Accepted Answer

These insights are unprompted so you get to hear what HCPs are actually talking about among themselves. We call this direct customer intelligence. You also generally get a bigger audience than other types of market research and it is a global audience so you can see how HCPs and content from other regions are influencing the discussion.

Question 55

What is the CREATION.co process for starting and running a project?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, good relationships are at the heart of what we do and it’s important for us to understand your business challenge and context so that the insights we develop can inform your development or strategy correctly. Please see here for our 6 step process on working with us.

Question 56

Do you work with other agencies?

Accepted Answer

At CREATION.co, we have a clear policy of only working directly with clients who are the end users of our services and do not pitch for work through other agencies. We do not licence our software, and we don’t pay for referrals into projects. As a leading provider of data-led insights, we value the importance of knowing a client’s objectives and we find that direct client contact at the very earliest stages is the only way to ensure a successful and fruitful delivery. As a team, CREATION.co is always excited to work alongside other agencies and as we are often working on global cross-functional projects, we are used to working alongside multiple agencies &#8211; all collaborating and working together for the good of the project. We believe this is best achieved when each agency has their own relationship with the client.

Question 57

Do you license your software &#8211; CREATION Pinpoint?

Accepted Answer

No, at CREATION.co, we have a clear policy of only working directly with clients who are the end users of our services and do not pitch for work through other agencies. We do not licence our software, and we don’t pay for referrals into projects.

Question 58

Will DOLs be regulated and, if so, what regulations are we likely to see?

Accepted Answer

DOLs are already regulated, in the sense that their behaviour as professionals is governed by their respective professional bodies. In the UK, for example, the General Medical Council (GMC), which governs medical doctors, has provided guidance for doctors on their use of social media since 2013. While controversial among some doctors, the guidance forbids doctors from anonymity on social media. Furthermore, and relevant to the role of DOLs, the GMC guidance requires doctors to declare any commercial or financial interests in pharmaceutical companies: “When you post material online, you should be open about any conflict of interest and declare any financial or commercial interests in healthcare organisations or pharmaceutical and biomedical companies.”

Frequently Asked Questions