By Laura Marsh 
The 2019 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) Annual Meeting took place in Chicago, providing an opportunity for professionals in the worldwide oncology community to connect with their peers and hear about new advances in products and technology in the field. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) use social media platforms such as Twitter to discuss content presented at the congress with one another and share information with those not in attendance.
CREATION Pinpoint® isolates the voices of HCPs on social media, thus equipping us to analyse the online engagement of HCPs active on Twitter during the ASCO 2019 congress (May 31 – June 5). With over 31,000 posts directly mentioning ASCO from over 3,600 unique HCP authors, we can discover the online behaviours of HCPs during this congress.
Trends in discussion
The HCP Twitter conversation relating to ASCO peaked similarly at the middle of each day, with a variety of topics comprising these spikes in conversation. This shows that HCPs were continually active on social media throughout the congress, not just during particular talks. Lung cancer was the most frequently mentioned cancer type by HCPs, who often used the hashtag #lcsm (lung cancer social media) in their posts. In fact, #lcsm was the most commonly used hashtag after #ASCO19 itself, being used in 2,240 HCP posts.
Within the lung cancer conversation, HCPs were particularly active in sharing the results of the Amgen phase 1 trial investigating the efficacy of their drug AMG 510, a KRAS G12C inhibitor. HCPs were impressed by the improvement in overall response rate and cautiously recognised the promise of this novel product, yet acknowledged the need for later stage data before forming any conclusions.
HCPs engaged positively with manufacturers
Manufacturers received a significant level of engagement from HCPs who mentioned pharmaceutical companies and reposted their content. Amgen was particularly successful in this, receiving a lot of positive HCP engagement around the AMG 510 lung cancer trial.
Regarding the content type, 68% of manufacturer posts shared by HCPs during ASCO contained an image or video. Healthcare professionals are also more likely to share content aimed specifically at HCPs, rather than patient facing content during congresses such as this, due to the intended professional audience of the congress and information presented.
Top 5 Digital Opinion Leaders
Digital Opinion Leaders (DOLs) are key medical professionals driving a particular area of the online HCP conversation. This means that they are not only active in the online conversation, but shaping it through their far-reaching digital network, relevant content and peer and public engagement. Using CREATION Pinpoint, we have identified and profiled the top five DOLs in the global online ASCO 2019 conversation:
This article highlights congress-specific HCP behaviours displayed during ASCO 2019. These insights may help healthcare companies to collaborate with online HCP advocates and gain a greater understanding of the needs and interests of their HCP customers.
To learn more about how pharmaceutical marketers can engage with HCP customers visit:
To understand how CREATION identifies Digital Opinion Leaders visit:
*CREATION acts independently as a provider of HCP insights and this analysis of HCP behaviours at ASCO 2019 does not imply any endorsement or relationship with ASCO. ASCO is a registered trademark of American Society of Clinical Oncology.
