But now the obvious question is what effect will it have on the 526 million daily users around the world?

To date, the only time the subject of organ donation comes up is when you have to renew your driver’s license every few years. Facebook puts the decision out there 24/7, reaching millions of more people. The difference? According to Donate Life America, by the end of the day (of the official announcement on May 1), 6,000 people had enrolled through 22 state registries. On a normal day, those states together see less than 400 sign up.

As healthcare marketers who want to help change the lives of patients through the power of social networks, this is a big step. And it could be even bigger.

More than 114,000 Americans are currently on waiting lists for transplants of kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs, according to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that runs the nation’s transplant system. More than 6,600 died last year waiting for an organ.

So here’s our invitation to you, Facebook: Let’s work together to see how we can help our pharmaceutical and healthcare clients create a meaningful, enduring brand experience for the Facebook community that can help positively shape the consumerism of healthcare, and ultimately better the lives of consumers around the world.

As a healthcare communications agency, we consistently hear the same sentiments from clients, “We’ve been told we need to be there (on social networks); we know the audience is massive, but we really don’t know what the roadmap to success looks like for pharma/healthcare brands in social media.” As an industry, we need to change that mindset.

Despite waiting on solid FDA guidance for years, several pharma companies are playing in the space. But have they found the Holy Grail on how to make a meaningful, enduring impact on people’s health and wellbeing? Not yet. And maybe that’s where Facebook can step up and engage the key stakeholders who can help make a difference including pharma companies, patients, physicians and caregivers. Let’s tackle this together and instead of simply allowing Facebook users to advertise their status for such a life-changing issue, let’s be advocates for a cause.

In this article, WSJ highlighted Abbott Labrotories, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific as the first major movers in the transition to using iPads in the field. The article goes on to say:

“The tablet computers offer new ways to display product information or surgical-implant techniques, and help eliminate time wasted on issues that don’t drive sales, according to companies. Their quick start-up times mean the salesmen can jump into their presentations before doctors lose interest.”

Boy how far we’ve come in just a few years! Today, detailing from an iPad is the preferred method by most pharma brands and an increasing number of physicians.

Here at GSW and inside of iQ the innovation lab of GSW, we’ve prototyped several ways to expand the capability of the iPad to become a full-arsenal of sales and workflow tools for pharma reps. Below are our 5 favorite prototypes.

We encourage you to share feedback and ideas to make these experiments reality for sales reps in the comments section.

iQ.mercury Powerful SalesForce Assistant

Powerful Salesforce Assistant introduces advances in functionality and efficiency of iQ.mercury, our preferred eDetailing platform, that boost the productivity of a brands salesforce with new integrations for pre- and post-call planning and unparalleled communication across the organization.

iQ.mercury Controller

With the iPad’s current 9.7-inch screen, detailing a physician across a desk or table can often be challenging. For instance, reading small type can be difficult, presenting upside down can be disorienting, and lack of interaction by the physician can be uninteresting.

iQ.Mercury Controller is an app that empowers sales reps to control an iPad held in the physician’s hands from their iPhone. Controller strives to provide a more ideal eDetailing experience that physicians deserve with the crucial control sales reps require.

IVA Reprint

Today, pharma pays journals to reprint articles for use in rep sales. If pharma wanted to add these eReprints to their interactive visual aids, or IVAs, most journals charge a substantial unlimited viewing fee. So we asked, “What if there was an alternative to unlimited viewing fees?”

IVA Reprints takes the guess work out of installs and views to lower costs for pharma and improve efficiency for journals.

iQ.mercury Presenter

When detailing from an iPad that is being projected onto an external display, it can be difficult and cumbersome for the presenter to operate the iPad and engage with the audience, as well. The presenter’s eyes are often focused on their iPad, speech is pointed downwards rather than outwards, and body language is directed towards their iPad rather than towards the conversation. Additionally, interactions lose their WOW factor as audience members are unable to differentiate between animations and interactions.

iQ.mercury Presenter is an enhancement that makes mirrored iPad detailing more engaging.

iQ.mercury Extender

When detailing a brand, pharma companies are required to display select important safety information, or select ISI, on particular pages. This requirement limits the real estate of the 9.7-inch screen of the iPad.

Extender works with the iPod or iPhone to display the corresponding select ISI. Unlike paper, Extender can communicate to each device to ensure that the corresponding select ISI is being displayed in conjunction with the content.

But what if the rep was to hide the iPod or iPhone in their briefcase during a detail?

As a secondary verification, Extender can be used with a branded case. This case verifies that the select ISI is in close proximity to the content by recognizing that each device has been docked. It then runs through its preliminary verification and displays the detail.

Shazam App for Your Heartbeat

Last week, we heard from the most progressive thinkers in the mobile health industry at the HIMSS mHealth Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark. Amongst the many assessments and predictions was one really intriguing idea: a Shazam App for heart sounds. This app would allow smartphone users to record the sound of their own heartbeat, upload it to an analytics engine and receive diagnosis.

Question: Do you think that a heart health-related brand could whitelabel or sponsor this type of app to provide to their physicians and patients as an added value around their core offering?

World of Warcraft Boosts Spatial Ability and Focus in Older Adults

New research is showing that certain types of video games, like World of Warcraft, boosts the cognitive functioning of older adults. The study found that the multi-tasking and extensive use of cognitive skills (ie planning strategies and tracking other players) boost cognitive performance. To view the study, visit Computers in Human Behavior.

Question: If studies like this found that different types of gaming can improve the health or performance of humans, should agencies like GSW start developing videogame development capabilities? Sounds fun, right?

Squag: Social Media for Teens and Tweens with Autism

Squag, a curated space for kids with Autism to share ideas about themselves and communicate with the parents, is hoping to facilitate the opportunity for organic relationships; driven by kids and support by parents. Squag is designed to be an alternative to traditional therapy for children with Autism.

Question: Online communities are becoming more popular and more effective for supporting people with an array of conditions; what online communities do you find intriguing? Can you share with us?

Symcat Diagnoses Your Health Sypmtoms Like a Doctor Would

“Every day, people search on Google for health information. Many of these searches relate to symptoms they or their loved ones may be experiencing,” explains Chief Health Strategist Roni Zeiger, MD. Symcat, developed by two lab partners at John Hopkins School of Medicine, is looking to create a better way to check symptoms and receive diagnosis without visiting a physician’s office.

Question: With tools like Symcat, what opportunities exist for our brands to make connections with people searching for specific symptoms online?

Ford Cars and Trucks Now a Vehicle for Healthcare

Ford’s mission of making the driving experience as enriching as possible is entering a new frontier. “A driver doesn’t stop being diabetic once he get behind the wheel of a car,” says David Melcher, the lead developer integrating WeelDoc and Medtronic to Ford vehicles.  “In fact, it probably more important to know about the driver in those particular cases. Not only for the safety of the driver, but for other as well.” By utilizing a Bluetooth enabled MedTronic Glucose Monitor, the WellDoc Application and Sync, your car acts as a personal butler insuring you’ve made proper health consideration before getting behind the wheel.

Question: What capabilities do you think patients would find beneficial for managing their health in their car?

1. Be on-demand:

Consumer expectations for the ability to contact pharma companies via social media are increasing as the division between their everyday social interactions and digital interactions continues to fade. Research shows that 70% of consumers expect healthcare companies to reply to requests for information made via social media within a day of the inquiry being posted. Even more so, 40% of them expect a reply within a few hours. Efficiently responding to requests for information can be challenging for any pharma company, amid the requirements to protect consumer privacy and allow time for legal review before the reply can be sent.

Tips for success:

• Set expectations: let consumers know that in order to keep their best interests in mind while operating in the regulated pharma industry, responses to their requests will require more time than they might experience from social interactions with other industries. Communicating this expectation can be achieved through a quick reply to someone’s tweet or Facebook post or prominently displaying your policy within your social profile
• Proactively prepare: anticipate the requests that might be made through social media channels. Begin drafting potential responses and/or create the decision tree that will need to be activated upon the receipt of a request.   Reminder: make sure all of your replies are personal, both in tone and content.

2. Be valuable:

This is obvious, right? But when was the last time you asked your consumers how your company can provide value to them through social media? When asked which services offered by drug companies would be the most valuable, consumers said the top three items were:

1. Discounts or coupons
2. (tie)Voice complaints/seek customer service and Information to find the cheapest medication
3. Treatment reminders

Two of the top three services relate to financial assistance. Pharma being lesser promotional industry relative to the retail industry makes it difficult to directly satisfy this request but that doesn’t prevent the consumer expectation that pharma should offer promotions and discounts through their social channels. The association between social media and customer service is, as mentioned in the first opportunity, very apparent.

Tips for success:

• Highlight existing resources: Use social media profiles to direct people to your existing resources for financial assistance, insurance information, and any promotions that you may have.
• Personalize reminders: create online tools or social applications that allow your consumers to create personalized and customizable treatment reminders.
• Monitor profiles daily: Pay attention to your social media profiles for customer service requests. There are many community management tools such as Hootsuite that can alert you when a request has been received.
• Conduct research: Don’t let this research be the determining factor. Ask your consumers via social media or traditional methods, what they think would be the most valuable.

3. Be trustworthy:

Although consumers are using social media to share their lives in a larger capacity, privacy and security issues still remain a top concern. When sharing health information online, consumers reported they’re most concerned that:

1. Their personal health information will be shared in public
2. Their information will be hacked or leaked

These concerns signal that consumers would be more open to engaging with pharma on social media if they had full transparency into how we’re planning to use the information they share with us in these engagements

Tips for success:

• Use discretion: Ensure that your interactions with consumers via social media are made public only when applicable and private when necessary.
• Communicate your privacy policy: Make your privacy policy easy to find, and read.
• Be upfront: Be open and transparent about the data you’re collecting and how it will be used. Show the value to the customer that their participation is helping your brand serve them better.

As consumer usage of social media for health information continues to rise, so do their expectations for communicating with pharma. By monitoring the shift in these expectations for healthcare in social media you will find valuable insights that can inform the social strategy for your pharma brand.

Last month, I was walking into the office and happened to notice that the backseat of a co-worker’s car was filled with colorful arm and leg casts. I mean a lot of casts. I remember thinking, “Oh GSW–you are such an interesting place to work.” Recently, I discovered just what those casts were for, and it reinforced how proud I am to work for a company that is genuinely dedicated to bettering the lives of patients.

The casts were for the 2Million2Many campaign we recently launched with the National Bone Health Alliance (NBHA). For the past six weeks, we have worked with Orange Barrel Media to build Cast Mountain(pictured above); a 12-foot-by-12-foot sculpture representing 5,500 casts and weighing upwards of 2,500 pounds. Fifty-five hundred is just one day’s worth of the two million broken bones a year in the U.S. that are not accidents—they are signs of osteoporosis.

The goal is to “break” (clever wordplay) the stereotype that only old women get osteoporosis–and to drive consumers and healthcare professionals to be more adamant for osteoporosis screening deleted before after a broken bone. Pretty important stuff.  Because one osteoporosis-caused break increases the chances of another—which could ultimately leading to a devastating hip fracture.

Wondering where all the casts came from? Some came from Orange Barrel East, and some came from the Ohio State University Orthopedics Department, which generously donated its time. Cast Mountain launched at the National Osteoporosis Foundation’s International Symposium on Osteoporosis, which took place April 25-28 in Orlando, Florida. For more information on Cast Mountain or to learn more about osteoporosis, you can go to 2million2many.org.

By now, you’ve heard of the remarkable growth rates, the phenomenal engagement, and that even pharma has started pinning. Amid all of the excitement and growth, you’re probably asking

“Is Pinterest right for my brand?”

At first glance, Pinterest looks like it’s just a collection of pretty images. Upon deeper exploration, you’ll discover that it’s much more than that. There are 3 very important aspects of Pinterest that you should be aware of before your brand begins pinning.

1. You don’t need an account to be on Pinterest:

Just as there is nothing preventing consumers from talking about your brand in other social media channels there is almost nothing preventing people from pinning your brand to their pin-boards. Users can do this 2 ways – by pinning an image from your website or other digital properties or by taking a photo of anything about your brand from your company’s buildings, to products, or even a photo of your website and then uploading it to Pinterest. Not all websites offer imagery that can be pinned directly from the internet to Pinterest. You can audit your brand’s website’s“pinability” by installing the Pin It Button into your browser’s tool bar and then attempting to pin an image from the website. The Button is going to pre-populate all of the items on the page that are pinable and then allow you to select your desired image/pin from there.  If the Button doesn’t populate anything then there is nothing on your brand’s site that can be pinned. You can increase your pinability by referencing Pinterest’s FAQ.

2. The images you share are just the beginning:

The content is the value. People  don’t pin things to their boards just because they like the way they look. They pin them because they link to something valuable that they want to revisit in the future. Pinterest is most popularly known for the plethora of recipes, housekeeping tips, and workout regimens that can be found all in one place. The image of the pin is important though – think of is as the cover of a book. We’ve all been told to not judge a book by its cover, but let’s face it – we all do it and it’s no different on Pinterest. Good imagery encourages Pinterest’s users to click on the image to find out what’s behind it.

3. You cannot control who sees, shares, or comments on your pins:

Pinterest thrives on the viral sharing of pins throughout the network, therefore the chances are greater on Pinterest than other networks that your pin will “go viral” and be seen by many people beyond your traditional target market. This possibility may be seen as a good or bad thing depending on your company’s social media guidelines.

On the surface, Pinterest appears to be Pharma friendly because it looks like another photo sharing site. Pharma or no pharma, the complexities of Pinterest are comparable to any other network so prepare to pin or be pinned. It’s only a matter of time before your brand appears on the newly dubbed “darling” of social media.

Social Media without question is integrated into the lives of many people today. Its popularity touches all types of age groups and social circles. The reach continues to expand each year with new channels, and better familiarity with the communication platform. With that in mind it’s not a surprise that people are taking to social media to try and self-diagnose their medical conditions. They use it to ask friends, or simply search to find out what people with similar conditions have to say.

Taking the social media route for diagnosis has a generally quick response time, and people feel supported by others who might be dealing with the same condition. Having this kind of resource at our fingertips can be very helpful, however it goes both ways. Physicians and patients specifically tend to disagree on the level of value and support it provides. It’s probably safe to say that neither physicians nor patients think it should go away, but that there should be some sort of guidelines. With all that being said what are the positives and negatives of using social media for self-diagnosis?

Positives:

1. Access to medical information within seconds dependent on the awareness of a given condition.
2. Easy to compare feedback from several sources to come to some reasonably intelligent answers.
3. Moral support from friends and family that you’re connected to online.
4. Provides a place to vent and get feelings on the table depending on a given individuals comfort level.
5. Easily jump to additional resources online based on recommendations found via social channels.

Negatives:

1. Patient education websites should be supplemental to physician consultation, but are sometimes used in isolation.
2. The patient can end up with an overwhelming amount of irrelevant answers regarding their condition.
3. There aren’t consistent reminders to go see your doctor presented with each piece of information online.
4. The right physicians aren’t typically plugged in to a given community to correct incorrect answers.
5. If a patient is new to this type of communication platform it could potentially be overwhelming.

One-thing patients can do to help make social patient education more relevant, and reliable is going to credible websites. Think of websites that not only have a strong presence in the medical space, but also have generally good reviews online. You then will get the best of both worlds from an emotional support perspective, and medical opinion perspective. Here are just a few to consider:

www.webmd.com

www.healthymagination.com

www.ehealthforum.com

www.mayoclinic.com

www.drugs.com

You’ll find that you not only get some very direct answers, but there is typically a large engaged community behind each. There is of course the non-medical social communities like Facebook as well, in those cases if the person you are asking isn’t a medical professional, you must be cautious. That being said overall this trend continues to be generally positive. It is making people more engaged in their own health, and more aware of health conditions. In the past some people may not have engaged at all without these socially tilted tools at their fingertips.

We attended Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored conference in NYC earlier this week where some of the world’s most insightful minds came together to share their experiences and best practices for how companies can succeed at innovation in a constant state of business chaos. Very inspiring to hear how business leaders are adapting to rapid change.

After listening to several interesting speakers – from the feisty and delightfully honest CEO of J. Crew, Millard Drexler, to the head of fashion mega-brand, Tory Burch – there were several common themes that theses innovators described as helping them to succeed.

As my super-skilled-at-live-blogging colleague Leigh Householder recapped every single session with great detail on www.whatsyourdigitaliq.com, I took away some of the big themes we heard:

1: Content is king and customer is the emperor. This one’s not a shocker but the fact remains that brands are finally starting to get it. It’s not about pushing the messages out that you want your customer to hear, it’s about sharing compelling information that will connect to the customer and impact their lives by adding meaning and value.

2. Most successful companies are grounded in mission, values and a core purpose. More than ever before, this message rose to the top. Leaders inspire and lead great companies based on a solid foundation of what they believe in and what they stand for. Regardless of trials and tribulations, this foundation is never compromised and is championed by everyone in the company.

3. The evolution of advertising is creating meaningful connections that changes lives. The brands who win are the brands that create a rich experience for their customers. For Gatorade, it’s no longer just about creating drinks that enhance athletic performance, it’s about what kind of service can be provided to athletes around the world that will impact every part of their athletic performance. That might mean products such as food and other nutritional items.

4. Corporate social responsibility is what makes good brands great. Brands who believe that value and purpose should go beyond the brands themselves will win. Recognizing that corporate social responsibility should be part of a brand’s foundation and vision allows customers to relate more to the brand. It lets customers know that these brands understand what’s good for the world, not just their company.

5. Failure and risk are part of the new now. Innovation by nature has unknown outcomes. The speed at which business moves today will no doubt increase the chance for error. But if companies don’t take risks and adapt to change, that in itself is failure. Encourage freedom of ideas, have trust in your people and watch what happens.

6. Don’t let process over-rule product. Traditional companies are struggling to respond in this environment. They are looking for new revenue streams to help balance the current model of selling time which inevitably brings more process into the fold. Although process and rigor are needed, it shouldn’t rule all things; delivering value to the customer should be #1. As companies get larger and more stretched with resources, this gets harder to accomplish.

7. Layers of bureaucracy hamper innovation and creativity. This is especially true for big companies. They aren’t built for speed and efficiency but instead have layers of process (see #6) that completely zaps the ability and freedom for creativity.

8. Data is the new black. The new ways data is being leveraged to manage increasing scale and speed as well as build incredible new products is flat out amazing. With the likes of Google and Facebook, marketers can cut data more than ever. And who doesn’t like good, solid numbers to reflect value or ROI?

9. Co-creation can lead to greater innovation. Companies understand that their ability to scale in this environment is more difficult than ever before. Partnerships with like-minded companies will enable greater ability for innovation and big ideas.

10. We spend too much time in meetings. Paul English, Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder, KAYAK, walks by his conference rooms with a “clicker” and if more than ten people are in the room he walks in, sits down and asks what they’re talking about. Once they tell him, he replies, “Aren’t you all smart enough to figure this out with 3 people, instead of 10?” Enough said.

*Image courtesy of http://ny.innovationuncensored.com/

There is a trend in the electronic health record space that is growing significant steam. The trend is one that focuses on using electronic health records for digital marketing efforts. When you think about it, this is not a surprising development. The targeted data that is provided from an EHR is about as good as you can get for an individual. Marketing campaigns are built on demographic data, and have been for years. Therefore hospitals specifically are very interested in other ways to extrapolate the data, and attract new patients using the information.

When people hear of patient records being used this way the immediate thought in general is that it’s wrong. There is no question like any marketing effort it can be handled in a way that isn’t exactly on the up and up. This will continue to become a debate as more hospitals begin to use this type of business strategy. That being said there are certainly both positives and negatives to this trend. Here are a few points to consider on the topic that might get you to think about it a bit differently.

Positives:

1. Hospitals can promote needed services like cancer screenings and cholesterol tests more effectively to the right patients.
2. Communication of health options that benefit a certain group of patients can be much more targeted.
3. Hospitals can deliver education information to a specific patient group based on their condition, or overall health.
4. A more connected consistent relationship can be developed through regularly delivered communications to the patient.

Negatives:

1. Could be perceived as hospitals using a patient’s private medical information with the sole purpose of profit.
2. This type of marketing practice toes the line of what is legal and what is not legal.
3. Could produce trends where certain patients are targeted simply because they are in the high payers category.
4. There may be a tendency for hospitals to provide value to their business over the patients best interest.

Another angle to look at this would be from the 30,000 foot view. Essentially pulling away from analyzing data on specific individuals. Similar to websites like Healthymagination.com the data could be used to provide a better pulse on public health as a whole. Here is an example of how it could be visualized in a highly impactful and valuable way via the GE Healthymagination website.

In this case the data could be compiled using de-identified patient information. This would lie more on the patient advocacy side of healthcare marketing, and would no question be received very favorably. It could also provide some transparency for how hospitals are performing, which would give them additional leverage to use the data for their own marketing efforts.

In the end what’s happening here is nothing new when it comes to digital marketing. Hospitals are simply picking up targeted marketing practices that most industries have used for years. The issue lies in the high level of privacy that medical records require. The strategy of EHR tied marketing efforts sits in direct conflict with privacy. That being said if this approach somehow begins to drive better patient outcomes over time, it could be looked on in highly favorable way.

Results from a number of studies suggest that electronic gaming can:

• Sharpen decision making
• Increase creativity
• Speed thinking
• Improve focus
• Boost brain function
• Enhance motor skills

Far from being the slacking-off, time-wasting activity that many perceive it to be (and which it may in fact be for some people), electronic gaming apparently has the potential to raise all of our games if we give it a chance. It’s probably no coincidence that a number of companies that are seen as “creative” have various games around their workplaces that employees can play.

Early research has shown that, similar to many other activities, computer and video games change our brains, and the combination of the required concentration and the resulting rewards seems to strengthen our neural connections. However, much remains to be learned, so this is still fertile ground for ongoing research. There is a large Canadian study underway with 150,000 participants designed to provide more-detailed understanding of how these games affect us.

At the same time, many of the studies performed so far have been relatively small, of limited duration, and conducted in tightly controlled environments. And the jury is still out with respect to possible negative consequences of many of these games. This is especially true with game violence—and the effect it may have on our brains and our behavior. Some brain scans of young men playing violent video games have shown causes for concern. There’s also a real irony in some of the data—some of the violent action games produced the strongest beneficial effects on the brain. Also, there are the always-lurking dangers of overdoing it—becoming obsessive and compulsive to an unhealthy extreme.

At any rate, the studies point to an intriguing possibility—maybe we can step up our game by stepping up our gaming. Sounds like a lot more fun than many other self-improvement techniques. And if game playing boosts our creativity and our thinking on the job—producing better results for our clients and our company—well, that’s a game where everybody wins.