D Yellow Elephant (DYE), a company specializing in digital media, revealed in late July in a new study that the majority of the health companies in India was quite inactive on social media.
Results: More than half of the pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in India (multinational and domestic) have a presence on digital platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook but are failing to actively engage with their stakeholders.
Experts insist on the need to offer patients an active role in social media and to adapt company’s digital strategies to the specific needs and expectations of consumers, especially in rural areas, where access to the internet is still complicated.
Digital strategy: only 14% of the companies studied have a leading position
The study is based on a survey report titled India Digital Health Report 2017 that examined the digital performance of 160 leading Indian healthcare companies spread across four primary segments of healthcare: pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices and equipment, and hospitals.
The report examined these firms on the basis of their online presence, engagement levels and relevancy on 12 major online platforms: website and apps of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Plus, Blogger, Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram and Tumblr.
Based on presence, engagement, response, and consumer followership, companies divided into three categories:
- Digital Primes (the torch-bearers);
- Aspirants (gradually moving up on the digital curve);
- Onlookers (silent observers).
Results: Only 14% of companies were classified in the Digital Primes section. 54% were qualified as Aspirants and 32% as Onlookers.
Pharma sector get the best result
Of the four industry verticals of the industry, pharma represents the highest number of Digital Primes (22%). The field of medical devices and equipment and diagnostics have maximum Digital Aspirants: 71% of companies studied in these fields maintain their digital presence but lag in engagement.
In detail, Apollo Diagnostics is the company with the best rating (70/100), followed by GE Healthcare (65.5/100) and Pfizer (65/100). Among hospitals, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital won the first place with 56 points.
LinkedIn: the preferred network of Indian health groups
LinkedIn enjoys the maximum presence: 91% of industry players have a dedicated page but only 11% of them are actively engaged in the platform.
Facebook is the second most preferred platform of companies analyzed with 90% presence rate, followed by Twitter and YouTube.
Most companies have only a digital presence
Out of the 160 companies surveyed, only 22 companies managed a score above 50. « There is a trend of initiating and abandoning the platform midway, or selectively utilizing the medium, as and when the need arises, » said Chandni Dalal, lead, digital strategy, D Yellow Elephant (source: SPAG Consultants Pvt.).
A reluctance to engagement
« The report indicates that pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in India are affected by ‘Engagement Draught’: present across most social media platforms but reluctant to engage with stakeholders, Aman Gupta, managing director, D Yellow Elephant. With [health care professionals], patients, caregivers and policymakers consuming bulk of information online, it is imperative for companies to develop a digital ecosystem spread across multiple channels. »
Adapting network models to the specific patient profiles in India
India is experiencing one of the world’s largest growing online population. With 277 million internet users, India surpassed the US in number of internet users in 2015, and was just behind China, according to the Internet Trends 2016 report published by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB).
However, in absolute terms, only 22% of the population has access to the internet. Nevertheless, things are changing fast: there was a growth of 40% over one year in 2015, compared with 33% between 2013 and 2014. For the record, India’s active social media users constitute 9% of the total population (2015 figures).
The need for a strong digital engagement strategy
However, company’s strategy needs to evolve if the healthcare entrepreneurs want to reach a wider audience and make an impact online.
« Launched in 2015, the India Digital Health Report has set benchmarks for digital presence across the sector, » he also said. The second edition reveals that the digital journey for most companies has started, but restricted to presence. A robust digital engagement strategy should be integral to the corporate strategy, rather than an afterthought. »
Giving patients an active role
« Patients now arrive in physicians’ offices armed with information, and their insistence on taking a more active role in their treatment is transforming healthcare from a provider dominated marketplace to a consumer-centred system, » analyzed Chandni Dalal.
« [The healthcare company have to enable] consumers to take a lead role in finding,sorting and acting on health information, » Kapil Khandelwal, a renowned investor in the field of health in India, said in an article published in 2013 by Health Biz India.
Thinking beyond traditional networks ?
He also stressed the necessity to develop social media models for rural areas, where internet platforms are not usable due to literacy, access,and affordability challenges. He advances the idea of developing models specific to the Indian health market, meeting to the expectations of the inhabitants.
He quotes Gram Vaani, a voice-basedSM network accessible from any phone and not only from a smartphone connected to 3G network. Users can share information in voice through ordinary phone calls and call into its toll-free number and leave messages or listen to messages left by other people, after moderation. It currently has about ten thousand users.
EHealth: Ministry of Health plans to increase spending
Digital investment in the healthcare industry has recently been encouraged by Anupriya Patel, Minister of state, Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
She said At the end of August that it is necessary to increase national health expenditure. They want to take up the health expenditure from the current 1.15% to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025. The state sector’s health spending will be increase to more than 8% of their budget by 2020, she said, stressing the importance of the development of digital solutions within the industry.
« The policy recommended setting up of Digital health authority at the national level to regulate, develop and deploy digital help across the continuum of healthcare in India. »
