Pharmacies Using Social Media to Update with their Patients
By RxWiki, Special for USDR
RxWiki Inc., a rapidly growing digital health company, today announced the results of a survey which reveals that the majority of community pharmacists are using social media to stay connected with their patients and drive visits to their physical store.
65% of community pharmacists use social media, with 63% using Facebook and 24% using Twitter. Usage of other networks like Instagram and Pinterest were low, at 12% and 2% respectively.
Over 68% of pharmacists reported that they felt that social media had a definite positive impact on their business by either helping them stay connected with their patients, delivering health news to them, or driving visits to the store.
“Posting on Facebook helps us stay connected with our patients in a way that works for them,” said Peggy Vogel, Office Manager for Coastal Pharmacy. “By pushing great content to our patients through social media, we can extend the personal relationship we have with our patients to the digital forum.”
Posting one or more times per week was most common, with the most popular content being health related information and general going-ons in the pharmacy. There was no consistency on the person responsible for managing the accounts. In some pharmacies, it was the pharmacist who managed the account while in other pharmacies, it was the owner, the staff or a business manager.
While “time” was the biggest reason why respondents don’t use social media, those that do are only spending a few minutes each day managing the accounts. Less than 20% said that a lack of understanding of the platforms was the reason they didn’t use the platforms, reflecting the broader trends of social media adoption amongst all age groups.
“Most small businesses don’t think that social media can really drive results for their business, especially for populations that might be a little bit older or for businesses that deal with serious issues like patient health,” said Azim Nagree, Senior Vice President, RxWiki Inc. “But what we’ve seen is that people of all ages are consuming content because it’s really like talking to their pharmacist.”
In addition to posting content, 23% of pharmacists are advertising on social media, especially using Facebook advertising. Budgets ranged from $10/month all the way to more than <spanclass=”xn-money”>$100/month.
“We find that advertising on these networks can generate more business for us, and with the targeting capabilities, we can reach only the people in our area,” said Shawn Sams, Owner/Pharmacist at Louis Morgan Drug #4.
The survey was sent by email to 13,100 community pharmacies on August 16, 2016. 181 community pharmacies responded. For more information and to see the full survey results visit www.digitalpharmacist.com.
About RxWiki Inc.
RxWiki Inc. is a rapidly growing Digital Health company connecting pharmacies and patients through its Digital Pharmacist (www.digitalpharmacist.com) SaaS platform and original Pharmacist written and verified content. RxWiki’s Digital Pharmacist platform powers the websites and mobile applications of 1,300 specialty and community pharmacy brands. Patients can manage their medications, complete digital refills and engage with medication adherence programs. RxWiki’s original Pharmacist written and verified content includes 20,000 original health articles, 7,500 health-related videos, 100 disease condition channels. More than 3,700 community pharmacies and national health brands such as Health Mart and Health Media Network license this content to engage and educate their patients. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
SOURCE RxWiki Inc.
