SERMO’s drug-rating system for doctors by doctors has garnered over 655,000 ratings on over 4,000 medications in the last year.  SERMO is now the number one social network for doctors in the US and globally providing a safe space to solve and discuss medical cases and issues and to rate treatments.  Additionally, it offers honoraria for doctors who share their opinions. The popularity of SERMO and the transformation it represents highlights the importance of developing a multi-faceted strategy across communication touchpoints in a rapidly changing digital landscape.  Healthcare marketers must stay up to date with this on-going digital transformation in order to maximise the effectiveness of their marketing spend and to better serve the needs of doctors across the globe.

The SERMO online platform has enhanced communication and links between individual clinics and doctors allowing them to see how they stack up to their colleagues locally and internationally and challenging existing social norms.  SERMO has also challenged traditional vehicles of communication or ‘messengers’ by shifting attention away from KOLs and pharma med reps. By doing so, it has empowered your average doctor to be an influencer in in much broader networks.  Although not intended for pharma or healthcare marketers, SERMO is a powerful tool for real-time feedback about how doctors think, feel, and act in regard to a particular drug. 

Over 70,000 doctors have used the database in the last year and that has massively dialled up ‘herd instinct’ among clinicians!  According to SERMO’s own research, “Half of doctors changed their perceptions or opinions about a drug after reading the ratings.” Additionally, “83% said they believe the ratings will help improve outcomes and 74% said they’ll use the ratings again when doing research for treatment.”

Considering its scope, SERMO has be a powerful lever for healthcare marketers to look to better understand current clinician behaviour. 

In the age of “Big Data” there is more information available than ever before; and while there are serious concerns over how this data is managed and used, there are significant opportunities for healthcare marketers as well. 

Big data offers the benefit of knowing your customer holistically and understanding the various components that shape how they think, feel, and act.  As healthcare marketers, we can look to this broader lifestyle data as a means to better segment clinicians and patients.

To illustrate how some of this big data (information about our likes and dislikes in regard to music, books, and television) can say a lot about who we are as people, check out this quizdesigned by the Australian Cultural Fields project that unravels what our habits suggest about our social class. Don’t worry, it only takes about 5 minutes! 

Cape Town, South Africa, home to 3.4 million residents, could soon be the first major city in the world to run out of water—a day that’s been dubbed ‘Day Zero.’   Day Zero could happen as early as mid-July if there’s no significant rain, and residents will have to travel to one of the city’s 200 collections points to receive their daily ration of 25 litres per person. 

While the city has taken some steps to better manage water use, they are increasingly looking toward behavioural economics to find a solution.  The city has collaborated with the University of Cape Town to develop nudges aimed at encouraging individuals to reduce their water use.  The research has identified several types of nudges including social norms, real-time feedback, and social recognition that they believe will be most effective. 

In order to challenge the current social norms around water use, the city has developed a water map by which it identifies homes and businesses that do/do not comply with set targets.  While concerns over backlash against non-compliant households have raised issues around the appropriate channels and end-users to communicate this information, research demonstrates that combining behavioural interventions with traditional measures [restrictions or penalties] can be highly effective in the short-term. 

In addition, Cape Town is offering real-time feedback regarding the daily water level in dams.  This is particularly motivating when feedback is framed in reference to Day Zero [critical level at 13.5%] and coupled with water saving tips.  The Water Tracker designed by eighty20 is a great example of this. 

Lastly, Cape Town must expand social recognition efforts.  Being recognized for hard work or achievements makes us feel good.  This prize doesn’t necessarily even have to be monetary; written or verbal recognition can be enough.  Of the nine nudges tested in this research, social recognition proved to be the most successful; households who reduced consumption by 10% were featured on the city’s webpage. 

Cape Town now faces a challenging situation that will require multi-faceted approach to solve, but the solutions or nudges suggested can be applied to healthcare.  How can we challenge social norms around prescribing antibiotics or even challenge prescribing opioids to combat the epidemic in the United States?  What are creative approaches to giving clinicians feedback in real-time as with HCV campaigns in Australia?  What ways can we incentivise good work and good behaviour beyond financial motivators?