Another 91% of the companies
were gathering data on disease
states, such as mapping the patient
journey through a disease. About
one third of those engaged in
social listening were using it as a
source of competitive intelligence.
OWNERSHIP AND USES OF
SOCIAL LISTENING
While the regulatory framework
for social media clearly influences
the degree of social media listen-
ing geographically, the precise na-
ture and objectives of social media
listening strategy also vary accord-
ing to which business function is
entrusted with this responsibility
(see Table 1).
In the Best Practices study, the
social media listening program
was part of market research at 58%
of the organizations surveyed and
belonged to a digital/information-technology group at 42% of organizations.
Large pharmaceutical companies
were far more likely to entrust so-
cial media listening management
to market research, while in mid-
cap pharmaceutical, biotechnology
or medical-device organizations
responsibility tended to sit with
the digital/IT group.
Brand managers involved in social
media listening tend to be interested in factors influencing share of
voice compared with rival brands,
trends in patients switching from
one brand or product to another,
identifying key opinion leaders
or online patient advocates, and
tracking general sentiment around
a brand asset.
This is usually real-time listening,
whereas market-research departments are concerned with much
broader trends, and from a lon-
