A study by Acceleration Point analyzing over 50,000 key opinion leaders (KOLs) revealed that 54% participate in online scientific discussions on social media, news platforms, and the web. According to the study, 18% of these KOLs had an X (Twitter) account. For some specialties, that number went as high as 40%.
Most of these experts do not post content themselves—they are typically mentioned or quoted by others or contribute to the online content of institutions.
The ones who do choose to grow an online presence and disseminate information online are called DOLs, or digital opinion leaders. But, what is particularly interesting is that these KOLs mention a product or disease an average of 60 times each month.
The speed, volume, and recency at which these digital insights are available make them a valuable resource for medical affairs teams. Additionally, social platforms offer a powerful channel for networking with KOLs and DOLs, whose global influence is steadily increasing.
What Makes Social Listening For Medical Insights So Valuable
Social listening involves monitoring and analyzing online conversations based on relevant criteria to gain valuable insights and up-to-date information into various topics of interest for medical affairs teams.
Here are just a few reasons why this practice is so valuable:
- In-person engagements with KOLs take a lot of coordination and happen only sporadically. In contrast, social media offers insights in real time.
- These insights are not only timely but “as broad as the industry itself.” They’re a powerful way to get a bird’s eye view of what’s driving a particular branch of the industry.
- They allow you to passively monitor information about your company’s brand, products or services.
- They make it easy to start building a rapport with key opinion leaders.
To help you capitalize on this opportunity, we want to share the key best practices for discovering relevant and actionable digital insights on social media.
The Challenges Of Discovering Insights
In practice, processing the wealth of data can be challenging, as there’s a difference between raw field notes and actionable insights. This is true whether you use traditional methods—like in-person engagements with HCPs—or source your data digitally.
But with social media in particular, you’re casting a wider net, so the scope of the effort is broader. Scanning thousands of sources to identify what you need is neither fast nor practical.
To truly leverage the power of your data, you need strategic guidance and the right tools.
A structured approach can help you:
- Identify and map relevant data sources.
- Capture information systematically.
- Recognize and capitalize on engagement opportunities with KOLs and DOLs.
- Streamline the discovery of insights that are relevant and actionable and can empower businesses to make informed decisions.
Identifying Relevant Sources: KOL and DOL Mapping
The process starts with identifying the KOLs and DOLs you want to monitor and entering their information in a key opinion leader database. Medical Affairs (MA) teams typically research and identify the top 200 or so Key Opinion Leaders in every therapeutic area relevant to their organization’s medical strategy.
MA teams typically map out KOLs based on qualifications and segments. However, when you’re mapping who to monitor on social, there are a few additional considerations:
- Number of followers: Established opinion leaders typically have online followers of at least 1,500.
- Platform: X (Twitter) is one of the most popular platforms, with up to 40% of KOLs interviewed having an account. However, you can also find KOLs on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and other popular platforms.
- Percentage of followers who are HCPs: Take some time to look at the KOL’s followers. How many of them appear to be healthcare professionals? A following made up roughly 25% of HCPs is a great place to start.
- Content relevance: What topics do the KOLs discuss in their social media posts? Are they relevant to your business and objectives? You need to be discerning when it comes to your KOL selection.
Discovering Insights From Social Data
With raw data coming from multiple places—conferences, publications, 1-on-1s, and digital media like social platforms, forums, blogs and news sites—it can be challenging for your team to keep on top of it all.
You could be potentially cross-referencing input from several systems and struggling to find the relevant data to prepare for engagements, identify engagement opportunities on time, and compare, process, and analyze it to discover KOL insights.
Even if you’re working in a single CRM that the entire team has access to, how do you streamline it all in such a way that allows you to surface the right information at the right time?
We’ve seen AI and automation make all the difference for medical affairs teams. Social listening lends itself well to both, which is a big part of what makes it such a powerful strategy for strategic insights.
We want to share two ways in which you can look at KOL social monitoring data.
Identifying patterns and trends from a global KOL list
One of the most effective ways to derive insights from social data is by analyzing discussions across multiple KOLs. This is by far the best way to look at the “big picture.”
Looking at group data allows you to identify shifts in trends and spikes in activity surrounding a certain topic over time. This could be new findings regarding a certain disease, new treatments, consumer behavior data, or thought leadership from industry leaders on improving patient care.
You can further segment the variation in these patterns and trends based on KOL segment and geography to finetune it to your specific areas of interest.
While your team could read all the contributions from your experts, AI or natural language processing makes this analysis way faster. You can see these analytics and click on them to filter the thousands of contributions you have available down to specific topics that are of interest to you on a single page.
Identifying triggers to act in data from a single expert
Not all insights require longitudinal views of data reviewed by a committee. Sometimes, data provides insight to the right person to take immediate action.
For example, in-depth evaluations on the success of clinical trials may need to be reviewed by your organization’s key internal decision-makers. However, a piece of thought leadership from a relevant KOL or information on their activity, existing engagements, or areas of interest, might present a good opportunity to reach out to them immediately about an upcoming discussion.
These triggers to act are typically found when reviewing the online contributions of a single expert. While monitoring your territory or global KOL list, you may see that your expert is going to be talking about a particular mechanism of action or sharing their view on some recently released data. Use these insights to empower the way you engage with KOLs.
When you’re identifying triggers to act, the more data you have on your expert, the more opportunities exist. By utilizing a KOL social monitoring platform like Kwello, you can see the content posted by your expert as well as content posted by others about or including your expert. This exposes you to 500 times more online scientific content than if you were to search for this data manually.
Knowledge makes it easier to build rapport with KOLs, navigate the challenges of coordinating your engagements with them, and bridge the gap to successful, meaningful relationships, such as in co-commercialization agreements.
Leveraging The Power Of Alerts For Social Listening
The system you’re using should make it easy to set up automated alerts.
With a platform like Kwello, for example, you can set up alerts about people or topics. These alerts can remind you to act when specific conditions are met (for example, you can get updates from specific KOLs you’re planning to engage with or monitor the activity of your global KOL list) or curate the information you want to see based on specific criteria you set (data relating to a specific study, one of your products, or a particular conference).
FAQs
What is a KOL engagement plan?
A KOL engagement plan is a document that details how you plan to identify, map, and engage with KOLs. The strategies outlined in your plan should align with your company’s goals.
What are KOL services?
KOL services typically relate to any marketing strategies that involve collaborating with a KOL, including product promotion and brand visibility.
Are KOLs usually involved in clinical trials?
Yes. KOLs often assist in clinical trials by recruiting patients, consulting pharmaceutical companies, offering advice on the design, interpreting data points, and much more. Their knowledge and influence prove to be incredibly useful in clinical trials.
What is KOL mapping?
KOL mapping is the process of KOL identification and classification. It involves collecting their data, analyzing their insights, and coming up with actionable steps based on your research.
Allow Kwello To Assist You With Social Monitoring
Your KOLs are bringing the scientific discussion online. By streamlining your processes and leveraging easy-to-use tools, you can follow them there to capitalize on this goldmine of information.
Find out more about how you can do just that with Kwello, the first KOL social monitoring platform built specifically for medical affairs.
