In our recent healthcare webinar, I argued that pharmaceutical/healthcare marketers should consider using popular Web 2.0/social media tools on pharma-branded websites to help attract audiences that are not currently being reached by these sites. (Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge that not all tools will be appropriate for all brands or for all disease categories - this is not an across-the-board recommendation.)

Let’s put some numbers behind this idea:

In one month, 6% of WebMD visitors — more than a million individuals — used the site’s Symptom Checker tool. The discussion boards have fewer visitors but are much more sticky, with users spending an average of over 5 minutes on the boards over the month and viewing more than 7 pages of content.

Both of these features are extremely popular among patients and caregivers. Is there an application for something similar on pharma-branded websites? The idea of discussion boards may be a little more far-reaching, considering the regulations this industry faces. However, the symptom checker tool provides a different kind of interactivity, and might be a model for some brands to consider.