The importance of Instagram in modern communication
Instagram has established itself as one of the fastest-growing social platforms worldwide, with a focus on visual content. The platform allows users to share photos and videos, post stories and communicate via direct messages. With over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide, including around 21 million in Germany, Instagram is an important channel for personal and commercial exchange 【1】.
In recent years, Instagram has evolved from a platform for lifestyle and leisure photos to an important tool for brand communication and customer interaction. Companies are increasingly using Instagram to reach their target audiences with engaging visual content, and this is also true for the pharmaceutical industry.
In Germany, Instagram has steadily grown in popularity in recent years, especially among younger users. Companies are increasingly recognizing the platform's potential for marketing and customer communication. The introduction of features such as IGTV, Reels and shoppable posts has expanded the opportunities for interaction and engagement. For pharmacovigilance (PV), Instagram offers unique challenges and opportunities, as users often share their health and medication experiences in images and videos.
Interaction possibilities and pharmacovigilance
Monitoring Instagram in the context of pharmacovigilance requires a deep understanding of the platform and its different forms of interaction:
Posts and comments:
The most popular format on Instagram is regular posts. These photos and videos can be commented on by users at any time, both immediately after they are published and weeks or months later. This fact makes it crucial to establish a reliable process for monitoring profiles that publish new posts weekly, for example. In reality, a strictly manual process is often not efficiently feasible, so when operating your own profiles you should always rely on an automated solution to identify new comments.
Stories and Reels:
Instagram Stories and Reels are short, temporary videos that often complement posts. Like the posts themselves, Stories and Reels can be commented on. Users often share everyday moments here, including their experiences with medication. This content disappears after 24 hours (Stories) or remains permanently on the profile (Reels), which requires continuous monitoring.
Direct messages:
Direct messages on Instagram allow private communication between users and companies. Here, users can share detailed and personal stories about their experiences with medication. It is important to have an effective system for monitoring and documenting these messages so that no relevant information is missed. Data protection and confidentiality must always be guaranteed.
Influencer marketing:
Another important aspect on Instagram is influencer marketing. Influencers who promote medicines or health products can have a large reach and exert considerable influence on their followers. Posts and stories from influencers who report on their experiences with medicines can also contain relevant information for pharmacovigilance. Monitoring this content is particularly important when working with an influencer to ensure that all legal requirements are met and potential ADRs are reported.
Special features of the Instagram platform for PV monitoring
While META provides an interface for retrieving comments, it can by no means be described as reliable. Changes to the interface, which META makes frequently and irregularly, must always be kept in mind in order to enable the retrieval of comments reliably.
Furthermore, Instagram accounts can only be monitored if there is an existing technical connection to a Facebook page via the API (interface).
Monitoring with evalii
Instagram is probably the most important social media platform for a variety of medical indications and thus the pharmaceutical industry, as it attracts a large number of regularly active users and visual content that can contain valuable information. By systematically monitoring posts, comments, stories, reels and direct messages, potential PV events can be identified and reported at an early stage, as required by legal requirements.
evalii offers you the possibility to efficiently monitor your Instagram projects & campaigns and ensure that no relevant information is overlooked. With evalii you can take advantage of modern technologies to optimize your patient communication and ensure the safety of your products.
Sources:
【1】 [Statista: Number of Instagram users in Germany](https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/221041/umfrage/anzahl-der-instagram-nutzer-in-deutschland/)
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