Inspire expands patient engagement product portfolio

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 27, 2017 -- Healthcare social network Inspire is now offering sponsored content as part of its Inspire Engage^TM product portfolio for its life science clients.

Sponsored content is a type of native advertising that is already resonating with the company’s one-million-member social network, according to Jeff Terkowitz, Inspire’s senior director of Product.

Instead of pushing flat advertising images, sponsored content lets advertisers engage with viewers through brand-sponsored articles and videos that are embedded within websites and social platforms. On Inspire, sponsored content can be any combination of videos, images, or text that is appropriate and relevant to the intended patient/caregiver audience or community.

The engagement is led by Inspire’s digital editorial team and will draw upon their deep understanding of member interests. Their experience and insights, combined with a baseline desire to educate the viewer as part of a long-term relationship instead of aggressive, short-term advertising, have led to great initial results.

“As a marketer in the healthcare direct-to-consumer (patient/caregiver) space, we must learn and find ways to move away from simply promoting an ad for a clinical trial or a certain Rx,” said Richard Tsai, VP Marketing at Inspire. “We should educate and build trust along the patient’s and caregiver’s journey, helping them ask relevant questions and make more informed decisions.”

In one month of testing, a piece of sponsored content had a 29% click through rate (CTR), as compared to industry average advertising CTRs of around 0.5%, Terkowitz said. Inspire’s sponsored content is compliant with the FDA’s DTC regulations and guidelines. Many companies have already signed up to launch sponsored content on Inspire, particularly in cancer- and rare disease-focused communities, in coming months.

“Inspire’s new sponsored content offering is part of our expansion to improve the experience and performance of promotion on Inspire,” Terkowitz said. “As part of our growth, we’re exploring other ways to assist the life sciences industry to engage with Inspire members and bring deep patient insights to them in return.”

To learn more about Inspire’s Sponsored Content product, visit https://corp.inspire.com/sponsored-content.

ABOUT INSPIRE

Inspire is the leading healthcare social network, with 10 million users representing more than 3,600 health conditions in categories including cancer, rare diseases and chronic conditions. Inspire’s mission is to accelerate medical progress through a world of connected patients. The company helps pharmaceutical companies integrate patient-centricity into the pharmaceutical product lifecycle, from clinical trial design and recruitment to post-marketing brand/unbranded activities.

Contact:
John Novack
Inspire
(800) 945-0381
[email protected]