Key Opinion Leaders in the Healthcare Space
In class, we introduced the network diffusion model. When a new technology, product, or idea is first introduced, how efficient they diffuse through a network depends not only on people’s value on them but also the number of initial users and who they are. We have also verified in homework problems that even with the same number of initial users, some nodes are more influential than others and that without them, the diffusion will be less desirable or efficient. The key question is, who exactly the critical people are and how to identify them.
One interesting context to consider this question is the pharmaceutical industry. When new medical products or services come out, pharmaceutical companies will try to promote and distribute them by first reaching out to the most “influential” people. The term Key Opinion Leader (KOL) is often used in the pharmaceutical industry to describe experienced physicians who have high credibility and provide thought leadership to their peers and the general public. They can be the “industry insider” or decision-makers, but may also be the most well-trusted person in a community. Physicians who are considered KOL tend to stay updated on news in the specialties, clinic trials, and development, and may have more public exposure as they voice their opinions on medical debates, new treatment processes, etc. Although pharmaceutical companies have been trying to keep a record of the KOL list and manage contact with them, being able to quickly identify them is still essential for pharmaceutical companies to win new campaigns or grow their businesses.
Nowadays, KOLs are generally categorized into two kinds of experts — those who share through leadership by publishing research papers and speaking at medical conferences are called Traditional KOL; those who leverage social media channels to share expert insights with the general audience are called Digital Opinion Leaders (DOL). The classification boundary between Traditional KOL and DOL is not so clear as the advancement of technology and social media start to connect experts and the public in a more virtual, interactive, and flexible way.
Identifying Traditional KOL and DOL takes different approaches, as mentioned by Nina Bressau. Modern-day Digital Opinion Leaders (DOL) are somewhat like “influencers” on social media, and when analyzing them, we need to look at both the quantitative and qualitative aspects — quantitatively, the number of their followers, or the frequency of their posting and resonance; quantitatively, the relevance of their contents to the newly introduced product or our business target. For Traditional KOL, the approach might be different. One needs to holistically look at different decision factors and find a way to quantify them. These factors may include: 1) their experience of being a conference speaker and the scale of the conferences; 2) their experience of being professional board members for any of the prestigious medical organizations; 3) the number and citations of their publications in professional journals; 4) patients’ and peers’ overall ratings, etc.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/key-opinion-leaders-healthcare-space-how-identify-keep-nina-bressau/
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/who-are-opinion-leaders-and-why-do-they-matter-2295976