3 Digital Ways to Engage Key Opinion Leaders (And Why)

Key Opinion Leaders have moved much of their scientific exchange online, a shift that accelerated during the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. As gatherings moved online, medical opinion leaders moved with them. One of our clients, a veteran of KOL engagement, put it plainly: "all DOLs are KOLs now" and vice versa.

Key Takeaways

• Key Opinion Leaders have moved much of their scientific exchange online, so Medical Affairs teams need a digital engagement plan alongside traditional field activity.
• Digital monitoring helps teams identify which experts combine genuine subject-matter expertise with an engaged, relevant audience.
• Audience size alone is a weak selection signal; scientific credibility and relevance to the therapeutic area matter more than follower counts.
• A practical first digital engagement is scientific dissemination, which is familiar to both MSLs and KOLs and shows results quickly.
• About 65% of physicians report using social media for professional purposes, according to a survey of more than 4,000 physicians published in The American Journal of Medicine.

Key Opinion Leaders have moved much of their scientific exchange online, a shift that accelerated during the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. As gatherings moved online, medical opinion leaders moved with them. One of our clients, a veteran of KOL engagement, put it plainly: "all DOLs are KOLs now" and vice versa.

Increasingly, Key Opinion Leaders are also becoming Digital Opinion Leaders. When the pandemic canceled or rescheduled the gatherings where KOLs traditionally shared findings, much of that exchange moved online, and a large share of it has stayed there even as in-person conferences have returned. That shift puts digitally active medical experts at an advantage.

The same opportunity exists for Medical Affairs organizations. Monitoring and engaging Key Opinion Leaders who are active online extends a team's reach into the channels where scientific conversation now happens.

The question, then, is how. How can Medical Science Liaisons engage Key Opinion Leaders in a digital environment?

How can Medical Affairs teams monitor Key Opinion Leaders online?

Medical experts are active on social media for largely altruistic reasons. It feels good to build an engaged audience, but the motivation we hear most often for sharing the latest research is improving patient outcomes.

Several Medical Affairs organizations work with Acceleration Point to monitor both KOLs and DOLs online. For a preview of how this works, here is an excerpt from a conversation with one of our clients.

Leveraging external vendors like Acceleration Point and others has allowed us to begin to develop dashboards where we can better understand who are the people that have both expertise as well as influence and are sharing information across social platforms, everything from Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, etc.

Healthcare practitioners increasingly get their information from online sources, and that behavior is well documented. A survey of more than 4,000 physicians published in The American Journal of Medicine estimated that over 90% use some form of social media personally and about 65% use it for professional purposes. Medical Affairs would do well to "listen in" to what these experts are saying.

Which Key Opinion Leaders are right for a digital engagement?

Just because a physician has 5,000 other medical professionals who follow them on a platform like X (formerly Twitter) does not mean that platform is the right opportunity for a Medical Affairs engagement. Here is our client's perspective on this.

The expertise is more important than anything else. We need to make sure we're grabbing people that have the expertise, that know the science and are specialists in the area that we're working in, rather than picking just someone that's going to be a great aggregator of new science. We want a person that is a trusted source of information in that expert, in that specific area.

At the same time, a highly specialized and well-regarded KOL who has three LinkedIn connections may not be right for a digital engagement. The science is there; the platform is not.

A KOL and DOL monitoring dashboard addresses both concerns. A team can see at a glance which medical experts share the most relevant and educational content, and which reach the most relevant audience. This is the same discipline that underpins broader Medical Affairs engagement strategies: match the expert, the topic, and the channel to a genuine scientific need.

How should a team start engaging Key Opinion Leaders digitally?

If your organization is building digital KOL relationships for the first time, we recommend starting with something both sides will find familiar: scientific dissemination. That is where the advantage of digital over traditional becomes clear. A peer-reviewed study can take many months to reach its audience; a well-placed social post can circulate in hours. After a video meeting with an MSL, a healthcare practitioner with a relevant peer audience may share thoughts on new research the same day. It is a practical, low-risk way to approach KOLs with information sharing in mind.

These approaches come down to using the right tools to engage the medical experts who matter most to your therapeutic area, in the channels where they are already active.

Curious how this applies to your organization? Let's talk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Digital Opinion Leader (DOL)?
A Digital Opinion Leader is a healthcare expert who shares scientific perspective and builds influence through public online channels, such as social platforms, rather than only through traditional in-person forums like conferences. In practice, many Key Opinion Leaders are now also active online, which is why Medical Affairs teams increasingly treat the two roles as overlapping.

How can Medical Science Liaisons engage Key Opinion Leaders online?
MSLs can monitor where relevant experts are active, identify the topics they share, and open scientific exchange through the channels those experts already use. A common starting point is scientific dissemination, where an MSL shares or discusses new research that a KOL may then engage with among their peer audience.

Does a large social media following make someone a good KOL for engagement?
Not on its own. Audience size matters less than scientific credibility and relevance to the specific therapeutic area. An expert with a smaller but highly relevant audience can be a better fit than a high-follower account with little topic specialization.

Why does Medical Affairs care about social media monitoring?
Healthcare professionals increasingly exchange information online. In one study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, about 54% of surveyed healthcare professionals reported using social media to exchange medical information with peers. Monitoring these channels helps Medical Affairs understand which experts are shaping the scientific conversation.

Further Reading:

• The World's Most Powerful Social-Listening Platform Just Got Better → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/the-worlds-most-powerful-social-listening-platform-just-got-better/
• Developing Well-Rounded Engagement with Omnichannel Strategy → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/developing-well-rounded-engagement-with-omnichannel-strategy/
• Unlock the Power of Medical Affairs Insights → https://www.accelerationpoint.com/resources/unlock-the-power-of-medical-insights/