A new report by Ogilvy Healthworld highlights who leads the way in integrated social media marketing

The average number of tweets by pharma has gone up by 530 percent since 2013, and twitter followers have increased by nearly 300 percent, said Ogilvy's report.

Pharma companies with the biggest communities aren't necessarily the most effective at engaging with their users and generating interest.

Followers reward pharma companies who post frequently and engage continuously -- those that keep their networks fresh with regular updates have the highest interaction from the community.

The report 'Connecting the Dots: Which Pharma Companies are Succeeding in the Social Media Space?' is the first of its kind to provide insights into which pharma companies are leading the way in integrated social media marketing strategies.

The report reveals a small group of companies are 'connecting the dots' and leading the way in social media.

They are providing useful content that is both relevant to their marketing objectives and audience needs.

They are engaging with consumers, healthcare professionals and media consistently on all of their networks in a way that encourages followers to contribute to the conversation.

The report also draws some conclusions on social media best practice.

To succeed, pharma companies need to be brave and prepared to have honest and meaningful conversations about their brands.

This involves developing strategies and mapping out potential scenarios with internal stakeholders to respond as quickly as possible to their followers, Ogilvy said.

They should aim to provide content that is relevant to their audience also have a clear set of engagement guidelines to help manage difficult questions.

"We know that some pharma companies have been cautious in their approach to social media, but our report clearly demonstrates a dramatic and successful increase in activity," said Ms Rebecca Canvin, social media manager, Ogilvy Healthworld.

She further added, "Social media has changed the way pharma companies communicate -- it allows them to build corporate reputation and engage in genuine, meaningful conversations with audiences. For companies who want to stand out from the crowd it's time to be brave, get personal, educate and integrate social media into their wider marketing strategy."

The data for the report was gathered by monitoring 10 of the most popular networks for 14 pharma companies across six categories: social presence, social network, community size, activity, engagement and activity.

The profile of each company was reviewed for one week per month for three months during 2014 to ensure sufficient data was collected, said the company's release.