Yesterday, Sean Woodruff of Imapactiviti ripped off a series of tweets around the idea of taking the safe route in social media.  I believe it’s a topic that warrants closer consideration, especially in the world of pharma.

A bleeding-edge social media type might dismiss the safe route off hand.  If you are not going to immerse yourself then why bother?  The driving tenant of social media is engagement.  It’s about becoming part of a community and adding as much value as you extract.  It is not about lurking in an attempt to exploit the community.  Taking this to its logical conclusion, one might presume that social media at a strategic level is an all or nothing proposition.  It’s a reasonable conclusion to reach but it ignores reality.  It fails to take in to account the need for a pragmatic approach.

Sure, it would be great if pharmaceutical companies dove in head first and tackled the whole social media spectrum in one fell swoop.  But here’s the thing: if that were the case, more companies would fail than succeed.  To engage in a community appropriately, it requires resources, time, training and strategy.  It is not something to be taken lightly.  The only way to do it right is to plan, take achievable and measurable steps forward then (and only then) expand.

When I counsel clients on their social media strategy, I often fall back on the old adage: “walk before you run.”  It’s an adage that applies particularly well for the pharmaceutical industry.  With so many regulations to consider and a strong corporate culture to change, it is prudent to take it slow.  Instead of launching a Facebook page, establishing a YouTube channel, creating a Twitter account and launching a blog all at the same time; why not try commenting on a few industry blogs first?  Or, prior to making your blog public, why not get two weeks worth of posts up to get in the swing of producing consistent, quality content.

Safe social media strategies do not equate to cop outs.  In fact, going the safe social media route, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, is often the best path to success.

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