The challenge I see with social media in Pharma is that too many marketers and PR folks see it as a yet another distribution channel for piping messages, rather than building trust and respect through engagement.

You might as well hand them a loud hailer and a soapbox and ask them to stand on Hyde Park corner preaching to the masses.

The other challenge is that for many, tactics are much easier than strategy; you roll them out, measure before and after and see the relativeness effectiveness fairly quickly. It's like adding yet more urgent to do's on your list without prioritising them by importance though. Strategy is nerve wracking to many marketers – if you get it wrong, it's a big public wrong and they worry about their jobs etc.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by PRforPharma: Can pharma social media take a page out of the business playbook circa 1980?: http://bit.ly/ckn20w #SocPharm…