This is the time of year when lists abound.  There is a top ten list for just about everything and pharmaceutical social media is no different.  So rather than offer up my obligatory “eleven things to watch for 2011” or a slew of predictions on what to expect, I thought I would offer up my one hope for 2011.

My one hope for 2011 is that it’s not the year of pharmaceutical social media.

With some form of social media guidance likely to come in the first quarter of 2011, surely this will be the year of social media for healthcare companies.  Not so fast—and that’s a good thing.

2011 will not be the year of social media—it will be the year that the idea of social media as a stand-alone strategy vanishes.  General acceptance of social media as a tool has already occurred.  Better still, many companies are realizing that social media takes careful planning and a well-thought out strategy.  However, for the most part, the social media strategy is  currently dreamt up in a vacuum.  In 2011, companies will begin to realize that not only is it necessary to put a social media strategy in place, it is critical to ensure that strategy is part of the larger brand and corporate initiatives.

Moving forward, rather than one internal champion, we will begin to see a far more integrated approach to social media.  Brand managers will join corporate communications managers, compliance officers and executives at the same table.  Social media planning will start with questions like: “what is our corporate strategy in 2011 and how can social media support that?”  This is in stark contrast to today’s favored approach: “we need social media, what’s our strategy?”

In order for social media to succeed in the pharmaceutical space (or any space for that matter) it has to be bigger than a strategy cooked up in isolation.  This is one of the primary ills plaguing social media currently.  It is a fringe tool marginalized to the outskirts of company/budget/team.

2011 will be the year that changes—or so I hope.

• Previous Entry: Who’s Behind the Social Media Agency Curtain?
• Next Entry: The Case for Influencer Relations