When work commences on a pharmaceutical social media proposal, the immediate inclination is to jam the plan chock full of everything that can be done. You want your creativity to shine through and the potential of social media to be clear. To achieve this goal every crazy idea that crosses your mind finds its way into the plan.
Considering what can be done is important. It provides you with a benchmark for future program ideas and allows for the type of big-picture thinking that is needed to move social media forward. But a word of caution: focus first on what can realistically be done.
It has become abundantly clear to me the more I talk to companies interested in moving forward in social media that an all or nothing approach will more often end in the “nothing” part of the equation. These types of proposals scare of pharma marketers that are still surveying the scene. Rather than excitement the result is trepidation.
Instead of throwing out Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, mobile apps, augmented reality, Foursquare and any other social media idea you can dream up—why not go back to the basics? Start with listening by a well thought out social media monitoring program. During the course of this program, you will get a feel for what your community is lacking, what your opportunity to add value might be and what the rules for engagement are. This is invaluable information as you dive deeper into social media. A good social media monitoring program will tell you where to focus and what to contribute.
As I’ve advocated for in the past, there is a case to be made for social media in stages and on a budget. It allows the building blocks to be put in place before going full steam ahead. Taking on everything at once is akin to throwing the roof on a house before the frame is up—it’s bound to come crashing down.
The “big” ideas should not be ignored nor should they be left out of plans entirely. But aren’t we better served focusing on what can realistically be done before focusing all our energy on what can be done in a perfect world? Because I have news for you, it ain’t a perfect world out there.
Brief Programming Note: Apologies for the slow going on posting here as of late. Between a work, real life and a vacation, it’s been difficult to carve out the time to write. But alas, things look to be freeing up so I’ll be back at it more regularly. I know; music to your ears.




Those of you that have read this blog more than once know that I have been beating the 
As has become painstakingly obvious, the standard of communicating in the business world has changed dramatically over the last few decades. First it was the advent of email and most recently the rise of what we’ll call “the digital communications era”—namely the ability to reach anybody, anytime, on any device. Text messages, Twitter and Facebook have accelerated this dynamic and fed our appetite for smaller and smaller bits of content.
In my last post, I attempted to make the case that pharma social media is nothing new—just a form of relationship marketing using a different channel. In essence, sales reps have been making a living for decades based mostly on their ability to cultivate relationships. Those relationships are developed based on an exchange of value—the docs get access to information (and sometimes incentives) and the reps get a hefty commission. Without some sort of exchange of value, no relationship can function. In that sense, sales reps and social media programs are not all that different. Right?
Relationship marketing is really nothing new in the world of pharmaceutical companies. For decades, the industry has relied on the ability of its sales reps to form lasting relationships that pay off in the form of increased prescriptions. Say what you will about how the reps cultivated those relationships, but the fact is, they were able to tailor their information delivery to what doctors were seeking.
Working in the agency world is a little bit like the dating scene—if you are around it long enough, you are bound to get your heart broken (or wallet as the case may be) once or twice.
It’s no secret that social media is the trend of the day in pharmaceutical marketing. A combination of constant evangelism on the part of social media wingnuts (I mean advocates), an uptick in real-world examples from pharma companies and the FDA public hearing has vaulted social media into the limelight. Since attaining such prominence, social media seems to have a stranglehold on the marketing discussion (or maybe it’s that whole
Let’s get this out of the way: social media for pharmaceutical companies is hard work. There I said it.
