Thanks to Silja Choquet (whydotpharma on Twitter), I learned about a post on Sally Church’s blog, Pharma Strategy Blog, focusing on social media “experts” who are providing incoherent or inappropriate advice to pharmaceutical companies about social media marketing strategy. She wrote:
“The other day I was talking to someone who described themselves (and their company) as a 'social media expert' and was looking to sell their services to Pharma companies wishing to use this channel for marketing their brands. Except that on asking for more information, their world was mostly confined to blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Google Analytics. Their response to which social bookmarks did they use got an airy, 'oh I don't bother with those, too time consuming.' What about showing them trend data about their brands? 'Twistori is way cool!' I couldn't even find them in LinkedIn. Their Pharma experience was virtually non-existent, judging by the blank look they gave me on being asked how they would address adverse event concerns with review teams.”
Wow.
The post has generated a significant amount of discussion around the blogosphere and Twitter. A lot of what she discusses makes sense and the comments are very insightful.
Speaking of people who know what they are talking about, I’ve been enjoying Jonathan Richman’s blog, Dose of Digital. His posts are spot on and very thought provoking. If you’re not reading his blog, you should. You’re guaranteed not to be disappointed.
I agree. I think you need to know what is going on in the social space. I know I have a lot of learning to do and I am currently building a community from the ground up.
Which is exciting. I am not an expert but I am really educated. LOL!
Posted by: Jamie Favreau | May 13, 2009 3:05 PM | Permalink to Comment
I agree, everyone wants to be an expert... and some are better at it than others.
I actually think it's ok (to some extent) not to know everything - it is such a fast-paced environment anyhow.
I would also like to point out though that many of these “experts“ violate the basic values of social media: sharing and collaboaration.
If you are serious about social media, you should share and learn about it every chance you get... I think we, us “social pharmers“ should be the first ones to be religiously compliant with the values of what we preach ;-)
Posted by: Silja | May 14, 2009 3:15 PM | Permalink to Comment
Hi Fard,
It's very kind of you to mention the post, although I must confess to being rather shocked at such 'experts'. Social media is something I've been experimenting with for 10 years and certainly wouldn't describe myself as one.
It does get better or worse, depending on how you see it... there are agencies out there who don't even have a Blog or a Twitter account and yet claim to advise their clients on these matters. Leaves me speechless really. The whole point is engagement, collaboration and sharing, anything else is just another form of push marketing of canned, controlled messages.
Posted by: Sally | May 14, 2009 3:39 PM | Permalink to Comment
The perception that pharma isn't exploiting social media because of ignorance, is, well ignorant. The eMarketing pharma landscape is fragmented by cultural and internal regulatory divides. The ambiguity sown by recent FDA actions will take quite a long time to overcome. Granted, some social media areas are safer than others; but, anyone claiming to be confident in the future is fooling themselves. A real expert has his or her ear to the rail and is constantly exploring alternative scenarios.
Posted by: David Stevens | June 5, 2009 1:20 PM | Permalink to Comment
It is very useful and the postings are very interesting for more information you can check :
Posted by: | August 7, 2009 9:57 AM | Permalink to Comment
Thanx for the share it quite useful specially for those who are new in social media
Posted by: | October 16, 2009 6:58 AM | Permalink to Comment
“The other day I was talking to someone who described themselves (and their company) as a 'social media expert' and was looking to sell their services to Pharma companies wishing to use this channel for marketing their brands. Except that on asking for more information, their world was mostly confined to blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Google Analytics.
Posted by: | February 1, 2011 3:00 AM | Permalink to Comment
“The other day I was talking to someone who described themselves (and their company) as a 'social media expert' and was looking to sell their services to Pharma companies wishing to use this channel for marketing their brands. Except that on asking for more information, their world was mostly confined to blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Google Analytics.
Posted by: | February 1, 2011 3:00 AM | Permalink to Comment
Bioidentical Hormones | Bioidentical Hormone Replacement San Francisco CA
bioidentical hormone doctors
bhrt
bioidentical hormone replacement therapy
hormone replacement therapy
hrt
Bioidentical Hormones
Bioidentical hormone doctors in California provide hormone deficiency treatments for both men and women ages 35-95. Our BHRT clinics are the leading bioidentical hormone clinics in California.
[/url]
Posted by: | July 20, 2012 10:15 AM | Permalink to Comment