All of this social media hype can backfire. People get excited and sensational statements are made. Marketers get overzealous and over-sell social media to their managers and regulatory folks. At some point, "social media hype fatigue" will set in, if it hasn't already. It is our responsibility to control the hype so social media can be looked upon with level heads by all.
I guess some people are just kinda tired of talking about or hearing about social media. Who can blame them? I think if we had a graph of the peak of social media hype in the pharma industry, it would have plateaued last November around the time of the FDA Hearings. With the next round of spring conferences coming up (I'll be at ePharma Summit next week. You?), I expect the discussion to continue. I always appreciate real case studies and real examples of how the pharmaceutical industry has effectively used social media to reach its customers (patients and HCPs).
We've been talking about social media to our clients literally for years, but recently we've seen a positive shift in the level of interest. That is, many of our current and prospective clients (and their legal/reg. teams) are turning a corner and realizing the opportunity could be a reality. And maybe that's a result of always trying to approach the social media discussion in the context of strategy, integration, and measurable results -- not hype. Hype's just not our style.
We've been talking internally at Intouch, too, about the future of social media in the context of our pharma marketing services. Our agency's growing Emerging Media Practice consults with clients and the rest of our agency on social and other emerging media, such as mobile.
Eventually, will social move "out" of the emerging media classification and become a mainstream core competency of everyone in marketing? It might take awhile, but it's possible. Still, I believe we'll continue to need deep-dive specialists like we currently have in search, online media, usability, applications, mobile, analytics, CRM, etc. Everyone can't know everything.
Will the hype die down and social media become just another key component of integrated marketing and public affairs campaigns? I sure hope so.
Much of that depends on what FDA will have to say.
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Past posts on the relationship between social media and the hype factor:
Is it really all about social?
Giving your brands lots of legs online
The pharma-sponsonsered online communities of 10 years ago
7 comments:
You should see the back forth on Twitter and social media on the Pharmaphorum group on LinkedIn. There is no middle ground but extremes on both sides when it comes to the use of social media for Pharma.
Thanks for your comment Erroin. I went over to LinkedIn to check out the Pharmaphorum group, but it said discussions had been disabled. Maybe all the hype caused the "phorum" to self-combust?
Hi Wendy, Thanks for the elaboration and on bringing the SMHF descriptor to the Pharma marketing chattering classes.
I definitely see it (SM) as just another string to the bow of a successful holistic digital plan and integrated where appropriate with high volume or low volume.
InTouch is taking a similar approach to VerticPortals with SM. Personally, I like a lot of the hyperbole and foaming at the mouth over SM that comes from our competition. And I hope that they never suffer from SMHF because it enables us to win business from them based on suggesting currently allowable digital tactics that get tangible results rather than pipedreams based on 'what we could do if the FDA allowed us'.
KR, Dan.
Dan - great point - I wholeheartedly agree!
I also agree with the hype and every buble will eventually burst if it doesn't turn out to be effective. I am very curious how far will social media platforms dominate on-line activites of a typical user. I get a feeling that even search engines like Google are begining to feel disturbing breath behind them of facebook, twitter and other platforms. I guess the bottom line is choosing the right on-line tool for the right purpose and everything will be ok. Social media can't magically make everything work for e-marketers.
Aren't all of these over hyped tools just that - another tool being added to a very, very large toolbox. it would seem that social media driving to blogs or portals or mass media TV spots driving to tweets or twits is just another layer to the communications overflow.
Hi folks,
I just picked up on this thread and thought it might be worth clarifying.
Whilst it might seem a little odd that the pharmaphorum Linkedin group has discussions disabled, there is a reason! The whole point of the pharmaphorum website is to create a welcoming, moderated environment for pharma debate on the website itself. As such, I didn't want to a) have to also moderate a Linkedin group and b) more importantly end up with duplicate discussions on the site and on the Linkedin group.
So the Linkedin group serves as a kind of "badge" to say that you follow pharmaphorum and / or get involved in discussions on the site.
It might not be the best solution and I'm open to suggestions, but I hope that makes sense!
Paul Tunnah (www.pharmaphorum.com).
Ps. Congrats on the Dosie Wendy :o)
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