Social Media Lunch Cologne

Dear friends and followers, if you find pharma and social media interesting, you might want to check out Jonathan Richman’s (@jonmrich) extensive and insightful blog post on why he thinks social media is not for advertising pharma brands.

From the blog post:

I’m hoping that once and for all this post is going to set people straight and get everyone thinking just a bit more clearly and rationally. Today’s post, like it seems many of my recent posts, focuses on social media. But unlike a lot of posts you’ll read out there, you’re not going to find a giant advocate for the use of social media in pharma and healthcare here. You’ve come to the wrong place if that’s what you’re looking for. I’ve tried to have this discussion before when I wrote Crushing Pharma’s Marketing Dreams and 10 Things I’m Tired of Hearing About Pharma Social Media. Despite those being some of my most read posts, the message didn’t quite sink in for everyone. I’ll explain in a little more detail, but here’s the gist of the message I want you to hear today:

Social media will NEVER be an effective place for you to advertise your pharma brand.

Period. Full stop. End of sentences.

Never.

Not now, not after “the guidelines” from FDA, not when social media is “mainstream.” Never.

Crazy, eh? Keep reading.

[...]

Source: www.doseofdigital.com

Dear friends and followers, you might find this blog post at Fast Company about why social medi makes brands do good interesting. It’s full of valuable insights and statistics.

From the blog post:

• Millennial generation consumers have an even greater preference to do business with responsible companies than the average consumer. In 2010, 85 % said they would switch brands if it were involved in a good cause if the price was the same, versus 80 % of all adults; 53 % of Millennials have purchased a cause-related product in the last year versus 41 % of all adults; and 81 % of them would buy a product where a portion of the cost supports a cause, versus 85 % for all adults.
• “Moms” show the highest preference for corporate responsibility, even beyond Millennials. In 2010, 93 % said they would switch brands if it were involved in a good cause if the price was the same, versus 80 % of all adults; 61 % have purchased a cause-related product in the last year versus 41 % of all adults; and 92 % would buy a product where a portion of the cost supports a cause, versus 81 % for all adults.

Doing good not only makes a company’s employees happier. It not only creates a healthier business environment. It not only represents great PR for the brand. Perhaps most importantly it also allows brands to leverage social media to generate positive word of mouth advertising that directly impacts their profits. As social media platforms like Facebook and twitter keep growing and as the web itself becomes increasing social, this is only going to become more important to brands and consumers. This presents an exciting and arguably unprecedented opportunity for business leaders. They can now better serve the interests of their shareholders by building a better world.

Source: http://www.fastcompany.com

Dear friends and followers, if social media and the word “strategy” seems to come up in conversations and writings in your world, perhaps you will find Steve Woodruff‘s (@swoodruff) latest blog post on the subject of interest.

From the blog post:

Social Media is not a strategy.

If some famous fashion label VP came up to me and said, “We need a social media strategy – can you help us do it?” – I’d promptly answer, “No, I can’t.”

Why?

1. Social media is not a strategy.
2. Though I am heavily involved in social networking, I couldn’t bring business value in this sector.

The point is: you’re looking for business strategy, and business value. Not some stand-alone approach to the latest fad called social media. If you want to win, you don’t just employ a “knight strategy” in chess, do you?

Here is where the discussion should take place:

[...]

Be sure to read the complete post for valuable insights.

Dear friends and followers, if you are interested in managing and maintaining social media presences and reporting in multiple channels, the ever brilliant Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang) has compiled a list of 20 Social Media Management Systems on his blog that may be of help to you.

From the blog post:

List of Social Media Management Systems (SMMS), 20 total vendors
Sorted by alphabetized order by parent company, not in priority or capability.

Awareness Networks, Social Marketing Hub: an enterprise class community platform has launched their own tool that has Facebook, youtube, flickr, Twitter, and of course connect with their own community features. In particular, this is an existing enterprise class vendor (previously I’ve published thorough research report on them) which bodes well to their level of potential levels of service, support, and market viability. (they’ve briefed me)

Buddy Media: Has a set of management tools that help brands with Facebook, Twitter, and monitoring and reporting. You’ll find iterations for both brands and agencies. They have case studies from large brands and media on their site.

Constant Contact: Purchased Nutshell Mail which has keyword monitoring systems that can empower small business owners to receive alerts about their social networking accounts.

[...]

Read the complete list of 20 systems with links to the system vendors.