Reading: “Improve your marketing with the social media halo effect | Web Business by Ken Burbary” ( [link to post] )

– Posted using Chat Catcher

– Posted using Chat Catcher

Having said that, however, most coporate/enterprise environments have a threshold for what they can or cannot do, even for something as simple as “Listening”. And this rings even more true for regulated industries like pharma, which has federal consequences when it comes to obtaining information about their products.

So, while it may be simple to get involved with listening, I think it's important that corporate organizations (esp. pharma and healthcare) — prior to any kind of social media engagement — must first understand their own culture (legal, regulatory, IT, Executives, etc.) and develop some kind of basic framework for how they want to deal with information and knowledge that they gain or share from/with social media.

Specific to pharma, for example, a company may want to develop an SOP for how to deal with adverse event reports that they come across while Listening, as well as an escalation policy for disseminating appropriate information (e.g. What should be forwarded to Med Info vs. Regulatory vs. Marketing).

When developing the corporate framework, the (pharma) organization needs to keep in mind that they are still held to all the federal and other regulations (i.e. FDA, PhRMA, etc.) as with any other form of DTC or professional marketing/advertising. This is just another form of media, so WHAT is far more important than HOW (i.e. content vs. context).

Unfortunately, due to all these regulations and policies, many pharma companies tend to prefer the “bury your head in the sand” approach, rather than actively seek out discussions about their product. That's why you don't see many open ended forms or allowing comments in digital pharma initiatives and why Listening can create much more work and hassle instead.

So in the end, while you have clearly pointed out many of the benefits of Listening (as well as other forms of social media engagement), but it is important for each organization to first be prepared and plan for any kind of social media involvement, even if it's “just listening”.

Having said that, however, most coporate/enterprise environments have a threshold for what they can or cannot do, even for something as simple as “Listening”. And this rings even more true for regulated industries like pharma, which has federal consequences when it comes to obtaining information about their products.

So, while it may be simple to get involved with listening, I think it's important that corporate organizations (esp. pharma and healthcare) — prior to any kind of social media engagement — must first understand their own culture (legal, regulatory, IT, Executives, etc.) and develop some kind of basic framework for how they want to deal with information and knowledge that they gain or share from/with social media.

Specific to pharma, for example, a company may want to develop an SOP for how to deal with adverse event reports that they come across while Listening, as well as an escalation policy for disseminating appropriate information (e.g. What should be forwarded to Med Info vs. Regulatory vs. Marketing).

When developing the corporate framework, the (pharma) organization needs to keep in mind that they are still held to all the federal and other regulations (i.e. FDA, PhRMA, etc.) as with any other form of DTC or professional marketing/advertising. This is just another form of media, so WHAT is far more important than HOW (i.e. content vs. context).

Unfortunately, due to all these regulations and policies, many pharma companies tend to prefer the “bury your head in the sand” approach, rather than actively seek out discussions about their product. That's why you don't see many open ended forms or allowing comments in digital pharma initiatives and why Listening can create much more work and hassle instead.

So in the end, while you have clearly pointed out many of the benefits of Listening (as well as other forms of social media engagement), but it is important for each organization to first be prepared and plan for any kind of social media involvement, even if it's “just listening”.