Blog | January 26, 2011

Hello, My Name Is Rob, And I Am A Social Media Idiot

Source: Life Science Leader
Rob Wright author page

By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL

By Rob Wright

The other day, I sat in my first meeting on the topic of social media. The conversation was dominated with words such as, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, tweeting, Klout, friending, hash tags… lost yet? I know I was.

I will be the first to admit that social media is an area where I consider myself a novice. Maybe it’s my age, or perhaps it is more of where I fall on the marketing continuum of product adoption — somewhere between innovator and laggard.

If you’re a life science professional like me who hasn’t fully embraced (or embraced it at all) social media either at work or in your personal life, there’s one point I think you should know… social media is not going away. And despite the fact that the FDA has yet to issue formal guidance on social media in the pharma and biotech industries, it’s a safe bet it won’t be long until that happens.

If you are old school, like me, there are a variety of books you can read to help get you started, including Social Nation, Social Media Strategies for Professionals and Their Firms, and of course, Social Media Marketing for Dummies. I am not here to make book recommendations, though. There are plenty of options for getting up to speed on social media, including a good old-fashioned Google search. The key is making the time to understand the subject. A greater understanding of social media now will assist you in the process of developing appropriate social media strategies geared toward achieving whatever your company’s specific outcomes for this medium, whether it be marketing or communication.

If you have been waiting to get up to speed on the subject, hoping it would go the way of eight-tracks or digital audio tape (DAT), you’re fooling yourself. The time to act is now. The longer you wait, the more terms that will be invented to confuse you. And, you don’t want to be labeled with the new acronym I use for myself, SMI — or social media idiot.