Should Pharma Do Tumblr?

Peter Houston (@Flipping_Pages) asked "Could Pharma Do Tumblr?" in a guest post to PharmExecBlog (here). "I’m not suggesting that anyone switch their social media budget to Tumblr today on the strength of Yahoo’s involvement," said Houston. "But it’s worth keeping an eye on what Yahoo does and how the Tumblr audience reponds. If they get the content marketing part of the play right and the user base keeps active, Tumblr might just make it into your social media marketing plan."My question replaces "could" with "should," which is probably what Houston meant to say -- it just got lost in translation from UK English to US English :-)Of course, pharma "could" do Tumblr, but as Houston himself points out, there are many reasons why it "shouldn't."First, the Tumblr demographics are not right for pharma. Tumblr, says Houston, is used "mainly by a 13 to 25 age group attracted by its 'social looseness'."Second, "social looseness" is not an appropriate format for pharma, which cannot even abide comments on its Facebook and YouTube offerings.Of course, Yahoo!, which now owns Tumblr, may change that and make Tumblr more "stodgy" and more palatable for pharma marketers even though its CEO said "Don't worry we won't screw it up." Yeah, sure. Us (former) New Yorkers have a saying: "If you believe that, I got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya."Houston says there are "a lot of potential patients" on Tumblr. Sure, when Tumblr teenagers grow up in 20 years most WILL be patients and of pharm...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Tumblr social media Source Type: blogs