Consumer Empowerment Through Social Networks

Current consumers are much more proactive than they used to be prior to the advent of the internet, and its now ubiquitous social networks. This is a chance for companies to connect with these empowered consumers and find new ways to market their products and to provide customer support. Pfizer, the giant pharmaceutical company, has already jumped on the bandwagon and making the most of three different fronts. One is sharecare.com, a sort of Google focused on health issues. Visitors can enter a concept or question and get opinions from experts in return.

Another social tool being used is the microblogging website Twitter. Specifically, Pfizer used Twitter to promote a site called MyTimeToQuite.com, a resource designed exclusively to help people who have quit smoking, or are trying to quit smoking. This website does not focus on why to quit, assuming that everyone already knows that tobacco is bad for your health, but rather on how to stop the habit, and how to stay away from cigarettes. Of course, it is also serves as a platform for Pfizer-sold drugs like Chantix, a smoking cessation treatment.

Finally there is YouTube, where Pfizer has launched a channel of its own that caters to both consumers and health care professionals. About one out of five consumers in the United States have watched a health related online video, and 93% of them have taken some sort of action after watching, and it would not be surprising that among those actions was getting a prescription for a medication. Pfizer also uses YouTube to address certain issues pertaining to Viagra online. Following this trends allows Pfizer to provide more options for empowered consumers who are more likely to respond to this form of communication.