Pfizer Canada shares its social media response flow chart
What better way to kick off 2011, than to provide you with a gift from Pfizer Canada: their social media response flow chart which provides guidelines as to when and how to respond (or not respond) to comments on social media networks.
Every company should have some sort of guidelines as to how they will respond to social media comments about their brand(s) and corporation. Even if an organization has not implemented social media tactics, they may be (and should be) tracking mentions of their brand and corporate names via tools such as Google Alert. Such mentions may require intervention by the company, and a plan prepared ahead of time will help ensure that an appropriate response is provided.
Pfizer Canada has modified an assessment chart that was originally developed by the U.S. Air Force . The flow chart will guide Pfizer Canada in responding to remarks on social media networks which are either the property of, sponsored by or have a relation of some kind to Pfizer Canada (ie. the Canadian Medical Association, CMA, discussion panel which is hosted by Pfizer). In fact, the flow chart was set up when Pfizer Canada launched the discussion panel on the CMA site. At the moment, Pfizer Canada is not scouring the internet for comments. They focus only on the comments made on the networks that are linked to Pfizer Canada in some way.
Pfizer Canada estimates that the original Air Force chart covers approximately 80% of potentialv scenarios. Therefore, Pfizer Canada fine tuned the diagram to address potential medical, legal and compliance issues. Both the original Air Force chart and the Pfizer Canada chart are found below. The most noticeable difference between the two are the 3 columns that Pfizer Canada added, which are found at the far right of the chart. There are a few other modifications that were made by Pfizer Canada, but none of these appear to be major shifts from the original chart.
The response flow chart was designed for the Canadian subsidiary of Pfizer. It is not used globally by the organization.
A picture of both the U.S. Air Force and Pfizer Canada flow charts are included below. They are small, but if you click on them, you will see a larger version.
Pfizer Canada: Social media response flow chart
I applaud Pfizer Canada for their level of preparedness, and I thank them for allowing me to share their response flow chart on my blog.
Christian Roy (Vice President, Marketing, Pfizer Canada Inc.) and Elena Chouw (Manager, eMarketing, Pfizer Canada Inc.) originally presented this diagram at the Eye for Pharma eMarketing Canada conference, which was held in Toronto, on November 1-2 2010. Many thanks to Elena for taking the time to discuss the flow chart with me.
What do you think of these two social media response flow charts? Do you think there should be any changes to the modifications that were made by Pfizer Canada? Leave your comment below.
Happy new year,
Natalie
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24 responses to “Pfizer Canada shares its social media response flow chart”
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Duncan Cantor. Duncan Cantor said: RT @NatBourre: FYI @pfizer_news : Pfizer Canada shares its social media response flow chart. See it here http://ht.ly/3xPuM #yam [...]
Nat, thanks for sharing. This is interesting and timely- I assume numerous corporations have their own internal policies for handling this type of thing. However your posting crystallizes the fact this on the radar for companies and that guidelines for managing can serve as a foundation for good communication strategies. Thanks again.
Thanks Rory. For those pharma / healthcare orgs that don’t have such a flow chart (and I think there are still many out there), I hope this will at least give them a starting point.
Great approach and I applaud their transparency in sharing the information.. Thanks for posting, Nat, or I would never have known about this interesting development.
What’s really weird is that when I went back to my news stream and noticed that Pfizer posted an item about one of their sites.
You could only share it, not comment or like it, unlike items from other people above and below it from cancer …hospitals and a Medical journal.
Thanks Sally – I was thrilled when they agreed to allow me to post it. For any Canadian pharma site, there will be little opportunity for comments due to our regulatory guidelines. In fact, this is why MSWatch.ca changed their format after years of allowing consumers write any comments as they pleased. You can find out more about what happened to MSWatch.ca here (2 articles are linked to this URL): http://marketing4health.ca/?s=mswatch.ca
Interesting, an alliance partner and I were just discussing this topic this afternoon! Thanks as always Nat!
So glad this is so timely for you.
This is great, Nat. Thanks for sharing!
@Sally – I think the inability to comment or like it may be Pfizer’s way to control the discussion. Fair balance in a way – if they don’t want negative comments, they won’t take the positive, i.e. Likes, either. Kudos to them, though, for allowing Nat to post it and have comments here.
Thanks for posting Nat. Handy reference guides. Happy New Year.
Thanks John. Glad it was useful. Wishing you much health, happiness and success in 2011.
@Ellynn Indeed, but I’m sorry to say that social media is entirely about being social and engaging, otherwise it’s just monitoring and push marketing.
PS I wonder if we’re being picked up on the monitoring
@Nat, yes but it was a Pfizer US site, not Canadian or British, so normal FDA rules would apply especially as comments were allowed when you clicked the link to the site.
I just found it ironic that the blog allowed comments BUT none were allowed on FB.
@Sally So true. I think companies are letting their fear of the naysayers and the truly impossible control them and they are taking the path of least resistance. It is a shame because social media gives us the opportunity to have a healthy dialogue and learn from one another – something we so desperately need!
Thank you so much Nat for posting this and congratulations to Pfizer Canada for fleshing out such a no-nonsense process. Great Illustration that you can tackle social media just like any other channel, if you put the right processes into place
Thanks Silja. Absolutely, and when I spoke with Elena from Pfizer, she mentioned that the organization is open to making changes if they see the need. This is a good idea since social media changes so much, and regulatory guidelines get updated as well from time to time.
I find this to be a great example that organizations of all sizes should model in some way shape or form….preparedness! Conversations about your company ARE happening,….how are you finding out about them and have you thought about what an appropriate response is once you do find them. Great stuff! Thank you so much for sharing this!
You’re right Darcy, it’s all about preparedness. The nice thing is that Pfizer Canada also mentioned that they were flexible to modify their flow chart if required, which is essential considering social media changes so quickly.
[...] crisis management on social media is of interest to you, you might find the Pfizer Canada social media response flowchart [...]
Every company should have some sort of guidelines as to how they will respond to social media comments about their brand(s) and corporation. Even if an organization has not implemented social media tactics, they may be (and should be) tracking mentions of their brand and corporate names via tools such as Google Alert. Such mentions may require intervention by the company, and a plan prepared ahead of time will help ensure that an appropriate response is provided.
I totally agree with your advice.
This chart looks shockingly similar to one I was reading last year :S
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26684375/Social-Media-Response-Flow-Chart
Thanks Sha. It does look similar. Perhaps the institution used the same foundation as Pfizer Canada did, the U.S. army`s version.
I like how the old mantra of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” has been formally ensconced into standard PR practice for socialmedia
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[...] on the original Air Force Blog Assessment Flowchart, Pfizer Canada is using this social media response chart to respond to postings. This appears to be used just in Canada and not worldwide, and while they [...]
So glad this is so timely for you. Thanks again. This is great, Nat. The nice thing is that Pfizer Canada also mentioned that they were flexible to modify their flow chart if required, which is essential considering social media changes so quickly.
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