1. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Carolyn Buckley-Cooper
December 7, 2013
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013
week6assigment

2. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: Corporate top page
Merck: Corporate top page
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Engagement more directed to the four audience
groups plus News at the top of the page as
opposed to consumers.
Information conveyed mainly by text.
Topics organized to engage researchers,
investors , and partners.
Social Media Dashboard visible.
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Consumer engagement is evident.
Information conveyed by images and text.
Topics are chosen to engage the general public
as well as career seekers and investors.
Only three social media channels are indicated
on the top page.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

3. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: The “News” drop-down menu will
link to a separate social media page.
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It would be better to have a button link near the
Dashboard strip.
Links in the dashboard go to individual social media
channels.
Merck: Locating social media channels is
unfriendly.
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Merck’s Social Media page is difficult to find
because it takes two clicks to get to it from the
home page. This screen is the result of the first click
away from the home page. “Social Media” choice is
down in the left navigation column.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

4. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: Social media jump page
Merck: Social media jump page
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Pfizer makes good use of having a
separate social media page to reinforce
the mission statement and actively
requests engagement.
Stock market is not lost on Social Media.
Merck loses an opportunity to have an
engagement message on their social
media jump page.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

5. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: YouTube
Merck: YouTube
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Connects stories from the corporate site
and the Facebook site.
Research stories important.
Public figures emphasized.
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Has themed videos such as the
Alzheimer’s series.
Other stories not visible until you scroll.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

6. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: Facebook
Merck: Facebook
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Combines news stories from the corporate
website with fun “throwback” photos.
Same stories from the corporate website.
Brings attention to World Aids day.
Links to Mondo Guerra, a designer from
Project Runway, could raise awareness
with younger audience.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

7. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: Twitter
Merck: Twitter
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Direct engagement with a message from
Nicholas Patrick who provides the tweets
from Pfizer headquarters.
List of tweets links to press releases.
Identical layout to Pfizer.
Visual engagement is the background
photo which includes dad and child – the
human element.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

8. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: Careers
Merck: Careers
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Pfizer's Career section on the website called, “Many
Paths, One Goal” which is a very strong and direct
mission message with a creative visual of the globe
emphasizing their global perspective.
Social Media at bottom links to LinkedIn and Slide
Share makes it easy to connect with employees and
to view presentations.
More direct and less engaging than Pfizer.
No immediate links way to check out presentations
or to connect with employees on LinkedIn.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

9. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: LinkedIn
Merck: LinkedIn
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Pfizer LinkedIn page carries through the strong
“Many Paths. One Goal” corporate culture
message.
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Merck’s LinkedIn page was harder to find as
there was no link from the careers page which
would be more friendly to the job seeker.
I do like that there are conversational social
posts right up there on the top page. That is
good engagement.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

10. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: SlideShare
Merck: SlideShare
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Good use of the page to continue the mission
message.
Pfizer puts great value on sharing their
presentations. This is a major channel for them.
Clear invitations to engage Pfizer on social
media. Very connected to all the other social
media channels.
Well done.
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It is not easy to find Merck on SlideShare.
A search on SlideShare produced the following
results.
Little if any engagement on this digital channel.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

11. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer: SlideShare-to-Youtube
Merck: SlideShare
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SlideShare contains presentations given mainly
at company meetings but some presentations
echo the top stories from the corporate website
such as President Jimmy Carter’s foundation
working together with Pfizer to bring medicines
to needy areas of the world and link to Youtube.
Properly branded and well organized.
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Merck’s presentations are a hodge-podge of
random and old unorganized presentations.
Merck needs to review slide hare to organize it
and brand it properly for recognition.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013

12. Pfizer and Merck: Two Approaches to
Social Media Engagement
Pfizer:
Merck:
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Presents a more corporate image yet its social
media engagement appears better organized
and more well thought out than Merck. It knows
its departments’ audiences and the social media
channels are well connected to each other and
back to the corporate site.
Pfizer employees have a good deal of pride in
working there and they share those comments
on their corporate Facebook page.
Pfizer LinkedIn is heavily used by employees to
describe their jobs and projects they are
involved in.
I think Pfizer can make progress in better social
media engagement with consumers if they make
an effort to present content that humanizes the
company by sharing employee research stories
and by describing Pfizer’s philanthropy in the
world.
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Initially Merck presents good consumer
engagement on their corporate top page but
does not carry it through as well over their
social media channels.
The navigation to social media does not always
connect from departments that it should, for
example the lack of connection from careers to
LinkedIn.
Merck seems willing to want consumers to
engage but does not make navigation easy and
does not respond to comments that might be
posted on Facebook by consumers.
C.Buckley-Cooper December 7, 2013