Can You Hear Them? They're Talking About Us
Oct/14/06 07:01 | Market Research
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"More and more people are conversing with each other on social networks and blogs," said Randall McAdory, manager-business intelligence at Chrysler Group. "We want to know what they are saying about us."


This week Chrysler made news by resigning an agency to monitor chat rooms and BLOG's. It seems that Chrysler understands the importance of consumer chatter and wants to incorporate what they say into their strategic thinking and plans. If you go to Yahoo! or Web MD you can find boards on a variety of conditions as well as pharmaceutical products. For example Byetta, Lilly's diabetes drug, has a loyal following online with users talking about their experiences with the product and its side effects. One of the biggest "buzz" in these chat rooms and boards is that for most people one of the pleasant side effects is that they are loosing weight. People are also asking questions about one of the drugs side effects, nauseous, and how bad it is among patients using the product.


We can learn a lot about our products, brands and conditions by monitoring these boards. As a marketer I always want to know what my customers are saying about my product in this wired world. The next step, of course, is determining how to engage these people with the brand in a highly regulated industry. Pharma seems to be taking a very cautious approach here and it will be interesting to see who takes the first plunge into this grey area.


Consumer generated media is gaining more momentum and I believe it will continue to link consumers like never before as technology is adopted by more and more people and becomes easier to use. The opportunity if there if only someone in the pharmaceutical area would take the first step.
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