P Gupta,A Udupa
The purpose of the study is to assess the perception, attitudes and behavior of the key target consumer groups – doctors and patients, regarding social media marketing by pharmaceutical industry. It is a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study done in 2 groups – 50 general practitioners and 250 patients, in Navi Mumbai (India) area, selected by random sampling. The results highlighted that the awareness and acceptance of the concept of social media marketing was high amongst both the doctors and the patients. Amongst doctors, it is positively and significantly associated with young age and having a postgraduate degree after MBBS. Amongst the patients, a high proportion take self medication based on reference to the internet, most common ailments for use of self medication being aches, respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal illnesses. The increasing positive response of the key consumer groups, especially in the young age group, makes social media a powerful marketing tool, which can be explored by the pharmaceutical industry.
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