WHEN I was a little boy, I used to remember my father washing small plastic and glass bottles the night before he went to the hospital.
When he came back from his hospital visit, he would bring back those same bottles but filled with coloured liquids.
I then realised that these were liquid medicines that he collected from the pharmacy.
Those days when patients had to bring bottles to collect their medicines are long gone.
Today we have medication delivered by post. Online pharmaceuticals add further to our convenience.
During the recent 12th Malaysia Plan kick-off conference in Putrajaya earlier this month, the government reiterated its commitment to developing a digital economy.
Social media is an important vehicle for e-commerce. YouTube, for example, has over a billion users. It enhances product marketability through videos.
By 2020, there will be more than 23 million Facebook users, and 11 million Instagrammers in Malaysia.
While Facebook allows for a visual representation of the product, Instagram enables a company to share stories of their culture and products.
Similarly, LinkedIn — the largest professional platform with 450 million users — offers a platform for content distribution and networking among healthcare providers.
The 11th Malaysia Plan advocates new sources of growth and pharmaceuticals represent one such growth area.
Marketing pharmaceuticals on social media therefore represents a happy blend of the government’s initiatives to grow the economy on the back of digitalisation.
The pharmaceutical industry’s leverage of social media in promoting content and widening customer base has wide-ranging implications for the marketing of new growth products and services.
The impact of social media marketing on pharmaceuticals is five-fold.
FIRST, it has impacted the physician-patient relationship through clear communication and speedy services.
Creating this relationship for the end-user has become so important that the pharmaceutical industry has forged links with doctors to ensure quality healthcare.
SECOND, social media marketing has enabled pharmaceutical companies to widen their customer base and promote their brands.
Achieving brand presence in social media has a salubrious impact on sales and customer relationship.
Additionally, social media marketing has enlarged the awareness of medical practitioners of the availability of new and more potent drugs.
Such knowledge will eventually impact positively on the patients’ health and recovery.
THIRD, social media marketing has advanced collaboration and competition within the medical field.
In 1996, Brandenburger and Nalebuff predicted in their book, Competition, that the future will belong to companies which simultaneously collaborate and compete with their competitors.
This is well exemplified by the pharmaceutical industry.
Companies have shown great interest in working together to innovate new drugs and promote quality.
At the same time, digital marketing has created healthy competition among them given the extensive information and choices available to customers.
FOURTH, social media marketing has allowed the pharmaceutical industry to understand the needs of customers better.
The platform allows customers to share their insights and reviews of a particular product.
With such feedback the pharmaceutical industry has been able to determine the unfulfilled or unrecognised needs of the consumer and subsequently meet their demands.
This has had a beneficial impact on its profitability.
FIFTH, digital marketing has an edge over traditional approaches as it is able to create a brand name more easily among consumers.
Social media marketing of pharmaceuticals has improved brand presence and customer loyalty.
It has made customers brand ambassadors, in ways that are more helpful than traditional marketing.
Customer loyalty over time will make the pharmaceutical businesses more sustainable than before. Most pharmaceutical companies have gained recognition not so much through their products as through their social media marketing strategy.
SIXTH, burgeoning revenues from social media marketing give pharmaceutical companies headroom for further innovation to keep up with not only the demands of the industry but also that of consumers while promoting healthy competition.
However, there are downsides to social media marketing that any company wanting a media presence should take note of.
A company and brand name may be destroyed if negative feedback is not addressed quickly.
Social media strategy can be time consuming and costly as new content has to be constantly developed to engage consumers.
The experience of the pharmaceutical industry in social media marketing holds promise for other industries.
Other companies, especially our small and medium-sized enterprises, can similarly profit from the social media strategy of the pharmaceutical industry.
And they have responded well to social media marketing.
This is evident by the continuing increase in their online presence. After all, digital marketing costs relatively less compared with traditional marketing strategies.
As the 11th Malaysia Plan draws to a close and the 12th Plan begins in two years, we hope that the government will keep alive the search for new sources of growth and encourage the use of social media marketing to promote them.
The writer is a senior lecturer with the Graduate School of Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia