Social media marketing : a new era in the pharmaceutical industry

This paper seeks to understand how social media can be employed by pharmaceutical brands as an integral component of the marketing mix. Novo Nordisk will be used as an example to demonstrate the unsuccessful use of social media marketing. Similarly, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis and Bayer Didget will be used as examples to demonstrate the successful use of social media marketing. The framework necessary in the construction of a successful social media marketing campaign will be discussed, with each component receiving individual attention. This framework will be implemented in a hypothetical campaign for the pharmaceutical brand, Vytorin, to demonstrate the process.