Executive Summary

The objective of thesis is A study on the social media marketing strategies devised to
increase the Brand Awareness with specific reference to Odigma Solutions Pvt Ltd. Many
agencies and organizations have become engaged in the effort to reach customers in large base
since the internet has become popular. Odigma solutions is the leading and fastest growing
online marketing company in India for all internet marketing needs from search engine
optimization to social media marketing. Started in May 2010 by Advit Sahdev, Odigma
Solutions has always relied on providing a data driven, measurable and performance based
approach. Odigma Solutions provide services like Facebook Brand building suite, Twitter
Strategy planning and implementation, Social Media platform Connect, Strategy on Social
Media Applications, SEO and Google Ad-words PPC.

I reached out to Odigma Solutions to help them develop an effective means to use social
media to engage the customers more. In order to achieve this goal, I identified three
objectives:
1. To analyse the effective communication strategy through social networking sites.
2. To study the effectiveness of brand communication through social networking sites from its users
and communicators.
3. To find the impact of interaction through these communication among Indian users (with reference
to Face book, Twitter and etc.).
In this study we used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn etc. to
study the effectiveness of social media marketing in improving the awareness about brand on
large basis. To get more accurate results we have done market research in which the research
will be done with the help of data collection. Primary data will be collecting through
customers. We have prepared a series of questions related to our study and asked customers to

give their opinions. Secondary data will be collecting through secondary sources like Internet,
Articles, and Magazines.
After this study we came to some conclusions which are mostly based on what we have
achieved through our primary research and a few from secondary sources. In this study we
have given some suggestions which helps in better usage of social media marketing in order to
increase awareness about brand.

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social
media sites. Social media marketing programs usually centre on efforts to create content that
attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate
message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from
a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of
marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid
media.
Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access.
Increased communication for organizations fosters brand awareness and often, improved
customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for
organizations to implement marketing campaigns.
Social networking websites allow individuals to interact with one another and build
relationships. When companies join these social channels, consumers can interact with them
directly. That interaction can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound
marketing & advertising.
Social networking sites act as word of mouth. Social networking sites and blogs allow
followers to retweet or repost comments made by others about a product being promoted.
By repeating the message, the user's connections are able to see the message, therefore
reaching more people. Because the information about the product is being put out there and is
getting repeated, more traffic is brought to the product/company.
Through social networking sites, companies can interact with individual followers. This
personal interaction can instil a feeling of loyalty into followers and potential customers. Also,
by choosing whom to follow on these sites, products can reach a very narrow target audience.
Social networking sites also include a vast amount of information about what products and
services prospective clients might be interested in. Through the use of new Semantic Analysis
technologies, marketers can detect buying signals, such as content shared by people and
questions posted online. Understanding of buying signals can help sales people target relevant
prospects and marketers run micro-targeted campaigns.

In order to integrate Social Networks within their marketing strategies, companies have to
develop a marketing model. In a marketing model (SNeM2S) based on Social Networks is
provided. The model includes the following steps:

selection of potential Social Networks to use;

definition of a financial plan;

definition of organisational structures to manage the Social Network in the market;

selection of target;

promotion of products and services;

performance measures
Social Networking is used by 76% of businesses today. Business retailers have seen 133%
increases in their revenues from social media marketing.

1.1.1 Approaches:
The passive approach
Social media can be a useful source of market information and customer voice. Blogs, content
communities and forums are common nowadays where individuals share their reviews and
recommendations of brands, products and services. As a result, social media has become an
inexpensive source of market intelligence which can be used by marketers to track problems
and market opportunities.

The active approach

Social media can be used as a public relations and direct marketing tools but also as
communication channels (targeting specific audiences with social media influencers) and as
customer engagement tools. There are several examples of firms initiating some form of
online dialog with the public to foster relations with customers. Top companies senior officials
post regularly in their CEO Blogs, encouraging customers to interact and freely express their
feelings, ideas, suggestions or remarks about their postings, the company or its products".
Using customer influencers (for example popular bloggers) can be a very efficient and
costeffective method to launch new products or services. Narendra Modi current prime
minister of India ranks only second after President Barack Obama in number of fans on his
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official Facebook page at 21.8 million and counting. Modi employed social media platforms
to circumvent traditional media channels to reach out to the young and urban population of
India which is estimated to be 200 million. His appeal was further buttressed by the recent
crowd turnout at Madison square garden.

1.1.2 Engagement
In the context of the social web, engagement means that customers and stakeholders are
participants rather than viewers. Social media in business allows anyone and everyone to
express and share an opinion or an idea somewhere along the businesss path to market. Each
participating customer becomes part of the marketing department, as other customers read
their comments or reviews. The engagement process is then fundamental to successful social
media marketing.
With the advent of social media marketing it has become increasingly important to gain
customer interest which can eventually be translated into buying behaviour. New online
marketing concepts of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer
participation and reputation.
Engagement in social media for the purpose of your social media strategy is divided into two
parts:
Proactive posting of both new content and conversations, as well as the sharing of content and
information from others.
Reactive conversations with social media users responding to those who reach out to your social
media profiles through commenting or messaging.
Traditional media is limited to one way interaction with customers or push and tell where
only specific information is given to the customer without any mechanism to obtain customer
feedback. On the other hand, social media is participative where customer are able to share
their views on brands, products and services. Traditional media gives the control of message
to the marketer whereas social media shifts the balance to the consumer.

1.1.3 Successful campaigns:

2013 Indian prime ministerial election
The 2013 Indian prime ministerial campaign had a huge presence on social networking sites.
Narendra Modi, a BJP candidate for Prime minister, used Twitter and Facebook to
differentiate his campaign. His social networking profile pages were constantly being updated
and interacting with followers. The use of social networking sites gave Narendra Modis
campaign access to e-mail addresses, as posted on social network profile pages. This allowed
the BJP Party to launch e-mail campaigns asking for votes and campaign donations.

Nike #MakeItCount
In early 2012, Nike introduced its MakeItCount social media campaign. The campaign kickoff
began YouTubers Casey Neistat and Max Joseph launching a YouTube video, where they
travelled 34,000 miles to visit 16 cities in 13 countries. They promoted the #MakeItCount
hashtag, which millions of consumers shared via Twitter and Instagram by uploading photos
and sending tweets. The #MakeItCount YouTube video went viral and Nike saw an 18%
increase in profit in 2012, the year this product was released.

Kony 2012
A short film released on March 5, 2012, by humanitarian group Invisible Children, Inc. This
29 minute video aimed at making Joseph Kony, an International Criminal Court fugitive,
famous worldwide in order to have support for his arrest by December 2012; the time when
the campaign ends. The video went viral within the first six days after its launch, reaching 100
million views on both YouTube and Vimeo.

1.2 Company Profile

1.2.1 Introduction:
ODigMa is a leading online marketing firm which offers innovative solutions for companies
to connect with their consumers on the web. It helps brands listen to consumers online and
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engage in meaningful conversations with them. It combines an understanding of online

marketing with creative and technology skills and builds digital brands. It is one of the
strongest companies when it comes to analytics and focus on consumer centric marketing.

1.2.2 Background and Inception

Odigma was started in May 2010. Its headquarters is situated in Bangalore. AdvitSahdev is the
CEO and Founder for ODigMa. He has over 10 years of IT & global marketing experience
with companies and teams of Intel, Infosys, and P&G & Unilever. At ODigMa, Advit is
spearheading strategic direction for the firm and looks after the companys expansion efforts.
Under his tutelage ODigMa is heading to be Indias most trusted performance based social
media firm.
Setting new standards of excellence, he has launched some of the best cutting edge practices
in the digital marketing space and is a staunch believer that If we cannot measure, then it is
not a deliverable. Passionate about sharing his experiences, he often dons a writers hat and
has authored 4 books on social media marketing with several more in the pipeline.
An engineer by training, it was Advits passion for marketing and business analytics that
changed the course of his career and turned him into an entrepreneur. He is an alumnus of the
prestigious National Institution of Technology, Surathkal and holds a B.E. in Electrical &
Electronics engineering.
Today the company has taken leadership positions in areas like social applications,
conversation platforms, influencer engagement programs, Facebook fans management &
engagement, goal conversions amongst others.
Odigma has a team of highly dedicated professionals who have a keen focus on Data &
Creativity. Odigma provides Performance based Online marketing If we cannot measure,
then it is not a deliverable.
With an understanding of the Indian consumer mind-set coupled with insights on global
trends, Odigma is well equipped to make use of the social media capabilities available today
and build credible & effective social media campaigns.
ODigMa has done a lot of campaigns which include online and offline campaigns. An
example of such a campaign is what we have done for a car launch in Ahmedabad where we
had Facebook apps, live streaming of an outdoor event on Facebook, live chat with fans and
offline picture clicking campaign. Apart from this, we have built a lot of apps for campaigns
around occasions such as Christmas, Father's Day, etc. We have also done a lot of campaigns
for product launches.
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1.2.3 Mission:
Customer Satisfaction is our primary objective and we strive for Excellence in it. End user Contact
and Immediate Problem Resolution is our Strength.

1.2.4 Vision:
To be online Experts

1.2.5 Product profile:

Odigma provides Services like
Facebook Brand building suite (We like to call us gurus over here)
Twitter Strategy planning and implementation
Social Media platform Connect
Strategy on Social Media Applications
SEO and Google Ad words PPC

Facebook Brand building suite:

Facebook is the largest network of people. If you don't have a brand on Facebook, then either
you are missing out, or you are paying a lot on other networks. We will develop a Brand for
you on Facebook with the following activities.

Twitter Strategy planning and implementation:

Twitter is not Facebook or anyway similar. Companies use Twitter in a completely different
way and that is what you have to do. Having lots of followers on Twitter may be a good status
symbol, but is it really worth it.

Social Media platform Connect:

You need to have the same face and the same words out of that face It should not change from
one social media site to other. Here is what we do to ensure this
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Strategy on Social Media Applications:

Applications are great to automate things and bring about virility, but you need to know how and
when to use the right application. This is where we come in.

SEO and Google Ad words PPC:

We also do this If you are still keen on Search engine marketing, then we respect your decision
and assist you in leveraging the maximum.

1.2.6 Competitors:

Regalix is a digital marketing company incorporated and headquartered in Palo Alto

California in 2004. It has offices in India located at Bangalore, Delhi and Chandigarh. Regalix
organizes discussions where industry experts are invited to speak. Regalix also organizes
webinars on social media, search marketing, SEO and other topics to help companies leverage
the digital marketing channels for online marketing.
Regalix provides web technology, in-depth analytics and online marketing technologies
services. Its online marketing solutions include setting up and building social networks,
writing blog content, participating on forums, developing web applications, and marketingbased games. Other services include doing podcast, webinars, PPC, SEO designing
customized landing pages and Web 2.0 portals.
As two of San Antonios most recognized names in their respective and distinct areas of
marketing, Gray Digital Group and The Atkins Group have joined forces to become one of the
citys most formidable marketing powerhouses. Our new entity boasts award winning
strategic brand communications and a fully integrated digital platform team, all under one
roof. The move is based upon the belief that The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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1.2.7 SWOT Analysis:

Odigma is one of the leading social media marketing firms. The company is a giant
marketplace used by more than 100 million people. The company exploits the benefits of
Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This is the Business-to- Consumer (B2C) side of
their business.
STRENGTHS

Brands

Existing customer base

Existing brand distribution

Loyal customer base

Lower risk

Healthy financial position

Employees
WEAKNESS

Competition

Brand management

Intermediaries

Technology

Employee skills
OPPORTUNITIES

Cross selling

New markets

New services

Co-branding
THREATS

Customer choice

New entrants

New competitive products & Channel conflict

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1.2.8 Organizational Analysis:

People:
Top Management: CEO AdvitSahdev
Middle Management: Vice President, Brand Manager, SEO Lead, Account Manager, Project
Manager, Add lead

Bottom Management: Analysts, Application Developer, and Graphic designer.

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Organizational chart:
CEO

Vice President
(Marketing
)

Manager

Brand Manager

Creative Lead

SEO Lead

Account Manager

Project Manager

Developer

Tester

Add Lead

Analyst

Application Developer

Graphics Designer

Fig 1.2.8.a
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Policies:
There are no such promotion policies in the company. Promotions are exclusively on merit centric.

Procedures:
The Company follows bottom-up approach.

Top Management

Middle Management

Bottom Management

Fig 1.2.8.b

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1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 Objective of the study:
There are many reasons social media can be a productive marketing channel or platform. The
purpose should dictate strategy and the tactics used for reaching desired goals. The main
objective of online marketing to reach the target customers fast with effective communication
by help of internet. Most of business suggest that both corporate and functional objectives
need to conform to a set of criteria referred to as an acronym SMART.
The SMART criteria are summarized below:
1. Specific The objective should state exactly what is to be achieved.
2. Measurable An objective should be capable of measurement so that it is possible to determine
whether (or how far) it has been achieved.
3. Achievable The objective should be realistic given the circumstances in which it is set and the
resources available to the business.
4. Relevant Objectives should be relevant to the people responsible for achieving them.
5. Time Bound Objectives should be set with a time-frame in mind. These deadlines also need to
be realistic.
Other Objectives of the study include:
1. To analyse the effective communication strategy through social networking sites.
2. To study the effectiveness of brand communication through social networking sites from its users
and communicators.
3. To find the impact of interaction through these communication among Indian users (with reference
to Face book, Twitter and etc.).

Key result area (KRA):

To study the strategies applied by Social Media Marketing to remain as the most preferred vendor
and understand how it influences the business.
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To understand how to do competitor analysis by studying the success ratio of agencies who
implemented Social Media Marketing Strategies in their business.

To understand the importance of customer satisfaction and attractive online advertisements by

using social media as a platform.

To understand and analyse the dependence on Social Media Marketing in the present day scenario
to increase brand awareness by the organizations.

KSA MODEL:
KSA include Knowledge, Skills and Abilities that an applicant must have to perform successfully
in the position.

Knowledge:
A body of information needed to perform task. In completing this project one should have
knowledge of

Dynamic Work Environment

Social Media

Upcoming Digital marketing Trends

Skills:
Skills are the proficiency to perform a certain task. Skills required for this project are

Analytics

Content Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Abilities:
Abilities are an underlying, enduring trait useful for performing tasks. Few abilities required are

Communication

Creativity

Written Comprehension

Broad Thinking

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1.3.2 Need of the Study:

With the rapid growth of online purchasing, we are missing out if were not optimizing the
Internet as a sales channel. The Internet has become the great equalizer, levelling the playing
field for businesses so that small start-ups can compete against powerful, established brands.
In the past, marketing was focused on promotion. We would place an ad in a newspaper or a
magazine, or on television or radio, and hope that people would see it and make a purchase.
Things started changing after the Internet was introduced, computers became more affordable
and more people came online. Suddenly there was this huge network of sites that millions of
people could access.
Online business has become highly competitive with people opening up businesses in all
industry verticals. To gain online presence and increase brand awareness digital marketing is
mandatory. It is hard to imagine a successful business without digital marketing today. Be it
any industry vertical, small or large scale business, the website has to be designed in the right
way and marketing activities should be powerful to target online audience. With regular
monitoring and updating of essential activities.
The facts are that digital methods of communication and marketing are faster, more versatile,
practical and streamlined, so it is perhaps unsurprising that once the technology became
available we began quickly moving into the digital age. The good news is that digital offers
just as much potential to marketers as it does to consumers.

1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To analyse and find the effectiveness of communication strategy in developing brand,
communication through social networking sites was done with the survey method and content
analysis in the research.

1.4.1 Methods of data collection

The survey method helped to identify the reach of the brand among its target audience, ways
of impact, usage of these social networking sites and access to these form of communication.
And the content analysis is another method used to analyse the communication strategy of
different social networking sites with certain parameters among top three Indian social
networking sites which are tabulated with results.

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Sources of data:
Primary Data:
Primary data (also known as raw data) is a term for data collected from a source. Raw data has
not been subjected to processing or any other manipulation, and are also referred to as raw data.
Raw data is a relative term. Primary data collected mainly from the questionnaire method and
Interview methods.

Secondary data:
Secondary data, is data collected by someone other than the user. The secondary data collected
through Internet and through other journals and articles regarding social media marketing.

Research design
This research study adopted survey and content analysis in order to find the effectiveness and
the impact of communication in branding any product or the service among the target market
through social networking sites like Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn.

1.4.2 Survey
Survey was conducted randomly among Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn user community, by
sending questionnaire through online to collect the individual opinion from the respondents.

1.4.3 Sampling
Non probability sampling technique is used to collect the opinion from the online respondents.
The total population consists of all kinds of people from students to working professionals,
but to collect the effective data the sampling is constrained to the target population like young
adults, graduates within the age of 16 years to 35 years. The sampling size is 100.

1.4.4 Content analysis

In content analysis, the following three popular social networking sites were selected to find the
effective brand communication among its users (Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn).

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1.4.5 Software used for data analysis:

The Microsoft Excel tool has been used to represent the data from the employees in the form
of a graph. The graph shows the percentage of people responded for the particular option. This
is useful for the analysis of the data. Pie-chart is used to represent the data. Analysis and
Interpretation are done based on the information given by the respondents.

1.4.6 Percentage Analysis:

Percentage analysis refers to a specific kind of ratio used in making the comparison between
two or more series of data. Percentage is used to describe relationship and can also be used to
compare the relative terms, the distribution of two or more series in data.
Percentage of respondent= (no. of respondent/total no. of respondent) *100

1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

With more and more Indians using the Internet as a means of communicating, this new field of
marketing is on a rise. Since it is a cost effective medium of spreading a message, it is very
popular among the youth. As per a media report, today 500 million people access Internet
regularly in India and that is jump of 600% in last six years. This will give you an idea about
the scope of internet marketing.
The tremendous scope of Internet Marketing in India, we have to understand that marketing
through the internet can be an entirely different ball game. In fact it is a potent combination of
technology and marketing acumen.
Digital Marketing like traditional form of marketing is a highly result driven and set objective
practice. One cant begin a digital marketing campaign without setting the campaign
objectives. A digital marketer understands the needs of the clients and visualizes their needs to
deliver what they want.
Due to the vast demographic expanse of the country digital marketing is something which can
really help the way people connect with each other. Digital marketing is acting as a boon for
the marketers because one of the greatest hindrances of the traditional mode of marketing is
lack of mass reach.

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In a recent survey of marketers, it was found that 80% wanted to promote their product
through internet and out of those, 70% were planning to promote via Social media. India has
large number of companies which work on various scales of business. The diversification of
goods and services is huge. Some are small, some are big, some produce products, some
provide services. All these companies have to promote their product or service by advertising
in the right way. There are many digital media agencies in Mumbai which provide these
digital marketing services.

1.6 LIMITATIONS OF PROJECT STUDY

1. The time span of the project is limited.
2. Some companies won't reveal their expenditure on SMM.
3. The project is completely with reference to Odigma.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
Internet is the emerging information technology with the credibility of immediacy and
fastness, thus, it brings globalization in every aspects of communication. Communication
through internet is more specified, with effective interactive strategy among its users. In recent
days, internet advertising has taken new forms which have more advantages over the
traditional mediums like print media, television and radio. Marketing communication is
becoming precise, personal, interesting, interactive and social. Different strategies of
communication are followed in various social networking sites like Face book, Twitter and
etc... They not only create impact over the audience but also make them interact with the
marketing statistics created. People get attached to brand communication in social networking
sites than usual banner and pop up ads. These networking sites bring more interactive
communication with advertising. Social networking sites will become the primary arena for
highly targeted marketing and advertising. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effectiveness
of brand communication strategy followed in social networking sites which are mainly
accessed by Indian users. This research attempts to find the effectiveness of brand
communication strategy in promoting and advertising their brand in social networking sites.
These are some of the social networking sites.
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Google plus
5. YouTube
6. Instagram

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No of Users in Top Social Media Networks:

Fig 2.a

2.1 Growth of Social Media:

Social media is continuing to grow and cement its place at the centre of daily life for many.
Total time spent on social media in the U.S. across all devices grew 37% to 121 billion
minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011. But what and how they access
social media is shifting. Growth in mobile used helped fuel the growth. While the computer
remains the top device for social media access, consumers time spent with social media on
mobile jumped 63% percent in 2012, compared to the same period last year. Overall,
consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than any other category of web
sites - 20% via PC and 30% of total time online via mobile.

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2.2 Trends of social media:

Social networking is one of the fastest growing activities among mobile users and has become a
significant driver of Internet usage on mobile device.
Gaining a voice in the conversation taking place across mobile social network will be challenging
for marketers.
Most marketers are thinking through key issues, such as internal ownership and scalability of
mobile social programs.
Budgeting and definitions of ROI likewise continue to evolve.
The biggest near term opportunities will come from location aware application.
Search will get more social: real-time content in result, information from social network friends
to result, using collective information from other Web users.

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Fig 2.2.1

23

Fig 2.2.2

24

Fig 2.2.3
25

2.3 4cs of Social Media:

Fig 2.3.1

26

Fig 2.3.2
27

2.4 Demographic figures of Social Media:

Fig 2.4.1

Fig 2.4.2

Fig 2.4.3

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Fig 2.4.4

Fig 2.4.5

Fig 2.4.6

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2.5 Importance and Future prospects:

Social media has witnessed a sea change in itself in the recent years from Blogs and Forums to
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube etc. The increasing craze of the social media networking
among the people can be used as a mode of reaching of more and more customers online.
Social media is found to be extremely useful in generating leads, performing market research
and establishing the marketers as thought leaders. The increasing likeability of selling through
this medium is now even attracting the Business to consumer organizations as well. Social
Media Marketing is gaining popularity far more than expected due to the efficient and
considerable change it has brought in the online marketing world.
In the coming years, social media marketing will probably focus on three main areas, namely
video, mobile and engagement for efficient marketing through the social media. It is high time
that smart online users should effectively exploit this opportunity to attract more and more
visitors to their site. In order to keep benefiting, the online companies should build
applications and products that can woo the consumers and help them in having market
research through social media.
Companies can use social networking websites for raising awareness about their brand
and their popular products.
Companies get a chance to interact with their existing customers through the medium of
social network.
It is easier for the companies to announce their new products through social networking
websites.
The amounts of users including regular visitors to the social networking websites are
massive. Customer satisfaction can also be increased if social media is used properly by
a company.

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2.6 Various Social Media Networking Sites:

2.6.1Facebook:
Facebook is an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its
website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates
and fellow Harvard University students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin
Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Facebook had over 1.3 billion active users as of June 2014.
Facebook allow a product to provide videos, photos, and longer descriptions, and testimonials
as other followers can comment on the product pages for others to see. Facebook can link
back to the products Twitter page as well as send out event reminders.
A study from 2011 attributed 84% of "engagement" or clicks to Likes that link back to
Facebook advertising. By 2014 Facebook had restricted the content published from
businesses' and brands' pages. Adjustments in Facebook algorithms have reduced the audience
for nonpaying business pages (that have at least 500,000 "Likes") from 16 percent in 2012
down to 2 percent in February 2014.
Facebook offers following features to users:
News Feed
Chat
Gifts
Messaging
Voice calls
Privacy

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Pros:
Facebook is a low-cost marketing strategy
Marketing activities that would cost thousands of dollars through other channels can be used
on Facebook for a fraction of the cost. This makes it ideal for small to medium businesses
with a limited marketing budget. Larger businesses can also trial marketing concepts and
themes through Facebook before committing to bigger campaigns.

Share basic information about your business

Your Facebook page is a place where you can publicise your business name, address and
contact details, and briefly describe your products and services. You can also talk about your
staff, history, or any other aspect of your business that is likely to attract other Facebook users
and create interest in what you do.

Share pictures and videos from your business

As well as allowing you to post text, Facebook lets you upload pictures and videos from your
business. This can be a powerful way to communicate with customers and potential
customers, allowing them to see your product or service without having to visit your premises.
Facebook also allows users to 'tag' photos to indicate if a Facebook friend appears in them.
This function can be used to promote your business. For example, a tour operator could post a
photo on their page of a group going white-water rafting, then invite each participant to tag
their image in the photo. Each tagged image will show up as an update on the participant's
Facebook account, where their friends will see it too. This increases the level of interest in the
picture, and your business.
If you do decide to use tagging, be careful. It can be a privacy issue, and some Facebook users
are sensitive about being tagged in photographs. For this reason, it is better to ask participants
to do the tagging, rather than doing it on their behalf.

Talk to existing and potential customers

You can use Facebook to 'talk' to existing and potential customers by posting and receiving
messages. But don't use Facebook to aggressively promote your products or services. You'll
have much greater success if you share information related to your business that is actually
useful or interesting to other users. This increases your credibility and promotes your business
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by building long-term relationships with other users. For example, a veterinarian could post
tips for looking after pets, timing them according to when particular health issues arise (e.g.
ticks in summer).
You should also listen as much as you talk. Paying attention to what the market thinks about your
business, your industry, a product or a marketing campaign can provide valuable insights.

Provide customer support

Customers can post after-sales questions on your Facebook wall, and your staff can answer
them there. This is often more efficient than staff answering phone calls, and allows other
customers to read common questions and answers without having to approach you
individually.

Raise brand awareness and promote positive word-of-mouth

You can increase your business's profile on Facebook by encouraging existing and potential
customers to click the 'Like' button on your Facebook page. Once they like your page, your
customers will receive your updates on their wall, where their friends will also see them. This
helps to build awareness of your business, and to associate your friends with your brand.
Customers can also post positive messages about your products or services, shared on their
walls for all their friends to see.

Facebook can steer traffic to your website

You can include a link to your website on your Facebook page. Indeed, many businesses
report that the greatest benefit of Facebook is the extra traffic that it steers to their site.
Visitors who come to the website can be exposed to stronger marketing messages and, often,
the option of buying goods and services.
Customers who come to your website from Facebook are likely to be more receptive than the
average visitor, because they already know something about your business and were
motivated to click the website link.

Targeted advertising
Facebook can analyse all the information that millions of users enter into their profiles. As the
owner of a business page, you can pay to use this information to deliver targeted advertising
to a specific group.

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For example, an outdoor store could use Facebook to calculate how many men over a certain age
in a certain city have listed 'fishing' as an interest. Then they could develop an ad for new fishing
lures, and pay for it to appear only on the pages of those people. (Ads appear on the right-hand
side pages in Facebook.)

Offer deals through Facebook Places

Facebook Places allows users to 'check in' on mobile devices at a particular place, so that their
friends can see their location on Facebook. Facebook Places also identifies popular places
close to where a user checks in.
Businesses can use Facebook Places so that when a user checks in to a neighbourhood, street
or business, they receive a list of nearby businesses offering deals (e.g. discounts, freebies,
loyalty rewards). Businesses that have a Facebook page are automatically included in the
Facebook Places directory.

Cons:
Loss of Control
Facebook was designed as an interactive online forum that encourages members to share
information via photos, video clips, links and written posts. While account owners ultimately
have control of what remains on their public profile, there is little control over who posts
information or what those posts contain. It is relatively easy for a competitor, angry customer
or disgruntled employee to post accusatory comments that are inflammatory, derogatory or
otherwise slanderous to your business on your Facebook wall. Even well-meaning posters
may use language or photos that are not in line with the image you want to maintain for your
business. Maintaining vigilant control over the content that appears on your Facebook page
takes the time and effort of approved content monitors, which can be costly and
timeconsuming for small business owners.

Cost of Maintenance
Content pages must continually be updated with new information that readers will find useful,
beneficial or interesting for Facebook marketing to be effective. This requires development of
a detailed innovative social media marketing strategy -- a costly investment for small
advertising budgets. Facebook marketing strategies include video product demonstrations,

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interactive forums and online contests, all of which must be created, uploaded, monitored and
maintained by a business owner, staff member or social media advertising agency.

Competition
Marketing platforms executed via Facebook are open to easy duplication by competitors.
Rival business owners can easily pose as friends or fans to gain access to your content.
Photos, artwork and other images posted to your site are easily accessed and reused by visitors
and can show up in other places you may not approve of.

Professionalism
Social media platforms like Facebook were created to facilitate the casual sharing of
information that may not mesh with the professional reputation you want to establish for your
business. For example, Facebook marketing of a nightclub needs to be vastly different from
Facebook marketing of a doctors office or law practice. Care must be taken to develop and
maintain a Facebook presence that reflects your corporate philosophy, or it could place your
company at a disadvantage.

Advertising Costs
While basic Facebook pages are free of charge for personal users, business accounts that
feature advertising opportunities come with a price tag attached. This added promotional
expense can be a disadvantage for small business owners.

Negative Content
Communicating with your clients or fans over Facebook sounds friendly in theory, but some
people may use your Facebook page as a venue to write offensive comments or post spam. A
user might even post false allegations about your business on your page for anyone to see. As
a result, your business needs to be monitoring its Facebook page frequently, ideally checking
each individual post. Even if you address these issues quickly, you'll never know how many
people saw the negative comments on the page and will associate that memory with your
business.

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2.6.2 Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short
140character messages called "tweets". Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey,
Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and by July 2006 the site was launched. Twitter
Inc. is based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices around the world. As of December
2014, Twitter has more than 500 million users, out of which more than 284 million are active
users.
Registered users can read and post tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users
access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Messages can link to
the products website, Facebook profile, photos, videos, etc.
As the use of social networks increased as years go by, the number business targeting to reach
their customers online also increased.
One thing that most business do not pay attention to is the pros and cons of using Twitter for
your business. One of the very first crucial steps of social networking advertising is learning
about the advantages and disadvantages of using social networks for advertising. Below are a
few of the pros and cons.

Pros:
The targeted market is most probably on Twitter:
Since a very large number of people use social network, there is a high probability that the
interested parties for the product you are advertising is in the virtual world. This is one great
advantage every business should try to make use of because if you are not using social
networks for advertising, then you are missing a large market.
Great way to research market:
With the growing popularity of the internet, market research has become easy. Instead of
spreading questionnaires or asking people oral questions, the use of social networks made it
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easy by making it easier to create free surveys and posting the links so that people can
participate. This is a very easy way of doing market research, keeping in mind the fact that the
setting up the surveys wont cost money and people can finish those surveys in less time than
the hard copy one.
Growth of social networking:
There is no doubt that the use of social networks is rapidly growing. What this means to
business is that, there are audience on the virtual world than the business could ever reach
through any other type of media. This is in fact one of the main advantages of using Twitter
and other social networks for businesses.
Easier way to pass info:
By just posting a 140 character tweets, a business would be passing more information than it
can do anywhere else. This costs less or almost nothing compared to other modes like sending
a mail or making a phone call. I also dont know if this is true for everyone else, but I may
read lots of stuff online that I may not read if they were on a hard copy or somewhere else.

Cons:
Spams and viruses:
When the use of the internet world has increased, the potential risks that one can obtain from
the internet have increased as well. What this means is spammers could spam your site or
worse than that, can find access to your information through social networks. Social networks
could be useful, but if not properly used, then they could lead to more problems.
Using for business needs:
Twitter and other social networks are designed to be user friendly. On the other hand, there are
also applications and other aids that make it easier to use. One thing with social networks is
that businesses and individuals do not use it the same way. What this means is that businesses
need to learn how to efficiently and effectively use Twitter and other social networks so that
they could make the use out of it.

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Limited space:
I think everyone who used Twitter or paid a little attention to how its used knows about the
140 characters thingy. This kind of space or limitation on character is not enough for most
business and this is where learning to effectively and efficiently twitter comes into place. On
the good side, may be this is good, because otherwise people wont be in the mood to read a
whole blog most of the time.
Streamline nature of twitter:
Its a common expectation of anyone who follows others on twitter not to follow everything.
One of the reasons this happens is because the tweets in twitter are designed to stream really
quickly and usually show the latest tweets. So some of times, some of the tweets one makes or
a business makes may lost in the long shuffle of tweets. Like I said before, this calls for
learning to use twitter effectively.

2.6.3 LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. Founded in December 2002 and
launched on May 5, 2003 it is mainly used for professional networking. In 2006, LinkedIn
increased to 20 million members. As of June 2013, LinkedIn reports more than 259 million
acquired users in more than 200 countries and territories.
LinkedIn allows companies to create professional profiles for themselves as well as their
business to network and meet others. Through the use of widgets, members can promote their
various social networking activities, such as Twitter stream or blog entries of their product
pages, onto their LinkedIn profile page. LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to
generate sales leads and business partners. Members can use Company Pages similar to
Facebook pages to create an area that will allow business owners to promote their products or
services and be able to interact with their customers. Due to spread of spam mail sent to job
seeker, leading companies prefer to use LinkedIn for employee's recruitment instead using
different job portals. Additionally, companies have voiced a preference for the amount of
information that can be gleaned from LinkedIn profile, versus a limited email.
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Pros and Cons of social media marketing on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of todays biggest social networks but its not exactly what you might call
strictly social. LinkedIn provides a great deal of exposure to businesses and can help find
new partners, business opportunities, or employees. Some might even call LinkedIn a social
network for business as its used mainly for professional networking. As a social platform
LinkedIn incorporates many social aspects, but its main focus is the business world. As a
result, many small business owners join LinkedIn with the hopes of expanding their ventures
and creating new connections that might prove beneficial. But like most things, LinkedIn has
its pros and cons.

Pros

The first, most obvious benefit from using LinkedIn comes from the algorithmic realm
of SEO (search engine optimization). Its yet another avenue that search engines use to
bring businesses in search query results. Its the perfect tool to give a business more
exposure while also allowing it to expose the most crucial parts of its business the
mission, the background, the members of the team, etc. Increased SEO exposure leads
to increased web traffic which, in turn, leads to an increased conversion rate.

LinkedIn is also a great way to stay up-to-date with the news from your industry or
field of interest. This is a major benefit it keeps you in the current loop, indicates
upcoming trends or big ideas, and provides a ripe stomping ground for sharing
experiences and advice among experts surrounding topics that are important to the
business. These easily accessible resources are invaluable to a company, particularly
smaller ones, due to its low cost and high beneficial value.

LinkedIn is also a great asset because of the amount of information it gives about a
particular company or business. Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn will tell you all the
major data you need to know about a company as well as give you the professional
profiles of the individuals associated with the business from employees to investors.
Access to this type of specific data and information allows users to easily find
potential partners or recruit new employees, saving you a lot of time, energy, and
resources.

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LinkedIn Answer also gives users the chance to demonstrate their knowledge and
skills in their respective field to establish themselves as credible experts with vast
knowledge and expertise. In turn, this is beneficial for LinkedIn users as it positions
them as experts and boosts the companys credibility.

Cons:

When looking at LinkedIn, its also important to be aware of and acknowledge its
cons. One of the major negatives is the way users use LinkedIn as an advertising
megaphone via SPAM so brace yourself for the slew of SPAM coming your way.

Once established, LinkedIn is a major timesaver. But in the beginning, it requires a lot
of personal time and work to get your connections flowing and conversations started.
Users need to constantly ask others to be introduced to companies and individuals they
are interested in connecting with, which can be cumbersome at times. Always keep in
mind that LinkedIn is a platform for connections and conversations so approach these
tasks with the outcome of building a business relationship in mind. This task can be
sidestepped with the paid version of LinkedIn, but that might not be an option for
smaller companies with a limited budget.

Overall, LinkedIn is a solid platform for businesses and individuals. If you are just
getting started, keep these pros and cons in mind. If you do, your relationship and
experience with LinkedIn will prove beneficial.

In our internship, we used LinkedIn to grow the professional network of Institute of

Digital Marketing. This institute not only provides knowledge but also do business
with its skill sets. LinkedIn helps in building great professional network and in getting
new businesses. Apart from the workshops and course classes, Institute of Digital
Marketing has some set of people who develops e-commerce websites and optimizes
them. Hence, in order to get business we have used LinkedIn as a major platform.

In LinkedIn groups, there will be discussions going on every time. So, we have created
a LinkedIn group and started discussions on various topics on digital marketing. In the
beginning the results were very slow since LinkedIn is strictly a professional network
and the targeted people might not show much interest here. As it goes on, our
discussion has got a wide popularity with students from different colleges asking
questions and actively participating in the discussion.

With this growing popularity on LinkedIn, slowly business started coming in. in the
beginning only small projects used to come like landing page creation, content
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creation, blog postings etc. There were two big projects came during my internship
tenure from Dharani Computers and The Suntech Corporation for developing and
managing the website and do search engine optimization for them.

2.6.4 Google+:
Google+ (or Google Plus) is a social networking and identity service that is owned and
operated by Google Inc. Google has described Google+ as a "social layer" that enhances many
of its online properties, and that it is not simply a social networking website, but also an
authorship tool that associates web-content directly with its owner/author.
Google+, in addition to providing pages and some features of Facebook, is also able to
integrate with the Google search engine. Other Google products are also integrated, such as
Google Ad words and Google Maps. With the development of Google Personalized Search
and other location-based search services, Google+ allows for targeted advertising methods,
navigation services, and other forms of location-based marketing and promotion.
Google+ can also be beneficial for other digital marketing campaigns, as well as social media
marketing. Google+ authorship was known to have a significant benefit on a website's search
engine optimisation, before the relationship was removed by Google. Google+ is one of the fastest
growing social media networks and can benefit almost any business.

Pros:
With most marketers comfortable with using Facebook for their primary social media
marketing tactics they quite often dont see the other opportunities. Here are some compelling
reasons to register and start using a Google+ page to complement your Facebook page, your
social media and digital marketing activities.

Google+ hangouts
Google+ hangouts have been an important part of the Google+ platform since day one. They
allow you to create online meetings that are limited to 10 active users but it allows you to
stream YouTube video to an unlimited number of viewers. Hangouts provide a way to engage

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with small groups of customers that you may want to share important information and/or
educate.

No update filtering
Google doesnt need to make money from Google+ as its major revenue (over $30 billion) is
from its Google ad words and search advertising. It doesnt need to force you to pay to be
visible on Google+.
Facebook has increasingly applied its Edge rank technology that filters the updates that are
seen by people that have liked your brands Facebook page. Some research shows it at less
than 15% and shrinking. This is so they can force you to spend to advertise on Facebook to
get attention.
It has become pay to play
Google plus does not filter (censor) your updates to followers that are following your page.

No ads
Point two leads to another advantage. There are no annoying advertisements on Google plus.
No distractions and no one wanting to sell you weight loss or dating services.

Social signals
Google wanted to enhance its search engine capabilities by having humans vote on what
content they liked. (That is the Google+ button). This is now built into Googles search
algorithms to ensure that Google remains relevant on the web. This makes certain that your
content is receiving votes (social signals) when you are participating on Google+.

Search visibility
By participating on Google plus you are increasing the visibility of your brand. Ever searched
for a brand or business and noticed what comes to the top of the rankings? It is all the major
social networks that appear on the first page. Also what should be considered is the
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importance of securing your brand name on Google+, which is an important part of building
your online digital assets.

It is the second largest social network

Google plus is no longer something to be ignored with over 600 million registered users and over
350 million active monthly users. Many of your customers are now on Google+.
That on its own should be enough to make you motivated to participate. You do need to establish a
marketing beachhead on this significant platform.

Local marketing
Google has removed Google Places and now has created a Google+ Places Page. This
means that customers who are on Google+ can leave reviews for your business there. This
turns up on local search results.
Now that is something you shouldnt ignore if local location marketing is vital for your retail store
or business.

Integration with other Google properties

Google built Google+ from day one to be integrated into its other web properties. They
consider it as being core to its entire online strategy so it is woven into Gmail, the Chrome
browser, Picasa and YouTube. This integration will lead to more effective marketing over
time.

Cons:
Google Plus still has Relatively Low Reach Google Plus still serves a much smaller market
than Twitter and Facebook, and it is not surprising that many customers cannot be reached
through Google Plus. As such, many potential customers will not see or be interested in your
companys Google Plus content on your business page because they dont want to use Google
Plus.
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Googles Poor Social Media Track Record This is a legitimate risk factor. Many of Googles
past forays into social media like Buzz and Wave not only failed, but failed with scandals and
controversy. There is a fair amount of scepticism whether or not Google Plus is just another
house of cards waiting to collapse, even after several years of operation.

2.6.5 YouTube:
YouTube is a video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was
created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005. In November 2006, it was
bought by Google for US$1.65 billion. YouTube now operates as a Google subsidiary. The site
allows users to upload, view, and share videos, and it makes use of Adobe Flash Video and
HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media video.
Available content includes video clips, TV clips, music videos, and other content such as
video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.
YouTube is another popular avenue; advertisements are done in a way to suit the target
audience. The type of language used in the commercials and the ideas used to promote the
product reflect the audience's style and taste.
Also, the ads on this platform are usually in sync with the content of the video requested, this is
another advantage YouTube brings for advertisers. Certain ads are presented with certain videos
since the content is relevant. Promotional opportunities such as sponsoring a video is also
possible on YouTube, "for example, a user who searches for a YouTube video on dog training
may be presented with a sponsored video from a dog toy company in results along with other
videos. YouTube also enable publishers to earn money through its YouTube Partner Program.

Pros:
Vast Audiences for your Video
The success of any business depends upon its visibility and YouTube gives you that very much
required exposure with little or no efforts at all. It is just the matter of selection of uploading
your video at right place, under right category. So it is very easy and more likely to reach
masses when you use YouTube for your videos, and hence chances of a clever video to grab
viewers attention and go viral, is quite high on YouTube, when compared to self-hosted
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videos (websites). Anybody can embed YouTube videos on their websites, blogs etc. and if
good, your video will also be approachable from outside of YouTube. In case you want your
video to be viewed by selected number of people (limit 50) you can do that by making it
private.

Save Dollars with Free Video Hosting

If you are planning to host your videos on your own video hosting server or thinking about
getting licence from a video platform then you have to take in account, this extra burden of
dollars on your wallet. Though Google dont promote commercial video sharing but has now
made an amendment in the terms and conditions for sharing original contents of brands. It
is one time investment and you would be happy to upload your content on YouTube as you are
still saving the additional design and functional costs. Hence, if you compare the current cost
for licences of video platform YouTube brand channel is a smart bet.

The ease to use it

Though we all get motivated enough to cross all hurdles and do hard work, when we decide to
do some serious business but why to choose a harder path when similar results can be
achieved with an easy and fair option. This is the reason why YouTube is a favourite option.
All you need is to follow some very basic and simple steps to upload your video(s). Create an
account, sign-in, upload and before you blink you are on YouTube. You can easily upload a
video via a flip video camera or your smartphone within minutes. In fact if user is
interested in just watching a video no registration is required. Yes! It is as simple as that.

Links and Web Traffic

Not only sales but web traffic for the video (actually website) is also very important for any
business based on web. You dont have to bring people to visit your video instead YouTube
brings them for you and if you are lucky enough and your content go viral (i.e. your content
liked by (exponentially increasing) high number of people) then if you are on YouTube other
website will embed your video to make themselves more optimized for searches. As
mentioned earlier YouTube is owned by Google who is Father of all search engines also uses
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its owned sites for searches so definitely your network is quite strong, when you are on
YouTube.

Large Bandwidth and sustainability

YouTube is a dedicated website from the well-established giant Google, and it has its own
dedicated servers to handle hell load of traffic (hundreds of thousands or millions of visitors
over a short period of time). Consider the case when your video goes viral and you start
getting whooping number of hits, then will arise the need of substantial amount of bandwidth
to handle such a heavy traffic. So if you are not using YouTube, you are in trouble, and
unfortunately instead of being happy you would be in a panic situation due to the potential
low bandwidth of your website. Of course, it is wise to use YouTube when the whole world is
interested in your video(s).

Number, length, size of Videos

Today YouTube if the worlds dominant resource and repository for videos and luckily there is
no limit on the number of videos you can upload, which is not possible if you are using some
other licenced video platform. You may say 15 minutes which is the current allowed length of
a video is less for your content. Is it really? Anything effective can be presented even in lesser
time but if you think otherwise then all you need to do is to break your content in different
videos logically and upload them in parts instead of a single video. Is it not cool? For video,
2GB size is good amount and it is the current size you can upload on YouTube. Basically a
standard sized video will easily fit on YouTube.

Feedback is Important
If we dont listen to others and analyse their suggestions or comments about our work, we
cant learn and survive in this competitive environment. YouTube allows viewers to provide
comments for the videos and hence you are in direct touch with live audiences and potential
customers. Importantly al the comments are emailed to you and in case you want to delete any
comment, you can do it easily.

Easy navigation and supported Formats

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There are several ways one can search for videos on YouTube by keyword, by topic or by
simply scanning the most popular videos list. If you like the work of some producer, simply
subscribe and no more searching would be required for that producer. YouTube uses Adobe
Flash to play back videos which is a standard format supported by most browsers (IE, Firefox,
Safari, and Opera).
You can upload most popular video formats: .WMV, .AVI, .MOV, and .MPG files which are
automatically converted to flash. People can reach YouTube videos through their mobile
devices as well. Point is, when a popular service is easy and can be commonly used then it is
wise to host your videos on that website.

Cons:
Concept overrides content
Good content is not as necessary as good concept in video-making. To get thousands of views
and drive visitors to your YouTube video, you have to inject a great concept that makes them
almost forget how they were led to the site. Learn how to remix videos and audios and create
the element of surprise. Break down long clips to shorter and bite-sized ones to appeal to a
larger audience. Make your ads outright and amazing. You can use title optimization by using
intriguing headlines that would make them want to find out more about your topic.

Requires more attraction

Users of the Internet usually just scan text-based content to find the information and get to the
core of the content immediately. Realize that in videos, this cannot entirely be applied.
Viewers watch videos from beginning to end and not jump from one segment to another to
find meaning in the video. Hence, the intro of your video must be alluring enough to get them
continue watching until the end or until you have made your point get across.
Make it snappy and no longer than three minutes. Else, especially for those with slow Internet
connection and those with shorter attention spans, users will more likely to just press the X
button and move on to the next video.

Fresher uploaded videos result from the search hits

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Typically in Google searches, the more aged the blog post is, the more it gets brought up to
the top results page. This is because the page has incurred more backlinks and has increased
credibility rate online. In comparison, YouTube searches dont act that way. Rather, it
considers the newest videos as the top-rated hits. There is whats called the freshness factor
in every video. So in order for your videos to rank high and produce the honors, you must
either resubmit or re-upload them whenever you got the time and remove the older video.
Note also that in YouTube, videos only have a shelf life of two days before it is moved out
from the Daily Most Viewed list to the Weekly Most Viewed. So the key here is to make sure
that its getting viewed more and more each day, to stay on top.
Marketing through YouTube videos can be one of the effective ways on how to take advantage
of the fact that people are visual. Videos can entertain your viewers or followers than textual
content. However, when done wrong, they will only be bored and may hit on the Unsubscribe
button.

2.6.6 Instagram:
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service
that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on a variety of social
networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.. A distinctive feature is that it confines
photos to a square shape, and Polaroid images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used
by mobile device cameras. Users can also apply digital filters to their images. The maximum
duration for Instagram videos is 15 seconds.
Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010.
The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012 and
over 300 million as of December 2014. The service was acquired by Facebook in April 2012
for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock.
In May 2014, Instagram had over 200 million users. The user engagement rate of Instagram
was 15 times higher than of Facebook and 25 times higher than that of Twitter. According to
Scott Galloway, the founder of L2 and a professor of marketing at New York Universitys
Stern School of Business, latest studies estimate that 93 percent of prestige brands have an
active presence on Instagram and include it in their marketing mix.
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When it comes to brands and businesses, Instagram goal is to help companies to reach their
respective audiences through captivating imagery in a rich, visual environment. Moreover,
Instagram provides a platform where user and company can communicate publicly and
directly, making itself an ideal platform for companies to connect with their current and
potential customers.

Pros:
Increased Engagement
Depending on the quality of the post, branded updates on Facebook and Twitter are sometimes
overlooked by the user. However this isnt true for Instagram users; having an active
Instagram account with useful and interesting content can earn you crazy levels of
engagement with your audience. Latest study by Forrester found that Instagram content
generates 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook and 120 times more than
Twitter.

Building Trust and Personality

With branded content being more popular for generating engagement, one of the key benefits
of Instagram is that it can help you build trust. People buy from people and Instagram will
help you to create that emotional connection with your audience. The great thing here is that it
allows you to share the day-to-day experiences of your business in an informal and casual way
therefore giving a personal feel to your business.
Behind the scene photos and employee images tend to rank well on Instagram, especially if
youre a specific service provider. Such photos can make your company more attractive and
trustworthy which in turn can have a positive effect on your bottom line. Increase in

Traffic
Although you cant add clickable links to every Instagram update you publish, Instagram can
be a powerful source of traffic. Plus with the higher levels of engagement than on Facebook
and Twitter, creating and maintaining a strong profile could be hugely beneficial for your
sites visibility.

Gaining a Competitive Advantage

There is still far less competition on Instagram than on Facebook or Twitter. An American
Express survey showed that only 2% of small businesses are currently embracing Instagram,
giving them an advantage over their competitors. Plus the businesses that incorporate
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Instagram into their marketing strategy will more likely reach their target audience far easier
than with Facebook or Twitter where the competition is much bigger.

Reaching Target Market

If youre targeting people born from 1980 to the early 1990s (the so called millennial) then
Instagram is the place to be as over 37% of people in this age group use Instagram. So if you
want to reach and connect with the under 30 crowd you should definitely create an Instagram
account. Having said that, Instagram doesnt only work for youth-focused brands like Red
Bull, brands like Ford and General Electric are gaining a great level on engagement on their
Instagram profiles.

Cons:
Not everybody has an iOS or Android phones
Although Android and iOS are the top two most widely used smartphone operating systems,
with a combined 87.6% of smartphones shipped worldwide, it is problematic that Instagram is
only available as an iPhone and Android app. This photo sharing app excludes mobile users
who have Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, or Linux. There is still a great percentage of
consumers that you will not be able to reach when you use Instagram in promoting your
business.

It is a highly technological tool

Business owners using Instagram must ensure they are producing professional pictures of their
products or services and giving the correct message to their audience. Posting the perfect
image can be done through trial and error but you have to consider whether the time you spent
in perfecting the photo could have been put to better use.

Instagram has limited features

Instagram enables users to resize images and enhance pictures through a variety of filters, 18
effects in all, such as X-Pro II, Rise, or Early Bird. However, each new option needs to be
installed, or has a fee. As an entrepreneur, you have to be smart with where you put your
money. True, Instagram can be an amazing tool for marketing but there are other social media
platforms which you can use and are completely free.

Loss of copyright ownership

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Olivier Laurent of the British Journal of Photography wrote an article about the risk of social
media, particularly Instagram, to professional photographers. Instagram is a great venue to
store, caption and share photos but the fear of Facebook using Instagram to generate revenues
makes photographers rethink how they use the photo sharing app. According to John Stan
Meyer, one of the original founders of the VII Photo agency, Weve become complacent with
the only commodity we have as photographers our copyright in our near unfettered
embrace of sharing our content with for-profit companies such as Instagram.

2.7 Different Methods of Social Media Marketing

Social network marketing is popularly called as Internet marketing. Today you can find many
ways for internet marketing. Many people who enter this online marketing are less worried
because of its guaranteed success. If you see in Internet totally all types of products has been
marketed online without much effort. Internet attracts many business people to promote their
business online. Social network marketing is grown to such a height that today many people
can't earn without it.
Some of the most recognized methods of social media marketing are
1. Blogging
2. Personal website or blog
3. Article selling
4. Email sending
5. Use social networking websites
6. Video promotion
7. Press Release or media release
8. Search Engine Optimization

Blogging:
When you start Blogging or posting your data about any product, you can see less response
from clients. Later it will become big business via blog. Websites and blogs are most powerful
tools for social network marketing when matched with other networking tools. Blog is an
amazing tool which provides many other facilities in addition to just marketing your business.
It also helps you to communicate with other clients in case if you have any problems.
51

Personal website or blog:

It is important to have private website if you are a freelancer. Your website will help your
clients to know about you and it will make them clear that you are a serious freelance
marketer and help to make huge revenue via online marketing.

Article selling:
It is also best and cheap internet marketing method. It is a mode of advertising our trade just by
writing articles and attracting endless number of users across world. We usually sell our articles
to different article database websites and article directories. Today it provided free business to
many advertisers and publishers and they are really benefited through their articles.

Email sending:
Electronic mail sending is the best way to marketing. Collect list of email addresses through
portfolio websites and email about your business to all internet users. Your Email should be
attractive in such a way that your recipient will be impressed to get back to you.

Use social networking websites:

Social networking websites like Twitter, face book can be used to promote your sales. These
provide best platform for all who are thinking of online marketing.

Video promotion:
Use several video distribution websites for your marketing. These websites uploads your
service to the whole world. All that you need to do is film a video about marketing and send it
to video uploading sites like You Tube. It seems it is the easiest way of marketing than any
other modes since many people will be interested in view videos rather than word form of
advertisement.

Press Release or media release:

It attracts several public clients and increases relationship among them.

Search Engine Optimization:

52

Optimizing your website to improve organic (free) traffic from search engines by
Improving a sites overall ranking on the various engines. Working to improve the visibility and
popularity of your website to increase the likelihood that other reputable websites will link to
your site. Providing fresh content to your website to further improve its popularity. It improves
the traffic to your website by providing quality web content. It uses RSS feeds and many SEO
techniques.

2.8 Tools for social media marketing:

Various companies provide specialized platforms and tools for social media marketing. Those are
1. Social media measurement
2. Social network aggregation
3. Social bookmarking

2.8.1 Social media measurement:

Social media measurement or social media monitoring is an active monitoring of social
media channels for information about a company or organization, usually tracking of various
social media content such as blogs, wikis, news sites, micro-blogs such as Twitter, social
networking sites, video/photo sharing websites, forums, message boards, blogs and user
generated content in general as a way to determine the volume and sentiment of online
conversation about a brand or topic.
Social media monitoring allows users to find insights into a brand's overall visibility on social
media, measure the impact of campaigns, identify opportunities for engagement, assess
competitor activity and share of voice, and be alerted to impending crises. It can also provide
valuable information about emerging trends and what consumers and clients think about
specific topics, brands or products. This is the work of a cross-section of groups that include
market researchers, PR staff, marketing teams, social engagement and community staff,
agencies and sales teams. Several different providers have created tools to facilitate the
monitoring of a variety of social media channels from blogging to internet video to internet
forums. This allows companies to track what consumers are saying about their brands and
actions. Companies can then react to these conversations and interact with consumers through
social media platforms.

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Social media management software (SMMS)

Social media management software (SMMS) is an application program or software that
facilitates an organisations ability to successfully engage in social media across different
communication channels. SMMS is used to monitor inbound and outbound conversations,
support customer interaction, audit or document social marketing initiatives and evaluate the
usefulness of a social media presence.
It can be difficult to measure all social media conversation. Due to privacy settings and other
issues, not all social media conversation can be found and reported by monitoring tools.
However, whilst social media monitoring cannot give absolute figures, it can be extremely
useful for identifying trends and for benchmarking, in addition to the uses mentioned above.
These findings can, in turn, influence and shape future business decisions.
In order to access social media data (posts, Tweets, and meta-data) and to analyse and monitor
social media, many companies use software technologies built for business use cases.

2.8.2 Social network aggregation:

Social network aggregation is the process of collecting content from multiple social network
services, such as Facebook, Twitter etc. into one unified presentation. The task is often
performed by a social network aggregator, which pulls together information into a single
location, or helps a user consolidate multiple social networking profiles into one profile.
Various aggregation services provide tools or widgets to allow users to consolidate messages,
track friends, combine bookmarks, search across multiple social networking sites, read RSS
feeds for multiple social networks, see when their name is mentioned on various sites, access
their profiles from a single interface, provide "life streams", etc. Social network aggregation
services attempt to organize or simplify a user's social networking experience, although the
idea has been satirized by the concept of a "social network aggregator."

Social network aggregator

Social network aggregation platforms allow social-network members to share social-network
activities like Twitter, YouTube, with other major platforms. All content appears in real time
to other members who subscribe to a particular community, which eliminates the need to jump
from one social media network to another, trying to keep an eye on one's interests.
54

Social network aggregation systems can rely on initiation by publishers or by readers. In the
publisher-initiated aggregation systems, the publishers combine their own identities, which
make their readers see all aggregated content once subscribed. In the reader-initiated systems
the readers combine the identities of others, which has no impact to the publishers or other
readers. The publishers can still keep separate identities for different readers.

2.8.3 Social bookmarking:

A social bookmarking service is a centralized online service which enables users to add,
annotate, edit, and share bookmarks of web documents.
Unlike file sharing, social bookmarking does not save the resources themselves, merely
bookmarks that reference them, i.e. a link to the bookmarked page. Descriptions may be added
to these bookmarks in the form of metadata, so users may understand the content of the
resource without first needing to download it for themselves. Such descriptions may be free
text comments, votes in favour of or against its quality, or tags that collectively or
collaboratively become a folksonomy. Folksonomy is also called social tagging, "the process
by which many users add metadata in the form of keywords to shared content".
In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember
and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only
with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination
of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks
chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine.
Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including
lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new bookmarks as they
are saved, shared, and tagged by other users. It also helps to promote your sites by networking
with other social book markers and collaborating with each other.
As these services have matured and grown more popular, they have added extra features such
as ratings and comments on bookmarks, the ability to import and export bookmarks from
browsers, emailing of bookmarks, web annotation, and groups or other social network
features.

55

2.9 Metrics for Social Media Marketing

Channel Reports
This involves tracking the volume of visits, leads and customers each individual social
channel is generating. Google analytics is a new tool that allows marketers to see how
effective their social media efforts or social activities have been. Furthermore, websites such
as Hub Spot Partner and IMPACT branding help you to choose social media channels most
suitable for your business.

Return on Investment Data

The end goal of any marketing effort is to generate sales. Although social media is a useful
marketing tool, it is often difficult to quantify to what extent it is contributing to profit. ROI
can be measured by comparing marketing analytic value to contact database or CRM and
connect marketing efforts directly to sales activity.

Customer response rates

Several customers are turning towards social media to express their appreciation or frustration
with brands, product or services. Therefore marketers can measure the frequency of which
customers are discussing their brand and judge how effective their SMM strategies are.

Reach and virality

Popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks can
provide marketers with a hard number of how large their audience is nevertheless a large
audience may not always translate into a large sales volumes. Therefore an effective SMM
cannot be measured by a large audience but rather by vigorous audience activity such as social
shares, retweets etc.

Pros and Cons of Social Media Targeting

Over the years, magazine subscription demographics or Nielsen ratings may have used to
determine when and where to spend advertising dollar. Despite enhancements in these

56

techniques, however, they have remained a rather imperfect science. Social media ads,
however, provide a powerful means for brand to reach the right people at the right time.
Still, it's important to balance the perks of granular targeting through social media with the
potential downfalls of zeroing in on specific demographics and groupings. Here are some pros
and cons of social media ad targeting that your brand should consider before starting
campaigns.

Pros:

Targeting Options
Perhaps the biggest plus in terms of targeting is the sheer number of options any brand has for
drilling down to certain demographics and interest groups. Below is a list of many possible
groups to target, though it is by no means exhaustive:
a) Age
b) Location
c) Language
d) Gender
e) Education
f) Interest
g) Friends
h) Friends of friends
i) Relationship status
j) Actions taken
57

k) Occupation

Cost Effectiveness
Because of the granular targeting options available, the efficient spending of ad dollars is a
huge benefit. Instead of throwing a bunch of ads -- whether they are text, video, imagery, or
other media -- against a wall and seeing what works, you can make sure your money is being
spent in ways that make sense for the message that is present and the brand one represent.

Advertising Copy and Creative

When we say that one can deliver the right messages to the right people at the right time by
using social ad targeting, it's important to explain what that means. By targeting specific
groups of people, one should remember that they may now have the ability to use images and
copy that reflect the interests and vernacular of those in your targeted audience. While one
don't want to overdo it, it is important to create advertising content that suggests a superior
knowledge of audience. A person can no longer need to create blanket marketing messages that
appeal to a wide swath of people. So research targeted audience, understand their needs, and
appeal to that.

Cons:
Limiting Potential Reach
A potential downside to targeting groups of people with social media ads is the self-imposed
limits put in place by this strategy. When a person start choosing different groups to target, he
start removing potential groups of people who may be receptive to his advertising message,
despite not falling into a particular demographic. One can hope to see a viral spread from
social ads, which would expose new people to content. If this doesn't happen, however, ads
will only be seen by a certain percentage of people. Because one can combine targeting
options, reach a very specific group of people. But that also means that ads will not reach a
large group, especially when start drilling down to particular interests. So it's important to
balance targeting with potential reach to find the sweet spot for message.

The "Intrusion Factor

Remember that you and your audience have a lot in common: just like them, you are human
beings who enjoy some privacy; even if it's understood that there is now less of that with
social networks. So, imagine seeing the following ad copy when you sign into Facebook:

58

"Hey, 2430 year old male from Long Island who enjoys fishing, you should buy our fishing
poles, and bring your daughter with you!"
While this is an extreme example, it's not inconceivable that you could create ad copy that is
hyper-focused on a select group of users. This, however, may not be the best route. While I
noted above that you should make sure to research your audience and target copy toward
them, you can certainly overdo it. Be cognizant of the fact that most users don't want your
brand making it seem like you have everyone's information at your fingertips; instead, softly
imply that you know your audience without knowing too much about them.

2.10 Ethics of Social Media Marketing

The code of ethics that is affiliated with traditional marketing can also be applied to social
media, however with social media being so personal and international, there is another list of
complications and challenges that comes along with being ethical online.
With the invention of social media, the marketer no longer has to focus solely on the basic
demographics and psychographics given from television and magazines, but now they can see
what consumers like to hear from advertisers, how they engage online, and what their needs
and wants are. The general concept of being ethical while marking on social network sites is
to be honest with the intentions of the campaign, avoid false advertising, be aware of user
privacy conditions (which means not using consumers' private information for gain), respect
the dignity of persons in the shared online community, and claim responsibility of any
mistakes or mishaps that are results of your marketing campaign.
Most social network marketers use websites like Facebook and MySpace to try to drive traffic
to another website. While it is ethical to use social networking websites to spread a message to
people who are genuinely interested, many people game the system with auto-friend adding
programs and spam messages and bulletins. Social networking websites are becoming wise to
these practices, however, and are effectively weeding out and banning offenders.
In addition, social media platforms have become extremely aware of their users and collect
information about their viewers to connect with them in various ways. Social-networking web
site Facebook Inc. is quietly working on a new advertising system that would let marketers
target users with ads based on the massive amounts of information people reveal on the site
about themselves. This may be an unethical or ethical feature to some individuals. Some
59

people may react negatively because they believe it is an invasion of privacy. On the other
hand, some individuals may enjoy this feature because their social network recognizes their
interests and sends them particular advertisements pertaining to those interests.

3.1 AGE:
53% of Respondents are less than 25 years of age, people who are in the age of less than 25
years mostly are graduates and students, 32% of respondents are between 25 - 34 years of age,
people who are in the age between 25 34 years are mostly who are working professionals
and remaining 15% are above 34 years of age.
What is your age?
A.

Less than 25 years

B.

Between 25-34 years

C.

Above 34 years

Age of Respondents

15%

Less than 25 years

53%
32%

Between 25-34 years

Above 34 years

60

Source: Primary data

Fig 3.1

3.2 Educational Qualification

Educational qualification is yet one of the factors to consider while measuring the
effectiveness of social media marketing on increasing the awareness of a brand. 5% of
respondents said that they are currently pursuing 10th standard who are studying in different
kind of schools, 10% of respondents said that they are currently pursuing 11 th or 12th standard,
20% of respondents said that they are currently pursuing under graduation courses like BBA,
BBM, BE, B.TECH etc. and remaining 65% respondents said that they are currently pursuing
post-graduation course in different fields like Marketing, Finance, Human resource etc.
What is your Educational qualification?
A. Pursuing 10th standard
B. Pursuing 11th or 12th standard
C. Pursuing Under graduation
D. Pursuing Post graduation

61

Educational Qualification

5%

Pursuing 10th standard

10%

Pursuing 11th or 12th standard

20%

Pursuing Under graduation

65%

Pursuing Post graduation

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.2
Occupation
Occupation plays an important in determining whether social media marketing is effective to
increase awareness about brand. Whose occupation is student they are still pursuing studies at
different levels from school to post graduation. Whose occupation is employee they are
currently working professionals in an organization and whose occupation is unemployed they
are still in search for job.
60% respondents said that they are pursuing studies which are students and 30% respondents
said that they are working professionals in an organization and remaining 10% said that they
are still in search for job.
What is your occupation?
A. Student
B. Employee

62

C.

Unemployed

Occupation

10%

Student
Employee

30%
60%

Unemployed

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.3

Marital Status:
Marital status also plays a role in the usage of social networking sites, so we are considering
this factor to get the accuracy in our research. So, 80% of our respondents said that they are
single, 10% of our respondents said that they are married, 5% of our respondents said that
they were divorced, and remaining 5% of them said that they were widowed.

What is your marital status?

A. Single
B. Married
C. Divorced
D. Widowed

63

Marital Status

11%

5%

Single
Married
Divorced
Widowed
84%

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.4

Usage of internet by the user

It has been found that 12% of audience use internet once in a week, 19% of the respondents
use 2 to 3 days in a week. 30% of the respondents use 1 or 2 hours in a day and the remaining
39% of users are accessing internet more than 3 hours in a day. It is understood that the new
media and its technology is an emerging trend in communication which attracts almost all the
people, if they have knowledge of computers. So this digital media has more snatchers
towards its communication and internet is becoming part of necessary communication among
the students and professionals, etc.

How often do you use internet?

A. Once in a week
B. 1 or 2 hrs. In a day
C. 2 to 3 days in a week
64

D. More than 3 hrs. In a day

Internet Usage by Users

12%
39%

Once in a week
19%

1 or 2hrs in a day
2 or 3 days in a week

30%

More than 3hrs in a week

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.5

Awareness of social networking sites

From this result, it is observed that nearly 98% of the internet users are aware of social
networking sites and only 2% of them are clueless. Although the concept of computer-based
communities dates back to the early days of computer networks, only some years after the
advent of the internet online social networks have met public and commercial in a successive
manner. At the most basic level, an online social network is an internet community where
individuals interact, often through profiles that represent their selves to others. Social
networks have grown rapidly, and some like Facebook, Twitter have achieved the mass market
and penetrated in a few months since their inception, such applications have infringed their
users in different strategy to interact with more people.

Are you aware of social networking sites?

Yes

No
65

Awareness of social networking sites

2%

Aware of Social networking sites

Clueless

98%

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.6
Social networking site used by users
There are so many social networking sites available to users in which some of them are very
popular. Those are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, YouTube, and Instagram. Our
respondents said that 55% of respondents said that they use Facebook more, 16% of respondents
said that they use Twitter more, 16% respondents said that they use LinkedIn more, 13%
respondents said that they use Google Plus more and 5% of the respondents said that they use
other social networking sites more.
Which Social networking site do you use more?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Plus

E. Others

66

Social networking site used by users

5%
13%

Facebook

Twitter

11%

LinkedIn

Google Plus

Others

55%
16%

Source: Primary Data

Fig: 3.7

Usage of Social networking sites by users:

Some of social networking sites are Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, YouTube,
Instagram and respondents responded in the following way.53% respondents said that they log
in into these social networking sites Once in a day.27% respondents said that they log in into
these social networking sites 2 to 3 times in a day.15% respondents said that they log in into
these social networking sites more than 3 times in a day and 5% respondents said that they log
in into these social networking sites only once in a week. We have seen that the usage of
social networking sites has been increasing in recent fast few years and more it is more
because of availability of technology to its users.

How often do you log in Social networking sites?

A. Once in a day
B. 2 to 3 times in a day
67

C. More than 3 times a day

D. Once a in week

Usage of Social networking sites

5%

Once in a day

15%

2 to 3 times in a day
53%
27%

More than 3 times in a day

once in a week

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.8
Time spent on social networking sites by users
Usage of internet by people has been increasing so as time spent on social networking sites also
has increased and 15% of respondents said that they spent less than 10 minutes on social
networking sites, 15% of respondents said that they spent in between 10 to 30 minutes on social
networking sites, 40% of respondents said that they spent in between 31 to 60 minutes, and 30%
of respondents said that they spent more than 60 mins on social networking sites.
How much time do you spent daily on social networking sites?
A. Less than 10 mins
B. Between 10 to 30 mins
C. Between to 31 to 60 mins
D. More than 60 mins

68

Time spent on social networking sites

15%
30%
15%

Less than 10 mins

Between 10 to 30 mins
Between 31 to 60 mins
More than 60 mins

40%

Source: Primary data

Fig: 3.9

Visiting Companies page in social sites

There are so many pages in social networking sites available to users and pages of so many
companies which provides information everything about companies products and its new
releases and recent updates of product etc. Companies update their official page daily and to
keep the user more interactive through interaction and they share most recent updates and
news about company activities. Most of our respondents said that they visit companies page in
social networking sites.80% of our respondents said that they visit companies page in social
networking sites which they like and remaining 20% of them said that they dont visit
companies page in social networking sites at all. It has become very obvious that many
people are active in social networking sites and it has become very easier to companies to
reach potential and existing customers and connect with them.

69

Do you visit companies page in social networking sites?

A. Yes
B. No

Visits companies page by user

20%

Visit companies page

Don't visit
80%

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.10
Number of times users visiting companies page:
Because of availability of technology and resources like mobile phones, tablets, Pcs and
laptops etc. it has become very easier to user to use and available on social networking sites
and it is mainly because of smart phones and tablets the usage of social networking sites has
increased rapidly and the main reason for this is because of giants of the social networking
sites providing free application software to users with all features that are available in Pcs and
laptops. 25% respondents said that they visit companies page once in a day, 40% of
respondents said that they visit companies page once in 2 to 3 days, 20% of respondents said
that they visit companies page once in a week, 15% of respondents said that they visit
companies page once in a month.

How often do you visit companies page?

A. Once in a day
70

B. Once in 2 to 3 days
C. Once in a week
D. Once in a month

No of times user visits company page

15%

25%

Once in a day
Once in 2 to 3 days

20%

Once in a week
40%

Once in a month

Source:
Primary Data

Fig 3.11
Company pages liked by users
There are different kinds of pages available on different social networking sites and users like
pages based on their preference and liking is depends on the individual behaviour and personal
characteristics. 30% of respondents said that they like retail Type Company pages, 20% of
respondents said that they like travel Type Company pages, 25% of respondents said that they like
education type company pages, and remaining 25% of respondents said that they like other
company pages.
Which type of company pages do like more?
A. Retail
B. Travel
C. Education

71

D. Others

Type of companies pages like by user

25%

Retail

Travel

25%

30%

Education

Others

20%

Source: Primary data

Fig: 3.12

Awareness of brands through social networking sites:

Social media marketing has become very popular and very effective marketing tool to attract
potential customers and retaining existing customers. 40% respondents said that they strongly
agree with people get to know more brands through social networking sites, 25% respondents
said that they agree with people get to know more brands through social networking sites,
10% respondents said that they are neutral with people get to know more brands through
social networking sites, 10% respondents said that they strongly disagree with people get to
know more brands through social networking sites, 15% respondents said that they disagree
with people get to know more brands through social networking sites.

Did you get to know more brands through social networking sites?
A. I strongly agree
72

B. I agree
C. Neutral
D. I strongly disagree
E. I disagree

Awareness of brands through social networking sites

I strongly agree

15%
10%

40%

I agree
Neutral

10%

I strongly disagree
25%

I disagree

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.13

No of people share content on social networks:

Social media marketing offers a unique proposition to users which is interaction between
company and to its customers. Users can share their views on companys page about a new
product or it can be recent up gradation of product or it can be the communicating offers given
by company to its customers. It is this interaction that increases awareness about brand and
become loyal to the brand. The content shared by the companies must be attractive and should
gain attention of customer towards particular post, then only companies products or brands
can become successful through social media networking sites. 60% of respondents said that
they share interesting content created by companies on social networking sites and remaining
40% of respondents said that they dont share any content created by companies on social
networking sites.

73

Do you share interesting content created by companies on social networks?

A. Yes
B. No

No of people share content on social networks

Share

40%
60%

Don't share

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.14

No of times users share content on social networks:

Companies find difficulty in creating interesting content which attracts potential customers
and if this content is find very interesting by customer and it should be worth sharing by
customer on his social networking sites. 20% respondents said that they share interesting
content created by companies once in a day on their social networking sites. 50% respondents
said that they share interesting content created by companies once in a week on their social
networking sites. 25% respondents said that they share interesting content created by
companies once in a month on their social networking sites. 5% respondents said that they
share interesting content created by companies once in 3 months on their social networking
sites.

How often do you share interesting content created by companies on social

networks?
74

A. Once in a day
B. Once in a week
C. Once in a month
D. Once in 3 months

No of times users share content on social networks

5%

20%

25%

Once in a day
Once in a week
Once in a month

50%

Once in 3 months

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.15

Time spent on companys pages on social networking sites:

It is very important that customer spend time on companys page to know about latest
information anything related to companys products or brands. 25% respondents said that they
spent less than 10 mins on companys page on social networking sites, 45% respondents said
that they spent between 10 to 20 mins on companys page on social networking sites, 18%
respondents said that they spent between 20 to 30 mins on companys page on social
networking sites, 12% respondents said that they spent more than 30 mins on companys page
on social networking sites.

How much time do you spent on companys page on social networking sites?
A. Less than 10 mins
B. Between 10 to 20 mins
C. Between 20 to 30 mins
D. More than 30 mins
75

Time spent on companys pages on social network sites

Less than 10 mins

12%

25%

Between 10 to 20 mins

18%

Between 20 to 30 mins
45%

More than 30 mins

Source: Primary Data

Fig 3.16

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
1. 53% of Respondents are less than 25 years of age, people who are in the age of less than
25 years mostly are graduates and students, 32% of respondents are between 25 - 34 years
of age, people who are in the age between 25 34 years are mostly who are working
professionals and remaining 15% are above 34 years of age.
2. 5% of respondents said that they are currently pursuing 10 th standard who are studying in
different kind of schools, 10% of respondents said that they are currently pursuing 11 th or
12th standard, 20% of respondents said that they are currently pursuing under graduation
courses like BBA, BBM, BE, B.TECH etc. and remaining 65% respondents said that they
are currently pursuing post-graduation course in different fields like Marketing, Finance,
Human resource etc.

76

3. 60% respondents said that they are pursuing studies which are students and 30%
respondents said that they are working professionals in an organization and remaining
10% said that they are still in search for job.
4. 80% of our respondents said that they are single, 10% of our respondents said that they are
married, 5% of our respondents said that they were divorced, and remaining 5% of them
said that they were widowed.
5. It has been found that 12% of audience use internet once in a week, 19% of the
respondents use 2 to 3 days in a week. 30% of the respondents use 1 or 2 hours in a day
and the remaining 39% of users are accessing internet more than 3 hours in a day.
6. From this result, it is observed that nearly 98% of the internet users are aware of social
networking sites and only 2% of them are clueless.
7. 53% respondents said that they log in into these social networking sites Once in a day.27%
respondents said that they log in into these social networking sites 2 to 3 times in a
day.15% respondents said that they log in into these social networking sites more than 3
times in a day and 5% respondents said that they log in into these social networking sites
only once in a week.
8. 80% of our respondents said that they visit companies page in social networking sites
which they like and remaining 20% of them said that they dont visit companies page in
social networking sites at all.
9. 25% respondents said that they visit companies page once in a day, 40% of respondents
said that they visit companies page once in 2 to 3 days, 20% of respondents said that they
visit companies page once in a week, 15% of respondents said that they visit companies
page once in a month.
10. 40% respondents said that they strongly agree with people get to know more brands
through social networking sites, 25% respondents said that they agree with people get to
know more brands through social networking sites, 10% respondents said that they are
neutral with people get to know more brands through social networking sites, 10%
respondents said that they strongly disagree with people get to know more brands through
social networking sites, 15% respondents said that they disagree with people get to know
more brands through social networking sites.
11. 60% of respondents said that they share interesting content created by companies on
social networking sites and remaining 40% of respondents said that they dont share any
content created by companies on social networking sites.
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12. 20% respondents said that they share interesting content created by companies once in a
day on their social networking sites. 50% respondents said that they share interesting
content created by companies once in a week on their social networking sites. 25%
respondents said that they share interesting content created by companies once in a month
on their social networking sites. 5% respondents said that they share interesting content
created by companies once in 3 months on their social networking sites.
13. 25% respondents said that they spent less than 10 mins on companys page on social
networking sites, 45% respondents said that they spent between 10 to 20 mins on
companys page on social networking sites, 18% respondents said that they spent between
20 to 30 mins on companys page on social networking sites, 12% respondents said that
they spent more than 30 mins on companys page on social networking sites.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 CONCLUSION:
Awareness about the product or service provides a major contribution to brand competition in
the market. It not only provides information about a product or service but also promotes
creative innovation. Besides advertising, it also facilitates consumer satisfaction. The hidden
fact is that no brand can progress without effective marketing strategy to attract their
customers or users. Big and small variety of brands nowadays laid their base on social media
marketing to get recognized in the target market.
Social networking sites users of Face book, Twitter and LinkedIn have become a personal,
product and corporate branding hub in India nowadays in digital era. Every brand that exists
on social networking sites has the same core features and benefits, such as the ability to create
a page, share resources, add multimedia and much more.
Social networking sites are filled with potential users who are mainly young adults. They
spend more time in these networking sites due to heavy commercial contents, entertainment
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and social gathering. So, product or service communicators throng their ads in these areas
with more and more interactive and with fascinating factors so that their brand identity is
developed among the right choice of focused audience.
Advertisers and brands uses social media marketing as the major resource for their promotion
and developing brand identity among the focused market. Spending on social media
marketing has been increased in recent past due to the fact that users of social networking sites
has increased day by day and now there has been virtual competition among brands on social
networking sites.
With the invention of social media, the marketer no longer has to focus solely on the basic
demographics and psychographics given from television and magazines, but now they can see
what consumers like to hear from advertisers, how they engage online, and what their needs
and wants are.

5.2 SUGGESTIONS:

Communication should be more preferred than advertising: people do not prefer

buying products through social networking sites. So, if the brand is communicated
well and remembered by the audience, then it is a greatest success to the company for
their promotion through social media.

Companies must create interesting content to attract potential customers and to share
on their social networking sites. Companies must keep in mind that social media
marketing is just only for promoting the brand or a particular product but not for
selling the product.

The best reason why social media marketing is most important is to navigate
customers simply to target product.

Social media marketing provides a valuable service for readers, pointing them to great
content. If you believe in putting the audiences needs first, this kind of thing is a no
brainer.

Down fall of radio, newspaper and television advertisings, so social media marketing
took over the place and start advertise in best ways to gain new customers.

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Social media marketing is emerging as a powerful tool. Therefore, it is recommended

Ecommerce should use social media marketing compulsory other than the normal
marketing activities to attract target customers.

Social media marketing is slowly taking place of the conventional Marketing because
of tremendous increment in the users of internet.

Social media marketing is not only cheaper but its easy way to connect with
Customers.

Social media marketing must be interactive, promotional and in innovative form to

hold the audience. It should target the individuals than the mass. Adding more
multimedia elements to have more interactive factors in fan pages and group would
benefit the brand user.

Mobile phone usage has also become beneficial for social media marketing. Today,
most cell phones have social networking capabilities: individuals are notified of any
happenings on social networking sites through their cell phones, in real-time.

This constant connection to social networking sites means products and companies can
constantly remind and update followers about their capabilities, uses, importance, etc.
Because cell phones are connected to social networking sites, advertisements are
always in sight. Also many companies are now putting QR codes along with products
for individuals to access the company website or online services with their smartphones.

The concept of being ethical while marking on social network sites is to be honest with
the intentions of the campaign, avoid false advertising, be aware of user privacy
conditions (which means not using consumers' private information for gain), respect
the dignity of persons in the shared online community, and claim responsibility of any
mistakes or mishaps that are results of your marketing campaign.

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Bibliography:
WWW.Odigma.com
WWW.Wikepedia.com
WWW.Smallbusiness.chron.com
WWW.Slideshare.net
WWW.Managementstudyguide.com
WWW.https://in.Pinterest.com
Books:
Social Media Marketing Book
The Social Employee: How Great Companies Make Social Media Work?
The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social
Media to Market Your Brand.

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QUESTIONNAIRE
Dear Sir/Madam
Name: ..
Contact No:
City:
State: ..
I am a student of National School of business, Mysore University, Bangalore and presently
doing a project on a study on the social media marketing strategies devised to increase the
brand awareness with special reference to Odigma Solutions Pvt Ltd. I request you to kindly
fill the questionnaire below and I assure you that the data generated will be kept confidential.

PART-A
What is your age?
A. Less than 25 years
B. Between 25-34 years
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C. Above 34 years
What is your Educational qualification?
A. Pursuing 10th standard
B. Pursuing 11th or 12th standard
C. Pursuing Under graduation
D. Pursuing Post graduation
What is your occupation?
A. Student
B. Employee
C. Unemployed

What is your marital status?

A. Single
B. Married
C. Divorced
D. Widowed

PART-B
How often do you use internet?
A. Once in a week
B. 1 or 2 hrs. In a day
C. 2 to 3 days in a week
D. More than 3 hrs. In a day
Are you aware of social networking sites?
A. Yes
B. No
Which Social networking site do you use more?
A. Facebook
B. Twitter
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C. LinkedIn
D. Google Plus
E. Others
How often do you log in Social networking sites?
A. Once in a day
B. 2 to 3 times in a day
C. More than 3 times a day
D. Once a in week
How much time do you spent daily on social networking sites?
E. Less than 10 mins
F. Between 10 to 20 mins
G. Between to 21 to 60 mins
H. More than 60 mins
Do you visit companies page in social networking sites?
A. Yes
B. No
How often do you visit companies page?
A. Once in a day
B. Once in 2 to 3 days
C. Once in a week
D. Once in a month
Which type of company pages do like more?
E. Retail
F. Travel
G. Education
H. Others
Did you get to know more brands through social networking sites?
A. I strongly agree
B. I agree
C. Neutral
D. I strongly disagree
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E. I disagree
Do you share interesting content created by companies on social networks?
A. Yes
B. No
How often do you share interesting content created by companies on social networks?
A. Once in a day
B. Once in a week
C. Once in a month
D. Once in 3 months
How much time do you spent on companys page on social networking sites?
A. Less than 10 mins
B. Between 10 to 20 mins
C. Between 20 to 30 mins
D. More than 30 mins

85