Deepika Jindoliya 2018 PDF

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING OF E-
RETAILING COMPANIES ON THE BUYING BEHAVIOR OF

CONSUMERS WITH REFERENCE TO AGE GROUP OF 18-40
YEARS IN NAVI MUMBAI.
Thesis submitted to the
D.Y. Patil University, Navi Mumbai
School of Management
In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for
The award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.)
in
Business Management
Submitted by
MRS. DEEPIKA JINDOLIYA

ENROLLMENT NO.: DYP-MPhil-01460900002
Research Guide
Professor Dr. R. Gopal
Director & Head of the Department
D.Y. Patil University, School of Management,
Sector 4, Plot No. 10,CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai – 400614
March 2017.
I
The Impact of Social Media Marketing of E-
retailing Companies on the Buying Behavior of
Consumers With Reference to Age Group of 18-
40 Years in Navi Mumbai
II
Declaration
I hereby declare that the dissertation entitled ― THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL

MEDIA MARKETING BY E-RETAILING COMPANIES ON THE BUYING
BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS WITH REFERENCE TO AGE GROUP 18-
40 YEARS IN NAVI MUMBAI‖ Submitted for the Award of Master of
Philosophy in Business Management at the D.Y. Patil University, School of
Management is my original work and the dissertation has not formed the basis
for the award of any degree, associate-ship, fellowship or any other similar
titles.
The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the dissertation
has been duly acknowledge.
I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for

plagiarism, if any, detected later on.
The research papers published based on the research conducted out of the
course of the study are also based on the study and not borrowed from other
sources.
Date: Signature of student
Place: Enrolment number: DYP-MPHIL-01460900002
III
Certificate
This is to Certify that the thesis entitled ―IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

MARKETING BY E-RETAILING COMPANIES ON THE BUYING
BEHAVIOUR OF CONSUMERS WITH REFERENCE TO AGE GROUP OF
18-40 YEARS IN NAVI MUMBAI‖ is a Bonafide Research Work carried out
by Mrs.Deepika Jindoliya in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
award of the Degree of Masters of Philosophy in Business Management and
that the thesis has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree,
Diploma, Associate-ship, Fellowship or any other similar titles of any
University or Institution.
Also it is certified that the thesis represents an independent work on the part
of the candidate.
Place: Navi Mumbai
Date:
Signature of
Director and Head of Department Signature of Guide
IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to D.Y.Patil University, School of Management for having given

me an opportunity of career enhancement by carrying out the current
research work.
I am extremely thankful to my guide, mentor, philosopher Professor Dr. R.

Gopal for having guided me with his valuable inputs and extending all his
support throughout my research work. Without his able and valuable guidance
this would not have been possible. I am immensely indebted to Dr.R. Gopal
for ensuring the right direction and output of the research process.
I would like to convey my gratitude to Dr. Pradeep Manjrekar, Dr. M.

Mariappan and Dr. Sachin Deshmukh for their guidance, advice and
encouragement during the course work and paper publications.
I would also like to thank Mr. Sameer Yadav, Mr. Sandeep Surve, Ms. Vandna
Salgaonkar and the administration staff of DY Patil University for helping me
wherever needed.
I would also like to thank all the faculty members for their valuable inputs.
I sincerely thank my mother, father and brothers for their limitless support. I
would also like to convey a special thanks to my husband for always being a
source of encouragement to me.
Lastly I also thank everyone who has been directly and indirectly instrumental
in the completion of my dissertation.
Place : Navi Mumbai. Deepika Jindoliya
Date : M.Phil.
Enrolment number: DYP-MPH01460900002
V
Table of Content
Chapter No. Title Page
No.
Cover Page I
Title II
Declaration III
Certificate IV
Acknowledgement V
Table Of Content VI
List Of Abbreviations VIII
List Of Tables IX
List Of Figures XIX
Executive Summary XXI
1 Introduction 1.
2. Literature Review & Research Gap 19
3. Objectives, Hypotheses &Research Methodology 56
4. Social Media 61
5. Consumer Behaviour 94
6. E-Retailing 103
7. Data Analysis 109
8. Findings and Conclusions 181
9. Recommendations 184
10. Annexure 187
Bibiliography 187
VI
Webliography 193
Questionnaire 195
VII
List of Abbreviations
S.no. Abbreviations Full Form
1 ASSOCHAM Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India
2 BPI Business Performance Indicator
3 CPC Cost Per Click
4 CRM Customer Relationship Management
5 CAGR Compounded Annual Growth Rate
6 EBITD Earning Before Interest, Taxes and Depreciation
7 E-WOM Electronic Word OF Mouth
8 FB Facebook
9 IMC Integrated Marketing Communication
10 Li Linkedin
11 MAU Monthly Active Users
12 MNC Multi Nation Company
13 SE Search Engine
14 SM Social Media
15 SMM Social Media Marketing
16 SNS Social Networking Sites
17 Twt Twitter
18 USD United States Dollar
19 WOM Word Of Mouth
20 YT YouTube
VIII
List of Tables
Table Details Page
Number number
1. Type of information associated with questions 59
2. Calculation of sample size 60
3. Types of consumer behavior 95
4. Agreement level of respondents on the statements 110

about the impact of social media marketing on buying
behavior
5. Binomial test to analyse responses on ―impact of social 110
media marketing‖
6. Structural Equation Model to analyse ―impact of SMM‖ 111
7. Responses to rate social media as a marketing tool 111
8. Chi-Square test result to analyse responses to rate SM 112
as a marketing tool
9. Response on using social media account to log into e- 112
retail websites
10 Chi-Square test to analyse use of social media to login 112
e-retail website
11 Responses on whether the respondents login to e- 113
retailers website via their social media account
12. Chi-Square test for analyzing responses on whether the 113
respondents login to e-retailers website via their social
media account.
13. Reason of purchasing from e-retailers via social media 113
account
14 Chi-Square test to analyse the responses on reason of 114
purchasing from e-retailers via social media account
15 Level of agreement on the statement that respondents 114
had no plan of purchasing anything but end up
purchasing a product on seeing advertisement on social
IX
media
16 Chi-Square test to analyse the response that 114
respondents end up purchasing a product on seeing
advertisement on social media although there was no
prior plan
17 Percentage of respondents using different social media 115
websites
18 Marascuillo procedure to compare more than two 116
proportions for use of different social media websites
19 Table on whether the ads on given SNSs are attractive 117
and appealing
20 Table on whether the offers and images on given SNSs 118
are genuine and correlate to actual product.
21. Table regarding respondent‘s intention of future 119
purchase after seeing advertisement on given smns
22. Table of basic data distribution according to gender 120
23 Table of level of agreement of respondents(gender- 121
wise) with the statement whether they are frequent
users of social media
24 Chi-Square Tests to analyse the relationship between 121
gender and use of social media
25 Level of agreement of respondents(gender- wise) with 121
the statement whether availability of social media has
made them more informed about brands
26 Chi Square Test for analyzing the relationship between 122
gender and ability of social media to make respondents
more informed about brands
the statement whether they are more likely to respond to
social media marketing than traditional media
28 Chi Square test to analyse relationship between gender 123
and ability of social media to extract response from
customers
X
29 Level of agreement of respondents (gender- wise) with 123
the statement whether they are more exposed to
marketing communication as a result of increased social
media use
30 Chi-Square test to analyse the relationship between 123
gender and increased exposure to marketing
communication due to social media
the statement whether they are more likely to purchase
a product before launch due to extensive promotion on
social media
32 Chi-Square test for relationship between gender and 124
respondent‘s likelihood to purchase product prior to
launch as a result of promotion on social media
the statement whether social media provide effective
two way communication between buyer and e-retailer
34 Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between 125
gender and ability of social media to serve as an
effective two way communication channel between
respondents and e-retailers
the statement whether the information spread via social
media has lasting impact on perception of customer
36 Chi-square test for analyzing the relationship between 126
gender and ability of social media to have a lasting
effect on respondent‘s perception
37 Table for Rating social media as a means of marketing 127
for E-Retailers as per gender.
gender and effectiveness of social media as a marketing
tool
39 Basic data distribution according to education 128
XI
40 Education-wise Responses to the statement whether 128
respondents are frequent users of social media
41 Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between 129
education and frequency of use of social media
availability of social media has made them more
informed about brands.
43 Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between 130
education and ability of social media to make
respondents more informed about brands
they are more likely to respond to social media
marketing than traditional media
45 Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between 131
education and ability of social media to extract response
from customers
they are more exposed to marketing communication as
a result of increased social media use
47 Chi-Square Test to analyse the relationship between 132
education and increased exposure to marketing
they are more likely to purchase a product before launch
due to extensive promotion on social media
49 Chi-Square Test for relationship between education and 133
social media provide effective two way communication
between buyer and e-retailer
51 Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between 134
education and ability of social media to serve as an
XII
52 Education-wise Responses to the statement whether the 134
information spread via social media has lasting impact
on perception of customer

education and ability of social media to have a lasting
for E-Retailers as per education of respondent
education and effectiveness of social media as a
marketing tool
56 Basic data distribution according to income of 136
respondents
for E-Retailers as per income of respondent
income and effectiveness of social media as a marketing
tool
59 Income-wise Responses to the statement whether 138
income and frequency of use of social media
61 Income-wise Responses to the statement whether 139
income and ability of social media to make respondents
63 Income-wise Responses to the statement whether they 140
are more likely to respond to social media marketing
XIII
than traditional media
64 Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between income 141
customers
are more exposed to marketing communication as a
result of increased social media use
income and increased exposure to marketing
are more likely to purchase a product before launch due
to extensive promotion on social media
68 Chi-Square Test for relationship between income and 143
69 Income-wise Responses to the statement whether social 143
media provide effective two way communication
income and ability of social media to serve as an
71 Income-wise Responses to the statement whether the 144
income and ability of social media to have a lasting
73 Basic data distribution according to occupation of 145
respondents
74 Occupation-wise Responses to the statement whether 146
XIV
occupation and frequency of use of social media
76 Occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether 147
occupation and ability of social media to make
respondents more informed about brands
they are more likely to respond to social media
marketing than traditional media
79 Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between 148
occupation and ability of social media to extract
response from customers
they are more exposed to marketing communication as
a result of increased social media use
occupation and increased exposure to marketing
82 Occupation-wise Responses to the statement whether 150
they are more likely to purchase a product before launch
due to extensive promotion on social media
83 Chi-Square Test for relationship between occupation 150
and respondent‘s likelihood to purchase product prior to
social media provide effective two way communication
occupation and ability of social media to serve as an
XV
the information spread via social media has lasting
impact on perception of customer
occupation and ability of social media to have a lasting
for E-Retailers as per occupation of respondent
occupation and effectiveness of social media as a
marketing tool
90 Basic data distribution according to age 154
91 Age-wise Responses to the statement whether 155
92 Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between Age 155
and frequency of use of social media
93 Age -wise Responses to the statement whether 156
Age and ability of social media to make respondents
95 Age -wise Responses to the statement whether they are 157
more likely to respond to social media marketing than
traditional media
96 Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between Age 157
customers
97 Age -wise Responses to the statement whether they are 158
more exposed to marketing communication as a result
of increased social media use
Age and increased exposure to marketing
XVI
99 Age-wise Responses to the statement whether they are 159
more likely to purchase a product before launch due to
extensive promotion on social media
100 Chi-Square Test for relationship between Age and 159
101 Age -wise Responses to the statement whether social 160
media provide effective two way communication
102 Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between Age 160
and ability of social media to serve as an effective two
way communication channel between respondents and
e-retailers
103 Age -wise Responses to the statement whether the 161
Age and ability of social media to have a lasting effect
on respondent‘s perception
for E-Retailers as per Age of respondent
106 Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between Age 162
and effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool
107 Online shopping expenditure 163
108 Frequency of Internet Access 164
109 Change in Frequency of traditional Shopping 165
110 Analysis of Usage of social media 166
111 Analysis of e-retail website surfing behaviour 167
(i) Basic data distribution 167
(ii) Mean Rank table 167
(iii) Kruskal-Wallis test: 168
112 Comparison of the frequency of the purchase of different 169
XVII
categories of products
(i) Basic data distribution 169
(ii) Mean rank table 169
(iii) Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the frequency 170
113 Analysis of online product research by customers 171
114 Response about spending different time and effort for 172
different products
115 Table of most extensively researched product: A 173
comparative analysis
116 Table of number of websites visited before reaching at 173
purchasing decision
117 List of factors motivating customers to shop online 174
118 Table of basic data distribution of motivating factors 174
119 Mean Rank Table for motivating factors 175
120 Kruskal-Wallis test for analysing motivating factors 176

121 Most frequent E-tailing Websites 176
122 Respondents motivated to visit e-retailing website in 177
response to ads on social media
123 Respondents using social media account to login e- 177
retailing website
124 Respondents purchasing through social media 178
125 Reasons of purchasing via social media 178
126 Number of respondents sending link to family and 179

friends
127 Number of respondents writing reviews 179
XVIII
List of Figures
Figure Figure title Page
number number
1. Representation of different types of social media 8
2. Consumer decision making process 10
3. Estimates of market size of online retail by 2020 15
by brokerages and consultancy firms
4. Commodity distribution in E-retailing 17
5. Honey comb model of consumer behavior 26
6. Number of social network users worldwide from 61
2010 to 2020
7. Facebook popularity 2004-2015 62
8. Percentage of global population using Facebook 63
by region
9. Logo of Twitter 67
10. Categories of content of twitter 69
11 Logo of Linkedin 73
12 Logo of pinterest 78
13 Logo of Instagram 79
14 Leading social networks according to number of 80
active users
15 Factors influencing online consumer‘s behaviour 99
16 Mobile share of online retail sales in India in 103
2014 and 2015
17. Growth of e-retailing in India 107
18. Path diagram 113
19. Bar chart for percentage of respondents using 117
different social media sites
20. Pie chart for gender distribution 120
21 Pie chart for number of respondents as per 128
education
XIX
Income
Occupation
24 Pie chart for number of respondents as per Age 154
25 Pie Chart for online shopping expenditure of 163
respondents
26 Bar chart for mean rank of frequency of products 170
purchased online
XX
Executive Summary
Social media is a phenomenon that has drawn a lot of attention both of
companies and individuals interacting on the networking landscape. Social
media offer affordable opportunities to reach large populations. Additionally,
online campaigns on social media can benefit from the persuasive features of
interactive multi-media systems Social media is a phenomenon that has
become an important aspect in marketing mix and revolutionizing the way
companies interact with customers.
The research ‖Impact of Social Media Marketing by E-Retailing Companies on

the Buying Behaviour of Consumers With Reference to Age Group of 18-40
Years in Navi Mumbai‖ attempts to study how e-retailers can leverage social
media to penetrate their markets and reach-out to their customers in a
personal and direct manner. The report also discloses the influence of social
media on consumer‘s online buying behavior.
The proposed research strives to understand the decision making process of

consumer. As e retailing is worth millions of dollars it is of utmost importance
for the companies to know the degree of impact their new social media
marketing campaign would have on potential customers. It would help them in
channelizing more money and effort towards the social marketing strategy
which has maximum impact on consumer psyche.
Many factors are driving social marketers to conduct their work, at least in
part, online. In some cases, online channels are displacing traditional media.
With over 3.4 billion users worldwide (as per internetlivestats.com report),
online channels offer affordable opportunities to reach large populations.
Additionally, online campaigns can benefit from the persuasive features of
interactive multi-media systems.
Many researchers and marketing moguls have called on social marketers to

engage citizens though new media, but have also cautioned them to rethink
their relationships with online audiences. Despite many advantages
associated with online engagement, there is evidence that the social
marketing field has neither fully realized the potential of online engagement
XXI
nor developed the expertise required to carry out effective online social
marketing campaigns. It calls for extensive research on the use of social
media as marketing tool and impact of such marketing on consumer buying
behavior. Today almost every internet user is familiar with social media
irrespective of their profession, nationality, culture, race or religion etc.
E-retailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all ―commerce‖

conducted via the Internet. It refers to that part of e-commerce which entails
the sale of product merchandise and does not include sale of services viz.
railway tickets, airlines tickets, job portals, etc.
India had an internet user base of about 462 million as of Dec 2016 (as per
internetlivestats.com report). The penetration of e-commerce in India is low
compared to markets like China, United States or France . As per the report of
internetlivestats.com in 2014, nearly 75% (2.1 billion) of all internet users in
the world (2.8 billion) lived in the top 20 countries. The remaining 25% (0.7
billion) is distributed among the other 178 countries. China, the country with
most users (642 million in 2014), represents nearly 22% of total, and has
more users than the next three countries combined (United States, India, and
Japan). Among the top 20 countries, India is the one with the lowest
penetration: 19% and the highest yearly growth rate. At the opposite end of
the range, United States, Germany, France, U.K., and Canada have the
highest penetration: over 80% of population in these countries has an internet
connection. The industry consensus is that the penetration of e-commerce in
India is growing at an unprecedented rate and this growth is at an inflection
point.
In India, e-tailing has the potential to grow more than hundredfold to reach a
value of USD 76 billion by 2021(as per ASSOCHAM Report 2016) but this
value can even go up to nearly 120 billion as per the estimates of Morgan
Stanley . The country‘s growing Internet-habituated consumer base, which will
comprise about 180 million broadband users by 2020, along with a
burgeoning class of mobile Internet users, will drive the e-tailing story.
Key drivers in Indian e-commerce are:
XXII
 Large percentage of population subscribed to broadband
Internet, burgeoning 3G internet users, and a recent introduction
of 4G across the country.
 Explosive growth of Smartphone users, soon to be world's second

largest smart phone user-base.
 Rising standards of living.
 Availability of much wider product range (including Direct Imports)

compared to what is available at brick and mortar retailers.
 Competitive prices compared to brick and mortar retail driven

by disintermediation and reduced inventory and real estate costs.
 Increased usage of online classified sites, with more consumer buying

and selling second-hand goods
With the rise of social media in recent years there has been a heightened
interest from marketing professionals in the potential of social media for
reaching consumers. The aim of this thesis is to further the understanding of
consumer responses to marketing via social media. The rise of social media
over the past decade has raised many questions about the effectiveness and
impact of social media marketing. There are questions of if, how, and under
what circumstances they work for marketing purposes. This thesis is intended
to add to that emerging body of research. For this following objectives of
thesis are enumerated:
OBJECTIVES:
 To identify the impact of social media marketing strategies of e-

retailing companies on the buying behavior of customers.
 To study the effectiveness of Social Media tools like face book,
twitter, LinkedIn, youtube etc
 To determine the demographic profile of customers who purchase
products online from e-retailers.
 To study on-line purchasing behavior of customers of age group 18-
40 years in Navi Mumbai.
XXIII
 To identify factors motivating customers to shop online.
The study thus attempts to integrate definitions and meanings of all the key
concepts like Social Media Marketing, On-line Consumer Behaviour and E-
Retailing in India. Data Collection and analysis is done to achieve the
objectives of the study.
Methods of Data Collection:
The data for the purpose of the study would comprise of both primary and
secondary data. Primary data had been collected by questionnaire survey
method. A single questionnaire had been created and administered in
different areas. The target audience for this study people in the age group of
18-40 from Navi Mumbai belonging to diverse demographic profile.
Reason of selecting Navi Mumbai as area of research:

Navi Mumbai is selected as field of research which is a very well planned and
organized area with a cosmopolitan constitution. With the existence of many
government and private corporate offices, banks, financial institutions,
business houses, malls, ports etc it provide a heterogeneous mix of
population which helps in selecting an unbiased and random sample.
The age group of 18-40 years is selected for the purpose of study because
according to Mobile Association of India and ComScore report 2015, men
under 35 and women under 40 are most indulgent in online shopping people
under 40 are most active on social media as well. Therefore this age-group is
the most relevant for study.
Questionnaire:
It is a well framed questionnaire consist of 31 questions some of which have
been divided into sub-questions in order to get an in depth knowledge of
consumer behavior. The questionnaire comprised of different sections relating
to the various aspects of social media marketing, buying behaviour etc.
Essentially the questionnaire comprises of questions pertaining to following
type of information:
 Demographic Information
XXIV
 Usage of internet
 Usages of social Media
 Consumer Buying Behaviour
 Product research process on social Media
 Social Media Marketing tools
 Impact of Social Media
Sampling Technique :
Random Sampling technique has been used for this study as in a Random
sample from infinite population, selection of each item is controlled by the
same probabilities and the successive selections are independent of one
another.
Sample Size: The required Sample size is 385 which is determined using the
following formula:
Z 2 * (p) * (1-p)
ss =
c2
SS= Sample Size

Z = Z value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence level)
p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal
c = margin of error, expressed as decimal

Values
Z-score value 1.96
P (percentage picking a choice) 0.5
c (margin of error) 0.05
ss (Sample Size) 385
As the required sample size is minimum 385 respondents, 450 questionnaires

were sent to the respondents out of which 409 questionnaire were found to be
reliable, complete and relevant to the study.
Limitations of the study: The conclusions are drawn on the basis of data
collected from Navi Mumbai and every caution has been taken to keep the
XXV
sample unbiased and true representative of total population but it may not be
applicable for other parts of nation due to demographic and socio-cultural
diversity.
Major findings of the study:

A} Association between the social media marketing and buying behavior of
consumers:
 It is proved that marketing via social media significantly effect the
buying behavior of consumers.
 It is established that majority of consumers consider social media as
effective means of marketing.
 The availability of social media has made consumers more informed
about brands when making purchase decisions.
 Majority of customers strongly agree to the statement that they are
more exposed to marketing communication as a result of increased
media use.
B} Association between demographic factors and the effect of social media
marketing on consumer behavior:
 Effect of social media is independent of gender
 Effect of social media is independent of education
 Effect of social media is independent of occupation
 Effect of social media is independent of income
 Effect of social media is independent of age
C} Advertisements by e-retailing companies posted on social networking
accounts motivate customers to visit and purchase from the particular e-
retailing website.
D} Reviews on social networking sites are important factors in motivating
customers to purchase from E-retailers.
E} Apparels and electronics are most frequently purchased items from E-
retailers.
F} Majority of respondents agreed to the fact that their frequency of traditional
shopping has decreased as a result of online shopping.
XXVI
Recommendations:
A} As the thesis establishes a significant relationship between impact of social
media marketing and consumer behavior, its optimal use is the key to success
in attracting more customers. It is important to make advertisements attractive
and customize them as per the likes and dislikes of customers and prospects.
The best way to do so is to incorporate appealing images to text based
announcements to make them more appealing.
B} Facebook is most effective tool of marketing as per the study but now a
considerable amount of people are using new SNSs like instagram, pinterest
ect. so there is an opportunity to use these new social sites optimally.
C} According to the study the most frequently purchased items are Apparel
and electronics so special focus is required for the marketing these segment.
Significance of Study: The origination of the internet created an entire new

experience for consumers regarding gathering information, comparing
products or prices and the possibility of purchasing on the internet. Therefore
consumer behaviour on the internet is an important factor for marketers. To
predict consumer behaviour on the internet marketers need to understand
how, where and why consumers behave online. This study aims to explore
the impact of social media marketing on the behavior of customers.
The study will create more understanding about why and how on-line
consumers go through their buying decision process (BDP). The research can
attribute to more efficient social media marketing strategies and more
effective approach to attract customers and serve them better to ensure
frequent future visits and purchases.
The research findings will help in drawing a generalized conclusion regarding

the influence of social media marketing practices of e-retailers on consumers.
The result of the proposed research will be capable of drawing a modified and
more effective marketing policy.
Scope of future study: There is a scope of more focused study on each

category of product. Similar studies can also be conducted in different cities
with different demographics.
XXVII
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
“Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has obvious advantages, is difficult. Many
innovations require a lengthy period of many years from the time when they become
available to the time when they are widely adopted. Therefore, a common problem
for many individuals and organizations is how to speed up the rate of diffusion of an
innovation.” : Everett Rogers (2003)
With the rise of social media in recent years there has been a heightened
interest from marketing professionals in the potential of these new outlets for
reaching consumers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that properly executed
social media marketing can take a company to new heights.
In today‘s technology driven world, social networking sites have become an

avenue where retailers can extend their marketing campaigns to a wider
range of consumers. The tools and approaches for communicating with
customers have changed greatly with the emergence of social media;
therefore, businesses must learn how to use social media in a way that is
consistent with their business plan (Mangold and Faulds ). This is especially
true for companies striving to gain a competitive advantage. This research
work examines the adoption of social media as an extension of the marketing
strategy by on-line retail companies.
Recent years have seen a remarkable transformation in the way India shops
and trades. E-commerce has taken the world of retail by storm and captivated
the imagination of an entire generation of business people, with e-commerce
ventures with various business and commercial models. The explosive growth
in the last few years has already catapulted the biggest e-retail firms among
others. Various industry estimates project that the sector will further growth
five to seven times over the next four to five years. Online retail, while today
representing a small fraction of the e-commerce space is one of the fastest
growing segments. It is also the most challenging in fulfilling its fundamental
proposition of transcending physical boundaries to deliver a variety of
products to the customer‘s doorstep.
1
The previous few years have seen an unprecedented growth in the number of
online business players. The past decade can be called an era of
emergence of many e-retailing companies. These companies are posing
challenge not only to each other but also to regular brick and mortar
business firms. New e-retailers are entering in market every day. It is of
utmost importance for the companies to determine the degree of impact of
social media marketing practices on decision making process of consumers.
This ever increasing competition has called for adoption of new marketing
strategies, new media and ―out of box thinking‖ to influence the customer to
visit the site and make purchases.
Despite many advantages associated with online engagement, there is

evidence that the social marketing field has neither fully realized the potential
of online engagement nor developed the expertise required to carry out
effective online social marketing campaigns.
Social media offer affordable opportunities to reach large populations.

Additionally, online campaigns on social media can benefit from the
persuasive features of interactive multi-media systems. Social media is now
an integrated part of the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Social media
marketing is a powerful online marketing tool, it is typically used to
supplement other marketing methods this form of marketing is driven by word-
of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.
The social marketing field has neither fully realized the potential of online
engagement nor developed the expertise required to carry out effective online
social marketing campaigns. It calls for extensive research on the use of
social media as marketing tool and impact of such marketing on consumer
buying behavior.
E-retailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all ―commerce‖

conducted via the Internet. It refers to that part of e-commerce which entails
the sale of product merchandise and does not include sale of services viz.
railway tickets, airlines tickets, job portals, etc.
2
India had an internet user base of about 354 million as of June 2015 and is
expected to cross 500 million in 2016. The penetration of e-commerce in India
is low compared to markets like the United States or France but is growing at
an unprecedented rate, adding millions new entrants every month. The
industry consensus is that growth is at an inflection point.
1.1 Social media:
Social media are computer-mediated technologies that allow the creating and
sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression
via virtual communities and networks.
1.1(a) Concept: In 2016, Merriam-Webster defined social media as "Forms

of electronic communication (such as Web sites) through which people create
online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, etc.‖
Social media is generally defined by its ability to connect people but it can‘t be
the sole criterion as it will include many modes of communication. Therefore it
is important to enumerate the characteristics which are common in all social
media. The common features of all social media are:
 Social media are interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications.

 User-generated content such as text posts or comments, digital photos
or videos, as well as data generated through all online interactions, are
the lifeblood of the social media organism.
 Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app, which are
designed and maintained by the social media organization.
 Social media facilitates the development of online social networks by
connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals and/or
groups.
Social media uses web-based and mobile technologies on smartphones and

tablet computers to create highly interactive platforms through which
individuals, communities and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, and
modify user-generated content or pre-made content posted online. They
introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between
businesses, organizations, communities and individuals. Social media
3
changes the way individuals and large organizations communicate. These
changes are the focus of the emerging field of technoself studies.
Social media differs from paper-based or traditional electronic media such as

TV broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reach, frequency, usability,
immediacy, and permanence. Social media operates in a dialogic
transmission system (many sources to many receivers). This is in contrast to
traditional media which operates under a monologic transmission model (one
source to many receivers), such as a paper newspaper which is delivered to
many subscribers. Some of the most popular social network websites are
Facebook, messenger, linkdin, Google+, youtube, instagram, snapchat, twitter
etc.
Social media technologies take many different forms including blogs, business
networks, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing,
products/services review, social bookmarking, social gaming, social networks,
video sharing, and virtual worlds. The development of social media started off
with simple platforms such as sixdegrees.com.
The Social Network Revolution has led to the rise of the networking sites.
Research shows that the audience spends 22 percent of their time on social
networking sites, thus proving how popular social media platforms have
become. This increase is because of the smart phones that are now in the
daily lives of most humans.
The most well defining concept of social media is called Honeycomb

framework. The "honeycomb framework" defines how social media services
focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks. In a 2011 article, Jan
H. Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy and Bruno S. Silvestre
describe the honeycomb relationship as "presenting a framework that defines
social media by using seven functional building blocks: identity,
conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups."
These building blocks help explain the engagement needs of the social media
audience. For instance, LinkedIn users are thought to care mostly about
identity, reputation, and relationships, whereas YouTube's primary features
are sharing, conversations, groups, and reputation. Many companies build
4
their own social "containers" that attempt to link the seven functional building
blocks around their brands. These are private communities that engage
people around a narrower theme, as in around a particular brand, vocation or
hobby, rather than social media containers such as Google+, Facebook, and
Twitter.
1.1 (b) Types of social media:
Some of the most popular current forms of social media are social networking
websites such as Facebook, which surpassed over one billion active monthly
users in October 2012. There are several types of online platforms classified
under the vast umbrella of social media. These categories include:
Social Networks: Social networking websites allow users to build web pages
featuring personal portfolios and interests. These pages are used to connect
with friends, colleagues and other users in order to share media, content and
communications. Examples of social networks include Facebook, LinkedIn,
MySpace and Bebo.
Visual social networks are becoming more popular, with Instagram having
now surpassed Twitter in its amount of users. Data has shown that a tweet
that includes an image has a 150% more chance of being shared. There are
also new networks such as Snapchat and Periscope, that are slowly growing
in terms of popularity, especially with the younger generations.
Web blogs: Some of the oldest and most popular forms of social media are
blogs. Blogs are often viewed as online journals that order content
chronologically, or by date, month, year and category. Users can also
maintain "vlogs," or video blogs, featuring shared or homemade videos.
Blogging websites include WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr.
Microblogs: Microblogs are blogging tools that feature short posts, as

opposed to journal-style posts. Users are usually restricted to posting a few
lines of text, or uploading individual images and videos. Microblogging is
particularly common for posting quick updates and distributing content via
mobile devices. Notable microblogging sites include Twitter and Tumblr.
5
However, social networks such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and
MySpace also have their own microblogging features.
Content Communities: Users on content communities organize, share and

comment on different types of content, including images and videos.
YouTube, Flickr and scribd are examples of content communities.
Wikis: Wiki websites allow a community of people to add and edit content in a
community-based database. One of the best-known wikis is Wikipedia.
Podcasts: Podcasts are audio and video files available through subscription
services such as Apple iTunes. The term "podcast" is a neologism derived
from "broadcast" and "pod" (as in "iPod"), since Podcasts are often listened to
on portable media players.
Other types of classification of social media include the following:
 Rating and review sites (e.g. Yelp)

 Social bookmarking or social tagging features (e.g. Digg; Stumble
Upon)
 Forums and discussion boards (e.g. Yahoo! ; Answers)
 Virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life; World of Warcraft)
 Music and audio sharing (e.g. Spotify; Pandora Radio)
Social media can also be classified by their ability to facilitate certain social
functions. These social functions often involve identity, conversation, sharing,
presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. Kaplan and Haenlein created
a classification scheme using six different types of social media-- collaborative
projects (e.g. Wikipedia), blogs and microblogs (e.g. Twitter), content
communities (e.g. YouTube), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), virtual
game worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft), and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second
Life).
1.1 (c) CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Online platforms that enable users to:
6
 create, share, adapt and reuse content engage in digital dialogue and
collaboration
 create linkages, groups and communities
 have peer-to-peer contact
 have social interactions with other users
 create and maintain their own user profiles and IDs
Online platforms:
 are largely public, but walled gardens exist within some platforms
 are accessible 24/7 from a range of devices and locations
 generally expose users to an unknown audience
Content on a social media platform is:
 discoverable
 community moderated
 persistent
 subject to conditions of use
 Able to connect people
 Sharing within communities
 Operate within the conditions of certain terms and conditions
Social media embraces web-based and mobile-based technologies to

facilitate interactive communication between organisations, communities and
individuals. The social media map provides a visual summary of some of the
most common types of social media platforms, and their purposes. We‘ve also
identified the characteristics that are a feature of all social media platforms.
As it is evident from the following pictorial representation, there are hundreds

of social media websites. This list is not exhaustive, there are numerous more
websites. For the purpose of this research the most popular social network
websites have been taken into consideration. These social networking
websites have maximum number of followers all over world and hence serve
as effective tool of marketing.
7
Figure: 1 Representation of different types of social media
Source: www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz. ( 10 Jan 2017)
1.3Consumer buying behavior: Consumer behaviour is the study of

individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select,
secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to
satisfy their needs and wants.
It is also concerned with the social and economic impacts that purchasing
and consumption behaviour has on both the consumer and wider society.
Consumer behaviour blends elements from psychology, sociology, social
anthropology, marketing and economics, especially behavioural economics. It
examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour.
Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality
lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion,
loyalty, brand advocacy, willingness to provide referrals, in an attempt to
understand people's wants and consumption are all investigated in formal
studies of consumer behaviour. The study of consumer behaviour also
investigates the influences, on the consumer, from groups such as family,
8
friends, sports, reference groups, and society in general. Consumer
behaviour, in its broadest sense, is concerned with how consumers select and
use goods and services. The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with
all aspects of purchasing behaviour - from pre-purchase activities through to
post-purchase consumption and evaluation activities. It is also concerned with
all persons involved, either directly or indirectly, in purchasing decisions and
consumption activities including brand-influencers and opinion leaders.
People involved at different stages of buying decision making can be

categorized as follows:
 The Initiator - the person who proposes a brand (or product) for
consideration;
 The Influencer- someone who recommends a given brand;
 The Decider- the person who makes the ultimate purchase decision;
 The Purchaser - the one who orders or physically buys it;
 The User - the person who uses or consumes the product.
The consumer buying process is depicted as consisting of 5 distinct stages:
The purchase decision begins with the problem recognition stage which
occurs when the consumer identifies a need, typically defined as the
difference between the consumer's current state and their desired state. The
strength of the need drives the entire decision process. Information
search describes the phase where consumers scan both their internal
memory and external sources for information about products or brands that
will potentially satisfy their need. The aim of the information search is to
identify a list of options that represent realistic purchase options. Throughout
the entire process, the consumer engages in a series of mental evaluations
of alternatives, searching for the best value. Towards the end of the
evaluation stage, consumers form a purchase intention, which may or may not
translate into an actual product purchase. Even when consumers decide to
proceed with an actual purchase, the decision-process is not complete until
the consumer consumes or experiences the product and engages in a
final post purchase evaluation; a stage in which the purchaser's actual
9
experience of the product is compared with the expectations formed during
the information search and evaluation stages. The stages of the decision
process normally occur in a fixed sequence. However it should be noted that
information search and evaluation can occur throughout the entire decision
process, including post-purchase.
Figure 2: Consumer Decision Making Process
Source: http://visual.ly/consumer-decision-making-process(15 Dec 2016)
Problem Recognition
The first stage of the purchase decision process begins with problem
recognition (also known as category need or need arousal). This is when the
consumer identifies a need, typically defined as the difference between the
10
consumer's current state and their desired or ideal state. A simpler way of
thinking about problem recognition is that it is where the consumer decides
that he or she is 'in the market' for a product or service to satisfy some need
or want. The strength of the underlying need drives the entire decision
process.
Consumers become aware of a problem in a variety of ways including:
 Out-of-Stock/ Natural Depletion: When a consumer needs to replenish

stocks of a consumable item e.g. ran out of milk or bread
 Regular purchase: When a consumer purchases a product on a regular
basis e.g. newspaper, magazine
 Dissatisfaction: When a consumer is not satisfied with the current
product or service
 New Needs or Wants: Lifestyle changes may trigger the identification
of new needs e.g. the arrival of a baby may prompt the purchase of a
cot, stroller and car-seat for baby
 Related products: The purchase of one product may trigger the need
for accessories, spare parts or complementary goods and services e.g.
the purchase of a printer leads to the need for ink cartridges
 Marketer-induced problem recognition: When marketing activity
persuades consumers of a problem (usually a problem that the
consumer did not realise they had)
 New Products or Categories: When consumers become aware of new,
innovative products that offer a superior means of fulfilling a need.
Disruptive technologies such as the advent of wireless free
communications devices can trigger a need for plethora of products
such as a new mouse or printer.
Information Search and Evaluation of Alternatives
During the information search and evaluation stages, the consumer works
through processes designed to arrive at a number of brands (or products) that
represent viable purchase alternatives. Typically consumers first carry out an
internal search; that is a scan of memory for suitable brands. The evoked set
11
is a term used to describe the set of brands that a consumer can elicit from
memory and is typically a very small set of some 3- 5 alternatives.
Consumers may choose to supplement the number of brands in the evoked
set by carrying out an external search using sources such as the Internet,
manufacturer/brand websites, shopping around, product reviews, referrals
from peers and the like.
Purchase decision
Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a
purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not translate into an
actual purchase. The extent to which purchase intentions result in actual sales
is known as the sales conversion rate.
Happy hour, where two products can be purchased for the price of one, is a
strong call-to-action because it encourages consumers to buy now rather than
defer purchasing to a later time
Organizations use a variety of techniques to improve conversion rates. The

provision of easy credit or payment terms may encourage purchase. Sales
promotions such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a
competition may provide an incentive to buy now rather than later. Advertising
messages with a strong call-to-action are yet another device used to convert
customers. A call-to-action is any device designed to encourage immediate
sale and might include an offer that is only available for a limited time (e.g.
'Offer must expire soon'; 'Limited stocks available') or a special deal usually
accompanied by a time constraint (e.g. 'Order before midnight to receive a
free gift with your order'; 'Two for the price of one for first 50 callers only'). The
key is to provide consumers with compelling reasons to purchase promptly
rather than defer purchase decisions.
Post-purchase evaluation
Following purchase and after experiencing the product or service, the

consumer enters the final stage, namely post-purchase evaluation. The
12
consumer's purchase and post-purchase activities have the potential to
provide important feedback to marketers. Foxall (2005) suggested that post-
purchase evaluation provides key feedback because it influences future
purchase patterns and consumption activities.
The post purchase stage is where the consumer examines and comparies
product features, such as price, functionality, and quality with their
expectations. Post purchase evaluation can be viewed as the steps taken by
consumers to correlate their expectations with perceived value, and thus
influences the consumer‘s next purchase decision for that good or service.
For example, if a consumer buys a new phone and his or her post-purchase
evaluation is positive, he/she will be encouraged to purchase the same brand
or from the same company in the future. This is also known as "post-purchase
intention". On the contrary, if a consumer is dissatisfied with the new phone,
he or she may take actions to resolve the problem. This could involve
requesting a refund, making a complaint, or deciding not to purchase the
same brand or from the same company in the future. After acquisition,
consumption or disposition, consumers may feel some uncertainty in regards
to the decision made, generating in some cases regret. Post-decision
dissonance (also known as cognitive dissonance) is the term used to describe
feelings of anxiety that occur in the post purchase stage; and refers to the
consumer's uneasy feelings or concerns as to whether or not the correct
decision was made at purchase. Some consumers, for instance, may regret
that they did not purchase one of the other brands they were considering. This
type of anxiety can affect consumers' subsequent behaviour.
1.4 E-retailing:
Definition of Retailing: The activities involved in the selling of goods to

ultimate consumers for personal or household consumption
Definition of e retailing: Electronic retailing is the sale of goods and services

through the internet. Electronic retailing, or e-tailing, can include business-to-
business (B2B) and business to consumer(B2C) sale of products and
services.
13
For the purpose of this research work only sale of products by e-
retailers has been considered and service providing electronic websites
are excluded.
E-Retailing in India:
Over the last two decades, rising internet and mobile phone penetration has
changed the way we communicate and do business. E-commerce is relatively
a novel concept. It is, at present, heavily leaning on the internet and mobile
phone revolution to fundamentally alter the way businesses reach their
customers. While in countries such as the US and China, e-commerce has
taken significant strides to achieve sales of over 150 billion USD in revenue,
the industry in India is, still at its infancy. However over the past few years, the
sector has grown by almost 35% CAGR from 3.8 billion USD in 2009 to 12.6
billion USD in 2013. Industry studies indicate that online travel dominates the
e-commerce industry with an estimated 70% of the market share. However, e-
retail in both its forms; online retail and market place, has become the fastest-
growing segment, increasing its share from 10% in 2009 to 18% in 2013.
Calculations based on industry benchmarks estimate that the number of
parcel check-outs in e-commerce portals exceeded 100 million mark.
However, this share represents a miniscule proportion (less than 1%) of
India‘s total retail market, but is poised for continued growth in the coming
years. If this robust growth continues over the next few years, the size of the
e-retail industry is poised to be around 100 USD by 2017-2020. This growth is
expected to be led by increased consumer-led purchases in durables and
electronics, apparels and accessories, besides traditional products such as
books and audio-visuals.
Growth of E-Retailing in India:
Online retail here refers to gross sales of electronics, fashion, books, furniture
and home products, health and personal care products and groceries at e-
commerce firms. Gross sales do not account for discounts, product returns
and order cancellations.
14
The curious thing is that all the brokerages have cited the same factors, more
or less, that will drive the growth of e-commerce in India. These are broadly:
soaring sales of smartphones and mobile Internet connections, rising
incomes, uninterrupted flow of capital, shortage of organized retail stores and
improvement in e-commerce infrastructure such as logistics and payments.
But how fast will these factors combine to drive e-commerce in India? That‘s
where the differences arise.
Fig 3: Estimates of market size of online retail by 2020 by brokerages

and consultancy firms
Source: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/So-what-is-the-state-of-Indias-
online-retail-market-anyway.html( 7 Jan 2017)
There is difference between the most bullish estimate of the e-commerce

market in India and the most conservative.
One extreme is Morgan Stanley, which has estimated that e-commerce sales
in India will soar to nearly $120 billion by 2020; UBS Group AG is at the other
end of the spectrum, predicting that online retail will rise only to $48-60 billion
by that year. A look at the estimates by brokerages and consultancy firms of
15
India‘s e-commerce market size reveals a wide gap in expectations. Apart
from Morgan Stanley and UBS, Mintlooked at estimates by three other firms:
RedSeer Consulting—$80-100 billion; Goldman Sachs—$68.8 billion; Google-
AT Kearney—$60 billion.
Morgan Stanley believes India will see a similar kind of growth in online retail
that China has seen over the past few years. The securities house said that
India will have an Internet penetration rate of 59% by 2020, a number China
may reach in 2018.
Electronics and fashion have emerged as large categories in China. Online

penetration in these categories increased from less than 6% in 2010 to 30% in
2013 in China. In India, online penetration was 3-5% in these two categories
in 2014; however, it is expected the growth trajectory of India to mirror that of
China. According to Feb report of Morgan Stanley Online penetration in 2020
should go to 25-30% for these categories, resulting in an online market of
$88.5 billion combined.
UBS, on the other hand, said India will not mirror China‘s growth levels.
According to UBS the forecast e-tail market size remains the key variable for
e-commerce valuations. The discussions with industry participants and
investors suggest that there is a wide range of estimates for market size,
implying very different growth rates. The robustness of some of these
estimates leaves a lot to be desired. For example, a common view is
overlaying China‘s growth trajectory onto India to arrive at India‘s market size
based on the comparable expected Internet penetration trajectory. According
to UBS 2015 report this can be considered flawed, given different income
levels and consumption trends in India.
Commodity distributions in e-tailing:
As per the report of Internet and Mobile Association of India research,

electronics and apparels constitute the biggest share in e-retailing industry in
India (34% and 30% respectively)
16
Fig 4: Commodity distribution in E-retailing
healthcare, 3% Sales
home and
furnishing, 6% baby products, 2%
beauty and
personal, 10%
baby products
electronics
apparels and accessories
electronics, 34%
books, 15% books
beauty and personal
home and furnishing
apparels and healthcare
accessories, 30%
Source: Internet and Mobile Association of India research (2015)[extracted on

20 Nov 2016]
As per a survey by BUSINESS STANDARD the top E-tailers of 2014 is

Amazon. in followed by Flipkart. Amazon.in beat indigenous e-retailer Flipkart
to become the best e-commerce website in India, according to People‘s
Choice Survey conducted by cash back and coupons site CashKaro.com.
Snapdeal ranked third in the list, followed by Myntra, Jabong and Shopclues,
according to the survey that covered 2000 online shoppers
The People‘s Choice Survey is an annual report by CashKaro.com, which

identifies key trends in online shopping in India. The pan-India survey got
responses from metros as well as Tier-I, -II and III cities. As many as 65 per
cent respondents in the survey were male, in the age group of 18 to 30 years.
Online shoppers favoured one website over another on the basis of the
category that they were looking to make purchases in. While Flipkart emerged
as the best platform to buy mobile phones and accessories, Amazon.in was
the favourite for buying laptops and electronics. For fashion and accessories,
buyers took to Myntra and Jabong, the survey showed. In the babycare
17
segment, Firstcry was the choice of a majority of buyers, and for home decore
it was FabFurnish.
The increasing competition and challenges of changing business scenario

have prompted the e-retailers to adopt some radical marketing practices in
order to attract the customers. As there are several players in the field
consumer has many options so it is of great significance to make him visit the
website.
18
Chapter-2
Literature Review
The basic essence of this research work is to study the impact of social media
marketing on buying behavior of online shoppers. It is of vital importance to
study and analyse the fact that social media can play a significant role in
shaping consumer perceptions and hence ultimately influencing the buying
decision process of consumer. In order to have a thorough understanding of
the work done in this field the research work of various Indian and
international scholars and writers has been studied and reviewed.
1. Tim Finin, Anupam Joshi, Pranam Kolari, Akshay Java, Anubhav Kale,
and Amit Karandikar (2008) in their study ―The information ecology of
social media and online communities‖ explained that Work on building
systems that would help in recognizing the spam blogs, finding opinion on
topics, identifying communities of interest, deriving trust relationships and
detecting influential bloggers with the help of models of blogosphere . Social
media systems such as photo- and link-sharing sites like YouTube etc.,
weblogs, online forums are estimated to generate one third of the new web
contents. One prominent feature that distinguishes the ―web 2.0‖ sites from
the other web pages is that they are interlinked with other forms of network
data. Their standard hyperlinks are enriched by social networks, comments,
trackbacks, advertisement, tags, resource description framework (RDF) data
and metadata. The writers conclude by stating that as the internet evolves, it
changes the way in which the people interact with it as content providers or
content consumers and the results will be more interesting mixture of
underlying networks - network of individuals, groups, opinions, beliefs,
documents, advertisements and scams. These interwoven networks will pose
new opportunities and challenges for extracting information and knowledge
from them.
2. Yin, Sara (2008) in her research paper How Social Media and PR
Connect, writes that with the emergence of Social Media, the whole
19
communications landscape has transformed and the mass mobilizing power
of Social Media is tremendous. People think that Social Media is a threat to
traditional PR and mainstream media, however Social media complements
traditional PR and traditional PR will exist as an important component of any
successful business. The PR and advertising agencies are all undergoing a
change and are trying to evolve their strategy, physical structure and business
models to be in tune with social media.
3. Irene, FalsePollach ( 2008) in their study on Media Richness in Online

Consumer Interactions : An Exploratory Study of Consumer-Opinion
Web Sites have exclusively discussed on Consumer Opinion websites which
provide opportunities to people to share their opinions or views about a
product or service, read others opinions and also interact with other
consumers. The writers have identified three major challenges which the
consumer opinion websites face and they are i) quality of contributions ii)
motivating users to participate iii) earning reader‘s trust. The main objective of
this article is to find out ways by which the quality of the contents of these
websites is enhanced so that it becomes a useful source of information for the
consumers as well as the companies. The conclusions drawn from the study
show that the consumer opinion websites are more influential and provide
more valuable information when they separate the complex task of
information search and dissemination from the simple task of social
interaction, and support each task with appropriate levels of richness. The
writers conclude that consumers should consider both positive and negative
points about a product or service before stating their opinion.
4. The future possibility and the prospects of connecting consumer electronics

to the web through open API‘s has been endeavored by the writers Mariana
Baca and Henry Holtzman (2008) in their research work ―Television meets
Facebook : Social Networks through Consumer Electronics‖. The project
consists of an IP enabled digital video recorder in the form of advance cable
television set-top box connected to Facebook social network. The objective of
this project are : a. How can the omnipresent consumer electronics work
together in a simple way, b. How can the data available on social networking
20
application diffuse in useful ways into the participant‘s real lives and c. How
can these systems accomplish these tasks seamlessly without adding time or
complexity to the user‘s experience. The results of this project are the user
can now watch on his TV, the media that his friends enjoy, as well as his own
explicitly requested recordings, through the system of ratings the user can use
her DVR‘s enhanced interface to post back on social network what shows
have been liked by them. The user‘s profile box in Facebook is going to be the
main tool for sharing the user‘s upcoming viewing schedule. The information
on their profile affects their viewing habits, therefore users will be more
conscious with whom they add in their friend network and what information
they provide through their profiles. The integration of consumer electronics
and social networking is expected to benefit the content producers and
distributors through the automation of word-of-mouth (WOM)
recommendation. This project is also expected to help the users in finding the
appealing new content faster than they would otherwise, help users in sharing
contents and experiences more easily and will help the content distributors
track content distribution in a social network directly into consumer
electronics.
5. W. Glynn Mangold and David J. Faulds (2009) in Social Media : The

new hybrid element of the promotion mix, argues that Social Media is a
hybrid element of the promotion mix because in a traditional sense it enables
companies to talk to their customers, while in a non-traditional sense it
enables customers to talk directly to one another. The writers feel that Social
Media being a hybrid element of the promotional mix, should be incorporated
as an integral part of the company‘s Integrated Marketing Communication
(IMC). When Procter and Gamble (P&G) or General Electric (GE) entered the
arena of Social Media, they carefully framed their communications with the
market place in order to consistently reflect their organizational values and
they acknowledge the value of incorporating Social Media into their IMC
strategies and promotional efforts. The second promotion related role of
Social media is : customers can use Social Media to communicate with one
another. The organization cannot control the content, timing, and frequency of
the social media based conversations occurring between consumers. This
21
stands in contrast to the traditional integrated marketing communications
paradigm where organizations have a high degree of control over the
customer‘s communication. The Social Media has profoundly affected all
aspects of consumer behaviour, and has bestowed consumers with power
they have not previously experienced in the marketplace
6. The importance of Social media platform as a crucial tool for strategic

marketing has been discussed by Efthymios Constantinides, Carlota
Lorenzo Romero and Miguel A. Gomez Boria (2009) in their research study
―Social Media : A New Frontier for Retailers?‖ This study has proposed a
number of new strategies for retailers implementing which will not only help
the retailers to survive, but create a competitive advantage and flourish in the
new environment.
7. The rising significance of Virtual social worlds and how business can use
their potentials has been discussed by Andreas Kaplan and Michael
Heinlein (2009) in their research work ―The fairyland of Second Life :
Virtual social worlds and how to use them‖. At the beginning this study the
authors have discussed about the evolution of virtual social worlds and its
history. Followed by how it fits in our time and lastly how they are different
from other social media, such as content communities (e.g. YouTube), social
networking sites and blogs (e.g. Facebook), collaborative projects (e.g.
Wikipedia) and virtual game worlds. This study has thrown light on how
businesses can make use of these virtual social worlds in the field of
advertising and communication, virtual product sales (v-Commerce), human
resource, marketing research and internal process management. Along with it
this study has also discussed increasing linkages between the real and the
virtual worlds, enforcement of law and order and transformation of virtual
social business as business hubs or centres of the future.
8. Smith, Nicola (2009) in their research paper ―Consumer electronics

vertical Focus: The heights of invention‖ has stated that consumer
electronics sector has been the first sector in experimenting and trying out the
different techniques of digital marketing. The various product promotional
22
campaigns taken up on the Social Media by the digital pioneers like Sony,
Toshiba, Samsung, Panasonic and the overwhelming responses they
received online form a part of this paper. It has been put forth by the writers
that the key challenge faced by the consumer electronics brands has been to
effectively communicate the complexity of their products to a wide audience
and through digital marketing they have overcome this challenge and
therefore they are turning to digital marketing. Online video and Social Media
(Social media includes Consumer reviews, online communities and forums)
have been cited as the greatest opportunities by the consumer electronics
brands. The brands can directly open a dialogue with the consumer,
understand the consumer‘s needs, answer their questions, get feedback and
have a friendly engagement with the consumer; all because of Social Media.
9. Jiyoung Cha (2009) in research work ―Shopping on Social networking

websites ; Attitudes toward real versus virtual items‖ explored factors
affecting the shopping attitude on social networking site. The study is based
on two types of products which are present on social networking sites: Real
products and Virtual products. The study reveals that usefulness, age, ease of
use, security and fit play a significant role in determining the attitude for
shopping real products. On the other hand gender, social networking site
experience, ease of use and fit influence the attitudes for shopping virtual
products.
10.Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) in their article “Social media: back to the
roots and back to the future” published in emraldinsight.com define social
media as ―a group of Internet based applications that build on the ideological
and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and allow the creation and
exchange of user generated content.‖ According to Kaplan and Haenlein
(2010) web 2.0 is a platform where content is continuously altered by all
operators in a sharing and collaborative way. Web 2.0 is a web based
technology which helps to create highly interactive platforms through which
individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss and modify user –
generated content. Social media are the websites which are build upon the
technological foundations of web 2.0 that help a user to create user generated
23
contents that can be shared. This technology allows a user to create and
publish the content on the social media networks. This information can be
shared with other members of the social media website, who are connected
with the user. This process is interactive where other members can also
respond in different ways.
11. Tom Smith (2010) in The social media revolution, says Social Media
has changed the manner in which the communication between the
organizations and the customers were taking place; it has changed from
talking through mass media to listening and conversing through social media.
Since the consumer online is a commentator, reviewer and publisher, all the
organizations have to stop talking and start listening to how they are
perceived online. Listening is just the start, after listening, actively
participating in the discussions with the consumers and engaging them is
crucial. This engagement with the consumers online will be the key way for
building long-term advocates of the brand, who not only purchase their
products but also recommend them on and offline. The writer then opines that
there is a huge opportunity for research, as the need for research outputs and
knowledge will shape the consumer opinion. Research and research
companies have a great scope for research through Social Media and the
research companies that evolve with Social Media can increasingly prosper.
Research Companies can evolve in various ways :
Build community : Consumers want to share views and opinion and
communities should grab this opportunity and tap in. This means providing
constant surveys, message boards, listening permanently and not
occasionally, and making the conversation two-way by sharing results back
with them.
Work with brands to build research communities: Research agencies and
companies should work together and two-way research oriented portals
should be implemented by organisations. Research agencies should
constantly and carefully monitor the consumer‘s conversations and help the
organizations with the latest updates.
24
Widgitise : widgets or mini applications allow you to place your site or content
in an external web environment. These offer a new way of building and
maintaining research communities and distributing surveys.
Embrace social media platforms as research platforms: Sharing
information, content, opinions through wikis, network sites, blogs, video sites,
generates a large amount of data which can be very helpful for research.
Therefore the social media platforms should be used as research platforms.
13. Wright, Elizabeth; Khanfar, Nile M (Nov. 2010) in ―The lasting effects
of Social Media Trends on Advertising‖ has explored that there is no use
investing millions in traditional methods of advertising because people find
new ways to block or get away from these advertisements. The key is to
target the right people with the right messages. In order to do this, the
marketers should focus on Connectors(are the ones that move and steer
people into directions and avenues of interest to them) , Mavens(are the ones
who want to know the best deals and tell everyone about it) and
salespeople(who have the ability to convince and sell new ideas). The
connectors, mavens and salespeople have the ability to give a high return on
investment, since by targeting them the organization can acquire high sales
just by targeting a small group of people. Thus targeting the right people not
only brings down the organization‘s advertising expenses but also drastically
improves their marketing productivity. Social Media makes it very easy for any
organization to connect with these connectors, mavens and salespeople. It is
very important to use holistic, comprehensive relationship marketing strategy
to target these people, since they are key drivers in influencing the consumers
buying decision.
14. Ian McCarthy and Kietzmann et al(2011) in ―Understanding the Social

Media Ecology: A Honeycomb Framework‖ identifies seven functional
blocks of social media websites: identity, conversation, sharing, presence,
relationships, reputation and groups.
Each block allows us to understand the structure of the social media site
based on the facilities it provides to its users. This study attempts to
25
understand the functions of the social media websites and their role in social
media marketing. These building blocks are not mutually exclusive and also
they are not part of every social media site. These building blocks are the
constructs which helps us to understand how different levels of social media
functionality can be configured.
Fig 5: Honey comb model of consumer behaviour
Source: https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2013(extracted on 15 Oct 2016)
Identity The identity dimension is about the extent to which individuals or

organizations make their identity public by disclosing personal or corporate
information (i.e. name, age, gender, profession, location) in a social media
setting. Individuals also tend to reveal other information – consciously or
unconsciously – about themselves that makes them portrayed in certain ways
through ‗self-disclosure„of subjective information such as thoughts, feelings,
likes, and dislikes.
Conversation The conversations dimension of the Honeycomb Model is

about the extent to which each individual communicate with one another in a
social media setting. Most social media sites„primarily purpose is to facilitate
conversation among individuals and interest groups.
26
Sharing The sharing dimension is about the extent to which an individual ex-
changes, distributes and receives content in a social media setting. As the
term social implies, exchange between individuals is a crucial functionality on
social media sites. At the end of the day, social media is about people sharing
their identities and lives by sharing relevant content (i.e. groups, text, videos,
pictures, audio, links) .
Presence The presence dimension is about the extent to which an individual

can know whether his/her peers are available online. Presence dimension
includes information as to where each-individual-in-one„s-network is in the
virtual world and/or in the real world. In a way presence dimension functions
as a bridge that connects the real and the virtual realities.
Relationships The relationships dimension is about the extent to which each

individual can be related to other individuals in a social media setting. The
word relate„ is used to indicate the type of association formed between
individuals (i.e. befriending, joining groups, co-presence on a social media
site) which in turn may lead to conversation and shares.
Reputation The reputation dimension is about the extent to which each

individual is able to identify ones relative position (including one„s own
position) in the society in a social media setting. In social media, reputation is
not something granted to people through their disclosed identities but it is
something that can be earned through shared content, expressed thoughts,
likes and dislikes. The same is true for organizations seeking to build or
strengthen their reputation through implementing social media strategies.
Groups The Groups dimension is about the extent to which each individual
can form communities and sub-communities in a social media setting.
15. Chris Murdough (2011)in “A Social Media Mindset ―said Synthesizing

all three of performance categories i.e. Reach, Discussions and Outcomes,
helped clarify comprehensively what was going on in the social Web for
brands and best advise them how they can leverage the audience in this
space.
27
16.Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) must be used in social
marketing is proposed by Jacinta Hawkins, Sandy Bulmer and Lynne
Eagle (2011) in their research work ―Evidence of IMC in social
marketing‖. This research study has given evidence of IMC being
successfully incorporated in the communication of school-based health
promotion activities within schools that promotes health. The findings of the
research reveals that IMC principles are successfully communicated and
forms part of the HPS(health promoting school) policy of promoting health.
This research throws light on how IMC can and should be used in social
marketing. This research has provided insights for social marketing
practitioners to improvise on the communication efforts.
17. Social Media Explained: Untangling the World's Most Misunderstood

Business Trend by Mark W. Schaefer (Publisher: Lightning Source Inc (1
September 2011)"Social Media Explained" explores the fundamental
strategies and answers the questions every business professional needs to
answer before diving into a social media initiative! This the must-have guide
for understanding the sociological and psychological drivers that make social
media marketing work.
18. Leboff (2011) in Sticky Marketing observed, the increasing use of

internet has put the Consumer in the Driver‘s Seat. Exponential growth in
Internet usage by Individual and businesses alike has made competition all
the fiercer in many sectors. Online presence is made available at little or no
cost, thus giving a Level Playing Field to the masses with at least in the
domain of marketing.
Developing new relationship and associations with customers is no longer a
choice but a compulsion. Sharing information about the organization and its
products has now changed to Online Discussions. These obviously are in
stark contrast with traditional, hardsell forms of marketing.
Leboff said, that Return on Investment is now measured not in traditional

sales terms, but in terms of ―Return On Engagement‖. Measurement of
engagement or emotional investment in the brand, like active participation on
28
the company website or favorable references to it in blog posts are the key
points that make a deference to increase in business. The benefits due to
these radical changes include individual loyalty, attracting additional followers
who become fans and customers. Even the smallest companies now have a
major presence on Social Media like Facebook or a LinkedIn page in which
they interact directly with customers and respond to queries or requests for
assistance.
19. (Kietzmann et al., (2011):in ―Social media? Get serious!

Understanding the functional building blocks of social media‖ stated that
Media sharing sites (i.e. YouTube, Picassa and Flickr) or blogging platforms
(i.e. blogspot, wordpress) are also members of the ecosystem called social
media. Social media has equipped the organization to establish a direct
relationship with the consumers. Both of the organizations and consumers are
free to generate content on the web pages, which further leads to
conversations and discussion. Organization on one end are provided with an
opportunity to share their information with a large base of customers and on
the other end consumers are also free to publish any content whether positive
or negative regarding the information
20. Aberdeen et al, (2011) Fans, Friends, and Followers: Social Media in
the Retailers' Marketing Mix [The Journal of Applied Business and
Economics; Thunder Bay12.3 (Jul 2011): 61-68.]: has taken a retailers
perspective, saying it is the dynamic exchange of information between retailer
and consumer via an online community destination such as Company Blog,
Online forum, Website or any other type of social media outlet or tool. This
dynamic content included, but was not limited to Blogs, Micro Blogs – Twitter,
Product commenting, Social Networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, Online Video –
YouTube, Presentation or Document Sharing – Slide Share, Social
Bookmarking, Podcasting
Aberdeen expressed this important issue by saying:
 There was a direct link between social media and increased customer
loyalty and it was a viable means of Communication and Customer
Experience. Businesses who sought to keep pace with the
29
exponentially expanding influence of the Customer Voice could not
afford to avoid this channel opportunity any longer.
 Due to lingering recession, Customer Advocacy was pivotal for the
longevity of any company, and there was no better way of building
brand advocacy than through social media. Social Media has radically
amplified the Word of Mouth, enabling the Good, Bad and Ugliest of
Shopping Experiences to go viral in the blink of an eye.
Marketing Departments were helped by Social Media Insights with respect to
the following:
 Focus on Target Customers
 Growth of Customer Database
 Monitor Customer Sentiments.
 Setting up Micro-sites that engage Shoppers Feedback, Delivering
Promotions or Driving Shoppers back into stores, Social Media had
become a Mission Critical Marketing Tool that if used correctly can help
chains build Brand Advocates.
21. A study has been conducted on social networking sites like Facebook,
Twitter and Orkut by authors P. Sri Jothi, M. Neelamalar and R. Shakthi
Prasad (March 2011) in their research paper ―Analysis of social
networking strategy in developing brand communication‖, with the
primary objective of determining the effectiveness of brand communication
strategy in advertising products and promoting brands on social networking
sites. The various reasons for social media being a widely used platform, for
advertising compared to the other traditional advertising mediums have been
discussed. The various ways that are being provided by social media platform
for its users to communicate with each other and interact with the brand are
discussed like chat, messaging, video, email, voice chat, file-sharing, blogging
and discussion groups. According to the writers views, the marketing
communications are becoming personal, interesting, interactive and social.
Findings of the study suggest that social media advertising has its impact on
70% of the users and half of them access these ads i.e. games, quiz, events
etc. It was found that the interaction is more in the display banner
30
advertisements in Face book and Orkut. Every Social networking site has a
unique communication strategy and user interaction. Face book promote and
allows user interactions, Twitter feeds posts relating the brand and Orkut
promote through click ads and promotional brand pages. Face shows
accessibility because of its huge popularity and Twitter gives more importance
to the text. The writers concluded by stating that Social networking sites have
the scope to grow big for highly targeted marketing and advertising. Social
networking sites presents enormous opportunities to build the brands and
have become a branding hub.
22. O‘Brien, Clodagh (2011) in their research paper ―The emergence of the
social media empowered consumer‖ has thrown a light upon the various
platforms that has an impact on traditional relationship marketing concepts
and how this has resulted in raising consumer expectations of the
conventional business. This study also talks about areas like word of mouth
and consumer empowerment and emphasizes the areas of potential
development in theory and practice as a result of social media empowerment.
The author in this study has expressed his views about social media and
CRM. He says that Social media has completely changed the manner in
which communication takes place thereby giving a new dynamics to the
human relationships. The organizations which are accepting social media
must also accept that they are losing the element of control to the consumers.
For most of the businesses social media has gained a lot of importance in
establishing their web presence overtaking the company website and email
communication program. This has completely changed the manner in which
the organizations are interacting with their consumers and how they are
implementing the customer relationship management strategies. The main
difference between the traditional CRM and social CRM is that the social
CRM is more customer oriented and it involves customers proactively. The
author also talks about word of mouth marketing that empowers the
organization and not the consumer.
23. An attempt is being made to examine how social relationship factors relate
with eWOM being transmitted via social networking sites by Shu-Chuan Chu,
31
Yoojung Kim(2011) in their study ―Determinants of consumer
engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking
sites‖. As more and more marketers incorporates Social media in their
promotional activities, there is a need to investigate the determinants that
impact the consumers engagement in eWOM via social networks. eWOM is
based on three aspects : opinion seeking behaviour, opinion giving behaviour
and opinion passing behaviour. Opnion seekers depend on others advice to
make purchase decision. Opinion givers exert a great influence on others
opinions. Opinion passers helps in the flow of information. Literature review
has revealed four social relationship variables - tie strength, homophily, trust
and interpersonal influence. Interpersonal influence is further divided into
normative influence and informational influence. The results indicate that tie
strength, trust, normative and informational influence had a positive
relationship with all types of eWOM behaviours. However homophily had a
negative relationship with the eWOM behaviour.
24. Botha. E., Farshid, M., Pitt, L. (2011) identified Tools for collecting brand
visibility information of brands present over social media in their research
paper ―How Sociable? An exploratory study of university brand visibility
in social media‖. Brands are using Social Media to acquire new customers
and to retain the existing ones. Brands need to acquire information about their
visibility on these social networking sites, as compared to the visibility of their
competitors. This is an exploratory study that has been conducted on the
South African University brands. This study has identified, positioning of the
brands over social media and the strategies followed by them to make
themselves visible to the audience, as the tools for knowing the visibility of the
brands. The findings of the study revealed that the South African University
brands do not have a distinct position over social media, nor do they have
effective strategies to engage their stakeholders. The writers concluded that
the institutions should have a fair attitude towards Social media, since social
media is currently governing the internet and the media. The people who are
managing these brands can see this as an opportunity to make the brand
presence prominent.
32
25. Brian Massey(2012) in his book ―Your Customer Creation Equation‖,
explains the how and why of conversions and measurement. It‘s a concise,
clear-sighted overview of visitors and actions. Brian covers social media in
context of conversation. He reminds that conversion does not necessarily lead
to action. So he encourages to take a practical approach to social media by
focusing either on conversation or content, depending on business.
There are different types of websites with different types of visitors. Each type
has its own ―formula.‖ The key to optimizing conversion rate is
experimentation. Brian even calls himself a ―Conversion Scientist.‖ He‘s
clearly a strong advocate of testing.
By walking the reader through five online formulas-aka "customer creation

equations"-he shows you how to determine the best formula your own
particular business structure and how to optimize it for stellar results.
Key to this process is setting up a "digital conversion lab," and Brian shows
you how. Jam-packed with easy-to-understand equations for things like
increasing your conversion rate and decreasing your abandonment rate-as
well as practical strategies for attracting prospects, turning buyers into triers,
and morphing buyers into loyal brand advocates-this book will enable anyone
to stop hoping for success and start enjoying higher profits. The Advanced
Curriculum in Visitor Studies gives readers additional guidance on how to
really understand their targets and customers-an understanding that is at the
heart of all successful websites, and businesses, everywhere.
26. ―Digital Leader‖ by Erik Qualman(2012): In this book Qualman explains

how to take full advantage of everything the digital age has to offer, while
avoiding common pitfalls that can damage your "digital legacy."
Erik Qualman explains what modern leadership means and describes how to
be an effective leader in the digital world. In order to succeed, you need to
adjust your leadership skills to adapt to today's digitally open world--and you
need to start today. Qualman breaks the process down into five powerful
truths you can use to establish your leadership "stamp":
Simple: success is the result of simplification and focus
33
True: be true to your passion
Act: nothing happens without action--take the first step
Map: goals and visions are needed to get where you want to be
People: success doesn't happen alone
Basing his conclusions on a wide range of research and resources, Qualman

provides an abundance of real-world examples and tips to help you create a
path to success while leading others to achieve their best.
27. Angella J. Kim, Eunju Ko(2012): ―Do social media marketing

activities enhance customer equity- An empirical study of luxury fashion
brand‖: In light of a growing interest in the use of social media marketing
(SMM) among luxury fashion brands, this study set out to identify attributes of
SMM activities and examine the relationships among those perceived
activities, value equity, relationship equity, brand equity, customer equity, and
purchase intention through a structural equation model. Five constructs of
perceived SSM activities of luxury fashion brands are entertainment,
interaction, trendiness, customization, and word of mouth. Their effects on
value equity, relationship equity, and brand equity are significantly positive.
For the relationship between customer equity drivers and customer equity,
brand equity has significant negative effect on customer equity while value
equity and relationship equity show no significant effect. As for purchase
intention, value equity and relationship equity had significant positive effects,
while relationship equity had no significant influence. Finally, the relationship
between purchase intention and customer equity has significance. The
findings of this study can enable luxury brands to forecast the future
purchasing behavior of their customers more accurately and provide a guide
to managing their assets and marketing activities as well.
28. Manish Parihar (2012)in “Customer Relationship Management” he

mentioned that Companies of contemporary times have been realizing the
insight to create communities around their products or offerings, invite and
encourage members to join them, and then convert them into loyal customers
34
and advocates. Business owners had been increasingly interested in using
social media to optimize their customer experience management activities
because they knew social media was changing the Customer Relationship
Management game.
29. Abu Bashar, Irshad Ahmad, Mohammad Wasiq In Their Research

Paper ―Effectiveness Of Social Media As A Marketing Tool: An Empirical
Study‖(2012) In an era where technology prevails, entrepreneurs as well as
marketers see the need to keep up with the fast pace of change or risk being
outdated. It is practically impossible to design a marketing strategy without
considering social networks. Social media had become really important
gradient in today‘s marketing mix in general and in promotion mix in particular.
Adapting some form of marketing online through social media is a key node
for all businesses, especially in an industry where trends constantly change
such as fashion and handicrafts. The paper carries out empirical research to
understand the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool and an effort
has been made to analyze the extent social media helps consumers in buying
decision making. In addition strategies have been suggested for maximizing
the effectiveness. Various statistical tests have been applied to support the
research hypothesis.
business today is being transformed from a transactional relationship to a
social relationship. It is now more critical than ever that successful businesses
use Engagement Marketing principles to plan for successfully engaging their
prospects and customers before, during and after their purchase cycle, and
that the basis for this engagement is high-quality and relevant information.
Information which are demanded by target market at a time and place of their
choice (24/7 and 365 days/year).Marketer‘s job is to provide this information
in such a manner that you are viewed in a positive light, create a positive
brand and product reputation. The medium is growing very fast and holds
huge potential but is still in its nascent stage in India. Therefore, it is time for
the companies to make effective strategies and execute them to win larger
share of business through this revolutionary medium and become the
innovative firm of coming future.
35
30. The characteristics of online marketing strategies used by E-
entrepreneurs have been explored by S. Vivin. Richard, Ms. Sri. Jothi (Aug.
2012) in the research study ― A study on online marketing strategies
used by E-Entrepreneurs in India‖. The study has analysed E-
Entrepreneurs like www. Amazon.com, www. Flipkart.com, www. Naptool.com
etc. for the purpose of studying the nature and extent of marketing strategies
used by successful online Entrepreneurs. SNSs apart from being a fantastic
medium of communication and interaction, keeps the customers informed of
the consumer market as well. Through this paper the writers have voiced their
view that there is a need to analyze and research the needs of the customers
who come online to fulfill their requirements. Internet has given an opportunity
to entrepreneurs to market their products and services across the globe and
has opened the doors of such a gigantic market, that their sales force cannot
even think of identifying. The online companies can engage in online
promotional activities through effective online marketing strategies to enhance
their offerings in the online markets. Advertising on the internet not only
provides the information about the offerings but it also encourages innovation.
The study concluded by revealing the results which stated that Social media
marketing is one of the best online marketing strategies that has been used
by the E-Entrepreneurs. The results also revealed that the International
players like e.Bay.com, Amazon.com are well ahead in customer relationship
building and management and in the online marketing strategies. Indian
brands are identifying the strategies which the international websites use to
improve the website and are trying to build their brand identity.
31. ―Social media marketing: strategies & its impact‖ by Vivek Bajpai
Sanjay Pandey, Shweta Shriwas: Social platforms each have an ecosystem
of their own. Creating a basic social media presence is easy enough, getting
your community to actually do something is more difficult. Make sure your site
is included in local business directories in order to help ensure that
consumers find you when they need you. Customizing messages across sites
help the message spread but it keeps users from receiving multiple identical
communications. By giving exclusive coupons to your social community,
you‘re rewarding and reminding them that you are not only a brand to engage
36
with, but also to buy from. Taking advantage of these strategies can help you
build your community, make your marketing more effective, and incentivize
buying.
32. Logan, Kelty; Bright, Laura F; Gangadharbatla, Harsha (2012) in

paper Facebook versus television : advertising value perceptions among
females the writers compared the perceptions of female students regarding
value of advertising on social network sites and value of advertising on
television. Advertising trustworthiness-The study shows that consumers have
become more concerned about the factualness or trustworthiness of
advertising content. It was found out that consumer-generated product
recommendations are more recommended than marketer-generated product
recommendations. Involvement-SNSs provide an involving environment for
advertisers. The users of Social networking sites involve in brand related
activities and are therefore more engaged than consumers who simply read,
listen or watch advertisements about a brand. Advertising effectiveness
measures-It was found out that the advertisements having an element of
entertainment and information in them are more accepted advertisements on
SNSs. The results indicated that the young adults crowd(19-24) are more
inclined towards informativeness than entertainment and young female
participants are more engaged by entertaining advertisements on SNSs.
Therefore it was concluded that informativeness and entertainment play a
significant role in assessing advertising value whereas irritation did not play a
significant role in assessing the advertising value.
33. ―Online Customer Experience in e-Retailing: An empirical model of

Antecedents and Outcomes‖ by Susan Rose, Moira Clark Phillip
Samouel, Neil Hair(2012) : The theoretical understanding of online shopping
behavior has received much attention. Less focus has been given to the
formation of the customer experience (CE) that results from online shopper
interactions with e-retailers. This study develops and empirically tests a model
of the relationship between antecedents and outcomes of online customer
experience (OCE) within Internet shopping websites using an international
sample. The study identifies and provides operational measures of these
37
variables plus the cognitive and affective components of OCE. The paper
makes contributions towards new knowledge and understanding of how e-
retailers can provide effective online experiences for customers.
► The empirical study tests and finds support for a comprehensive model of
online customer experience (OCE). ► OCE is composed of two experiential
states: cognitive (CES) and affective (AES). ► Perceived Control is a
mediator between three antecedents: Connectedness, Customization, Ease of
Use and AES. ► Online customer satisfaction is a mediator between CES,
AES and Repurchase Intention. ► Online customer satisfaction has both a
direct and indirect relationship with Repurchase Intention via Online Trust.
34. Hyoungkoo Khang, Eyun-Jung Ki, Lan Ye, Social Media Research in
Advertising, Communication, Marketing, and Public Relations, 1997–
2010, published in 2012 Drawing upon the social media phenomena in both
practical and academic arenas, this study explored patterns and trends of
social media research over the past fourteen years across four disciplines.
Findings exhibit a definite increasing number of social-media-related studies.
This indicates that social media have gained incremental attention among
scholars, and who have, in turn, been responding and keeping pace with the
increased usage and impact of this new medium. The authors suggest that
future scholarly endeavors emphasize prospective aspects of social media,
foreseeing applications and technological progress and elaborating theory.
35. Burson and Marsteller study on ‗Global Social Media Checkup 2012‘
has concluded that the fortune Global 100 brands have active presence on
social media. 67 % of the Brands have twitter accounts while 57% have
Facebook and remains have on Youtube, Google+, Pinterest and etc.
36. The social media presence and social media metrics of Indian IT
companies namely Infosys, Wipro, TCS and HCL has been discussed by
Ramulu Bhukya (2012) in the research paper ― Presence of Indian Big IT
Brands on Social Media : an Empirical Study‖. The data for this study has
been collected from the respective brand‘s social media websites and
analyzed on a 5 point scale. The research findings shows that HCL and
38
Infosys have high scores of 3.75 points for their social media presence and
have their brand accounts on 7 social network sites each. Next with score of
1.75 and presence on 7 SNS is Wipro followed by TCS with score of 1.25 and
social media presence on 6 SNS. de Vries et.al. (2012) conducted a study on
355 brand posts from 11 international brands spread across six categories of
products and the result shows that positioning the brand post on top of the
brand fan page helps in increasing and enhancing the popularity of the brand
post. The author opines that the SNS are free to join because if they are not
free they will not expand and earn money from the brand or customer driven
advertisements. According to the Social Media Benchmark survey conducted
by http://business.com, 2948 businesses were undergoing the process of
decentralization of marketing plan. Among them 1,197 maintained a company
profile on one or more SNSs, 80% maintained a presence on Facebook while
56% maintained an account on Twitter. Social media has opened the doors of
global markets and Infosys, Wipro, HCL and TCS are now preparing to
compete with the global biggies. Already Indian companies have labour
availability at a comparatively much lower costs as compared to the global
companies which is one advantage that the Indian companies have in their
favour. However value created in the fields of brand, intellectual property will
take these Indian companies to new heights. Accordingly these tech
companies are working aggressively over budgets for marketing globally,
enhancing global positioning and brand valuations.
37. Anil Bhatt (May 2012) in his paper on Blog Popularity and Activity on
Social Media: an Exploratory Research has made an attempt to find out the
impact of some social media website‘s popularity on ROI. Social media
provides a global opportunity for brands to use them as an effective channel
for marketing of products and services. However the effectiveness of any
marketing channel is largely dependent on a very important entity the ROI.
ROI is something that most marketers look at when one has to determine the
effectiveness of any marketing channel. The study therefore examined ROI
for weblogs and how their promotions through two highly popular social
networking sites, namely Facebook and Twitter affects their popularity and in
turn increases their revenue through advertisements. Page views is a direct
39
measure of the traffic a particular blog has and therefore a correlation
between page views and Facebook fans and twitter fans was established to
understand the effect of promotion of brands through social media. The
findings of the study revealed a positive correlation across all blog categories
and hence it was concluded that a positive change in Facebook followers and
Twitter followers increases the number of page views. It was also found that
the page views increased with the increase in time due to an increase in fans
or followers.
38. Shahir Bhatt and Amola Bhatt (2012) in their research paper Factors
influencing Online Shopping: An Empirical Study in Ahmedabad writes
about the factors which influence the perceptions of consumers regarding
online shopping. The study has revealed three important influencing factors:
 attractiveness of website,
 service quality of websites
 website security
The paper has proved that that these factors are related to specific type of
consumers classified as occasional, frequent and regular consumers. The
study shows that the regular buyers are most influenced by the
ease/attractiveness and service quality of website, whereas the occasional
buyers value website security to a greater extent.
39. The potential of Social networking sites in the field of education have been
explored by Afendi Hamat, Mohamed Amin Embi, Haslinda Abu Hassan
(2012) in the research paper ―The Use of Social Networking Sites among
Malaysian university students‖. SNSs are popular and very commonly used
for interaction by the young adults; however there is very limited data
available on the patterns of its use for the wider segment of the target
population. The results show that the SNS has not penetrated. The study also
shows that the respondents are found to spend more time on interacting and
socializing through SNS than learning. It has come out from the studies that
the respondents are using SNS for the purpose of informal learning activities
and nearly half i.e. 50.3% use it to get in touch with the lecturers for informal
learning purpose.
40
40. An effort has been made to know the awareness of social media with
respect to business among teaching, non-teaching staff and students of a
college by T. S. Venkateswaran, B. Sowmya, R. Arun (2012) in their
research study ―Effective use of Social Websites towards business
among academicians and students in Namakkal District‖. The research
intends to investigate the following:
1. Knowledge of business through social websites.
2. Uses, impact and causes of social websites.
3. Rating the various activities in Social websites.
4. Impact of Social websites in future.
The study lists the benefits of social websites for business like to create brand
awareness, Utility of SNSs as a effective online reputation management tool,
for the purpose of recruiting and to learn about new technologies and
competitors. The results of the study reveals that most of professionals and
students are aware about business taking place through social networking
sites, however most of them are not using it for the business purpose. Most of
the respondents are using SNSs for socializing. Therefore the writers think
that the social websites need to grab the professionals and students from
rural areas to concentrate on business through Social websites.
41. The impact of cultural orientation of American, Chinese and Turkish non-
profit organization‘s behaviour and communication patterns in the social
media space has been examined by Richard D. Waters & Kevin D. Lo
(2012) in their research study ―Exploring the impact of Culture in Social
Media Sphere : A content analysis of non-profit organizations use of
facebook‖. A content analysis of 225 non-profit organization‘s Facebook
profiles was carried out for the research purpose. Particularly the study has
focused on the ways in which the organizations disclose information about
themselves and about those who manage their Facebook presence, ways of
promoting the organizational accomplishments and news, and engaging with
the stakeholders in relation to their context, performance and
collectivist/individualist natures, respectively. The findings of the study
showed mixed support for the impact of traditional cultural expectations, thus
41
suggesting that global connectivity of social media may be contributing to
blurred cultural boundaries in favor of virtual culture that promoted the global
community.
42. The usage of social media among the destination marketing

organizations (DMO) of the top 10 most visited countries by international
tourists has been examined by Stephanie Hays, Stephen John Page &
Dimitrios Buhalis (2012) in their research study ― Social Media as a
destination marketing tool: its use by national tourism organisations‖.
Social media are gaining more importance in the marketing strategies of
DMOs as it helps in seeking greater value in the way marketing budgets are
spent. Social media offers DMOs with global audience at limited costs. The
writer has made an attempt to determine the impact and usage of social
media marketing strategies and has developed a model of best practices for
the national tourism organizations to learn from. The findings show that the
social media usage among the top DMOs is still experimental and the
strategies differ extensively.
43. Sunil Karve, Shilpa C. Shinde (March 2013) in their paper

―Effectiveness of Social Networking Sites (SNS)‖ have made an attempt
to figure out the experiences of the internet users regarding social media and
have also tried to find out the pattern of SNS usage of the consumers. The
writers state that social media has become so much popular, that it has
surpassed the popularity of email, to become number four after search,
portals and PC software applications. The tremendous increase in the amount
of time people are spending using these SNS have changed the way people
spend their time online and this affects the way people behave, interact and
share in their normal daily lives. This paper has tried to analyse the overall
effectiveness.
44. Gitanjali Kalia(2013) in her research paper, A Research Paper on

Social media: An Innovative Educational Tool: It undertakes to study the
relevance and importance of social media which is an in-thing among the
educational sector. In an era, where the glocal is the word to define common
42
platform for the people around the world to share and exchange their beliefs,
culture, traditions, knowledge, views, etc. The study concludes that our
education system needs change and social media should be widely utilized
for the educational purposes. It is mainly used for the purpose of making
presentations followed by assignment updates, better research and
connectivity. ―Social Learning‖ tools is a phrase that reflects main goal of
using social networking functionality in the education setting. One simple way
to define a social networking platform might be, ―a tool that lets students,
parents, and educators collaborate online‖. The innovative use of social media
doesn‘t stop here; the students also use it for making blogs, making
professional links, announcing and making class announcements, sharing
information with students, parents and educators, etc.
45. Sinan Aral, Chrysanthos Dellarocas, David Godes, Introduction to

the Special Issue(2013)—―Social Media and Business Transformation: A
Framework for Research‖: Social media are fundamentally changing the
way we communicate, collaborate, consume, and create. They represent one
of the most transformative impacts of information technology on business,
both within and outside firm boundaries. This special issue was designed to
stimulate innovative investigations of the relationship between social media
and business transformation. In this paper we outline a broad research
agenda for understanding the relationships among social media, business,
and society. We place the papers comprising the special issue within this
research framework and identify areas where further research is needed. We
hope that the flexible framework we outline will help guide future research and
develop a cumulative research tradition in this area.
46. Ambrose Jagongo, Catherine Kinyua (2013) in their study The Social
Media and Entrepreneurship Growth focused on the effect of social media
on the growth of SMEs in Nairobi. The study established that social media
tools offer greater market accessibility and CRM which in turn have a
significant impact on the growth of SMEs. This study recommends that the
policy makers should come up with favourable internet surfing rates and e-
business policies to encourage the technological adoption that would grow the
SME industry.
43
47. ―Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked
Culture‖, by Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford and Joshua Green(2013):
Spreadable Media maps fundamental changes taking place in our
contemporary media environment, a space where corporations no longer
tightly control media distribution and many of us are directly involved in the
circulation of content. It contrasts "stickiness"-aggregating attention in
centralized places-with "spreadability"-dispersing content widely through both
formal and informal networks, some approved, many unauthorized. Stickiness
has been the measure of success in the broadcast era (and has been carried
over to the online world), but "spreadability" describes the ways content
travels through social media. Following up on the hugely influential
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, this book
challenges some of the prevailing metaphors and frameworks used to
describe contemporary media, from biological metaphors like "memes" and
"viral" to the concept of "Web 2.0" and the popular notion of "influencers."
Spreadable Media examines the nature of audience engagement, the
environment of participation, the way appraisal creates value, and the
transnational flows at the heart of these phenomena. It delineates the
elements that make content more spreadable and highlights emerging media
business models built for a world of participatory circulation. The book also
explores the internal tensions companies face as they adapt to the new
communication reality and argues for the need to shift from "hearing" to
"listening" in corporate culture
48. Gary Vaynerchuk(2013) : Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your
Story in a Noisy Social World
Currently more than 500 million Tweets are composed each day on Twitter
and 80 million photos are shared daily on Instagram. To add to it, more than
30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month. To say
consumers are overloaded by information would be an understatement.
One of the easiest ways businesses can cut through the noise and deliver
their message is through storytelling. But how do you effectively share your
44
story when there are so many social platforms to cover? That‘s what Gary
Vaynerchuk‘s book aims to help you solve. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a
blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works. When
managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they plan for
the ―right hook‖—their next sale or campaign that‘s going to knock out the
competition. Even companies committed to jabbing—patiently engaging with
customers to build the relationships crucial to successful social media
campaigns—want to land the punch that will take down their opponent or their
customer‘s resistance in one blow. Right hooks convert traffic to sales and
easily show results. Thanks to massive change and proliferation in social
media platforms, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different
now. Vaynerchuk shows that while communication is still key, context matters
more than ever. It‘s not just about developing high-quality content, but
developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media
platforms and mobile devices—content tailor-made for Facebook, Instagram,
Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr.
49. Jeffrey Rohrs ―Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans

& Followers‖(2013): Without an audience, there‘s not much use for a social
media strategy. In today‘s marketing age, your audience matters more than
ever. Every business needs one to survive. It‘s how you discover and forge
loyal relationships with customers. But in many cases, businesses treat their
audiences like afterthoughts rather than assets.
Jeffrey Rohrs sets out to change this dynamic by challenging companies to

focus their paid, owned and earned media to grow the size, engagement and
value of their audiences long-term. Through research data and case studies,
this book details how you can gain a competitive advantage and master
proprietary audience development.
50. Garima Gupta (2013) in the research paper ―Assessing the Influence of
Social Media on Consumer‘s Purchase Intentions‖ has made an attempt
to determine the impact of social media on product evaluation and the
resulting decision-making process of Indian consumers. The results are
supportive of the fact that social media does affect purchase intentions. More
45
Specifically, there is a positive and strong impact of three factors namely peer
communication, perceived product informativeness and the level of product
involvement on consumers purchase intentions in the context of social media.
The author concludes that as the products offered online cannot be examined,
perceived information on social media and its spread through communication
among peer groups facilitates consumer‘s evaluation and purchase related
decision.
51. Shu-Chuan Chu, Sara Kamal & Yoojung Kim (May 2013) in their
research work ―Understanding consumer‘s responses toward social
media advertising and purchase intention towards luxury products‖
stated that the popularity of Social media as an advertising platform is
increasing with the users interacting with each other and with the brand. In the
same time period the online luxury market experienced enormous growth due
to rising number of users in the age group of 18-35 and belonging to affluent
background. This research focused on determining young social media user‘s
belief, attitudes and behavioral response towards social media advertising.
Brand consciousness and awareness was found to have its effect on user‘s
attitudes towards social media advertising, which eventually affects their
behavioral response towards social media advertising and ultimately affects
purchase intention of luxury products.
52. Michel Laroche, Mohammad Reza Habibi, Marie-Odile Richard (Feb.

2013) in their research work ―To be or not to be in social media: How
brand loyalty is affected by social media?‖ aimed to show how brand
communities based on social media influence the elements of customer
centric model (i.e. the relationships between focal customer and brand,
product, company and other customers) and brand loyalty. An empirical study
was conducted on 441 respondents through survey method. The results of the
study revealed that brand communities present on social media have a
positive effect on customer-product, customer-brand, customer-company and
customer-other customer relationships, these in turn have positive effect on
brand trust and trust has positive effect on brand loyalty. The study found that
46
brand trust plays an intermediary role in converting the effects of relationships
in brand community to brand loyalty.
53. Simona Vinerean, Iuliana Cetina, Luigi Dumitrescu & Mihai

Tichindelean (June,2013) in their exploratory research work The Effects of
Social Media Marketing on Online Consumer Behaviour, have tried to
determine the students pattern of using social media and social networking
sites in relation to their reactions to the advertisements on social media,
where they have the freedom to choose the information they engage with. The
aim of this research paper is to empirically investigate what type of social
media users, have a positive outlook regarding advertising on social
networking sites. This study has contributed to the existing knowledge, of
consumer behaviour in an online environment and on developing positive
reactions to online advertisements and have also presented new ways to
classify the online consumers, which served as a basis for psychographic
segmentation, based on respondents online activities. The authors concluded
stating that in order to be successful in the social media environment,
companies must undergo continuous online marketing research and should
be sensitive to the changes in consumer behaviour patterns and should be
able to identify new areas of customer interest.
54. The Mass media advertising is coming to an end and its chances of
recovery are grim, this has been talked about by Ronald T. Rust and
Richard W. Oliver (June 2013) in their research ―The Death of
Advertisng‖. In this paper the authors have expressed their opinion about the
traditional advertising business being directly hit by direct marketing. The
reasons for the diminishing business of traditional advertising have been
attributed to the arrival of new technologies that have empowered the
consumers. A new market has evolved which is more in capacity, interactive
and multimedia in place of the traditional mass media. This new media
advertising results in more producer-consumer interactions.
55. Tan, Wei Jia; Kwek, Choon Ling; Li, Zhongwei (March 2013) in paper
―The Antecedents of Effectiveness Interactive Advertising in the Social
Media‖, have tried to find out consumer‘s attitude towards interactive
47
advertising and its impact on purchase intention. Through their study the
writers have made an attempt to share some understandings and opinions
with advertisers and companies on the measurement of effectiveness, which
they can consider when placing an interactive advertising. In the literature
review the writers states the following factors as the determinants of the
effectiveness of interactive advertising: Attitude towards Advertising, Attitude
towards Advertised Brand, Purchase Intention, Time of exposure to
advertisement(Yang, 1996). The results of the study reveal that, there is a
positive relation between attitude towards advertisement and purchase
intention to effectiveness of interactive advertising. Thus the writers concluded
saying traditional advertising could be used, but interactive advertising
measures should be an add on.
56. Asa’ad, & Anas, (2014) There are five dimension of the social media
marketing, which means these five things are required to create connections
with consumers or to building traffic to company websites
 Online Communities: A company or business can use the social
media to build a community around its products/business. Vibrant
communities create loyalty and encourage discussions, which can
contribute towards business development and improvement.
 Interaction: A Facebook page or Twitter account can notify all its
followers of specific subject quickly and simultaneously (Berselli,
Burger, & Close, 2012). Social networking sites enable greater
interaction with the online community through broadcasting up-to-date,
consumer relevant information.
 Sharing of Content: The sharing dimension is about the extent to
which an individual ex-changes, distributes and receives content in a
social media setting.
 Accessibility: The social media is easily accessible and takes minimal
or no costs to use. Social media is easy to use and does not require
any special skills, knowledge to use.
 Credibility: It is all about delivering your message clearly to the
people, establishing credibility for what you say or do, connecting
48
emotionally with your target audience, motivating the buyer and
generating loyal customers. The social media provides a very good
platform for all businesses (big or small) to network and reach out to
their target audience, connect with them directly and generate trust by
listening to what they have to say.
57. Ranjeev Ramjidas Manrao(2014), in his Phd thesis Impact of

Professional Networking Through Social Media on Improvement of
Performance in Business submitted to School Of Management, D.Y.Patil
University state that The study has extensively explored several existing
business practices and approaches adopted in the market place with
respect to usefulness and effectiveness of Professional Networking efforts
made by businesses, which have varied impacts onthe Customers and
Society at large. The study brought out the Professional Networking
Parameters that have the most Impact on Business Performance
Indicators. These are the Important, Practicable and Usable factors for
Businesses to ensure Improvement of their Business Performances. the
Relationship between Five Professional Networking Parameters and Four
Business Performance Indicators is established through several statistical
statistical tests and respective analysis.
The study recommends as follows:
(i) Professional Networking is related to and has an impact on
Improvement of Performance in Business.
(ii) Professional Networking Efforts, particularly Customer Education,
Customer Service, Incentives, Offers and Discounts, Prompt do lead to
Improvement of Performance in Business which is estimated through
Business Performance Indicators.
(iii)The most effective Professional Networking Parameters that have
highest impact on Business Performances are Customer Education and
Customer Service. And the Most Impacted Business Performance
Indicators are Number of Enquiries and Customer Reach. This is true
across the chosen segments / data sets.
49
(iv)Manufacturing Business and MSME Businesses need to take tips from
Large and Service Businesses and modify their strategies so as to reap
highest benefits from Social Media and Professional Networking.
(v) Businesses can use Social media for reaching out to the right people
for common benefits and building meaningful relationships. The world is
up for a revolution called Social Media.
(vi) Businesses across segments are using Customer Service and
Customer Education to ensure Customer Delight and thus reap Business
Gains thereby leading to Improvement of Performance in Business.
58. Guy Kawasaki & Peg Fitzpatrick ―The Art of Social Media‖ (2014)
Guy Kawasaki, the legendary former chief evangelist for Apple and one of the
pioneers of business blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, Tumbling etc. offers
The Art of Social Media—the one essential guide one needs to get the most
bang for time, effort, and money.
With practical tips, tricks, and insights, Guy and Peg present a bottom-up
strategy to produce a focused, thorough, and compelling presence on the
most popular social-media platforms. They provide steps to build your
foundation, amass your digital assets, optimize your profile, attract more
followers, and effectively integrate social media and blogging.
59 Shilpa H. Chheda in her M.Phil Thesis Impact of Social Media

Marketing on Micro and Small Businesses(2014) submitted to School of
Management, D.Y. Patil University states that Demographic details can be
surmised as the respondents of the age group 15-35 lead the survey,
indicating that the younger generation is spending more time on social media
sites as they are logged in quite frequently. Awareness of social media is
certainly very high among small businesses; it has become the talk of the
town. It was found that nearly 70% of respondents use social media for their
business in order to increase their visibility. But simultaneously, on the other
side of the coin nearly 30% of the respondents are still not using social media
and hence are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to connect and
engage with potential customers. Small businesses have been slower to
adopt, mainly because they feel social media is not significant for their type of
50
business. Many respondents perceive their customers base do not use social
networks or not suitable for their type of business.
59. ―The Power of Visual Storytelling‖ by Ekaterina Walter & Jessica

Gioglio(2014):
It was recently determined that people lose concentration after only eight
seconds, leaving marketers with a very small window for impact. As a result,
images were adopted as a way to work around our diminishing attention
spans.
Today 63% of social media is made up of images. In fact, Web posts with
visuals drive up to 180% more engagement than those without. ―The Power of
Visual Storytelling‖ teaches you how to grow your business by leveraging
photos, videos, info-graphics and other rich media. In this connected info-
centric world, the authors explain that, consumers are assaulted by a
phenomenon they call infobesity: an overload of information from marketers
trying to capture their attention. With so much information coming in from all
sides, people have developed filters to keep out irrelevant info and advertisers
and marketers have to find new ways to get the attention of their target
audience.
The social media platform has opened up ways to connect directly with
customers and to exploit the opinions and feedback of customers. While these
strategies have benefitted advertisers, the arena is quickly changing. With so
many businesses and organisations using visual strategies, it is getting harder
to filter out the noise and identify the unique voices.
This author not only shows the value of visual forms of advertising, it explains
how to effectively use this strategy in ways that makes the advertiser stand
out from the crowd. It all depends on how the message is packaged and
presented.
The authors explain the need to build a story around the brand, using images,
videos and other means in order to connect with customers. The advertiser
needs to build a clear strategy on how to get their message across and this
book shows how, by using examples of those who have already done it
successfully.
51
The statistics used to highlight the importance of visual forms of
communication is impressive. The human brain processes visual information
at an incredible 6000 times the speed of processing text. Viewers spend
100% more time on web pages with videos and blog posts, with videos
ensure 180% more engagement than plain text.
The authors emphasise the need to build a great graphic story around the
brand that is being marketed. They also use a lot of visual examples that
show how effective visual storytelling really is.
60. Study of The Effectiveness Of Online Marketing On Integrated

Marketing Communication by Amruta Vijay Pawar(2014) submitted to
School Of Management, D.Y.Patil University. According to the author
Integrated Marketing Communication is the concept that makes all the
marketing tools to work together as a unified force rather than work in
isolation. It makes the use of entire marketing efforts in the form of
advertising, public relation, personal selling, sales promotion, internet
marketing , direct marketing in order to generate maximum impact on the
target audience at the minimum cost. The author conducted a survey in
Mumbai suburbs to find out the effectiveness of online marketing with a
sample size of 200. The main aim of the study is identifying the importance of
integrated marketing communication followed by the effectiveness of online
marketing as a part of IMC strategy. The author wants to study the massive
contribution of Online marketing as a part of Integrated Marketing
Communication and the challenges in using online marketing. The author put
forward following conclusions on analysis of data:
 Consumers reckon upon more than one medium to get knowledge of

any brand.
 Highest preference is being given to the online media.
 Consumers do require plenty of information to take purchase decision.

 Survey reveals that majority of consumers have stopped preferring
television commercials or print ads to get brand awareness.
 Though consumers are convinced with advantages of online activities
majority of them still feel that online marketing is not safe as there is
more scope of fraudulent activities followed by privacy issues
52
It is therefore suggested that companies should not only rely on online
marketing but should incorporate it as a part of IMC strategy so that online
marketing can have a wider reach to the customers and its limitations will be
repaired with the help of other traditional tools.
61. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt (2015): In

Platform, Hyatt maps out a detailed process to build a powerful and
personalized online platform in the digital age. With so much information
available and so many digital tools to choose from, Hyatt gives methodical,
straightforward guidance for building and growing your own platform. He also
helps one set proper expectations for digital marketing efforts with guidance
on how to truly measure success.
62. Shalaka Ayarekar(2015) In Her Phd Thesis Impact And Effectiveness

Of Social Media Advertising On Young Working Women‘s Buying
Behaviour With Reference To Consumer Electronics - A Study Of
Selected Cities In Maharashtra And Gujarat submitted to School Of
Management, D.Y.Patil University state that there is a positive relationship
between social Media Marketing on buying behavior of young working
women. She carried out research in Nasik, Mumbai and Ahemdabad to assert
the impact of social media on buying of electronic goods. Her Research leads
to following points:
 Association between Positive reactions or feelings towards social
media advertisements with consumer buying behavior
 Association between appealing factor of social media advertisements
with consumer buying behavior
 Association between memorable visuals and slogans factor of social
media advertisements with consumer buying behaviour
 Association between attractive factor of social media advertisements
with consumer buying behavior
 Association between Positive reactions or feelings towards social
media advertisements with online purchase behavior
53
 Association between trustworthiness factor of social media advertising
and online purchase behavior
Research Gap:
From the literature review presented above, it is clearly evident that the
research literature on consumer behavior and impact of social media
marketing on buying decision process (BDP) of consumers leave a vast scope
for additional research.
Many marketing analysts and researchers carried out research to identify and
analyse the various factors influencing consumer behavior. Most of these
studies are associated with impact of demographic factors affecting
consumer behavior. These studies primarily emphasize on the
‗purchasing‘ stage of buying decision process.
The last few years have seen a drastic change in marketing practices of e-
retailing companies. This change is the result of availability of a vast plethora
of alternatives available to consumer. The age –old conventional notion that
―customer is the King‖ is changing. Now the new notion is ―Customer is our
buddy‖. As we know about the interests, likes, dislikes and preferences of our
friends it is of utmost importance to know the customer thoroughly so that
marketing strategies can be designed accordingly.
A thorough survey of the literature review presented above illustrate that there
are hardly any study about the impact of specific social media marketing
strategies on consumer behavior and consumer decision making process. As
the emergence of e-retailing and use of social media as a marketing tool is a
comparatively recent phenomenon in India, there is still a scope of a lot of
research work.
There is no research works evident which identifies and examine
specific social media marketing practices adopted by e retailers and
analyzing their impact on consumer‘s decision making in context to
youth of age group 18-40 years in Navi Mumbai with reference to
different categories of products.
54
Although social media marketing is a well-researched topic, it has only been
studied through experimental and theoretical research; studies never
precisely describe the benefits retailers gain from this marketing tactic. In
reviewing the rich plethora of multi-disciplinary literature, it is has become
clear that studies are focusing on describing what social media marketing is
as well as examining what factors affect consumer behavior relative to social
networking. Despite the initial progress made by researchers, development in
this area of study has been limited. Research needs to expand by providing a
deeper understanding of the longterm promotional gains retailers obtain from
social media marketing. More formalized studies are also needed to progress
beyond theorized or predicted outcomes in order to gain knowledge of real life
applications. This review of literature touches upon the gaps that currently
exist within social media marketing research and points out the need for future
studies to explore the benefits gained by marketing on social networking sites,
especially for small retailers.
55
Chapter-3
Objective, Hypothesis and Research Methodology
consistent with their business plan.
Based on the respective Research Gaps and critical observations from the
extensive Review of Literature as well as Expert Interviews, the following
Research Questions were developed to guide the study:
Q.1) What is the impact of marketing via social media on the buying behavior
of consumers?
Q.2)Does the increased use of internet and social media leads to increased
online purchasing?
Q.3) Is the impact of social media marketing same for all the consumers
irrespective of their demographic profile?
Q.4) whether the impact of social media same for all categories of products?
Q.5) What are the factors which motivate a person for online shopping?
3.1 Research objectives:
 To identify the impact of social media marketing strategies of e-

 To study the effectiveness of Social Media tools like face book,
twitter, LinkedIn, youtube etc.
 To determine the demographic profile of customers who purchase
 To study on-line purchasing behavior of customers of age group 18-
 To identify factors motivating customers to shop online.
56
3.2 Hypothesis:
H01: Social media marketing strategies of e-retailers have no significant
impact on buying behavior of customers.
H11: Social media marketing strategies of e-retailers have a significant impact

on buying behavior of customers.
H02: There is no association between effect of social media marketing and

gender of respondent
H12: There is an association between effect of social medial marketing and
gender of respondent.

education of respondent.
H13: There is an association between effect of social media marketing and

income of respondent.
income of respondent.

occupation of respondent.
H06: There is no association between effect of social media marketing and age
of respondent.
H16: There is an association between effect of social media marketing and age
of respondent.
3.3 Research Methodology:

As the proposed research is descriptive in nature, the aim is to obtain
complete and accurate information with the help of a carefully planned
57
procedure. The research design of the proposed study will be prepared
keeping in view the objective of study and availability of resources in order to
minimize the bias and maximize the reliability of data. This chapter has been
an over view of the research method used for this study and has include data
collection, sample selection, type and contents of questionnaire, processing of
data and finally interpretation of the data.
3.3a Data collection:

The data for the purpose of the study would comprise of both primary and
secondary data
Secondary Data: The secondary data had been collected from various
available resources. The data sources include Review of Literature available
in various published reports, research papers research journals books and
online databases like Proquest, www.Googlescholar.com, www.Alexa.com,
Wikipedia etc.
Primary Data: Primary data had been collected by questionnaire survey
method. Research instrument that had been used for this research were
questionnaire. A single questionnaire had been created and administered in
different areas by the researcher. The target audience for this study people in
the age group of 18-40 from Navi Mumbai belonging to diverse demographic
profile. The respondents of questionnaire belong to all strata of life. The only
condition for eligibility for being a respondent was to have a social media
account.
3.3b Population studied: Navi Mumbai is selected as field of research which
is a very well planned and organized area with a metropolitan constitution.
With the existence of many government and private corporate offices, banks,
financial institutions, business houses, malls, ports etc it provide a
heterogeneous mix of population which helps in selecting an unbiased and
random sample.
3.3c Reason of selecting age group of 18-40: The age group of 18-40
years is selected for the purpose of study because according to Mobile
Association of India and ComScore report 2015, men under 35 and women
under 40 are most indulgent in online shopping. People under age group of 40
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are most active on social media as well. Therefore this age-group is the most
relevant for study.
3.3d Questionnaire:
Questionnaire method of data collection is intended to be used. It is a well
framed questionnaire consist of 31 questions some of which have been
divided into sub-questions in order to get an in depth knowledge of consumer
behavior. The questionnaire comprised of questions pertaining to various
sections mentioned below and the type of information associated with
questions is enumerated in the following table:
Table 1: type of information associated with questions
3.3d Sampling Technique:

Random Sampling technique has been used for this study. In a Random
sample from infinite population selection of each item is controlled by the
same probabilities and the successive selections are independent of one
another. (C.R.Kothari, Research Methodology Methods and Techniques)
3.3e Sample size calculation:
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Sample Size: The required sample size is determined by using following
formula.
Z 2 * (p) * (1-p)
ss =
c2
Z = Z value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence level)

p = percentage picking a choice, expressed as decimal
c = margin of error, expressed as decimal
Table 2: calculation of sample size
Values
Z-score value 1.96
P (percentage picking a choice) 0.5
c (margin of error) 0.05
ss (Sample Size) 385
As the required sample size is 385 respondents, 450 questionnaires were

sent to the respondents out of which 409 questionnaire were found to be
reliable, complete and relevant to the study.
Data Analysis: The data was analyzed in SPSS version 21 using different
statistical tools like Frequency Table With percentages, Chi-Square Test,
Rank Order Table, Binomial test, Kruskal-Wallis test etc.
3.3g Limitations of the study:

The conclusions are drawn on the basis of data collected from Navi Mumbai
and every caution has been taken to keep the sample unbiased and true
representative of total population but it may not be applicable for other parts of
nation due to demographic and socio-cultural diversity.
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Chapter 4
Social Media
consistent with their business plan. This is especially true for companies
striving to gain a competitive advantage.
The extent to which social media is impacting the life of people can be
understood from the fact that the number of social media users worldwide are
increasing at an exponential rate. The following graph clearly depicts it:
Fig 6: Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2020
Source: eMarketer© Statista10 Jan2017
Here the figures of 2017-2020 are predictions
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The most popular social network websites are:
[A] Facebook:
Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and online social media and

social networking service based in Menlo Park, California, United States. The
Facebook website was launched on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg,
along with fellow Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin,
Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The founders had
initially limited the website's membership to Harvard students; however, later
they expanded it to higher education institutions in the Boston area, the Ivy
League schools, and Stanford University. The Facebook name comes from
the face book directories often given to United States university students.
Fig: 7 Facebook popularity 2004-2015
Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/facebook (24 February 2015)
Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, laptops, tablet

computers, and smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After
registering to use the site, users can create a user profile indicating their
name, occupation, schools attended and so on. Users can add other users as
"friends", exchange messages, post status updates and digital photos, share
digital videos and links, use various software applications ("apps"), and
receive notifications when others update their profiles or make posts.
Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups organized by
62
workplace, school, hobbies or other topics, and categorize their friends into
lists such as "People From Work" or "Close Friends". In groups, editors can
pin posts to top. Additionally, users can complain about or block unpleasant
people. Because of the large volume of data that users submit to the service,
Facebook has come under scrutiny for its privacy policies. Facebook makes
most of its revenue from advertisements which appear onscreen. As of April
2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world,
based on the number of active user accounts
Facebook has more than 1.65 billion monthly active users as of March 31,
2016 As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site
in the world, based on the number of active user accounts.
Fig 8: percentage of global population using Facebook by region
Source: Internet world stats: facebook© Statista20 Oct 2016
Subsidiaries of Facebook: Messenger, instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR
Major facilities provided by Facebook:
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Notes- Facebook Notes was introduced on August 22, 2006, a blogging
feature that allowed tags and embeddable images. Users were later able to
import blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services.[
Chat- Facebook Chat was added April 6, 2008. It is a Comet-based instant

messaging application which allows users to communicate with other
Facebook users in a way similar in functionality to instant messaging
software.
Gifts- Facebook launched Gifts on February 8, 2007, which allows users to

send virtual gifts to their friends that appear on the recipient's profile. Gifts
cost $1.00 each to purchase, and a personalized message can be attached to
each gift.
Marketplace- On May 14, 2007, Facebook launched Marketplace, which lets

users post free classified ads. Marketplace has been compared to Craigslist
by CNET, which points out that the major difference between the two is that
listings posted by a user on Marketplace are seen only by users in the same
network as that user, whereas listings posted on Craigslist can be seen by
anyone.
Messaging- A new Messaging platform, codenamed "Project Titan", was

launched on November 15, 2010. Described as a "Gmail killer" by some
publications, the system allows users to directly communicate with each other
via Facebook using several different methods (text messaging, or through the
Facebook website or mobile app)—no matter what method is used to deliver a
message, they are contained within single threads in a unified inbox. As with
other Facebook features, users can adjust from whom they can receive
messages—including just friends, friends of friends, or from anyone. Aside
from the Facebook website, messages can also be accessed through the
site's mobile apps, or a dedicated Facebook Messenger app. This feature
makes it a very popular choice among its users as it serves multiple functions
just by installation of a single app.
Voice calls- Since April 2011, Facebook users have had the ability to make
live voice calls via Facebook Chat, allowing users to chat with others from all
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over the world. This feature, which is provided free through T-Mobile's new
Bobsled service, lets the user add voice to the current Facebook Chat as well
as leave voice messages on Facebook.
Video calling- On July 6, 2011, Facebook launched its video calling services
using Skype as its technology partner
Video viewing- In September 2014, Facebook announced that it delivers 1

billion video views per day and that it would begin showing everyone view
counts on publicly posted videos from users, Pages, and public figures. It also
confirmed that it is recommending additional videos to users after they have
watched a video. Sixty-five percent of Facebook's video views are coming
from mobile where Facebook's user base is shifting, and views grew 50
percent from May to July, in part thanks to the viral ALS Ice Bucket
Challengefinding a home on Facebook.
Like button- The like button is a social networking feature, allowing users to
express their appreciation of content such as status updates, comments,
photos, and advertisements. It is also a social plug-in of the Facebook
Platform – launched on April 21, 2010 – that enables participating Internet
websites to display a similar like button..
Following a lengthy period of calls from the public to include a dislike button
on the Facebook interface, Zuckerberg explained in a Q&A session on
December 11, 2014 that his hesitance was due to a concern about a tone of
negativity on the platform, whereby users could "shame" others, and he
offered the comment option for situations where people were unwilling to use
the like function.
Following- On September 14, 2011, Facebook added the ability for users to
provide a "Subscribe" button on their page, which allows users to subscribe to
public postings by the user without needing to add him or her as a friend. In
conjunction, Facebook also introduced a system in February 2012 to verify
the identity of certain accounts.
In December 2012, Facebook announced that because of user confusion

surrounding its function, the Subscribe button would be re-labeled as a
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"Follow" button—making it more similar to other social networks with similar
functions.
Privacy- Facebook enables users to choose their own privacy settings and
choose who can see specific parts of their profile. The website is free to its
users and generates revenue from advertising, such as banner ads.
Facebook requires a user's name and profile picture (if applicable) to be
accessible by everyone. Users can control who sees other information they
have shared, as well as who can find them in searches, through their privacy
settings.
the social network has redesigned a number of privacy settings and launched
new features. Facebook overhauled its privacy center and added reminders to
help users better understand what they share and with whom they share it.
The social network launched a privacy checkup tool
[B] Twitter:
Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and
read short 140-character messages called "tweets". Registered users can
post and read tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them.
Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS or mobile device
app. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices
around the world.
Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone,
and Evan Williams and launched in July, whereby the service rapidly gained
worldwide popularity. In 2012, more than 100 million users posted 340 million
tweets a day, and the service handled an average of 1.6 billion search queries
per day. In 2013, it was one of the ten most-visited websites and has been
described as "the SMS of the Internet". As of March 2016, Twitter had more
than 310 million monthly active users. On the day of the 2016 U.S.
presidential election, Twitter proved to be the largest source of breaking news,
with 40 million tweets sent by 10 p.m. that day.
Twitter's origins lie in a "daylong brainstorming session" held by board

members of the podcasting company Odeo. Jack Dorsey, then an
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undergraduate student at New York University, introduced the idea of an
individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group. The
original project code name for the service was twttr, an idea that Williams later
ascribed to Noah Glass, inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of
American SMS short codes. The decision was also partly due to the fact that
domain twitter.com was already in use, and it was six months after the launch
of twttr that the crew purchased the domain and changed the name of the
service to Twitter. The first Twitter prototype, developed by Dorsey and
contractor Florian Weber, was used as an internal service for Odeo
employees and the full version was introduced publicly on July 15, 2006.
Fig 9: Logo of Twitter:
Source: www.twitter.com(20 Nov 2016)
Features:
 Tweets
The Twitter account page for Wikipedia, demonstrating the account-

customized timeline view which shows tweets in reverse chronological order.
Tweets are publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict message
delivery to just their followers. Users can tweet via the Twitter website,
compatible external applications (such as for smartphones), or by Short
Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries. Users may subscribe
to other users' tweets—this is known as "following" and subscribers are
known as "followers"] or "tweeps", a portmanteau of Twitter and peeps.
Individual tweets can be forwarded by other users to their own feed, a process
known as a "retweet". Users can also "like" (formerly "favorite") individual
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tweets. Twitter allows users to update their profile via their mobile phone
either by text messaging or by apps released for certain smartphones and
tablets. Twitter has been compared to a web-based Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
client. In a 2009 Time essay, technology author Steven Johnson described
the basic mechanics of Twitter as "remarkably simple":
As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When

one chooses to follow another Twitter user, that user's tweets appear in
reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page. If one follows 20
people, he will see a mix of tweets scrolling down the page: breakfast-cereal
updates, interesting new links, music recommendations, even musings on the
future of education.
The first tweet was posted by Jack Dorsey (creator) at 9:50pm.PST on 21

March 2006 and read "just setting up my twitter".On 21 October 2009, the first
tweet was sent from space. US astronauts Nicola Stott and Jeff Williams took
part in a live 'tweetup' from the International Space Station with around 35
members of the public at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA.
 Content: San Antonio-based market-research firm Pear Analytics

analyzed 2,000 tweets (originating from the United States and in
English) over a two-week period in August 2009 from 11:00 am to 5:00
pm (CST) and separated them into six categories:
• Pointless babble – 40%
• Conversational – 38%
• Pass-along value – 9%
• Self-promotion – 6%
• Spam – 4%
• News – 4%
Despite Jack Dorsey's own open contention that a message on Twitter is "a
short burst of inconsequential information", social networking researcher
danah boyd responded to the Pear Analytics survey by arguing that what the
Pear researchers labelled "pointless babble" is better characterized as "social
grooming" and/or "peripheral awareness" (which she justifies as persons
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"wanting to know what the people around them are thinking and doing and
feeling, even when co-presence isn't viable").
Fig.10.Categories of content of twitter
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/content_of_tweets.svg( September 2010)
Similarly, a survey of Twitter users found that a more specific social role of
passing along messages that include a hyperlink is an expectation of
reciprocal linking by followers.
 Format
Users can group posts together by topic or type by use of hashtags – words
or phrases prefixed with a "#" sign. Similarly, the "@" sign followed by a
username is used for mentioning or replying to other users. To repost a
message from another Twitter user and share it with one's own followers, a
user can click the retweet button within the Tweet. The "Twitter Lists" feature
make it possible to follow ad hoc lists of authors instead of individual authors.
Through SMS, users can communicate with Twitter through five gateway
numbers: short codes for the United States, Canada, India, New Zealand, and
an Isle of Man-based number for international use. There is also a short code
in the United Kingdom which is only accessible to those on the Vodafone, O2
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and Orange networks. In India, since Twitter only supports tweets from Bharti
Airtel, an alternative platform called smsTweet was set up by a user to work
on all networks. A similar platform called GladlyCast exists for mobile phone
users in Singapore and Malaysia.
The tweets were set to a largely constrictive 140-character limit for

compatibility with SMS messaging, introducing the shorthand notation and
slang commonly used in SMSmessages. The 140-character limit also
increased the usage of URL shortening services such as bit.ly, goo.gl, and
tr.im, and content-hosting services, such as Twitpic, memozu.com and
NotePub to accommodate multimedia content and text longer than 140
characters. Since June 2011, Twitter has used its own t.co domain for
automatic shortening of all URLs posted on its website, making other link
shorteners superfluous for staying within the 140 character limit.
On May 24, 2016, Twitter announced that media such as photos and videos,
and the person's handle, would not count against the 140 character limit. A
user photo post used to count for about 24 characters. Attachments and links
will also no longer be part of the character limit.
On July 17, Twitter will launch a new way for advertisers to target users that
have tweeted with a certain emoji or engaged with tweets with a certain emoji.
 Trending topics
A word, phrase or topic that is mentioned at a greater rate than others is said
to be a "trending topic". Trending topics become popular either through a
concerted effort by users, or because of an event that prompts people to talk
about a specific topic. These topics help Twitter and their users to understand
what is happening in the world and what people's opinions are about it.
The Twitter web interface displays a list of trending topics on a sidebar on the
home page, along with sponsored content.
 Adding and following content
There are numerous tools for adding content, monitoring content and
conversations including Telly (video sharing, old name is Twitvid), TweetDeck,
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Salesforce.com, HootSuite, and Twitterfeed. As of 2009, fewer than half of
tweets posted were posted using the web user interface with most users using
third-party applications (based on an analysis of 500 million tweets by
Sysomos).
Verified accounts: The blue check mark right of the profile name confirms that
it is a verified account. A verified Twitter account formally validates the identity
of the person or company that owns the account—the aim of the "verified"
status is to prove that a real-world person or company is not being
impersonated, through the placement of a small blue checkmark by the top-
right corner of a user's page, or next to the username in the platform's Search
function. Twitter is responsible for assigning the blue checkmark, and it is
frequently applied to the accounts of notable people in politics, music, movies,
business, fashion, government, sports, media, and journalism.
The owners of verified accounts can also access additional features that are
not available to standard Twitter-account holders. These features include:
• The ability to choose how their notifications and mentions are presented.
Since verified accounts typically receive a lot of followers, account holders
can filter these notices based on whether or not they are from verified
accounts.
• The ability to view information about their followers and their involvement on
Twitter.
• The ability to receive direct messages from all followers or only selected
followers.
Twitter has mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 10, Windows
Phone, BlackBerry, Firefox OS, and Nokia S40. There is also version of the
website for mobile devices, SMS and MMS service. For many years, Twitter
has limited the use of third party applications accessing the service by
implementing a 100,000 user limit per application.
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 Polls:
On October 21, 2015, Twitter began to roll out the ability to attach poll
questions to tweets. Polls are open for 24 hours, and voters are not
personally identified.
[C] Linkedin:
LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service

that operates via websites. Founded on December 14, 2002, and launched on
May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking, including
employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs. As of 2015, most
of the site's revenue came from selling access to information about its users
to recruiters and sales professionals. As of September 2016, LinkedIn has
more than 467 million accounts, out of which more than 106 million are active.
LinkedIn allows users (workers and employers) to create profiles and
"connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent
real-world professional relationships. Users can invite anyone (whether a site
user or not) to become a connection. The "gated-access approach" (where
contact with any professional requires either an existing relationship, or the
intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the
service's users. LinkedIn participated in the EU's International Safe Harbor
Privacy Principles.
The site has an Alexa Internet ranking as the 14th most popular website
(October 2016). According to the New York Times, US high school students
are now creating LinkedIn profiles to include with their college applications.
Based in the United States, the site is, as of 2013, available in 24 languages,
including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese,
Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese,
Czech, Polish, Korean, Indonesian, Malay, and Tagalog. LinkedIn filed for an
initial public offering in January 2011 and traded its first shares on May 19,
2011, under the NYSE symbol"LNKD".
On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced plans to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2
billion. The acquisition was completed on December 8, 2016.
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Fig 11:Logo of Linkedin:
Source: www.linkedin.com(extracted on 20 Nov 2016)
LinkedIn is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in Omaha,

Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, Sao Paulo,
London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan, Paris, Munich, Madrid, Stockholm,
Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, India and Dubai. In
January 2016, the company had around 9,200 employees. LinkedIn's CEO is
Jeff Weiner, previously a Yahoo! Inc. executive. Founder Reid Hoffman,
previously CEO of LinkedIn, is Chairman of the Board. It is funded by Sequoia
Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and the
European Founders Fund. LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006.
Through January 2011, the company had received a total of $103 million of
investment.
Facilities provided by Linkedin: The basic functionality of LinkedIn allows

users (workers and employers) to create profiles, which for employees
typically consist of a curriculum vitae describing their work experience,
education and training and a photo of them. Users can list their workplace
skills on their profile. As well, the site enables users to make "connections" to
each other in an online social network which may represent real-world
professional relationships. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or
not) to become a connection. However, if the invitee selects "I don't know" or
"Spam", this counts against the inviter. If the inviter gets too many of such
responses, the user's account may be restricted or closed.
This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:
 Obtaining introductions to the connections of connections (termed

second-degree connections) and connections of second-degree
connections (termed third-degree connections)
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 Users can search for second-degree connections who work at a
specific company they are interested in, and then ask a specific first-
degree connection in common for an introduction
 Users can find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended
by someone in one's contact network.
 Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.
 Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover
which of their existing contacts can introduce them.
 Users can post their own photos and view photos of others to aid in
identification.
 Users can follow different companies.
 Users can save (i.e. bookmark) jobs that they would like to apply for.
 Users can "like" and "congratulate" each other's updates and new
employments.
 Users can wish each other a happy birthday.
 Users can see who has visited their profile page.
 The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional

requires either an existing relationship, or the intervention of a contact
of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's users. LinkedIn
participated in the EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles.
[D] Google +:
Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus) is an interest-

based social network that is owned and operated by Google. Google+ is the
company's fourth foray into social networking, following Google Buzz
(launched 2010, retired in 2011), Google Friend Connect (launched 2008,
retired by March 1, 2012), and Orkut (launched in 2004, as of 2013 operated
entirely by subsidiary Google Brazil – retired in September 2014).
Google+ launched in June 2011. Features included the ability to post photos
and status updates to the stream or interest based communities, group
different types of relationships (rather than simply "friends") into Circles, a
multi-person instant messaging, text and video chat called Hangouts, events,
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location tagging, and the ability to edit and upload photos to private cloud-
based albums.
According to a 2016 book by a former Facebook employee, some leaders at

Facebook saw Google's foray into social networking as a serious threat to the
company. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg instituted a company-wide
"lockdown", signaling that employees were supposed to dedicate time to
bringing Facebook's features into line with Google+
Features and Functions of Google+
User profile: A Google+ User profile is a public visible account of a user that
is attached to many Google properties. It includes basic social networking
services like a profile photo, about section, background photo, cover photo,
previous work and school history, interests, places lived and an area to post
status updates. It also includes several identity service sections, such as a
contributor and other profiles area that let one link their "properties across the
web". These sections optionally link to other social media accounts one has,
any blogs one owns or have written or sites one is a contributor to.
Circles: Circles is a core feature of the Google+ Social Platform. It enables

users to organize people into groups or lists for sharing across various Google
products and services. Organization of circles is done through a drag-and-
drop interface. Once a circle is created, a Google+ user can share specific
private content to only that circle. For example, work themed content can be
shared with only colleagues, and one's friends and family could see more
personal content and photos. The option to share Public or with Everyone is
always available. Another function of Circles is to control the content of one's
Stream. A user may click on a Circle on the left side of the page and the
Stream portion of the page (the center) will contain only posts shared by users
in that Circle. For the unsegmented Stream (includes content from all of a
user's Circles), each Circle has a "slider" configuration item with four
positions: nothing, some things, most things, and everything. The nothing
position requires the user to select (click on) the Circle name explicitly to see
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content from users in that Circle. The everything setting as its name implies
filters nothing out from people in that Circle.
Stream: In the "Stream" function, which occupies the middle of three columns
on the page, users can see updates from those in their Circles. There is an
input box which allows users to enter a post. Along with the text entry field
there are icons to upload and share photos and videos. The Stream can be
filtered to show only posts from specific Circles.
Identity Service: Starting in November 2011, Google+ profiles are used as

the background account for many Google Services including YouTube, Gmail,
Google Maps, Android, Google Play, Google Music, Google Voice, Google
Wallet, Google Local and more. As of January 10, Google Search is
customized with a feature called Search Plus Your World, which inserts
content shared on Google+ profiles and brand pages under Web Search
results, if one is logged into their Google+ account while using it.The feature,
which is opt-in, was received with controversy over the emphasis of Google+
profiles over other social networking services. The feature builds upon the
earlier "Social Search" feature which indexes content shared or published by
authors; "Social Search", however, relied partly upon returns from non-Google
services, such as Twitter and Flickr. Google and Twitter had a contract that
expired in July 2011 which is the reason Tweets are no longer shown.
+1 Button: Google+ has a "+1 button" to allow people to recommend sites

and parts of sites, similar in use to Facebook's Like button.
Google+ Pages: Google+ Pages was released on November 7, 2011 to all

users, which allows businesses to connect with fans. It allows entities which
are not individuals (such as organizations, companies, and publications) to set
up profiles, or "pages", for the posting and syndication of posts. It is similar to
Facebook Pages.
Google+ Views was introduced on April 1, 2014. It features a "view counter",

which is displayed on every user‘s profile page. The view counter shows the
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number of times the user's content has been seen by others, including photos,
posts, and profile page.
Additional features:
 "Instant Upload" is specific to mobile devices; it stores photos or

videos in a private album for sharing later.
 "Data Liberation" option provides the ability to download one's
content from Google+.
 Hashtags, where "#" is written before a word or CamelCase, are
hyperlinked to the most recent or highest-trending search results within
Google+ containing the term.
 Broadened SMS support so that users in the 185 countries including
U.S. and India can now post to Google+, receive notifications, and
respond to group messages via SMS. They have also made it easier to
+mention someone from a mobile device. Now, to +mention another
user, one simply writes +[their name] inside a post or comment. In
order to +1 comments more easily, users are now able to +1 them
directly from their iOS devices. They also introduced this feature to the
Android app in December 2011.
 Select public figures have verified names. Google determines
whether a particular profile warrants verification. The purpose is to
indicate to site visitors whether a particular profile belongs to who one
would generally expect the name to be, and not someone who
coincidentally has the same name as a public figure. Verified identity
profiles have a checkmark logo after their name. Examples of profiles
bearing the verified name badge include Linus Torvalds, William
Shatner, Leo Laporte, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin.
[E] Youtube:
Youtube The service was created by three former PayPal employees Chad
Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in February 2005. In November 2006,
it was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion. YouTube now operates as one of
Google's subsidiaries. The site allows users to upload, view, rate, share, add
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to favorites, report and comment on videos, and it makes use of WebM,
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, and Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide
variety of user-generated and corporate media videos. Available content
includes video clips, TV show clips, music videos, short and documentary
films, audio recordings, movie trailers and other content such as video
blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.
Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, but media
corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, Hulu, and other organizations
offer some of their material via YouTube, as part of the YouTube partnership
program. YouTube earns advertising revenue from Google AdSense, a
program which targets ads according to site content and audience.
[D] Pintreset:
Pinterest is a web and mobile application company that operates a photo

sharing website. Registration is required for use.The site was founded by Ben
Silbermann, Paul Sciarra and Evan Sharp.
Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann summarized the company as a "catalog of

ideas," rather than as a social network, that inspires users to "go out and do
that thing."
Fig 12:Logo of pinterest(extracted on 20 Nov 2016)
Pinterest is a free website that requires registration to use. Users can upload,
save, sort, and manage images—known as pins—and other media content
(e.g., videos) through collections known as pinboards. Pinterest acts as a
personalized media platform. Users can browse the content of others in their
feed. Users can then save individual pins to one of their own boards using the
"Pin It" button, with Pinboards typically organized by a central topic or theme.
Users can personalize their experience with Pinterest by pinning items,
creating boards, and interacting with other members. The end result is that
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the "pin feed" of each user displays unique, personalized results.Content can
also be found outside of Pinterest and similarly uploaded to a board via the
"Pin It" button, which can be downloaded to the bookmark bar on a web
browser, or be implemented by a webmaster directly on the website. They
also have the option of sending a pin to other Pinterest users and email
accounts through the "Send" button. Some websites include red and white
"pin it" buttons on items, which allow Pinterest users to pin them directly. An
account can also be created and accessed by linking Pinterest to a Facebook
or Twitter profile. When a user re-posts or re-pins an image to their own
board, they have the option of notifying their Facebook and Twitter followers;
this feature can be managed on the settings page. On the main Pinterest
page, a "pin feed" appears, displaying the chronological activity from the
Pinterest boards that a user follows.
[E] Instagram: 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 either publicly or privately on the app, as
well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Instagram was created by Kevin
Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile
app. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users
as of April 2012 and over 300 million as of December 2014. Instagram is
distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support for the app
is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Windows 10 devices and Android
handsets, while third-party Instagram apps are available for BlackBerry 10
and Nokia-Symbian Devices.
Fig 13: Logo of instagram: (extracted on 20 Nov 2016)
The service was acquired by Facebook in April 2012 for approximately US$1
billion in cash and stock. In 2013, Instagram grew by 23%, while Facebook,
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as the parent company, only grew by 3%. Snapchat has more than 150
million daily active users and aims to generate more than $350m in
advertising revenue in 2016.
Fig 14: Leading social networks according to number of active users
Source: Facebook:We are social; WhatsApp,Twitter,Tumblr,Linkedin,Google©

Statista2017 (extracted on 20 Jan 2017)
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Social Media Marketing:
Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention

through social media sites. Social media marketing refers to advertising that is
posted or streamed on social media websites or applications. Social media
marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a
product or service. Most of these social media platforms have their own built-
in data analytics tools, which enable companies to track the progress,
success, and engagement of ad campaigns
For example, a user sees advertisements or sponsored ads in his personal

Facebook feed. Advantages of social media marketing include increased
brand loyalty, decreased marketing costs, improved customer insights and
increased inbound traffic. Social media marketing is typically effective. A
social media marketing strategy helps a business create awareness of and
generate interest in its products or services using social networks. Businesses
can develop and use social media marketing strategies for free or low-cost
advertising, visibility, market research and instant feedback from customer
interactions and reviews.
Companies address range stakeholders through social media marketing

including current and potential customers, current and potential employees,
journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media
marketing includes the management of the implementation of a marketing
campaign, governance, setting the scope (e.g. more active or passive use)
and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone". To
use social media effectively, firms should learn to allow customers and
Internet users to post user-generated content (e.g., online comments, product
reviews, etc.), also known as "earned media", rather than use marketer-
prepared advertising copy.
Social networking websites allow individual, businesses and other

organizations to interact with one another and build relationships and
communities online. When companies join these social channels, consumers
can interact with them directly. That interaction can be more personal to users
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than traditional methods of outbound marketing and advertising. Social
networking sites act as word of mouth or more accurately, e-word of mouth.
The Internet's ability to reach billions across the globe has given online word
of mouth a powerful voice and far reach. The ability to rapidly change buying
patterns and product or service acquisition and activity to a growing number of
consumers is defined as an influence network. Social networking sites and
blogs allow followers to "retweet" or "repost" comments made by others about
a product being promoted, which occurs quite frequently on some social
media sites. 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.
Social networking websites are based on building virtual communities that

allow consumers to express their needs, wants and values, online. Social
media marketing then connects these consumers and audiences to
businesses that share the same needs, wants, and values. Through social
networking sites, companies can keep in touch with individual followers. This
personal interaction can instill 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
much 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. An understanding of buying signals can help sales
people target relevant prospects and marketers run micro-targeted
campaigns.
Bennet Shea, in his research work “ Social media business statistics,

facts, figures and trends 2014” states that over 80% of business
executives identified social media as an integral part of their business.
Business retailers have seen 133% increases in their revenues from
social media marketing.
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According to a recent study, about half the world's population is currently on
the Internet. Roughly 75% of those people are on social media and ¾ of those
folks have social media accounts on their mobile phones. Mobile phone usage
is beneficial for social media marketing because mobile phones have social
networking capabilities, allowing individuals immediate web browsing and
access to social networking sites. Mobile phones have grown at a rapid rate,
fundamentally altering the path-to-purchase process by allowing consumers to
easily obtain pricing and product information in real time and allowing
companies to constantly remind and update their followers. Many companies
are now putting QR (Quick Response) codes along with products for
individuals to access the company website or online services with their smart
phones. Retailers use QR codes to facilitate consumer interaction with brands
by linking the code to brand websites, promotions, product information, or any
other mobile-enabled content. In addition, Real-time bidding use in the mobile
advertising industry is high and rising because of its value for on-the-go web
browsing. In 2012, Nexage, a provider of real time bidding in mobile
advertising, reported a 37% increase in revenue each month. Adfonic, another
mobile advertisement publishing platform, reported an increase of 22 billion
ad requests that same year.
Mobile devices and The internet also influence the way consumers interact
with media and has many further implications for TV ratings, advertising,
mobile commerce and more. Mobile media consumption such as mobile audio
streaming or mobile video are on the rise – in the United States, more than
100 million users are projected to access online video content via mobile
device. Mobile video revenue consists of pay-per-view downloads,
advertising, and subscriptions. As of 2013, worldwide mobile phone Internet
user penetration was 73.4%. In 2017, figures suggest that more than 90% of
Internet users will access online content through their phones.
Strategies for social media marketing
There are two basic strategies for engaging the social media as marketing
tools:
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(a) Active approach: Social media can be used not only as public relations
and direct marketing tools but also as communication channels targeting very
specific audiences with social media influencers and social media
personalities and as effective customer engagement tools. Technologies
predating social media, such as broadcast TV and newspapers can also
provide advertisers with a fairly targeted audience, given that an ad placed
during a sports game broadcast or in the sports section of a newspaper is
likely to be read by sports fans. However, social media websites can target
niche markets even more precisely. Using digital tools such as Google
Adsense, advertisers can target their ads to very specific demographics, such
as people who are interested in social entrepreneurship, political activism
associated with a particular political party, or video gaming. Google Adsense
does this by looking for keywords in social media user's online posts and
comments. It would be hard for a TV station or paper-based newspaper to
provide ads that are this targeted (though not impossible, as can be seen with
"special issue" sections on niche issues, which newspapers can use to sell
targeted ads).
Facebook and LinkedIn are leading social media platforms where users can
hyper-target their ads. Hypertargeting not only uses public profile information
but also information users submit but hide from others. There are several
examples of firms initiating some form of online dialog with the public to foster
relations with customers. According to Constantinides, Lorenzo and Gómez
Borja (2008) "Business executives like Jonathan Swartz, President and CEO
of Sun Microsystems, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple Computers, and McDonalds
Vice President Bob Langert posted 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 cost-
effective method to launch new products or services.
(b) Passive approach:
Social media can be a useful source of market information and a way to hear
customer perspectives. Blogs, content communities, and forums are platforms
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where individuals share their reviews and recommendations of brands,
products, and services. Businesses are able to tap and analyze the customer
voices and feedback generated in social media for marketing purposes. In this
sense the social media is a relatively inexpensive source of market
intelligence which can be used by marketers and managers to track and
respond to consumer-identified problems and detect market opportunities.
Unlike traditional market research methods such as surveys, focus groups,
and data mining which are time-consuming and costly, and which take weeks
or even months to analyze, marketers can use social media to obtain 'live' or
"real time" information about consumer behavior and viewpoints on a
company's brand or products. This can be useful in the highly dynamic,
competitive fast-paced and global marketplace of the 2010s.
One of the main purposes of employing social media in marketing is as a

communications tool that makes the companies accessible to those interested
in their product and makes them visible to those who have no knowledge of
their products. These companies use social media to create buzz, and learn
from and target customers. It's the only form of marketing that can finger
consumers at each and every stage of the consumer decision journey. While
platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ have a larger amount of
monthly users, the visual media sharing based mobile platforms, however,
garner a higher interaction rate in comparison and have registered the fastest
growth and have changed the ways in which consumers engage with brand
content. Instagram has an interaction rate of 1.46% with an average of 130
million users monthly as opposed to Twitter which has a .03% interaction rate
with an average of 210 million monthly users. Unlike traditional media that are
often cost-prohibitive to many companies, a social media strategy does not
require astronomical budgeting.
This has changed the ways that companies approach to interact with
customers, as a substantial percentage of consumer interactions are now
being carried out over online platforms with much higher visibility. Customers
can now post reviews of products and services, rate customer service, and
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ask questions or voice concerns directly to companies through social media
platforms.
Social Media marketing strategies adopted by different social media

websites:
(a)Facebook:
 Most of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising. Facebook

generally has a lower clickthrough rate (CTR) for advertisements than
most major websites. According to BusinessWeek.com, banner
advertisements on Facebook have generally received one-fifth the
number of clicks compared to those on the Web as a whole, although
specific comparisons can reveal a much larger disparity.
 In February 2015, Facebook announced that it had reached two million
active advertisers with most of the gain coming from small businesses.
An active advertiser is an advertiser that has advertised on the
Facebook platform in the last 28 days. In March 2016, Facebook
announced that it reached three million active advertisers with more
than 70% from outside the US.
 Facebook pages are far more detailed than Twitter accounts. They
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 product's Twitter page as
well as send out event reminders. As of May 2015, 93% of businesses
marketers use Facebook to promote their brand. 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 non-paying
business pages (that have at least 500,000 "Likes") from 16% in 2012
down to 2% in February 2014.
(b)Twitter:
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Twitter allows companies to promote their products in short messages known
as tweets limited to 140 characters which appear on followers' Home
timelines. Tweets can contain text, Hashtag, photo, video, Animated GIF,
Emoji, or links to the product's website and other social media profiles, etc.
Twitter is also used by companies to provide customer service. Some
companies make support available 24/7 and answer promptly, thus improving
brand loyalty and appreciation.
(c)Linkedin:
 LinkedIn allowed businesses to list products and services on company

profile pages; it also permitted LinkedIn members to "recommend"
products and services and write reviews.
 In mid-2008, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Direct Ads as a form of
sponsored advertising. In October 2008, LinkedIn revealed plans to
open its social network of 30 million professionals globally as a
potential sample for business-to-business research. It is testing a
potential social network revenue model - research that to some
appears more promising than advertising.On July 23, 2013, LinkedIn
announced their Sponsored Updates ad service. Individuals and
companies can now pay a fee to have LinkedIn sponsor their content
and spread it to their user base. This is a common way for social media
sites such as LinkedIn to generate revenue.
 Talent Solutions, through which recruiters and corporations pay for
branded corporation and career listing pages, pay-per-click targeted
job ads, and access to the LinkedIn database of users and resumes.
 Marketing Solutions, which advertisers pay for pay per click-through
targeted ads.
 Premium Subscriptions, through which LinkedIn users can pay for
advanced services, such as LinkedIn Business, LinkedIn Talent (for
recruiters), LinkedIn JobSeeker, and LinkedIn Sales for sales
professions.
(d)Google+
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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 Adwords 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 optimization, before the
relationship was removed by Google. Google+ is one of the fastest growing
social media networks and can benefit almost any business.
(e)Instagram
According to official site of Instagram 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
University's Stern School of Business, latest studies estimate that 93% of
prestige brands have an active presence on Instagram and include it in their
marketing mix. When it comes to brands and businesses, Instagram's 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.
Many brands are now heavily using this mobile app to boost their marketing
strategy. Instagram can be used to gain the necessary momentum needed to
capture the attention of the market segment that has an interest in the product
offering or services. As Instagram is supported by Apple and android system,
it can be easily accessed by smartphone users. Moreover, it can be accessed
by the Internet as well. Thus, the marketers see it as a potential platform to
expand their brands exposure to the public, especially the younger target
group. On top of this, marketers do not only use social media for traditional
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Internet advertising, but they also encourage users to create attention for a
certain brand. This generally creates an opportunity for greater brand
exposure. Furthermore, marketers are also using the platform to drive social
shopping and inspire people to collect and share pictures of their favorite
products. Many big names have already jumped on board: Starbucks, MTV,
Nike, Marc Jacobs, and Red Bull are a few examples of multinationals that
adopted the mobile photo app early. Fashion blogger Danielle Bernstein, who
goes by @weworewhat on Instagram, collaborated with Harper's Bazaar to do
a piece on how brands are using Instagram to market their products, and how
bloggers make money from it. Bernstein, who currently has one and a half
million followers on Instagram, and whose "outfit of the day" photos on
Snapchat get tens of thousands of screenshots, explained that for a lot of her
sponsored posts, she must feature the brand in a certain amount of posts,
and often cannot wear a competitor's product in the same picture. According
to Harper's Bazaar, industry estimates say that brands are spending more
than $1 billion per year on consumer-generated advertising. Founder of
Instagram Kevin Systrom even went to Paris Fashion week, going to couture
shows and meeting with designers to learn more about how style bloggers,
editors, and designers are currently dominating much of the content on his
application.
Instagram has proven itself a powerful platform for marketers to reach their
customers and prospects through sharing pictures and brief messages.
According to a study by Simply Measured, 71% of the world's largest brands
are now using Instagram as a marketing channel. For companies, Instagram
can be used as a tool to connect and communicate with current and potential
customers. The company can present a more personal picture of their brand,
and by doing so the company conveys a better and true picture of itself. The
idea of Instagram pictures lies on on-the-go, a sense that the event is
happening right now, and that adds another layer to the personal and
accurate picture of the company. In fact, Thomas Rankin, co-founder and
CEO of the program Dash Hudson, stated that when he approves a blogger's
Instagram post before it is posted on the behalf of a brand his company
represents, his only negative feedback is if it looks too posed. "It's not an
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editorial photo," he explained, "We're not trying to be a magazine. We're trying
to create a moment." Another option Instagram provides the opportunity for
companies to reflect a true picture of the brandfrom the perspective of the
customers, for instance, using the user-generated contents thought the
hashtags encouragement. Other than the filters and hashtags functions, the
Instagram's 15-second videos and the recently added ability to send private
messages between users have opened new opportunities for brands to
connect with customers in a new extent, further promoting effective marketing
on Instagram.
(f)YouTube
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. Companies can pay YouTube
for a special "channel" which promotes the company‘s products or services.
(g)Pinterest: Pinterest also allows businesses to create pages aimed at

promoting their companies online. Such pages can serve as a "virtual
storefront". The users spent less time on the company's website, choosing
instead to browse from the company's pinboard. Further brand studies have
continued to show Pinterest is more effective at driving sales than other forms
of social media. In 2013, Pinterest introduced a new tool called 'Rich Pins', to
enhance the customer experience when browsing through pins made by
companies. Business pages can include various data, topics and information
such as prices of products, ratings of movies or ingredients for recipes.
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Like Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest now lets marketers access the data
collected on its users. Technology providers including Salesforce.com,
Hootsuite, Spredfast, Percolate, Piqora, Curalate, and Tailwind are presently
the only companies granted access to the data. By granting access to users'
data, Pinterest lets marketers investigate how people respond to products. If a
product has a high number of repins, this generally tells the producer of the
product that it is well liked by many members of the Pinterest community. Now
that Pinterest lets marketers access the data, companies can view user
comments on the product to learn how people like or dislike it.
A 2013 study on Pinterest practices found that "repinning" was the most
popular action by users, followed by likes, and lastly, commenting. According
to Salesforce.com, Pinterest has become a key part of corporate digital
marketing strategies. Before 2013, Pinterest only accounted for about 2
percent of global social-mediated sales, however it has recently substantially
increased to about 23 percent. People use social media sites like Pinterest to
direct or guide their choices in products. However, at this time, the data
collected from Pinterest is predominantly from female users. A recent study
found that 80% of Pinterest users are women. Many businesses use Pinterest
Analytics to investigate whether the time spent on the social networking site is
actually producing results or not.
(h)Blogs Platforms like LinkedIn create an environment for companies and

clients to connect online. Companies that recognize the need for information,
originality/ and accessibility employ blogs to make their products popular and
unique/ and ultimately reach out to consumers who are privy to social media.
Consumers view coverage in the media or from bloggers as being more
neutral and credible than print advertisements. Blogs allow a product or
company to provide longer descriptions of products or services, can include
testimonials and can link to and from other social network and blog pages.
Blogs can be updated frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping
customers, and also for acquiring followers and subscribers who can then be
directed to social network pages. Online communities can enable a business
to reach the clients of other businesses using the platform. To allow firms to
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measure their standing in the corporate world, sites enable employees to
place evaluations of their companies. Some businesses opt out of integrating
social media platforms into their traditional marketing regimen. There are also
specific corporate standards that apply when interacting online. To maintain
an advantage in a business-consumer relationship, businesses have to be
aware of four key assets that consumers maintain: information, involvement,
community, and control.
(i)Tumblr
Dating and friendship website Tumblr first launched ad products on May 29,
2012. Rather than relying on simple banner ads, Tumblr requires advertisers
to create a Tumblr blog so the content of those blogs can be featured on the
site. In one year, four native ad formats were created on web and mobile, and
had more than 100 brands advertising on Tumblr with 500 cumulative
sponsored posts.
 Ad formats:
 Sponsored mobile pPost – Advertisements (Advertisers' blog posts) will

show up on user's Dashboard when the user is on a mobile device such as
smartphones and tablets, allowing them to like, reblog, and share the
sponsored post.
 Sponsored web post – "Largest in-stream ad unit on the web" that catches
the users' attention when looking at their Dashboard through their
computer or laptop. It also allows the viewers to like, reblog, and share it.
 Sponsored radar – Radar picks up exceptional posts from the whole
Tumblr community based on their originality and creativity. It is placed on
the right side next to the Dashboard, and it typically earns 120 million daily
impressions. Sponsored radar allows advertisers to place their posts there
to have an opportunity to earn new followers, reblogs, and likes.
 Sponsored spotlight – Spotlight is a directory of some of the popular blogs
throughout the community and a place where users can find new blogs to
follow. Advertisers can choose one category out of fifty categories that
they can have their blog listed on there.
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 These posts can be one or more of the following: images, photo sets,
animated GIFs, video, audio, and text posts. For the users to differentiate
the promoted posts to the regular users' posts, the promoted posts have a
dollar symbol on the corner. On May 6, 2014, Tumblr announced
customization and theming on mobile apps for brands to advertise.
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Chapter 5
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer Behaviour: Consumer behavior is the study of how people make

decisions about what they buy, want, need, or act in regards to a product,
service, or company. Consumer Behaviour is a branch which deals with the
various stages a consumer goes through before purchasing products or
services for his end use. It is critical to understand consumer behavior to
know how potential customers will respond to a new product or service. It also
helps companies identify opportunities that are not currently met.
Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or

organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to
satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the
marketplace and the underlying motives for those actions. Marketers expect
that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy particular goods
and services, they will be able to determine—which products are needed in
the marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods to
the consumers.
The study of consumer behaviour assumes that the consumers are actors in
the marketplace. The per¬spective of role theory assumes that consumers
play various roles in the marketplace. Starting from the information provider,
from the user to the payer and to the disposer, consumers play these roles in
the decision process.
It is also concerned with the social and economic impacts that purchasing
and consumption behaviour has on both the consumer and wider society.
Consumer behaviour blends elements from psychology, sociology, social
anthropology, marketing and economics, especially behavioural economics. It
examines how emotions, attitudes and preferences affect buying behaviour.
Characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics, personality
lifestyles and behavioural variables such as usage rates, usage occasion,
loyalty, brand advocacy, willingness to provide referrals, in an attempt to
understand people's wants and consumption are all investigated in formal
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studies of consumer behaviour. It also tries to assess influences on the
consumer from groups such as family, friends, sports, reference groups, and
society in general.
The study of consumer behaviour is concerned with all aspects of purchasing

and consumption behavior as well as all persons involved in purchasing
decisions and consumption activities. Research has shown that consumer
behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field
2.1Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour:
There are four types of consumer buying behavior on the basis of buyer
involvement while purchasing any product:
Table 3 :Types of Consumer Behaviour

High involvement Low involvement
Significant difference Complex buying Variety seeking
between brands behavior behavior
Few differences Dissonance buying Habitual buying
between brands behavior behavior
a) Complex buying behavior:- when the consumer is highly involved in the

buying and there is significant differences between brands then it is called
complex buying behavior. So in this case the consumer must collect proper
information about the product features and the marketer must provide detailed
information regarding the product attributes. For e.g. Consumer while buying
a motor cycle is highly involved in the purchase and has the knowledge about
significant differences between brands.
b) Variety seeking behavior: - in this case consumer involvement is low

while buying the product but there are significant differences between brands.
Consumers generally buy different products not due to dissatisfaction from the
earlier product but due to seek variety. Like every time they buy
different washing detergent just for variety. So it is the duty of the marketer to
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encourage the consumer to buy the product by offering them discounts, free
samples and by advertising the product a lot.
c) Dissonance buying behavior:- here consumer is highly involved in the
purchase but there are few differences between brands. Like consumer while
buying a floor tiles buy them quickly as there are few differences between
brands.
d) Habitual buying behavior:- in this case there is low involvement of the
consumer and there are few differences between brands. The consumer buys
the product quickly. For e.g. Toothpaste.
2.2 Consumer Decision Styles: A number of theorists have argued that

certain fundamental decision-making styles can be identified. A decision-
making style is defined as a "mental orientation characterizing a consumer's
approach to making choices." Sproles and Kendall (1986) developed a
consumer style inventory (CSI) consisting of eight factors, such as price-
sensitivity, quality-consciousness, brand-consciousness, novelty-seeking,
fashion-consciousness and habit. Based on these factors, the authors
developed a typology of eight distinct decision-making styles:
 Recreational shoppers: Shoppers who shop just for the fun of it are
known as recreational shoppers.
 Quality conscious/Perfectionist: Quality-consciousness is
characterised by a consumer‘s search for the very best quality in
products; quality conscious consumers tend to shop systematically
making more comparisons and shopping around.
 Brand-conscious: Brand-consciousness is characterised by a
tendency to buy expensive, well-known brands or designer labels.
Those who score high on brand-consciousness tend to believe that the
higher prices are an indicator of quality and exhibit a preference for
department stores or top-tier retail outlets.
 Recreation-conscious/ Hedonistic: Recreational shopping is
characterised by the consumer‘s engagement in the purchase process.
Those who score high on recreation-consciousness regard shopping
itself as a form of enjoyment.
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 Price-conscious: A consumer who exhibits price-and-value
consciousness. Price-conscious shoppers carefully shop around
seeking lower prices, sales or discounts and are motivated by obtaining
the best value for money
 Novelty/fashion-conscious: characterised by a consumer‘s tendency
to seek out new products or new experiences for the sake of
excitement; who gain excitement from seeking new things; they like to
keep up-to-date with fashions and trends, variety-seeking is associated
with this dimension.
 Impulsive: Impulsive consumers are somewhat careless in making
purchase decisions, buy on the spur of the moment and are not overly
concerned with expenditure levels or obtaining value. Those who score
high on impulsive dimensions tend not to be engaged with the object at
either a cognitive or emotional level.
 Confused (by over-choice): characterised by a consumer‘s confusion
caused by too many product choices, too many stores or an overload
of product information; tend to experience information overload.
 Habitual / brand loyal: characterized by a consumer‘s tendency to
follow a routine purchase pattern on each purchase occasion;
consumers have favourite brands or stores and have formed habits in
choosing, the purchase decision does not involve much evaluation or
shopping around.
2.3 Consumer behaviour in online shopping:
Online shopping The phrase ―online consumer behavior‖ describes the

process of online shopping from a consumer‘s perspective. It is often
described as the study of trends, including the influence of online advertising,
consumer willingness to click on links, the prevalence of comparison
shopping, among others. The decision-making process of an online consumer
is often very different from that of a consumer in a physical store. Companies
are increasingly studying online consumer behavior in order to adapt their
sales and marketing strategies to appeal to the Internet purchaser. Online
sales have increased all over the world, with more and more shoppers looking
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to the Internet before they head out to malls or other stores. In order to remain
competitive, many companies are electing to devote at least some of their
marketing capital to the online space. Companies decide many of the finer
points of online sales, including advertising strategies, page layout, and ease
of website searching by analyzing online consumer behavior.
The field of online consumer behavior can be broad. Most of the time, theories
in this field are posited by economists or market analysts who specialize in
consumer analysis. Companies hire some consumer analysts on a contract
basis to provide tailored advice. Others work for independent market analyst
firms, for think tanks, or in academia.
In many respects, the study of online consumer behavior is the study of the
intersection between online consumers and online businesses. Analysts look
at how consumers respond to various aspects of an online business, and
compare the factors that led to a consumer either making a purchase or
leaving the website. The consumer psychology of making purchases online is
usually a major part of an analyst‘s considerations, and analysts often conduct
market segmentation studies based on gender, age, and relative
sophistication.
Online consumer behavior can also be forward-looking. Behavior studies can

tell businesses how consumers are responding to ads and site layouts, but
they can also predict how consumers will respond to other future campaigns
or web features. Market analysis in the online space often leads to innovation.
Businesses develop new advertising campaigns, and come up with different
ways to reach potential purchasers based on behavioral statistics.
Sometimes, the way corporations use behavioral data are straightforward,

such as sponsoring links on certain sites or optimizing home pages to appear
more readily in search engines. Increasingly, however, market responses are
more tailored to the consumer individually. Social networking promotions,
interactive homepages, and special offers for subscribers of e-mail or
messaging updates are all examples of ways in which online consumer
behavior has influenced the modern retail world.
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Fig 15: factors influencing online consumer‘s behaviour
Source: Marketing Management by Phillip Kotler2003(extracted 15 Nov 2016)
The basic decision making process in online shopping is similar to brick and
mortar shopping. The stages are similar viz: Problem recognition, information
search, comparison of alternatives, actual purchase ans post purchase
behavior. But as online shopping is done from the confinement of home/office
without actually checking the product there are certain factors which have a
strong influence on online consumer behaviour. These factors are:
a) Ability to shop at a discounted price

b) Flexibility of shopping hours
c) Availability of greater variety of products/brands
d) Ease of comparing to find lower prices
e) Saving the cost of transportation needed to drive to shopping places.
f) Convenience of not having to leave the house to shop
g) Advertisements and other marketing practices of e-retailing websites
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h) Opinions of friend and family
i) Prices of products
j) Designs of website
k) Payments method
l) Delivery options
m) Return Policy/After sale services
Online shopping continues to gain popularity. Every day more and more
people make the leap to buy online. Many businesses wish to capitalize on
the momentum in the online retail sector. Thanks to new technology that
measures the way consumers behave when they are engaging in commerce
activities, retailers are now beginning to understand the various ways that
people shop. These consumer insights can provide targeted incentives to
those customers, in an attempt to gain their business. There are many
different online shopper personality types, or behavioral characteristics of
shoppers. Each has certain traits and skillful marketing professionals stress
the importance of learning each type in order to design shopping services that
are attractive to members of each type or customer segment. Because of the
large number of online retailers, online shoppers need to be wooed with an
online shopping experience that is tailored to their specific online shopping
personality type, so they do not look elsewhere for their purchases.
According to Corin Birchall, following is a list of some of the most common

Online Shopping Personality Types, based on consumer research of online
shoppers, in no particular order:
Recreational Shoppers: Recreational shoppers are all over the place. They
flit from one website to another very quickly, and only stop when a truly
significant deal catches their eye. You have to really come up with something
eye-catching if you hope to catch these customers. These are customers that
like to click on ‗similar product‘ links, and that are likely to spend a great deal
of time at online retail store if it presents enough engaging content to keep
them there.
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Deal Hunters: Deal hunters are in search of the holy grail of deals. They
purchase items used or refurbished if it will get them a better deal. These are
customers who might buy an item they don‘t actually need if you present them
with a good enough deal for it. Deal hunters are also often on the lookout for
free shipping deals. Many deal hunters refuse to make purchases at online
stores that do not offer free shipping if they can find a competing online store
that offers the same product with free shipping.
The Flitter: These shoppers can be ‗the fish that got away‘ if you are not
careful. One way to keep them shopping is to ensure that the shopping cart
on your website remains active for a long time, so that if they are in another
window and forget that they are in the middle of a transaction, they can simply
return and finish it. If the shopping cart at online retail store times out and the
items are no longer there, the customer is less likely to re-add the items to the
cart and purchase them.
The Researcher: Researchers love to learn everything they can about a

product before purchasing it online. They may watch a product for a while on
various websites, to see what the average price is, so that they can know for
sure when they are presented with a price whether or not it is a good deal.
Researchers also enjoy reading reviews from other customers, and regularly
rely on ratings and reviews when deciding what to purchase online.
Impatient Shoppers: Impatient shoppers will not stick around if your

checkout process is lengthy and complicated. They do not want to waste time
signing up for an account, they want to buy their items immediately, and if you
cannot provide them with immediate checkout, they will go to another website
that will. To capture this type of online shopper, it is necessary e that website
loads quickly, and that checkout process is as streamlined as possible.
Rewards Shoppers: Many online shoppers like to patronize the same online
retail stores repeatedly. These brand loyalists enjoy customer loyalty
programs that give rewards or points for purchases, and love to take part in
deals and promotions that make them feel like they are working towards a
goal with their purchases. Rewards shoppers enjoy taking part in SMS Text
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Message Marketing campaigns, where they can receive messages about
sales and specials they qualify for send directly to their personal mobile
devices.
Hipsters: Some online shoppers only purchase high end retail brands. These
customers will purchase these brands from various sellers, but only buy the
very best and premium brand names, and also generally wish to purchase the
latest and newest models of items. Retailers will find that these customers
are willing to spend a great deal of money in order to get top of the line items
that are hot, fresh, and in style.
Day Dreamers: Some people really love to make wish lists. This type of
shopper will typically have wish lists at several online retail stores, and enjoys
dreaming about their ideal purchases, but needs a push in order to actualize
the transaction. One can convince them to purchase by lowering the price of
items on their wish list, so that they can‘t help but take advantage of the
savings retailers are offering.
Intrepid Explorers: Some online shoppers are after one thing, and only one
thing. Those shoppers will not purchase anything else and will not deviate
from their quest for the specific item until they find it. Once they find the
product they are looking for, they may reward you by purchasing additional
items from your online store because they are so happy that they found what
they are looking for. This type of shopper typically enjoys websites that have
search functionality, or site maps that can make it easy to pinpoint the item
they are seeking.
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Chapter 6
E-Retailing
E-Retailing: The fast development of telecommunications technology in the
past few decades has changed many aspects of consumers‘ lives, including
their purchasing process. Consumers are often turning to e-commerce or
electronic commerce, namely the buying and selling of products and services
exclusively through electronic channels. The most well-known form of e-
commerce is online shopping, also known as business to consumer e-
commerce (B2C), where private customers can order various products which
they then receive by courier or postal mail. Another category of e-commerce
focuses on transactions between companies, called business to business e-
commerce (B2B). The third category of e-commerce involves transactions
from consumer to consumer (C2C), as in the example of eBay or other similar
websites. As a result of extensive use of mobile phone e-retailing sector has
seen an unprecedented growth.
Fig 16: Mobile share of online retail sales in India in 2014 and 2015
Source: ASSOCHAM, PwC© Statista2016 ( extracted on 20 Jan 2017)
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Report of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
(ASSOCHAM) 2016 about e-retail sector in India:
The Indian e-commerce industry is likely to clock a compounded annual

growth rate (CAGR) of 35 per cent and cross the $100-billion mark in value
over the next five years, a study conducted by Associated Chambers of
Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) along with
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has said.
Additionally, with improvement in infrastructure such as logistics, broadband

and internet-ready devices, there is likely to be a significant increase in the
number of consumers making purchases online, the study said. It estimates
around 65 million consumers in India to buy online in 2016, as against around
40 million in 2014.
As per the study titled ―Evolution of e-commerce in India - Creating the bricks
behind the clicks‖, With nearly one-third of internet users already making
purchases online, the e-commerce growth will rely more on increased
spending from existing buyers than first-time online buyers
While there have been concerns over steep discounting by e-tailers, the study
said, these flash sales and daily deals have played a major role in contributing
to the growth of e-commerce. The increasing adoption of smartphones and
tablet consumers has also aided to the e-commerce growth.
The report says that the steady growth in the number of web shoppers is
helping to boost e-commerce sales. Many consumers will prefer the web to
bricks-and-mortar retailers in large part because of online deals, about 52 per
cent of shoppers said they made purchases online rather than in stores
because online retailers offered better deals.
Among popular shopping categories, the study showed that apparel sales
capture the biggest share of Indian e-commerce retail, along with computer
and consumer electronics. The two categories are likely to continue fueling
the market in the future as well. Computer and consumer electronics and
apparel and accessories are together estimated to account for 42 per cent of
total retail e-commerce. Travel and tourism are also fast growing segments
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with as much as 75 per cent of the total industry having migrated to online
commerce. Among other things, a major portion of services such as air, train,
bus, movie ticket bookings, hotel reservation and tour packages have moved
to the internet.
The report added that between 2017 and 2020, the e-commerce industry
could spend around 2-6 per cent of the revenue on warehousing and sortation
centers, which would translate to $450-900 million.
The industry is expected to spend an additional $500-1,000 million in the

same period on logistics functions, leading to a cumulative spend of $950-
1,900 million till 2017-2020 as per the report.
On the employment front, the report estimated the e-commerce industry to

employ an additional 100,000 people in warehousing and logistics, over the
around 25,000 persons working in the segment currently.
The e-commerce industry in the country is likely to be worth USD 38 billion by

2016, a 67 per cent jump over the USD 23 billion revenues for 2015, as per
industry body Assocham. India‘s e-commerce market was worth about USD
3.8 billion in 2009, it went up to USD 17 billion in 2014 and to USD 23 billion
in 2015 and is expected to touch whopping USD 38 billion mark by 2016.
Increasing internet and mobile penetration, growing acceptability of online

payments and favourable demographics has provided the e-commerce sector
in India the unique opportunity to companies connect with their customers, it
said. There would be over a five to seven fold increase in revenue generated
through e-commerce as compared to last year with all branded apparel,
accessories, jewellery, gifts, footwear are available at a cheaper rates and
delivered at the doorstep, it added.
It noted that the the buying trends during 2016 will witness a significant
upward movement due to aggressive online discounts, rising fuel price and
wider and abundant choice will hit the e-commerce industry in 2016. It
observed mobile commerce (m-commerce) is growing rapidly as a stable and
secure supplement to the e-commerce industry.
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Shopping online through smart phones is proving to be a game changer, and
industry leaders believe that m-commerce could contribute up to 70 per cent
of their total revenues, as per the statement by ASSOCHAM. In India roughly
60-65 per cent of the total e-commerce sales are being generated by mobile
devices and tablets.
It noted that the browsing trends, which have broadly shifted from the desktop
to mobile devices in India, online shopping is also expected to follow suit, as
one out of three customers currently makes transactions through mobiles in
tier-1 and tier-2 cities. In 2015, 78 per cent of shopping queries were made
through mobile devices, compared to 46 per cent in 2013.
In 2015, the highest growth rate was seen in the apparel segment almost 69.5
per cent over last year, followed by electronic items by 62 percent, baby care
products at 53 per cent, beauty and personal care products at 52 per cent and
home furnishings at 49 per cent. It revealed that Mumbai ranks first in online
shopping followed by Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata.
On the mode of payment, almost 45 per cent of online shoppers reportedly

preferred cash on delivery mode of payment over credit cards (16 per cent)
and debit cards (21 per cent). Only 10 per cent opted for internet banking and
a scanty 7 per cent preferred cash cards, mobile wallets, and other such
modes of payment, it said. Among the above age segments, 18-25 years of
age group has been the fastest growing age segment online with user growth
being contributed by both male and female segments.
The survey revealed that 38 per cent of regular shoppers are in 18-25 age
group, 52 per cent in 26-35, 8 per cent in 36-45 and 2 per cent in the age
group of 45-60. Almost 65 per cent of online shoppers are male as against 35
per cent female.
Top e-tailing companies of India: Following Is a List Of Top Online

Shopping Sites In India on the basis of their revenue and customer base
1) Flipkart.com
2) Amazon.in
3) Snapdeal.com
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4) Jabong.com
5) Myntra.com
6) Homeshop18.com
7) Shopsclue.com
8) Firstcry.com
9) Netmed.com
10) Fabfurnish.com
Fig 17: Growth of e-retailing in India:
Source: DMO© Statista 20 Nov 2016
As per an article in ―The Pioneer‖ published on Feb 6, 2016 e-commerce is to

generate 2.5 lakh jobs in 2016 as the hiring of the sector is expected to grow
at 60-65% including temporary employees, supply chain, logistics etc. At
present there are nearly 3.5 lakh employees working under e-commerce in
various capacities. Presently mobile commerce represents only 20-25% of
country‘s e-commerce market but with increasing smartphone ownership and
investment from retailers this share is expected to grow. It is also likely to
further accelerate by advancement in mobile technology, improvement in
security and connectivity of payment and shopping platforms. According to
ASSOCHAM m-commerce is growing as a stable and secure supplement to
the e-commerce industry. As per the report, one third of MBA students from
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top business schools like IIMs preferring working for the fledging e-commerce
sector over traditional favourites like consulting and financial services jobs.
The rapid transformation in logistics, innovation, consumerism and
productivity in e-retail sector prove to be an interesting case study for other
emerging economies.
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Chapter 7
Data Analysis
The data was analyzed in SPSS version 21 using different statistical tools viz:
1. Frequency Table With percentages
2. Chi-Square Test
3. Rank Order Table
4. Binomial test
5. Kruskal-Wallis test
The raw data has been collected from primary source i.e. with the help of
questionnaire which consists of the question referring to different aspects of
consumer behavior and impact of social media.
Tabulation and Statistical Analysis of Data

The data collected from questionnaire were scored and tabulated into master data
sheet. The data was analyzed with the help of statistical package SPSS 17. The
mean scores arrived are put to various statistical analysis using various statistical
tools in order to test the research hypothesis. The statistical tools applied included
Chi-Square test, binomial test, Rank Order Co-efficients etc.
Descriptive Analysis: A thorough description and analysis of the data collected is
done and associated tables and details are provided.
Inferential Analysis: An exclusive analysis is done in order to test hypothesis and
meet objectives of research. The essence of analysis is presented in this chapter.
Objective 1: To identify the impact of social media marketing strategies of e-

Hypothesis 1:
H01: Social media marketing strategies of e-retailers have no significant impact on

buying behavior of customers.
H11: Social media marketing strategies of e-retailers have a significant impact on

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Associated Questions: Section B Q.15(c), (d),(e),(f),(g). Q. 16,17,19, 29,31
Table 4: Agreement level of respondents on the statements about the impact of

social media marketing on buying behavior
Strongly Strongly
disagree Disagree Uncertain Agree agree
Row N Row N Row N Row N Row N
Count % Count % Count % Count % Count %
Q
4 1.0% 24 5.9% 130 31.8% 243 59.4% 8 2.0%
15c
Q
0 .0% 22 5.5% 24 6.0% 356 88.6% 0 .0%
15d
Q
8 2.0% 38 9.3% 103 25.2% 233 57.0% 27 6.6%
15e
Q 15f 0 .0% 16 3.9% 56 13.7% 317 77.5% 20 4.9%
Q
0 .0% 15 3.7% 0 .0% 237 57.9% 157 38.4%
15g
Table5. Binomial Test Results: ―Impact of SMM‖
Observed
Category N Prop. Test Prop. p-value
Q 15c Group 1 <= 3 158 .39 .50 .000a
Group 2 > 3 251 .61
Total 409 1.00
Q 15d Group 1 <= 3 46 .11 .50 .000a
Group 2 >3 356 .89
Total 402 1.00
Q 15e Group 1 <= 3 149 .36 .50 .000a
Group 2 >3 260 .64
Total 409 1.00
Q 15f Group 1 <= 3 72 .18 .50 .000a
Group 2 >3 337 .82
Total 409 1.00
Q 15g Group 1 <= 3 15 .04 .50 .000a
Group 2 > 3 394 .96
Total 409 1.00
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Based on Z Approximation.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the binomial test is less than that of 0.05
indicates that the proportion of the respondents responding positively (strongly
agree + agree) for the parameters is more than that of 50% and hence more than
that of negative response. Therefore, we reject null hypothesis and conclude that
the Social media marketing strategies of e-retailers have a significant impact on
Table 6: Structural Equation Model to analyse ―impact of SMM‖
Model Description Calculated value Expected value

for good fit
CFI Comparative Fit 0.702 A: 0=poor fit close
Index to 1=very good fit
B: CFI >.95: good
fit, CFI > 0.60:
moderate fit
Model fit parameters: Good fit
The model fit parameters indicates that the structural equation model is showing
the moderate fit on the basis of some of the parameters above and few of them
shows weak fit. Thus we can conclude that the SEM is showing acceptable fit for
the current model.
Analysis of question no.31
Table7. responses to rate social media as a marketing tool
Observed N Expected N Res

Extremely Ineffective 15 81.8 -66.8
Ineffective 38 81.8 -43.8
Moderately Effective 58 81.8 -23.8
Effective 247 81.8 165.
Extremely Effective 51 81.8 -30.8
Total 409
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Table 8 Chi-Square test result to analyse responses to rate SM as a marketing
tool
Value
Chi-Square 430.156
Df 4
p-value. .000
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi square is less than that of 0.05 indicates
that respondents finds social networking extremely effective. The higher positive
residual indicates significantly positive responses.All statistical tests satisfactorily
prove that social media marketing has a significant impact on buying behaviour of
consumers. As value of p is less than 0.005 that means null hypothesis is rejected
and alternative hypothesis is accepted.
Analysis of Q. 16.
Table 9. Response on whether advertisements by e-retailing companies posted

on social networking accounts motivate respondents to visit the particular website
Observed N Expected N Residual

Yes 377 204.5 172.5
No 32 204.5 -172.5
Total 409
Table 10. Chi-Square test to analyse the capacity of advertisements by e-retailing

companies on social media to motivate the customers to visit a particular site.
Value
Chi-Square 291.015
Df 1
p-value. .000
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi square is less than that of0.05
indicates that the respondents are significantly motivated to visit the particular
website by the advertisements by e-retailing companies posted on your social
networking.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
112
Analysis of Q.17:
Table 11: Responses on whether the respondents login to e-retailers website via
their social media account

Almost always 20 136.3 -116.3
Often 257 136.3 120.7
Some times 132 136.3 -4.3
Total 409
Table 12 Chi-Square test for analyzing responses on whether the respondents

login to e-retailers website via their social media account
Value
Chi-Square 206.205
Df 2
p-value. .000
that often the respondents areuse their social networking account to log into other
retailing website.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive
responses.
Analysis of Q.19:
Table 13: reason of purchasing from e-retailers via social media account
Read on-line review or blog about

38 133.7 -98.7
that particular product
Viewed the advertisement of the
38 133.7 -98.7
product on social networking site
Both 333 133.7 197.3
Total 409
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Table 14:Chi-Square test to analyse the responses on reason of purchasing from
e-retailers via social media account
Values
Chi Square 425.55
Df 2
p-value .000
that often the respondents Read on-line review or blog about that particular
product and viewed the advertisement of the product on social networking site.
The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
Analysis of Q. 28:
Table 15: Level of agreement on the statement that respondents had no plan of
purchasing anything but end up purchasing a product on seeing advertisement on
social media

Strongly disagree 15 100.5 -85.5
Disagree 24 100.5 -76.5
Uncertain 75 100.5 -25.5
Agree 288 100.5 187.5
Total 402
Table 16: Chi-Square test to analyse the response that respondents end up
purchasing a product on seeing advertisement on social media although there
was no prior plan
Value
Chi-Square 487.254
Df 3
p-value. .000
that respondents do agree that they end up buying product after watching an
advertisement on social media although they did not have any plan of buying on
logging into the social networking site. The higher positive residual indicates
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significantly positive responses for that category which is maximum for ‗agree‘
category. Hence the Analysis of all questions prove that null hypothesis is
rejected and alternate hypothesis is accepted
Objective 2: To analyse the effectiveness of different social media tools.

Associated Questions: Q.13, Q. 30
Table 17: percentage of respondents using different social media websites
Count Percentage
Facebook 409 99.27
Google+ 182 44.17
Linkedin 260 63.11
Twitter 184 44.66
Blogs 67 16.26
Pitrest 30 7.28
My Space 0 0.00
Others 30 7.28
Fig 19: bar chart for percentage of respondents using different social media sites
Percentage
100
90
80
70
60
50
40 Percentage
30
20
10
0
115
Table 18 Marascuillo procedure to compare more than two proportions of use of
different social media websites: A difference is statistically significant if its value
exceeds the critical range value.
value Critical range Interpretation

Facebook Google+ 0.55 0.08 Significant
Linkedin 0.36 0.08 Significant
Twitter 0.55 0.08 Significant
Blogs 0.83 0.06 Significant
Pitrest 0.92 0.04 Significant
My Space 0.99 0.02 Significant
Others 0.92 0.04 Significant
Google+ Linkedin 0.19 0.11 Significant
Twitter 0.00 0.11 NS
Linkedin Twitter 0.19 0.11 Significant
Twitter Blogs 0.28 0.09 Significant
Blogs Pitrest 0.09 0.07 Significant
Pitrest My Space 0.07 0.04 Significant
Others 0.00 0.06 NS
My Space Others 0.07 0.04 Significant
116
Interpretation: All the social media sites are not equally used but some sites are
used more frequently for having account. The Facebook is observed to be highly
used social networking site.
Analysis of Q.30:
Table 19: Table on whether the ads on given SNSs are attractive and appealing

Facebook 171 20.1 150.9
YouTube 8 20.1 -12.1

12 35 20.1 14.9
13 36 20.1 15.9
14 16 20.1 -4.1
15 46 20.1 25.9
16 8 20.1 -12.1
17 4 20.1 -16.1
123 12 20.1 -8.1
125 12 20.1 -8.1
126 4 20.1 -16.1
127 4 20.1 -16.1
134 4 20.1 -16.1
1234 8 20.1 -12.1
1235 4 20.1 -16.1
1245 8 20.1 -12.1
1256 7 20.1 -13.1
1267 4 20.1 -16.1
1346 7 20.1 -13.1
123457 4 20.1 -16.1
Total 402
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Table 20: Table on whether the offers and images on given Social Networking
Sites are genuine and correlate to actual product.
Facebook 200 22.8 177.2
YouTube 16 22.8 -6.8
12 38 22.8 15.2
13 46 22.8 23.2
14 8 22.8 -14.8
15 28 22.8 5.2
16 8 22.8 -14.8
17 6 22.8 -16.8
34 7 22.8 -15.8
123 4 22.8 -18.8
125 20 22.8 -2.8
126 4 22.8 -18.8
127 4 22.8 -18.8
134 4 22.8 -18.8
1234 8 22.8 -14.8
1267 4 22.8 -18.8
123457 4 22.8 -18.8
Total 409
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Table 21: Table regarding respondent‘s intention of future purchase after seeing
advertisement on given SMNs
Facebook 200 22.4 177.6
12 40 22.4 17.6
13 36 22.4 13.6
14 16 22.4 -6.4
15 43 22.4 20.6
16 8 22.4 -14.4
17 4 22.4 -18.4
123 4 22.4 -18.4
125 12 22.4 -10.4
126 4 22.4 -18.4
127 4 22.4 -18.4
134 4 22.4 -18.4
156 7 22.4 -15.4
1234 8 22.4 -14.4
1245 8 22.4 -14.4
1267 4 22.4 -18.4
123457 4 22.4 -18.4
Total 406
Interpretation: when the responses of Q.30(a),(b) and (c ) are analysed it has

been observed that majority of people gave positive response for facebook which
means they consider facebook as most effective tool for social media marketing.
119
Objective 3. To study the demographic profile of customers who purchase
Hypothesis:
H02: The effectiveness of social media marketing does not differ between genders
H12: The effectiveness of social media marketing differ significantly between

genders
Table 22:Basic data distribution according to Gender:
No. of respondent Percentage
Male 219 53.6%
Female 190 46.4%
Fig 20: Pie chart for gender distribution(based on Own Analysis)
No. of respondent
Female
46% Male
54%
Table 22-38 : Tables showing relationship between gender of respondents

and effectiveness of marketing via social media
120
Table 23: level of agreement of respondents(gender- wise) with the statement
whether they are frequent users of social media
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15a Disagree 5 3 8
Agree 126 109 235
Strongly agree 91 75 166
Total 222 187 409
Table 24: Chi-Square Tests to analyse the relationship between gender and use
of social media
Chi-Square Tests
Value Df P-value
Pearson Chi-Square .108a 2 .948
Likelihood Ratio .108 2 .948
Linear-by-Linear Association .107 1 .743
N of Valid Cases 409
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is greater than that of 0.05
indicates that the response to the Q15a is independent of gender.
Q 15b * Gender
whether availability of social media has made them more informed about brands
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15b Uncertain 41 19 60
Agree 159 159 318
Total 216 186 402
121
Table 26: Chi Square Test for analyzing the relationship between gender and
ability of social media to make respondents more informed about brands
Chi-Square Tests
Value df P-value
a
Pearson Chi-Square 8.542 2 .014
Likelihood Ratio 8.735 2 .013
Linear-by-Linear Association 1.589 1 .207
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
11.10.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of0.05 indicates
that the response to the Q15b varies with gender. Although majority of both male
and female gave positive reply to the statement but more number of women are
strongly agree that they are more informed about brands due to social media
whereas more men are uncertain in response to the statement.
Q 15c * Gender

whether they are more likely to respond to social media marketing than traditional
media
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15c Strongly disagree 0 4 4
Disagree 13 11 24
Uncertain 75 54 129
Agree 127 116 243
Total 219 190 409
122
Table 28: Chi Square test to analyse relationship between gender and ability of
social media to extract response from customers
Chi-Square Tests
Value Df P-value
a
a. 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count
is 1.85.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is greater than that of0.05
indicates that the response to the Q15c is independent of gender.
Q 15d * Gender
Table 29: level of agreement of respondents (gender- wise) with the statement
whether they are more exposed to marketing communication as a result of
increased social media use.
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15d Strongly disagree 5 3 8
Disagree 25 12 37
Uncertain 56 45 101
Agree 115 114 229
Total 216 186 402
Table 30: Chi-Square test to analyse the relationship between gender and
increased exposure to marketing communication due to social media
Chi-Square Tests
Value df P-value
Pearson Chi-Square 4.389a 4 .356
123
indicates that the response to the Q15e is independent of gender.
Q 15e * Gender
whether they are more likely to purchase a product before launch due to extensive
promotion on social media
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15e Disagree 10 11 21
Uncertain 30 8 38
Agree 182 168 350
Total 222 187 409
Table 32: Chi-Square test for relationship between gender and respondent‘s
likelihood to purchase product prior to launch as a result of promotion on social
media
Chi-Square Tests
Value Df P-value
9.73.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of0.05 indicates
that the response to the Q15e is not independent of gender. More male are
agreed to the statement they are more likely to purchase a product like mobile
phone and game prior to its launch which has been extensively promoted on
social media.
124
Q 15f * Gender

whether social media provide effective two way communication between buyer
and e-retailer
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15f Disagree 14 2 16
Uncertain 27 27 54
Agree 162 150 312
Total 216 186 402
Table 34: chi-square test for analyzing relationship between gender and ability of
social media to serve as an effective two way communication channel between
Chi-Square Tests
Value Df P-value
a
7.40.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of0.05
indicates that the response to the Q15f is not independent of gender but changes
with gender. A greater percentage of male strongly agree to the statement that
social media is a more effective two way communication between respondents
and e-retailers.
125
Q 15g * Gender

whether the information spread via social media has lasting impact on perception
of customer
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q 15g Disagree 11 3 14
Agree 127 107 234
Total 216 186 402
Table 36: chi-square test for analyzing the relationship between gender and ability
of social media to have a lasting effect on respondent‘s perception
Chi-Square Tests
Value df P-value
a
6.48.
indicates that the response to the Q15g is independent of gender. That means
both male and females have equal probability to agree to the statement that social
media to have a lasting effect on respondent‘s perception
126
Q_31 * Gender
Table 37: Table for Rating social media as a means of marketing for E-Retailers.
Crosstab
Count
Gender
Male Female Total
Q_31 Extremely Ineffective 10 12 22
Ineffective 15 13 28
Moderately Effective 37 18 55
Effective 129 119 248
Extremely Effective 31 24 55
Total 222 187 409
Table 38: Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between gender and
effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool
Chi-Square Tests
Value Df P-value
indicates that the response to the effectivity is independent of gender.
As the value of p in most of the questions in this analysis is greater than

0.05 it means that null hypothesis is accepted and alternate hypothesis is
rejected.


Tables 38-54: Tables showing relationship between gender of respondents

and effectiveness of marketing via social media
127
Table 39 Basic data distribution according to education

Up to graduation 74 18.09%
Graduation 183 44.74%
post-graduation 145 35.45%
Ph. D. 7 1.7%
Post doctorate 0 .0%
Fig 21: pie chart for number of respondents as per education (Own Analysis)
No. of respondent
2%0%
18% Up to graduation
35%
Graduation
post-graduation
45%
Ph. D.
Post doctorate
Table 40: Education-wise Responses to the statement whether respondents are

frequent users of social media ( Q 15a * Education)
Crosstab
Count
Education
Up to Graduatio post-
graduation n graduation Ph D Total
Q 15a Disagree 2 2 2 1 7
Agree 36 113 83 6 238
Strongly
35 68 60 1 164
agree
Total 73 183 145 8 409
128
Table 41: Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between education and
frequency of use of social media
Value Df P-value
is .14.
indicates that the response to the Q15a is independent of education.
Q 15b * Education
Table 42: Education-wise Responses to the statement whether availability of

social media has made them more informed about brands.
Crosstab
Count
Education
Q 15b Uncertain 9 30 20 3 62
Agree 59 141 118 5 323
Strongly
5 12 7 0 24
agree
Total 73 183 145 8 409
129
Table 43:Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between education and
Value df P-value
is .47.
indicates that the response to the Q15b is independent of education.
Q 15c * Education
Table 44: Education-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more
likely to respond to social media marketing than traditional media
Count
Education
Q 15c Strongly
1 1 1 1 4
disagree
Disagree 7 10 7 0 24
Uncertain 21 53 54 2 130
Agree 43 117 79 4 243
Strongly agree 1 2 4 1 8
Total 73 183 145 8 409
130
Table 45: Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between education and ability
of social media to extract response from customers
Value df P-value
a. 12 cells (60.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected
count is .08.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of 0.05
indicates that the response to the Q15c is not independent of education.
Graduates are more likely to respond positively to social media marketing than
traditional marketing.
Q 15d * Education
exposed to marketing communication as a result of increased social media use
Crosstab
Count
Education
Q 15d Disagree 5 10 6 1 22
Uncertain 6 7 11 0 24
Agree 62 161 126 7 356
Total 73 178 143 8 402
131
Table 47: Chi-Square Test to analyse the relationship between education and
Value df P-value
is .44.
indicates that the response to the Q15d is independent of education.
Q 15e * Education
likely to purchase a product before launch due to extensive promotion on social
media
Crosstab
Count
Education
Q 15e Strongly
2 5 1 0 8
disagree
Disagree 6 18 13 1 38
Uncertain 19 43 41 0 103
Agree 38 108 80 7 233
Total 73 183 145 8 409
132
Table 49:Chi-Square Test for relationship between education and respondent‘s
media
Value df P-value
is .16.
indicates that the response to the Q15e is independent of education.
Q 15f * Education
Table 50: Education-wise Responses to the statement whether social media

provide effective two way communication between buyer and e-retailer
Crosstab
Count
Education
Q 15f Disagree 3 7 6 0 16
Agree 59 138 113 7 317
Strongly
4 7 9 0 20
agree
Total 73 183 145 8 409
133
Table 51: Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between education and
ability of social media to serve as an effective two way communication channel
between respondents and e-retailers
Value df P-value
is .31.
indicates that the response to the Q15f is independent of education.
Q 15g * Education
Table 52: Education-wise Responses to the statement whether the information

spread via social media has lasting impact on perception of customer
Crosstab
Count
Education
Q 15g Disagree 2 7 5 1 15
Agree 40 107 86 4 237
Strongly
31 69 54 3 157
agree
Total 73 183 145 8 409
134
Table 53 Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between education and
ability of social media to have a lasting effect on respondent‘s perception
Value df P-value
indicates that the response to the Q15g is independent of education.
(Q_31 * Education)
Table 54: Table for Rating social media as a means of marketing for E-Retailers
as per education of respondent
Crosstab
Count
Education
Up to Graduati post-
graduation on graduation Ph D Total
Q_31 Extremely 4 5 9 1 19
Ineffective
Ineffective 6 10 13 3 32
Moderately 9 31 17 2 59
Effective
Effective 42 117 88 4 251
Extremely 14 15 18 1 48
Effective
Total 75 178 145 11 409
135
Table 55: Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between education and
Chi-Square Tests
Value df P-value
indicates that the response to the effectivity is independent of education Hence
Null hypothesis is accepted that effectiveness of social media Marketing is
independent of education.
H04: There is no association between effect of social media marketing and income
of respondent.
H14: There is an association between effect of social media marketing and income
of respondent.
Table 56: basic data distribution according to income of respondents
136
Fig 22: Pie chart for number of respondents as per Income( Own Analysis)
Q 31: Income
as per income of respondent
Crosstab
Count
Income
less than 1 to 5 5 to 10 10 to 15 Above 15

1 lac lacs lacs lacs lacs Total
Q_31 Extremely
2 9 5 2 1 19
Ineffective
Ineffective 5 9 15 3 1 33
Moderately
3 29 23 2 2 59
Effective
Effective 34 113 87 10 4 248
Extremely
9 23 16 2 0 50
Effective
Total 53 183 146 19 8 409
137
Table 58: Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between income and
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
count is .15.As the value of p is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted
i.e. effect of social media marketing is independent of income.
Q 15a * Income
Table 59: income-wise Responses to the statement whether respondents are

frequent users of social media
Crosstab
Count
Income
less than 1 1 to 5 5 to 10 10 to 15 Above 15

lac lacs lacs lacs lacs Total
Q 15a Disagree 0 3 2 1 1 7
Agree 35 99 89 10 2 235
Strongly
16 84 54 5 1 160
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
138
Table 60 Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between income and
Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
is .07. As the value of p is less than 0.05 the null hypothesis is rejected and
alternate hypothesis is accepted. Although 98% respondents give positive
response to the statement that they are frequent users of social media but
highest number of respondents from income group 5-10 lac are strongly agreed
to the statement.
Q 15b * Income
Table 61: Income-wise Responses to the statement whether availability of social

media has made them more informed about brands.
Crosstab
Count
Income

lacs lacs lacs lacs lacs Total
Q 15b Uncertain 5 25 27 3 1 61
Agree 46 150 106 13 3 318
Strongly
0 11 12 0 0 23
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
139
Table 62: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between income and
Value Df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)
6 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count
is .23. As the value of p is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted i.e.
effect of social media marketing is independent of income.
Q 15c * Income
Table 63: Income-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more likely
to respond to social media marketing than traditional media
Count
Income

Q 15c Strongly
2 1 1 0 0 4
disagree
Disagree 4 11 9 0 0 24
Uncertain 23 62 37 3 0 125
Agree 22 108 94 13 4 241
Strongly
0 4 4 0 0 8
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
140
Table 64: Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between income and ability of
16 cells (64.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count
is .04. As the value of p is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis is accepted i.e.
effect of social media marketing is independent of income.
Q 15d * Income
Table 65: Income-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more
Crosstab
Count
Income

Q 15d Disagre
0 11 10 1 2 24
e
Uncertai
0 12 14 0 0 26
n
Agree 50 161 125 14 2 352
Total 50 184 149 15 4 402
141
Table 66: Chi-Square Test to analyse the relationship between income and
is .22. As value of p is less than 0.05 it shows a positive association between
income and effect of social media. 100% respondents of income group of less
than one lakh agree to the statement that they are more exposed to marketing
communication as a result of increased social media use
Table 67: income-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more likely
to purchase a product before launch due to extensive promotion on social
media(Q 15e * Income)
Crosstab
Income

Q 15e Strongly
0 5 3 0 0 8
disagree
Disagree 0 19 15 2 2 38
Uncertain 24 44 30 2 2 102
Agree 26 106 88 10 0 230
Strongly
1 12 9 2 0 24
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
142
Table 68: Chi-Square Test for relationship between income and respondent‘s
media.
count is .08.
Q 15f * Income
Table 69: income-wise Responses to the statement whether social media provide
effective two way communication between buyer and e-retailer.
Crosstab
Count
Income

Q 15f Disagree 0 9 7 0 0 16
Uncertain 5 25 19 4 1 54
Agree 42 147 109 12 3 313
Strongly
4 5 10 0 0 19
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
143
Table 70: Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between income and ability of
9 cells (45.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is
.16.
Interpretation: As the value of p is greater than 0.05 the null hypothesis is

accepted i.e. effect of social media marketing is independent of income.
Q 15g * Income
Table 71: income-wise Responses to the statement whether the information
Crosstab
Count
Income

Q 15g Disagree 0 11 2 1 1 15
Agree 24 102 97 10 1 234
Strongly
27 73 46 5 2 153
agree
Total 51 186 145 16 4 402
144
Table 72: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between income and
is .15.
As the value of p is less than 0.05 the null hypothesis is rejected. Respondents
agree to the statement that information spread via social media has lasting
impact on perception of customer.
Conclusion: As most of the analysis of responses to the questions have p>0.05

it means null hypothesis is accepted and alternate hypothesis is rejected which
proves that there is no association between income and effectiveness of Social
media


Table73: basic data distribution according to occupation of respondents
Service 187 45.4%
Self Employed 81 19.7%
Business 123 29.9%
Others 21 5.1%
145
Fig 23: Pie chart for number of respondents as per Occupation
No. of respondent
5%
Service
30% 45%
Self Employed
20% Business
Others
Q 15a * Occupation
Table 74: occupation-wise Responses to the statement whether respondents are
Occupation
Self
Service Employed Business Others Total
Q 15a Disagree 4 2 1 0 7
Agree 107 43 78 10 238
Strongly
75 35 43 11 164
agree
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 75: Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between occupation and
Value Df P-value
146
is .36.
indicates that the response to the Q15a is independent of occupation.
Q 15b * Occupation
Table 76: occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether availability of

social media has made them more informed about brands
Crosstab
Count
Occupation
Self
Q 15b Uncertain 26 11 21 4 62
Agree 151 63 95 14 323
Strongly
9 6 6 3 24
agree
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 77: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between occupation and
Value Df P-value
147
is 1.23.
indicates that the response to the Q15b is independent of occupation.
Q 15c * Occupation
Table 78: occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether they are more
likely to respond to social media marketing than traditional media
Crosstab
Occupation
Self
Q 15c Strongly
2 0 2 0 4
disagree
Disagree 14 6 2 2 24
Uncertain 54 26 42 8 130
Agree 110 47 75 11 243
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 79: Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between occupation and ability
of social media to extract response from customers
Value Df P-value
148
count is .21.
indicates that the response to the Q15c is independent of occupation.
Q 15d * Occupation
Table 80: occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether they are more
Crosstab
Count
Occupation
Service Self Employed Business Others Total
Q 15d Disagree 10 8 3 1 22
Agree 156 68 112 20 356
Total 182 78 121 21 402
Table 81: Chi-Square Test to analyse the relationship between occupation and
Value Df P-value
is 1.15.
149
indicates that the response to the Q15d is independent of occupation.
Q 15e * Occupation
Table 82: occupation-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more
likely to purchase a product before launch due to extensive promotion on social
media
Crosstab
Count Occupation
Self
Q 15e Strongly
4 2 1 1 8
disagree
Disagree 18 9 11 0 38
Uncertain 46 22 29 6 103
Agree 104 41 77 11 233
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 83: Chi-Square Test for relationship between occupation and respondent‘s
media
Value Df P-value
150
is .41.
indicates that the response to the Q15e is independent of occupation.
Q 15f * Occupation
Table 84: occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether social media
provide effective two way communication between buyer and e-retailer
Count
Occupation
Self
Q 15f Disagree 10 1 5 0 16
Uncertain 23 17 14 2 56
Agree 150 56 94 17 317
Strongly
3 6 9 2 20
agree
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 85: Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between occupation and
ability of social media to serve as an effective two way communication channel
between respondents and e-retailers
Value Df P-value
151
is .82.
indicates that the response to the Q15f is independent of occupation.
Q 15g * Occupation
Table 86: occupation -wise Responses to the statement whether the information
Crosstab
Count
Occupation
Self
Q 15g Disagree 9 3 3 0 15
Agree 107 46 70 14 237
Strongly
70 31 49 7 157
agree
Total 186 80 122 21 409
Table 87: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between occupation and
Value Df P-value
152
indicates that the response to the Q15g is independent of occupation.
Q_31 * Occupation
as per occupation of respondent
Crosstab
Count Occupation
Self
Q_31 Extremely
7 5 6 1 19
Ineffective
Ineffective 14 5 10 3 32
Moderately
24 13 20 2 59
Effective
Effective 117 45 76 13 251
Extremely
18 15 10 5 48
Effective
Total 180 83 122 24 409
Table 89: Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between occupation and
Value Df P-value
153
indicates that the response to the effectivity of SNM is independent of occupation.
Conclusion: As most of the analysis of responses to the questions have p>0.05 it

means null hypothesis is accepted and alternate hypothesis is rejected which
proves that there is no association between education and effectiveness of Social
media

age of respondent.

age of respondent.
Table 90: Basic data distribution according to age:

18 to 20 years 8 2.0%
20 to 25 years 109 26.6%
25 to 30 years 165 40.4%
30 to 35 years 102 24.8%
35 to 40 years 25 6.1%
Fig 24: Pie chart for number of respondents as per Age(Own Analysis)
No. of respondent
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
6% 2%
27%
25%
40%
154
Q 15a * Age
Table 91 : Age-wise Responses to the statement whether respondents are

Crosstab
Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
years years years years years Total
Q Disagree 1
2 4 2 2 11
15a
Agree 5
66 91 51 13 226
Strongly
agree 5 39 64 46 12 166
Total 11
107 159 99 27 403
Table 92 Chi-Square Test for analysing the relation between Age and frequency
of use of social media
Value df P-value (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 7.228a
8 .512
Likelihood Ratio 5.978

8 .650
Linear-by-Linear Association .917

1 .338
indicates that the response to the Q15a is independent of age.
Q 15b * Age
155
Table 93: Age -wise Responses to the statement whether availability of social
media has made them more informed about brands.
Crosstab
Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q Uncertain 3
17 22 20 4 66
15b
Agree 7
83 131 73 20 314
Strongly 1
7 12 6 3 29
agree
Total 11
107 165 99 27 409
Table 94: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between Age and ability
of social media to make respondents more informed about brands
Chi-Square Tests
8 .846

8 .868

1 .985
indicates that the response to the Q15b is independent of age.
Q 15c * Age
156
Table 95: Age -wise Responses to the statement whether they are more likely to
respond to social media marketing than traditional media
Crosstab
Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q 15c Strongly
0 1 1 1 1 4
disagree
Disagree 1
9 14 2 3 29
Uncertain 4
36 44 39 9 132
Agree 6
60 94 58 13 231
Strongly
1 2 7 1 2 13
agree
Total 12
108 160 101 28 409
Table 96: Chi-Square Test to analyse relationship between Age and ability of
Chi-Square Tests
Pearson Chi-Square
15.798a 16 .467
Likelihood Ratio
16.467 16 .421
Linear-by-Linear Association
.001 1 .974
indicates that the response to the Q15c is independent of age.
Q 15d * Age
157
Table 97: Age -wise Responses to the statement whether they are more exposed
to marketing communication as a result of increased social media use
Crosstab
Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q 15d Disagre
0 7 18 3 2 30
e
Uncerta
4 10 20 4 2 40
in
Agree 8 89 136 85 21 339
Total 8 104 154 92 24 409
Table 98: Chi-Square Test to analyse the relationship between Age and
Value Df P-value
a. 5 cells (33.3%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .42.
indicates that the response to the Q15d is independent of age.
Q 15e * Age
158
Table 99: Age-wise Responses to the statement whether they are more likely to
purchase a product before launch due to extensive promotion on social media
Crosstab: Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q Strongly
0 3 4 0 2 9
15e disagree
Disagree 1
12 13 12 3 41
Uncertain 2
24 44 28 7 105
Agree 8 61 91 52 13 225
Strongly
1 8 8 8 4 29
agree
Total
12 108 160 100 29 409
Table 100: Chi-Square Test for relationship between Age and respondent‘s
media
Chi-Square Tests
16 .731

16 .644

1 .658
indicates that the response to the Q15e is independent of age.
Q 15f * Age
159
Table 101: Age -wise Responses to the statement whether social media provide
effective two way communication between buyer and e-retailer
Crosstab: Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q 15f Disagree 1
7 6 5 2 21
Uncertain 2
12 23 15 6 58
Agree 8
78 125 75 19 305
Strongly
1 11 6 5 1 24
agree
Total 12
108 160 100 28 408
Table 102: Chi-Square test for analyzing relationship between Age and ability of
Chi-Square Tests
Pearson Chi-Square
9.057a 12 .698
Likelihood Ratio
8.558 12 .740
1.148 1 .284
N of Valid Cases
408
is .62.
indicates that the response to the Q15f is independent of age.
160
Q 15g * Age
Table 103: Age -wise Responses to the statement whether the information spread
via social media has lasting impact on perception of customer
Crosstab
Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q Disagree 1
4 9 2 3 19
15g
Agree 4
64 91 58 14 231
Strongly
6 41 61 40 11 159
agree
Total 11
109 161 100 28 409
Table 104: Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between Age and ability
of social media to have a lasting effect on respondent‘s perception
Chi-Square Tests
Pearson Chi-Square
6.674a 8 .572
Likelihood Ratio
6.423 8 .600
.021 1 .885
N of Valid Cases
409
indicates that the response to the Q15g is independent of age.
Q_31 * Age
161
as per Age of respondent
Crosstab: Count
Age
18 to 20 20 to 25 25 to 30 30 to 35 35 to 40
Q_31 Extremely
0 7 3 1 4 15
Ineffective
Ineffective 3 7 22 6 0 38
Moderately
1 12 34 14 3 64
Effective
Effective 5 63 105 57 17 247
Extremely
1 10 18 14 2 45
Effective
Total 10 99 152 92 26 409
Table 106: Chi-square test for analyzing relationship between Age and
Value Df P-value

indicates that the response to the SNM effectivity is independent of age.
Conclusion: As most of the analysis of responses to the questions have p>0.05 it

means null hypothesis is accepted and alternate hypothesis is rejected which
proves that there is no association between Age and effectiveness of SM.
162
Objective 4: To study on-line purchasing behavior of customers of age group 18-
(a) To study average expenditure and frequency of purchase of online

shopping.
(b) To analyse the online retail websites surfing behavior.
(c) To identify the most frequently purchased products.
(d) To analyze online research by customer for different categories of product.
(a) To study average expenditure and frequency of purchase of online shopping.
Table 107: Online shopping expenditure
Count Column N %
Online shopping expenditure Less than Rs 500 20 4.9%
500 to 1000 55 13.4%
1000 to 2000 167 40.8%
2000 to 5000 136 33.3%
More than 5000 31 7.6%
Fig 25: Pie Chart for online shopping expenditure of respondents(own analysis)
Count
8% 5%
13%
Less than Rs 500

33%
500 to 1000
1000 to 2000
41% 2000 to 5000

More than 5000
According to most of the respondents the average expenditure per month is

rupees 1000-2000(41% of respondents), followed by Rs.2000-5000(33% of
respondents).
163
Table 108: Frequency of Internet Access:
(i)Internet Access
Almost everyday 228 67.5 160.5
2-3 days a week 58 67.5 -9.5
4-5 days a week 89 67.5 21.5
Once a week 26 67.5 -41.5
Rarely 3 67.5 -64.5
Never 1 67.5 -66.5
Total 405
(ii)Chi-square test result:
Test Statistics
Internet Access
Chi-Square 542.481a
Df 5
Asymp. Sig. .000
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected
cell frequency is 67.5.
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of 0.05
indicates that the responses are not equally distributed. It means the proportion of
responses for use of internet is different. The residual table provides the
contribution for the significance. It can be observed from the residual table that the
highest residual is observed for the Almost every day and the residual is positive
hence we conclude that the most of the respondents are using internet on almost
every day.
164
Table 109: Change in Frequency of traditional Shopping
Yes 377 204.5 172.5
No 32 204.5 -172.5
Total 409
(ii)Pearson‘s Chi-square test:
Change in Frequency of traditional

Shopping
Chi-Square 291.015
Df 1
Asymp. Sig. .000
Exact Sig. .000
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi-square is less than that of 0.05 indicates
that the responses are not equally distributed. It means the proportion of
respondent responding positively for change in frequency in traditional shopping
due to online shopping. The residual table provides the contribution for the
significance. It can be observed from the residual table that the highest residual is
observed from both the categories only with positive and negative signs indicating
that those responded positively are significantly higher as well as those
responded negatively are significantly less in the distribution.
165
Table 110:Analysis of Usage of social media:
(i)
Count Column N %
15-30 min 13 3.2%
30-60 min 27 6.6%
1-2 hrs 33 8.1%
2-3 hrs 162 39.6%
More than 3 hrs 174 42.5%
15-30 min 13 81.8 -68.8
30-60 min 27 81.8 -54.8
1-2 hrs 33 81.8 -48.8
2-3 hrs 162 81.8 80.2
More than 3 hrs 174 81.8 92.2
Total 409
(ii) Chi-square test:
Q 14
Chi-Square 306.244a
Df 4
Asymp. Sig. .000
Interpretation: most of the respondents spend more than two hours on social
media.
Objective4(b): To analyse the online retail websites surfing behavior
166
Table 111: Analysis of e-retail website surfing behaviour
(i)Basic data distribution
Almost
Never Sometime Often Always
always
Coun Coun
% Count % Count % % Count %
t t
Window
shopping with .0 21.5 50.6 24.0
no intention of 0 %
88
%
207
%
98
%
16 3.9%
buying
Researching a
product with 2.0 24.7 54.3 15.2
the intention 8 %
101
%
222
%
62
%
16 3.9%
buying
Comparing
and actually .0 15.6 64.3 16.1
buying the 0 64 263 66 16 3.9%
% % % %
product
(ii)Mean Rank table:
Sr. Mean
NO. Activities N Rank
1 Window shopping with no intention to shop online 409 639.13
2 Researching a product with the intension of buying it in store 409 571.92
3 Comparing and actually purchasing online 409 630.95
Total 122
7
167
(iii)Kruskal-Wallis test:
Test Statisticsa,b
Value
Chi-Square 10.876
Df 2
Asymp. Sig. .004
a. Kruskal Wallis Test
b. Grouping Variable: Index1
Interpretation: Since p-value for the Kruskal-Wallis test is less than that of 0.05
indicates that the average score for the engagement in the above activities differ
significantly when compared with each other. The higher mean rank is observed
for the Window shopping with no intention to shop online indicating that the most
of the respondents feels that they are engage in window shopping with no
intention of shopping. To find out its significance with other activities we used
Mann-Whitney U test as pair wise comparison test.
Conclusion: Respondents are equally and more often involved in the activities
like window shopping with no intention to shop online and comparing and buying
the product online only.
Objective 4( c ): To identify the most frequently purchased products.
168
Table 112: Comparison of the frequency of the purchase of different categories of
products:
(iv) Basic data distribution
Almost
Never Sometime Often always Always
Cou Coun Coun

nt % Count % Count % t % t %
Apparels 0 .0% 106 26.9% 203 51.5% 77 19.5% 8 2.0%
Electronic
4 1.1% 50 13.9% 109 30.2% 182 50.4% 16 4.4%
items
Books 23 8.3% 57 20.7% 92 33.3% 88 31.9% 16 5.8%
Grocery and
nutrition
22 9.2% 143 59.6% 75 31.2% 0 .0% 0 .0%
related
products
Pharmaceuti
69 51.1% 50 37.0% 16 11.9% 0 .0% 0 .0%
cal products
Entertainme
nt (CD, DVD, 27 11.2% 117 48.3% 90 37.2% 8 3.3% 0 .0%
etc.)
(v) Mean Rank table:
N Mean Rank Rank
Apparels 394 917.36 3rd
EI 361 1140.97 1st
Books 276 961.14 2nd
GNP 240 549.51 5th
169
PP 135 301.95 6th
Entertainment 242 609.62 4th
Total 1648
Fig 26: Bar chart for mean rank of frequency of products purchased online (own
Analysis)
Mean Rank
Entertainment 609.62
PP 301.95
GNP 549.51
Books 961.14
EI 1140.97
Apparels 917.36
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
(iii) Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the frequency:
Test Statisticsa,b
Value
Chi-Square 536.551
Df 5
Asymp. Sig. .000
Kruskal Wallis Test
170
indicates significance of difference between the frequenciesof purchase of the
different products. On observing mean rank table we found that Electronic Items
(EI) are purchased very frequently online and then Apparel, books and
Entertainment, Grocery and nutrition related products (GNP) and Pharmaceutical
products (PP). The PP has least preferred to be bought online.
Objective4( d ): To analyze online research by customer for different

categories of product.
Table 113: Analysis of online product research by customers( analysis of Q.22)
(i) Basic data distribution
Extensive search 109 100.5 8.5
Moderate 229 100.5 128.5
Limited 56 100.5 -44.5
No search 8 100.5 -92.5
Total 402
(ii)Chi-Square test result:
Value
Chi-Square 269.861
Df 3
p-value. .000
171
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi square is less than that of 0.05
indicates that respondents conduct at least moderate search before purchasing
any type of products.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive
responses.
Table 114: response about spending different time and effort for different
products(Q.23)
(i) Basic Data Distribution
Yes 395 201.0 194.0
No 7 201.0 -194.0
Total 402
Value
Chi-Square 374.488
Df 1
p-value. .000
that respondents do agree that the time and effort spent on pre-purchase products
research differ for different products.The higher positive residual indicates
significantly positive responses.
172
Table 115: Table of most extensively researched product: A comparative
analysis
Analysis of Q.24
1 49 32.2 16.8
2 90 32.2 57.8
7 4 32.2 -28.2
12 177 32.2 144.8
17 4 32.2 -28.2
23 15 32.2 -17.2
24 8 32.2 -24.2
27 14 32.2 -18.2
126 4 32.2 -28.2
127 32 32.2 -0.2
178 8 32.2 -24.2
1267 4 32.2 -28.2
Total 409
Interpretation: respondents conduct most extensive research before purchasing
electronics and Apparels. Here different numbers 1,2,3…7 represent different
categories of products as presented in question number 24.
Table 116: table of number of websites visited before reaching at purchasing

decision
(i)
1-3 215 74.8
3-5 112 74.8
5-7 30 74.8
7-10 28 74.8
more than 10 22 74.8
Total 407
Value
Chi-Square 341.612
Df 4
p-value. .000
173
that often the respondents visits at least 3-5 websites before making buying
decision. The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
Objective 5: To identify factors motivating customers to shop

online.
Table117: List of factors motivating customers to shop online
Sr. No.
Ability to shop at a discounted price 1
Flexibility of shopping hours 2
Availability of greater variety of products/brands 3
Ease of comparing to find lower prices 4
Saving the cost of transportation needed to drive to shopping

5
places.
Convenience of not having to leave the house to shop 6
Ability to purchase a gift and have it delivered directly to a

7
friend/relative
Availability of consumer reviews and product rating information 8
Table 118: Table of basic data distribution of motivating factors
Not at all Less Somewhat Extremely

important
important important important important
Cou Coun Coun Coun Coun
% % % % %
nt t t t t
Ability to shop at a 34.0 62.3
0 .0% 0 .0% 15 3.7% 139 255
discounted price % %
Flexibility of 65.8 23.0
0 .0% 24 5.9% 22 5.4% 269 94
shopping hours % %
Availability of
69.4 27.6
greater variety of 0 .0% 0 .0% 12 2.9% 284 113
% %
products/brands
174
Ease of
13.2 62.6 22.2
comparing to find 0 .0% 8 2.0% 54 256 91
% % %
lower prices
Saving the cost of
transportation 43.4 42.4
0 .0% 26 6.5% 174 170 31 7.7%
needed to drive to % %
shopping places.
Convenience of
not having to 32.8 50.1 13.4
0 .0% 15 3.7% 134 205 55
leave the house to % % %
shop
Ability to purchase
a gift and have it 29.3 51.8 10.1
0 .0% 34 8.8% 113 200 39
delivered directly % % %
to a friend/relative
Availability of
consumer reviews 48.7 47.2
0 .0% 16 4.1% 0 .0% 188 182
and product rating % %
information
Table 119: Mean Rank Table for motivating factors
N Mean Rank
1 409 2263.49
2 409 1653.78
3 409 1825.38
4 409 1613.29
5 401 1024.05
6 409 1256.89
7 386 1178.81
8 386 2049.39
175
Table 120: Kruskal-Wallis test for analysing motivating factors
Test Statisticsa,b
Value
Chi-Square 742.244
Df 7
Asymp. Sig. .000
a. Kruskal Wallis Test
b. Grouping Variable: Index1
indicates that there is significance of difference between the average importance
for the motivating factors. Some factors like Ability to shop at a discounted price
and Availability of consumer reviews and product rating information seems to be
more important than others as the mean rank is higher for these factors.
Descriptive analysis of remaining questions:
Table 121: Most frequent E-tailing Websites:
No. of Respondents Percentage

Flipkart.com 408 99.03
Amazon.in 392 95.15
Snapdeal.com 307 74.51
Shopsclue.com 141 34.22
Myntra.com 307 74.51
Fashion&you.com 58 14.08
Homeshop18.com 125 30.34
Jabong.com 122 29.61
e-bay.com 33 8.01
Firstcry.com 199 48.30
176
Interpretation: Flipkart.com is most popular e-retailing website followed by
Amazon.in
Q 16: Table 122: (i) respondents motivated to visit e-retailing website in response
to ads on social media
Yes 377 204.5 172.5
No 32 204.5 -172.5
Total 409
(ii) Chi-Square test result:
Value
Chi-Square 291.015
Df 1
p-value. .000
Interpretation: Since p-value for the chi square is less than that of0.05 indicates
that the respondents are significantly motivated to visit the particular website by
the advertisements by e-retailing companies posted on your social
networking.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
Q 17: Table 123(i) respondents using social media account to login e-retailing
website
Almost always 20 136.3 -116.3
Often 257 136.3 120.7
Some times 132 136.3 -4.3
Total 409
177
Value
Chi-Square 206.205
Df 2
p-value. .000
that often the respondents areuse their social networking account to log into other
retailing website.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive
responses.
Q 18 Table 124: (i) respondents purchasing through social media

Yes 348 204.5 143.5
No 61 204.5 -143.5
Total 409
Value
Chi-Square 201.391
Df 1
p-value. .000
that respondents purchase product through social media. The higher positive
residual indicates significantly positive responses.
Q 19 Table 125: (i) Reasons of purchasing via social media

Read on-line review or blog about
38 133.7 -98.7
that particular product
Viewed the advertisement of the
38 133.7 -98.7
product on social networking site
Both 333 133.7 197.3
Total 409
178
Chi-Square test result:
Value
Chi-Square 425.55
Df 2
p-value. .000
that often the respondentsRead on-line review or blog about that particular
product and viewed the advertisement of the product on social networking
site.The higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
Q 20:
Table: 126: number of respondents sending link to family and friends

Yes 257 201.0 56.0
No 145 201.0 -56.0
Total 402
Value
Chi-Square 31.204
Df 1
p-value. .000
that the respondents send the link of e-retailing websites having a special offer on
products to their friends and family. The higher positive residual indicates
significantly positive responses
Q 21:
Table 127: Number of respondents writing reviews

Yes 281 201.0 80.0
No 121 201.0 -80.0
Total 402
179
Value
Chi-Square 63.682
Df 1
p-value. .000
that often the respondents share their opinion by writing reviews or blogs.The
higher positive residual indicates significantly positive responses.
180
CHAPTER: 8
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
Social media offer affordable opportunities to reach large populations.

Additionally, online campaigns on social media can benefit from the persuasive
features of interactive multi-media systems. Many researchers and marketing
mogul have considered social media as an effective tool of marketing. Social
media is a phenomenon that has become an important aspect in marketing mix
and is revolutionizing the way companies interact with customers. Therefore this
research is significant to analyze the impact of marketing strategies adopted by E-
Retailers.
The detailed research on the topic has lead to certain conclusions which are
enumerated in this chapter:
(a)Association between the social media marketing and buying behavior of
consumers:
 It is proved that marketing via social media significantly affect the buying
behavior of consumers.
 It is established that majority of consumers consider social media as
effective means of marketing.
 The availability of social media has made consumers more informed about
brands when making purchase decisions.
 Majority of customers strongly agree to the statement that they are more
exposed to marketing communication as a result of increased media use.
 Social media allows effective two way communication between customer
and e-retailer.
 The quick spread of information, positive or negative through social media
can have lasting effect on perception of e-retailing website, brand or
product.
(b) There is no association between demographic factors and the effect of social
media marketing on consumer behavior however in response to certain questions
people belonging to different demographics showed some variations in their
answers:
 More percentage of female are strongly agree to the statement that The
181
availability of social media has made consumers more informed about
brands when making purchase decisions whereas more percentage of
male are uncertain to this fact.
 More number of male accept that they are more likely to purchase products
such as mobile phones, games etc which are extensively promoted on
social media even prior to launch of the product.
 Female are more frequent buyers of apparel and conduct extensive search
on social media before purchasing them.
 Greater percentage of post graduate respondents are uncertain about the
fact that they are more likely to respond to the marketing messages
communicated via social media than more traditional forms of
advertisement like television, Radio etc.
Apart from above few difference of opinions the analysis of relationship between
demographic factors and effect of social media marketing proves following:
 There is no association between gender and effectiveness of Social Media.
 There is no association between education and effectiveness of Social
Media.
 There is no association between occupation and effectiveness of Social
Media.
 There is no association between income and effectiveness of Social Media.
 There is no association between age and effectiveness of Social Media.
Majority of respondents agreed to the fact that their frequency of traditional

shopping has change as a result of online shopping. About 92% of respondents
say that they opt more frequently for online shopping and the traditional mode of
shopping has decreased as a result.
(c) Majority of respondents‘ access internet almost daily. It has been observed
that almost 82% of respondents spend more than two hours on social media
websites which clearly depicts the popularity of social media.
(d) According to most of respondents the average expenditure per month is
rupees 1000-2000(41% of respondents) followed by rupees 2000-5000 (33% of
respondents).
182
(e) It has been observed on the analysis of consumer behavior that they are often
engaged in activities like E-retail website window shopping with no intention to
purchase.
(f) The most important factors which motivate te respondents to shop online are
availability to shop at discounted price and availability of consumer reviews and
product rating information.
(g) Advertisements by e-retailing companies posted on social networking
accounts motivate customers to visit and purchase from the particular e-retailing
website.
(h) The level of trust for shopping online is building gradually as majority
respondents agreed to have shopped after clicking on the advertisement on
social media.
(i) Reviews on social networking sites are important factors in motivating
customers to purchase from E-retailers.
(j) Majority of respondents share their opinion by writing reviews and send the link
of e-retailing websites having a special offer on products to their friends and
family.
(k) Most of respondents agreed to conduct at least moderate product information
search before purchasing products and they conduct most extensive research
before purchasing electronic items. They generally visit 3-5 E-retailing websites
before making purchase decision.
(l) Apparels and electronics are most frequently purchased items from E-retailers.
(m) Flipkart and Amazon are most popular websites among respondents.
(n) Facebook is most popular and trusted social networking site on which
respondents find the advertisements attractive, appealing and genuine.
(o) Most of respondents rate social networking as an effective means of marketing
for E-retailers.
183
Chapter- 9
Recommendations
Recommendations and suggestions
The aim of this thesis was to further the understanding of consumer behaviour in
responses to social media Marketing. From the thorough analysis of data the
following recommendations and suggestions can be made:
1. As it has been proved that marketing via social media has a significant impact
on customers buying decision process, it can be used by e-retails as an effective
tool of marketing. But as now a days almost all the e-retailers have a presence on
social media so it is very important to be different in order to prompt the customer
to respond to advertisements. It is of vital importance to make advertisements
unique and attractive and customize them as per the likes and dislikes of
customers and prospects. The following suggestions are made to create attractive
marketing campaign on social media:
 Use Images while posting on social media: Adding an image to an
otherwise text-based announcement is far more compelling and will
increase click-through significantly.
 Incorporate the Link of e-retailing website: In response to a question most
of respondents said that they like to send links of the product they like to
their friends on social networking site. Therefore it is advisable that when
E-retailers make an announcement or promote a product they should
include the link to the page within the post along with the image.
 Embedding social buttons within website and marketing communications to
encourage customers to share their views.
 Leverage Social Reviews to Automate Word of Mouth Marketing
2. As trust worthiness of advertisements on social media is an important factor for
consumers, the advertisements by e-retailers must be genuine, simple and draw a
realistic picture.
3. As it is evident from the study that majority of people spend more than 2 hours
on social networking sites. There is a need to engage the always connected
consumer at every touch point and in real time, anticipating their needs and
responding at every step.
184
4. As it is shown in the research that social media marketing effect the behavior of
consumers belonging to different demographics so e-retailers should design
customized marketing strategies for each segment of customers.
5. According to the study the most frequently purchased items are Apparel and
electronics so special focus is required for the marketing these segment.
6. Consumers visit 3-5 websites before making purchase decision so it is

advisable for the e-retailers to keep track of marketing strategies of competing
websites.
7. Facebook is most effective tool of marketing as per the study but now a
considerable amount of people are using new SNSs like instagram, pinterest ect
so there is an opportunity to use these new social sites optimally. The Social
networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, instagram etc. can improve their marketing
efficiency by enhancing features like targeting the advertisements to the right
group of audiences and making the ads more appealing so that more and more
audience are attracted towards them for socialising as well as accessing product
information.
185
Scope of Future Study:
1) There is a scope of more focused study on each category of product. The

thesis is a comprehensive study involving various types of products sold by
e-retailers. Separate studies can be conducted on individual categories of
products like apparel and fashion or groceries etc
2) Similar studies can be conducted in different cities with different
demographics.
3) There can be study of social media marketing on buying behavior of
specific group of people like students, business class, government
servants, housewives etc.
4) There can be study on impact of marketing on particular social networking
site like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc.
186
Chapter- 10
Annexure
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194
Questionnaire
I am student of M.Phil, School of Management, D.Y.Patil University. I am conducting this survey
as a part of my dissertation work.
Section A: Demographic profile
1.) NAME:-
2) AGE:-
a) 18-20 Years b) 20-25 Years c) 25-30 Years d)30-35

Years
e) 35-40 years
3) EDUCATION:-
a) Up to graduation b) graduation c) post-graduation
d) PhD. e) Post Doctorate
3)NAME OF COURSE FOR STUDENTS:-
4) OCCUPATION :-
a) service b) self-employed c) business d) others
4) NAME OF COLLEGE / ORGANISATION:-
5) INCOME:-
a)0- 1 Lack b)1-5 lacks c) 5-10 lacks
d)10-15 Lacks e)Above 15 Lacks
6) Gender:-
a) Male b) female c) others
Section B
1) Do you purchase products from online retailing websites

YES NO
2) Which are the products you purchase on-line?
a) Apparels b) Electronics items c) Books
195
d) Grocery and nutrition related products e) Pharmaceutical products
f) Entertainment (CDs, DVDs, games) g) Kids Product
h) Others ……………………………………….....
3) How often do you purchase each of the following types of product online?
Always almost often sometimes

Never
always
a) Apparel
b) Electronics
c) Books
d) Grocery and nutrition
related products.
e) Pharmaceuticals
f) Entertainment
4) Which are the e-retail website you purchase from.
a) Flipkart.com b) Amazon.in c) Snapdeal.com

d) Shopsclue.com e) Myntra.com f) Fashion&you.com
g) Homeshop18.com h) Jabong.com i) e-bay.com
j) Firstcry.com
k) Others ………………………………………..
5) How often do you access internet on computer / mobile phone.

a) Almost every day b) 2-3 days a week c) 4-5 days a week
d) Once a week e) Rarely f) Never
6) Do you think that your frequency of traditional shopping has changed due to
online shopping?
Yes No
7) If yes does your frequency of traditional shopping?

Increased Decreased
8) What is your average on-line shopping expenditure in one month?
a) Less than Rs.500/- b) Rs.500 to 1000 c) Rs. 1000 – 2000

d) Rs.2000-5000 e) More the Rs.5000
196
9) How often do you engage in following activities:-
Always almost often Sometimes

Never
always
a) Window shopping with no
intention to shop online
b) Use internet for researching a
product with the intension of
buying it in store
c) Comparing products online &
actually purchasing on internet.
10) What attracts you to purchase from Website.
a) Advertisements and other marketing practices of e-retailing websites
b) Opinions of friend and family
c) Past experience
d) Prices of products
e) Designs of website
f) Payments method
g) Delivery options
h) Return Policy/After sale services
11) How important are each of the following factors in motivating you to shop online?
Extremely Important Somewhat Less Not

at all
Important important important
Important
n) Ability to shop at a discounted
price
o) Flexibility of shopping hours
p) Availability of greater variety

of products/brands
q) Ease of comparing to find

lower prices
197
r) Saving the cost of
transportation needed
to drive to shopping places.
s) Convenience of not having

to leave the house to shop
t) Ability to purchase a gift

and have it delivered directly
to a friend/relative
u) Availability of consumer
reviews and product rating
information
12) Do you have an account on social networking website?
Yes No
13) If yes, which of the following social networking website do you currently have an
account with:-
a) Facebook
b) Google +
c) Linkedin
d) Twitter
e) Blogs
f) pintrest
g) My space
h) Others
14) How much time in a typical day do you spend on social networking sites.
a) 15-30 min b) 30-60 min c) 1-2 hours

d) 2-3 hours e) More than 2 hours
15) Please state your level of agreement with the following statement:-
Strongly Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
a) I am a frequent user of social
media
b) The availability of social media

has made me more informed
about brands when making
purchase decisions.
c) I am more likely to respond to
198
Marketing message communicated
via social media than more
traditional format such as TV
and radio.
d) I am more exposed to marketing

Communication as a result of
Increasing social media use.
e) I am more likely to purchase a

Product such as mobile phone
or video game that has been
extensively Promoted in social
media prior to launch.
f) I believe that social media allows

effective two -way Communication
between Myself and e-retailors.
g) The quick spread of information

Positive or negative through social
media can have lasting effect on
effect on The perception of
e-retailing Website, brand
or product.
16) Do the advertisements by e-retailing companies posted on your social networking

accounts motivate you to visit the particular website?
Yes No
17) How often do you use your social networking account to log into other retailing
website.
a) Always b) almost always c) Often d) Sometimes
e) Never
18) Did you purchase any product through social media?
Yes No
19) If yes what was the reason behind your purchase through social media.
a) Read on-line review or blog about that particular product
b) Viewed the advertisement of the product on social networking site
c) Other Specify …………………………………………………………………………………………..
199
20) Do you send the link of e-retailing websites having a special offer on products to your
friends and family.
Yes No
21) Do you share your opinion by writing reviews or blogs?
Yes No
22) Before making actual purchase decision what type of product information search do
you conduct on social media.
a)Extensive search b)Moderate c) Limited d) Often
e) No search
23) Does the time and effort spent on pre-purchase products research differ for
different products.
Yes No
24) If Yes then for which category of product do you conduct most extensive
research.
a) Apparels b) Electronics items c) Books
d) Grocery and nutrition related products e) Pharmaceutical products
f) Entertainment (CDs, DVDs, games) g) Kids Product
h) Others ……………………………………….....
25) Which category of products do you generally buy after seeing an advertisement on social
media/reading reviews or blogs:-
a) Apparels b) electronic items c) books d) Grocery and nutrition related

products e) pharmaceutical f) entertainment g) kids products
h) others……………………………..
26) Do you compare a product on different online retailers website before making
actual purchase?
Yes No
27) How many on-line retailing website do you visit on an average before making a
buying descision.
a)1-3 b)3-5 c)5-7 d) 7-10 e) More then 10
28) Do you agree that you had no plan of purchasing any product when you logged on a
social networking site but you end up purchasing one.
a) Strongly agree b)Agree c)uncertain d) Disagree
e)Strongly disagree
200
29) Do you agree that at times you buy a product because of an attractive discount offer
displayed in the advertisement on social networking site.
a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) uncertain d) Disagree
e) Strongly disagree
30) Answer Yes/No in appropriate all below:-
Facebook twitter linkdin Google+ youtube pintrest other

s
On which
social
networking
site (SNS) do
you find
advertisement
attractive
And appealing
On which SNS
do you find the
offers and
images of
products
genuine and
correlate with
the actual
product
Do you have
any intention
to purchase in
future after
watching an
advertisement
on this social
networking
sites?
31) How do you rate social networking as a means of marketing for E-retailing
websites?
a) Extremely effective b) Effective c) Moderately effective

d) Ineffective f) extremely ineffective
201
202
203
204
205
206
207

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THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING OF E-

RETAILING COMPANIES ON THE BUYING BEHAVIOR OF

Thesis submitted to the

D.Y. Patil University, Navi Mumbai

In Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for

The award of the degree of

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.)

MRS. DEEPIKA JINDOLIYA

Professor Dr. R. Gopal

Director & Head of the Department

D.Y. Patil University, School of Management,

Sector 4, Plot No. 10,CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai – 400614

I hereby declare that the dissertation entitled ― THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL

I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for

Date: Signature of student

Place: Enrolment number: DYP-MPHIL-01460900002

This is to Certify that the thesis entitled ―IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Place: Navi Mumbai

I am grateful to D.Y.Patil University, School of Management for having given

I am extremely thankful to my guide, mentor, philosopher Professor Dr. R.

I would like to convey my gratitude to Dr. Pradeep Manjrekar, Dr. M.

Place : Navi Mumbai. Deepika Jindoliya

Enrolment number: DYP-MPH01460900002

List Of Abbreviations VIII

List Of Figures XIX

Executive Summary XXI

2. Literature Review & Research Gap 19

3. Objectives, Hypotheses &Research Methodology 56

7. Data Analysis 109

8. Findings and Conclusions 181

10. Annexure 187

4. Agreement level of respondents on the statements 110

53 Chi-Square Test for analyzing the relationship between 135

118 Table of basic data distribution of motivating factors 174

119 Mean Rank Table for motivating factors 175

120 Kruskal-Wallis test for analysing motivating factors 176

125 Reasons of purchasing via social media 178

126 Number of respondents sending link to family and 179

127 Number of respondents writing reviews 179

The research ‖Impact of Social Media Marketing by E-Retailing Companies on

The proposed research strives to understand the decision making process of

Many researchers and marketing moguls have called on social marketers to

E-retailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all ―commerce‖

Key drivers in Indian e-commerce are:

 Explosive growth of Smartphone users, soon to be world's second

 Rising standards of living.

 Availability of much wider product range (including Direct Imports)

 Competitive prices compared to brick and mortar retail driven

 Increased usage of online classified sites, with more consumer buying

 To identify the impact of social media marketing strategies of e-

Methods of Data Collection:

Reason of selecting Navi Mumbai as area of research:

SS= Sample Size

c = margin of error, expressed as decimal

As the required sample size is minimum 385 respondents, 450 questionnaires

Major findings of the study:

Significance of Study: The origination of the internet created an entire new

The research findings will help in drawing a generalized conclusion regarding

Scope of future study: There is a scope of more focused study on each

In today‘s technology driven world, social networking sites have become an

Despite many advantages associated with online engagement, there is

Social media offer affordable opportunities to reach large populations.

E-retailing is a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all ―commerce‖