Social media marketing in India

Author Name : P. Makhindha

Class : II M. Com

Institution address : Shri Sakthikailassh Women’s college

Military road, Ammapet,

Salem-636003,Tamil Nadu.

Mobile number : 9750733444

Email address : Makhindha@gmail.com

Abstract

In this new era, social media is one of the important aspect to socialize. In this virtual
world of digital marketing, what worked yesterday won’t work today. The need of
customer’s attention and competition has forced companies to seek the help of social
media. Social media marketing plays a vital role in influencing various aspects like
awareness, information, acquisition, purchase behaviour, branding, communication and
promotion. Social media marketing is a potential platform and a new mantra for both global
and small companies in India. Innovative and constant promotion for a company in their
own unique way can bring lot of new customers and remarkable success. If the cards are
played right, then a company can get their content and offers in front of huge audience at
very low cost. This paper tries in understanding various aspects, like need, strategies,
tactics and practice of social media marketing. It shows the influence of social media
marketing in India.
Introduction:

Companies are dominated by customers and their demands. Social media

marketing is an effective way for companies to reach targeted customers easily, efficiently
and instantly. Social media marketing is a vital part of digital marketing campaign and it
also catch customers from where they are sitting right now. Today there are more than 2.3
billion users on Facebook alone and it is currently the world’s most popular social network.
Twitter, LinkedIn, google and various other media sites have more than 2.77 billion of
active users as well. Every company knows the value of communicating with customers
through the channel of their choice.

Using social media marketing, companies gain brand awareness, connection with
customers and two way communication between customers and companies. This is the
reason why every business or company – from International to local are involved in social
media marketing. All the tools in social media helps the company in communication and
connects them to customers throughout the world. It is a must, when a company target a
wider customer base and expand the business in India.

Social media:

Social media is a medium used for social interaction. It implies the interaction
of individuals within group or community, for advertising and communication of ideas or
information through channels. It is also considered as interactive platform where content
is created, distributed and shared by individuals on the web. Social media makes it easy for
people to communicate and interact with each other anytime, anywhere in the world. It’s
purpose is to provide users with rich experience, informative content, openness and truth.
The power of social media is influence. It helps the companies to engage with customers
and also influence them with right content to help the customer to make decision. Social
media provides a new set of channels through which customers present feedback, concerns
and issues. It can take many different forms, including message boards, podcasts, blogs,
video, picture etc. The number of social media users in India stood at 326.1 million in 2018.
The social media users in the country are expected to be almost 448 million in 2023.
Social media marketing in India :

Social media marketing is a huge platform for a company to connect with

their customers to build brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. It is widely used in
business like small business, banking, travel and tourism, marketing, financial institutions
and so on. The main focus of social media marketing is on people, not on products. It all
started with publishing the content on social media to generate traffic to company’s website
and hopefully sales. But it has matured far beyond being just a place to broadcast content.

In India, nearly every company or business, use social media marketing for
their digital marketing campaigns. This leads to publishing useful content on social media
profiles, listening to and engaging with followers, analysing results and running
advertisements. The main purpose of social media marketing is to obtain direct feedback
from users or potential customers, so that the company gets a view from customers.

Social media applications:

Facebook Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are the essential applications of

social media for marketing. They represent the biggest social platforms out there right now.
Small business don’t put large amount of time and resources for marketing. In this
situation, they are left with create, post and promote. This work needs variety of skills and
a commitment to organization. The following applications helps marketers in a company
to create their own way of marketing.

QUICK - helps the marketers to make smooth video transitions, synchronize music and
add any necessary filter easily.

OVER - it helps to add text and artwork layovers to photos and give them a professional
look.

SNAPSEED - can edit the photo for advertisement and make them look like professional
advertisement photos.
REPOST - can share friend’s content or anyone else, which seems fit, to add it on their
own feed.

SOCIALDRIFT - information are provided about ideal Instagram followers, and the
platform will use machine learning to engage users through likes, comments and follows.

BUFFER - offers a swift solution for businesses swamped by the multiple social media
accounts they must manage.

HOOTSUITE - allows to schedule posts, as well as monitor and manage social media
accounts.

QUORA - a great platform for digital marketers searching for relevant information from
reliable sources.

FEEDLY - enables access to information from all of your favourite sites and blogs in one
place.

Growth of social media marketing:

Over the past decade, social media marketing have grown from small level
marketing to one of the most influential digital marketing techniques used today. Recent
studies of consumers show an increase amount of time spent engaged with social network
and decrease in time spent with email and traditional websites. Since 2004, social media
has been growing exponentially and it hasn’t reached its peak of its popularity yet.

71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with
a brand are likely to recommend it to others.63% of customers actually expect companies
to offer customer service via their social media channels, and 90% of social media users
have already used social media as a way to communicate with a brand or business. There
are now more than 50 million small businesses using Facebook Pages to connect with their
customers. There are 1.8 billion logged-in YouTube monthly active users visiting the
website at least once a month.
Number of social media users in India from 2016 to 2023(in millions)

2023* 447.9

2022* 422.7

2021* 400.3

2020* 376.1

2019* 351.4

2018 326.1

2017 296.3

2016 168.1

Need for social media marketing :

90% of all marketers says social media marketing has increased their business
exposure. Research shows nearly 2 in 3 adults use social media. In order for a business to
grow quickly they need to be able to reach wide target audience as soon as possible. Things
that make social media marketing an effective tool, is the interaction that is developed with
the customer base. Most of the people see social media applications as Social network and
not as marketing machines. This is a challenge for the companies who are developing the
social media strategy for the first time. One thing that helps the company to get to the
customer’s good side is by treating social media as a way to connect to the customers,
instead of doing tricks to inundate the followers. Companies help out the customers by
answering the questions and provide them with relevant content. A company can use many
ways to measure the success, but it is always going to be in demand for the purpose of
efficacious promotion.
 Social media posts drive target traffic.

 Using social media for marketing boosts site’s SEO.

 Social media will help in getting noticed in an event.

 A strong media presence builds brand loyalty

 Social media marketing gives wider reach.

 Active social media presence builds relationship with the audience.

 Social media marketing helps to understand audience.

 Social media is the key to customer service.

 Gives the ability to quickly respond to customers.

Role of social media marketing in India :

Creating and developing a website is important for any business. Social media
gives marketers a voice and a way to communicate with customers and potential consumers.
Companies can easily get to know about the updates people make on daily basis and plan
accordingly. Companies that do not have active social media accounts risk missing out on
numerous marketing opportunities. It personalizes the brand and helps to spread message in a
conversational way. Trust is the key towards success. People tend to recognize the brand more,
once they start noticing the stuff over social media. Using social media for branding is most
promising technique.

Going through the updates that are posted by customer base in social media, gives
an insight into what they need. It helps the companies to formulate marketing strategies that
address their needs. Social media gives customers a convenient and accessible way to express what
they feel and gives companies a chance to respond. With such platforms, businesses are able to
view complaints and assure their customers that their problems will be dealt with. In the
competitive world of business, companies need to stay ahead of the competition while providing
customers with the best products and services.
 Social media does not require an extensive budget, which makes it fair for small
businesses that are competing with well known brands. A research has found that customers are
more likely to remain consistent to those firms who respond to their queries and feedback. When
a brand gets involved in conversations, customers view it as approachable, responsive and
accessible. This type of exposure positively influences how a brand is perceived and makes
customers more receptive to the information which is shared.

Social media statistics in India :

Facebook - 89.23%

Pinterest - 4.05%

YouTube - 3.03%

Twitter - 1.96%

Instagram - 1.49%

LinkedIn - 0.08%

Social media marketing strategies and tactics :

From advertising a product, to actually selling it online, social media is used for
a variety of marketing purposes in this modern world. It has become absolutely necessary
to focus on this area of marketing. Companies produce multimedia based content by
including interactive video or an eye catching picture is more likely to get shared and liked
than written content. The next level of social media marketing is customized posts for each
social media platforms, which improves creditability of a company. They give a lot of focus
on upcoming social media platforms for regular social networks. Outline of audience is
important for social media marketing, a company should clarify who they are trying to
reach and why they are using social media. One of the important strategy used in India, to
connect with more number of people through social media is by conducting surveys and
 polls. Trust of customers are maintained by sharing the progress of a company in the form
of blogs and tweet.

Every company in India has its own logo and brand identity, so by setting up
all these info in various websites will increase the identity. Providing proper knowledge is
almost always the best foundation to reach the customers. Now a days creating an official
page on LinkedIn is considered to be one of the most prominent way of marketing. One of
the recent tactics is partnering with respected and well-known, to obtain the wider reach.
By understanding the in-depth of previous year’s strategy, a company can set new,
improved and innovative strategy for the present year. Companies makes use of all the
tricks that social media could offer. Facebook offers is a wonderful means of creating
advertisement for the brand. They get published in the news feed and also facilitate the
option of sending a direct mail through website

Admittedly, live streaming has been on the scene for a couple of years now.
80% of brand audience prefer live video to blog posts and social posts. There are already
100,000 chatbots active on Facebook Messenger every month. Millennials have been quick
to adapt to chatbots, with three out of five already using them. Twitter is the platform that
made hashtags for social media. Twitter hashtags are used to categorize content and
increase visibility. Hashtags are one of the best ways to increase visibility for Instagram
posts also, since the app’s search feature is built on them. Companies shares articles of
interest through posts, engaging with the posts of others, and building relationships through
the instant messenger in LinkedIn. Its important to review and answer the most recently
asked questions that Quora automatically recommends.

Limitations of social media marketing :

 Competitors can study the business methods through social media platform. This puts
business at the risk of being outdone.

 Having fans does not necessarily equate to true brand enhancement or real leads.
 Company have to employ a qualified personnel to manage the accounts, which implies the
need to invest both in apparatus and salary for quality outcome.

 In the absence of active management in social media presence, one may not see any real
benefits.

 People get direct access to post their views in social media, there is equal probability of
getting both positive and negative comments.

 Not having a clear marketing or social media strategy may result in reduced benefits for
business.

 Profile on social media may go through security issues anytime so securing social media
profile is important and consume time.

 A mistake made in setting the social media marketing strategy may result in failure of the
total process.

 Additional resources may be needed to manage online presence, Social media is immediate
and needs daily monitoring.

 Social media marketing is a long term investment and one cannot expect returns in an
overnight.

 To get the customers to appreciate and share posts may take time, resources in terms of
money and time must be allocated to ensure frequent publishing of aesthetic posts.

 Greater exposure online has the potential to attract risks, risks can include negative
feedback, information leaks or hacking.

Conclusion:

In the world with over 70% of internet users active on social networks, who spend at
least one hour a day on average on those social networks, it have become a sort of reality in which
people communicate, interact, and obviously trust. Over 90% marketers report they are or will be
using social networks for business, while over 60% of them claim to have acquired new customers
over social networks. Succeeding at social media marketing has a lot to do with trying new tools,
techniques and strategies. Using different forms of social media network not only increase the
potential market and the number of potential customers, but it also provides companies with the
chances of establishing the position on global market and reaching for achievement of long-term
goals. Based on the information in this paper, it has been found that in case of social media
marketing, the most important aspect is to connect with the users and in order to utilize the social
media in an effective way, the companies are required to design an effective platform. Whether
social media is a blessing or a curse, entirely depends on how the company uses it. Social media
marketing can give fantastic returns if it is positively used, on the other hand, company can waste
a big chunk of time on social media, if marketing is not done effectively. Through persistent
learning, one can know of the latest marketing possibilities available, which can employ to stay
one step ahead of competitors.