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1.0 RESEARCH STUDY

1.1 Objectives
1. To understand social media approach adopted by companies.
2. To comprehend social media marketing strategies.
3. To realise the power of tools & techniques used in social media marketing in todays
times.
4. To understand how social media marketing affects traditional advertising.
5. To recognise the key areas of social media marketing & how it affects a business
organization.
6. To understand the consumer point of view & the mistakes to avoid while dealing with
consumers.

1.2 Significance

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1. Social media channel is a good way of increasing a companys trustworthiness and
goodwill which will definitely give the said company and increased and better branding.
When companies are able to have conversations with their customers, the result is going to be
a great amount of credibility.

2. The lead generation is also another basis for companies to go for social media marketing.
Since the lead generation serves a very important part for a companys success, then using
social media marketing for campaigns help you reach out your targeted lead generation.

3. Social media channels also make it easier and more flexible for companies to engage with
its customers. A company has to put this on their top priority list since customer engagement
is a very crucial since this will help the company retain their existing customers and of course
increase brand credibility.

4. Social media channels are also responsible for generating a highly powerful traffic for the
company site. It does not have to worry since theres a lot of social media channels that will
be able to help it and would make it easier for the company to obtain for the website the
relevant and quality traffic that it will need.

5. Aside from that, when a company promotes its products through social media channels,
this can increase return over investment or ROI (return on investment). This process will be
able to help in increasing your conversion rate and benefit from a desirable ROI.

6. The company is considered to have a backbone if it has total access to customers

feedback. This is because the feedback actually helps in improving your products based on
what your customers require. Due to the fact that social media channels aid in making
customer engagement possible, then customer feedback will always be available for the
company to use as basis for improvement. With this, the company can always expect
customer reviews and feedback that can help in making their products or services even better.

7. There is no better way or an even cheaper way than a social media channel when it comes
to announcing new products or services for the company. Social media will make it easier to
spread the news regarding a new product or service. It can even include information such as
arrival or release dates.

8. Another importance of social media marketing is the fact that it will allows the company to
discover your customers preferences so that it will be able to act based on what they want.
By knowing their preferences, it will be much easier to enhance all products and plan
marketing campaigns more effectively.

1.3 Research Methodology

1. The concept of social media marketing was read-up through internet sources and
industry reports.
2. Social media marketing websites were visited to comprehend the marketing strategies
used by business organizations.

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3. Social media platforms were visited to get a first-hand experience of the practical use
of social media.
4. Secondary data & statistics were analysed to assess the use of social media for
marketing in the beginning of 2012
5. Study of social media marketing cases were undertaken to gain in-depth insight.

2.0 INTORDUCTION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

What are Social Networking Sites?

When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are
known as social sites.

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Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share
common interests in hobbies, religion, politics or education. Once you are granted access to a
social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may include reading
the profile pages of members and possibly even contacting them.
Social networking often involves grouping specific individuals or organizations together.
While there are a number of social networking websites that focus on particular interests,
there are others that do not. The website without a main focus is often referred to as
traditional social networking websites and generally has open membership. This means that
anyone can become a member, no matter what their hobbies, beliefs or views are. However,
once you are a member and inside this online community, you can begin to create your own
network of friends and eliminate members that do not share common interest and goals.
There are damages associated with social networking that includes data theft and viruses,
which are on the rise. The most prevalent danger often involves online predators or
individuals who claim to be someone who they are not. Although danger does exist with
networking online, it also exists with networking out in the real world too. Just like when one
advises they meet strangers at clubs, bars, pubs, school or work- and also advised to proceed
with caution. By being aware of ones cyber-surroundings and to the ones they talk to it
enables to use safely and enjoy social networking online.
A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interest
and or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most
social network services are web based and provide a variety for users to interact, such as
email and instant messaging services. The main types of social networking services are those
which contain category divisions (such as former school year or classmates), mean to connect

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with family (usually with self- description pages) and a recommendation system linked to
trust.
Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook and Twitter are widely used
worldwide. MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America. Nexopia
used mostly in Canada. Bebo, Hi5,studivz mostly in Germany, iwiw mostly in Hungary,
Tuenti mostly in Spain, Decayenne, Tagged, XING, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe.
Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America. Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut,
Wretch, Xiaomei and Cyworld in Asia and The Pacific Islands and mostly Orkut and
Facebook in India.
There have been strong attempts to standardize these services to avoid the need to duplicate
entries of friends and interests, but this has led to some concerns about privacy.

3.0 HISTORY OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

The notion that individual computers linked electronically could form the basis of computer
mediated social interaction and networking was suggested early on. There were many early
efforts to support social networks via computer-mediated communications, including Usenet,
ARPANET, LISTSERV, bulletin board services (BBS) and Eyes, Murray Turnoffs serverbased Electronic Information Exchange Service (Turoff and Hiltz, 1978, 1993). The

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Information Routing Group developed a scheme about how the proto-Internet might support
this.
Early social networking websites started in the form of generalized online communities such
as The Well(1985) and Triod(1995). These early communities focused on bringing people
together to interact with each other through chat rooms, and share personal information and
ideas around any topics via the personal homepage publishing tools which was a precursor to
the blogging phenomenon. Some communities took a different approach but simply having
people link to each other via email addresses. These sites include Classmates.com(1995),
focusing on ties with former school mates, and SixDegrees.com(1997), focusing on indirect
ties. User profiles could be created, messages sent to users held on a friends list and other
members could be sought out who had similar interests to yours in theirs profiles(Boyd &
Ellison,p.3). Whilst these features had existed in some form before SixDegrees.com came
about, this would be the first time these functions were available in one package. Despite
these new developments (that would later catch on and become immensely popular), the
website wasnt simply profitable and eventually shut down (Boyd & Ellison 2007,p. 3). It was
even described by the websites owner as simply ahead of its time. One such model of social
networking that came about in 1999 was trust based, such as that developed by Epinions.com.
Innovations included not only who is friends with whom, but gives users more control over
content and connectivity. Between 2002 and 2004, three social networking sites emerged as
the most popular form of these sites in the world, causing such sites to become a part of the
mainstream users globally. First there was Friendster (which Google tried to acquire in 2003),
then, MySpace and finally Bebo. By 2005, MySpace, emerged as the biggest of them all, was
reportedly getting more page views than Google. 2004 saw the emergence of Facebook, a
competitor, also reportedly growing in size. In 2006, Facebook opened up to the non U.S
college community, and together with allowing externally-developed add-on applications, and

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some applications enabled the graphing of a users own social network- thus linking social
networks and social networking, becoming the largest and fastest growing site in the world,
not limited by particular geographical followings.
Social networking began to flourish as a component of business internet strategy at around
March 2005 when Yahoo launched Yahooh!360. in July 2005 News Corporation brought
MySpace, followed by ITV(UK) buying Friends Reunited in December 2005. Various social
networking sites have sprung up catering to different languages and countries. It is estimated
that combined there are now over 200 social networking models, without counting the niche
social networks (also referred to as vertical social networks) made possible by services such
as Ning.

4.0 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Brand: Lipton Ice Tea India
Positioning: Take A Chill Pill
Campaign: Chill Out Surprise
Duration: 6 Days
Location: Mumbai
Agency: Social Seety

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Lipton Ice Teas social media campaign Chill Out Surprise.

Stress!! It is a word that is all around us and we crib about it everyday. Now what we found
out through crisp research is that with the evolution of Human Kind the places we crib out
our stress also evolved. And today 80% crib on social media and that too majorly on Twitter.
So they thought why not spread some smiles amongst the stressed tweeps by a little surprise.
And thats how Chill Out Surprise came to life.

Chill Out Surprise Destination 1: Mumbai

In this campaign they targeted Twitter for stress-filled or complaining tweets from the city.
They first went all over Twitter and found out all the tweeps who were stressed out and were
venting it out on Twitter. Then through crisp research they tracked down their location and
after finding out where they were the Chill Out Crew began their missionthe mission to
spread happiness and smiles. The Chill Out Crew reached the stressed tweeps location with a
customized Chill Out Hamper and Voila!! They were surprised and how.
The idea not only tapped the digital platform but also engaged the target audience on ground
by tweeting its own whereabouts while delivering the gifts. This we say is Social media. A
medium which can create an experience for the consumer that will stay with them forever and
also not forgetting the strong product connect that can be generated via such campaigns.
The campaign has been extremely successful and has received a phenomenal response.
Theres an interesting video that captures the emotions of the individuals who were pleasantly
surprised by LITs kind gesture and brings out the true essence of Lipton Ice Teas motto
take a chill pill.

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Results of the campaign:

Half A Million Impressions
10+ tweets per minute
3000 + Interactions
1, 50,000 + People reached
20% Jump in number of followers in just 6 days!!
1 City
6 Days
14 Stressed people
1 Chill Out Surprise
Countless Smiles

Engaging PVR fans on Facebook (source- social media marketing company).

The Challenge
PVR Cinemas on Facebook (www.facebook.com/MoviesAtPVR) is the official Facebook
page with thousands of fans.
PVR approached us to see what interesting, creative and viral ideas we had in mind to
engage with the large fan base on the page.
The audience on the page were young and outgoing in nature. They also had a passion for
movies and were fans of many actors, directors, films, etc. In general we could say that the
knowledge level of these fans for movies was high.
We came up with a simple but viral application on Facebook to engage with the audience on
PVR and the campaign was a huge success!

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Strategy and Approach

Knowing that the audience on the PVR page were very passionate about movies in general,
we decided to reward the ones with the best knowledge of movies, actors, directors, etc.
We came up with the PVR Film Quotient application.
In this application, a user has to answer five simple questions about movie trivia from
Bollywood and Hollywood and if they scored 100% they were rewarded with a PVR movie
ticket!
We used the Facebook application platform and the Facebook Ads platform to reach the right
audience and achieve the desired results.
Auto-Posting on the users Facebook Wall
After taking the quiz and submitting their score, an automatic wall post via the PVR Movie
Quiz application is posted on the users wall. It says how much the user scored and prompts
their friends to take the quiz and test their Film Quotient. This adds to the virality of the
application because for every user who takes the quiz, this message gets posted on their wall!
Appears in the newsfeed as well
Once the user takes the quiz and submits details, besides appearing on their wall, it also
appears in their friends newsfeed, spreading the viral reach of the application.

Promoting the PVR Film Quotient Application

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Promoting the contest on the PVR page

There were regular status updates on the PVR page promoting the application and asking
users to take part and WIN PVR tickets!

Promoting via Targeted Facebook Ads

Besides engaging the existing audience of PVR, we also wanted to reach a new audience via
highly targeted Facebook ads.
We used targeted facebook ads in a very well manner with many targeting criteria to reach
the right untapped audience.
Targeting was done based on the following
First only in cities where PVR had theaters.
Then targeting users who had LIKED celebrity actor/actress pages, movie pages, directors
and musicians pages, generic movie related pages, movie awards pages, etc.
This way, we reached the right audience and got optimal ROI on the ad spend done.

The Results
The PVR Film Quotient application was live on the Facebook page and ran for a period of 3
weeks. During the three week period, the response was overwhelming, on all parameters, the
campaign was a success. Few important numbers are given below.

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No. of New LIKES 15,000+ New Likes in 3 weeks.
No. of entries to the contest Over 2,000 entries in 3 weeks.
No. of ticket winners Approx 240 winners got PVR Tickets.

Some more Numbers

Story Impressions 1,27,796 story impressions
Story impressions are basically the number of times the automated wall post on a persons
wall was seen by everyone. So1,700+ posts led to over 1.2 Lakh story impressions. These are
seen on the FB newsfeed and profiles.
Top 3 Cities: Mumbai, Delhi & Bangalore
The top 3 cities where this app was used was: Mumbai first, then Delhi followed by
Bangalore.
Application Rating 4.6 on 5.0All Apps on Facebook can be rated by users based on
functionality, UI, ease of use, etc. The PVR App was rated 4.6/5.0 by users.

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Mishaps of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing provides organizations with a way to connect with their customers.
However, organizations must protect their information as well as closely watch comments
and concerns on the social media they use.

A flash poll done on 1225 IT executives from 33 countries revealed that social media
mishaps caused organizations a combined $4.3 million in damages in 2010.

The top three social media incidents an organization faced during the previous year
included employees sharing too much information in public forums, loss or exposure
of confidential information, and increased exposure to litigation.

Due to the viral nature of the internet, a mistake by a single employee has in some
cases shown to result in devastating consequences for organizations.

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An example of a social media mishap includes designer Kenneth Cole's Twitter

mishap in 2011. When Kenneth Cole tweeted, "Millions are in uproar in #Cairo.
Rumour is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at [Kenneth
Cole's website]". This reference to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution drew objection from
the public; it was widely objected to on the Internet. Kenneth Cole realized his
mistake shortly after and responded with a statement apologizing for the tweet.

Numerous additional online marketing mishap examples exist.

Examples include

AYouTube video of a Domino's Pizza employee doing unspeakable things to pizza

ingredients, which went viral on the internet.

A Twitter hashtag posted by McDonald's in 2012 attracting attention due to numerous

complaints and negative events customers experienced at the chain store;

A tweet posted by aChrysler Group employee that no one in Detroit knows how to
drive.

When the Link REIT opened a Facebook page to recommend old-style restaurants,
the page was flooded by furious comments criticising the REIT for having forced a
lot of restaurants and stores to shut down; it had to terminate its campaign early amid
further deterioration of its corporate image.

The handling of a social media misstep by The American Red Cross was celebrated
by several blogs and pundits. Shortly after a mistaken post on the organization's
Twitter page, the American Red Cross responded with the following: we found so
many of you to be sympathetic and understanding. While were a 130 year old

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humanitarian organization, were also made of up human beings. Thanks for not only
getting that but for turning our faux pas into something good.

5.0 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Marketing is "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and
society at large.

For business to consumer marketing, it is "the process by which companies create value for
customers and build strong customer relationships, in order to capture value from customers
in return". For business to business marketing it is creating value, solutions, and relationships
either short term or long term with a company or brand. It generates the strategy that
underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments. It is an
integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create
value for their customers and for themselves.

Social Sites have become the hub for businesses to build relationships which go miles in
reaching out to the intended customers- that too in an amicable manner. In simple words,
Marketing using social media resources is an idyllic platform to catch the eyeball.

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5.1 AN APPROACH TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING- THE

ROADMAP
Central to the notion of effective social media participation is the ability to create, publish
and share content. The sheer volume of information on the topic of social media marketing
makes filtering and prioritizing whats most important to a specific organization a challenging
task.

Theres a lot of excitement from marketers and companies but not everyone is exactly
sure how to go about it.

Its important to focus on the key components of what it takes to deploy an effective social
media strategy individually and as a whole. By understanding the social web as it relates to
fundamental marketing principles, tactics, tools and best practices, one can create a
framework or roadmap for the development of a working strategy.
Getting a Social Media Roadmap started involves a 30,000 foot view of what social media
is: The technologies on the web and mobile that enable people to create, publish and share
content as well as connect/communicate with others. Brand control is in the hands (minds
really) of consumers, not companies. So marketing on the social web means informing,

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educating and even entertaining those communities of people that care about the issues,
problems, wants and needs met by a company.

When the company is new to any social situation, the best bet is to listen and learn about the
dynamics of the community or group. Who are the influential? What are the obvious rules
and what are the hidden or unwritten rules?

While there are many sources of advice on how to approach a corporate social media effort,
the minimum companies need to do is start listening to the social web NOW. Many will find
a whole new world of conversation happening about their brands, products and even key
staff. By listening to the conversations happening around them on the social web,
organizations can learn what they need to know in order to take next steps.

Some companies decide to start listening right away as they develop their social media
strategy and many rely on the learning that happens from listening to influence their strategy.
Either way, (we recommend the latter) its important to invest in the tools and processes of
data collection, monitoring, analysis and process for action/engagement.
For building the framework for a social media strategy, a company needs to these
factors into consideration

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Audience Listen and understand your audience and how they communicate/interact on the
social web. What types of social networks, media sharing and assets do they engage? What
are their goals for doing so?

Objectives Its important to consider both the goals of the company as well as the audience
youre trying to reach. Marketing on the social web is about giving to get. Knowing what
your community wants is key to reaching your own organizations goals because youre
going to give it to them.

Strategic Plan What approach will you take to meet the needs and interests of your
audience in order to meet your own? Will you engage influencers, will you energize brand
advocates or will you create demand by offering non-branded resources?

Tactics What social media marketing tactics and corresponding technologies will you use
to implement the plan? Blogging, microblogging, social networks, video, forums, blogger
relations and outreach. There are many to consider.

Tools What specific tools will you use to efficiently monitor, communicate, create and
promote social content? WordPress, Facebook or MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Again,
there are many to consider.

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Metrics How will you measure success according to the objectives youve identified?
What tools will you employ and at what point will you take benchmark measurements as well
as interval measurements? Who will you report results to in the organization and will there be
success metrics that you can share with the community youre engaging?

Addressing these key issues by listening and learning as well as a commitment to publishing
content and engaging communities all along the lines of a specific set of objectives will
provide organizations a much clearer plan on social media marketing. Approaching social
media marketing tactically misses the point. Theres a much bigger picture to consider and
longer term benefits for all from a strategic approach.

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5.2 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES USED BY

CORPORATIONS

1) Social Media is about people. Customers and Prospects and Partners are connecting,
sharing and growing with each other, never forget this. The companies do it authentically,
openly, and knowing the world is watching. Prospects trust consumers, now they are
talking to each other using Social Media tools.

2) Communities are the goal, conversations are the verb. Social Media is beingused to
reach and connect with customers, & participate in communities. An obvious output of
this community are the digital and real life conversations that will manifest. One can read,
join, and even measure those conversations, this is your currency.

3) Let go to gain more. The participants of these tools are in charge, typically customers are
using these tools long before corporate types do. Thereby, the companies participate to be
in charge. The more a corporation controls the less effective this will be.

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4) Measurement is important. It is important to measure the interaction between people.

Such terms such as Engagement, Participation, and Attention are rising. Qualitative responses
that happen are what is important, not page views or downloads. The company teaches
executives that Web Marketing has left the corporate .com site and has now spread globally
and to small islands of conversations.

5) Organize internally. As much focus on internal communication about community should

empower a fast, coordinated response. Some employees are more passionate about one area
over others, they are rewarded and supported.

6) Risk of the unknown.

Human conversations are great, you never know where they will turn. For companies that are
very logical, planned and methodical there are some elements of the unknown. One thing is
for sure, the more you get involved with a conversation in the start, the less risk youll have
over time.

7) Social Media goes deep in the organization.

This tool will changes how executives communicate to employees and the public. Support
teams start to engage customers using social media, Middle Management integrate these tools
into program plans, and the rank and file are often to be first generation adopters, its often
bottom up and distributed.

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8) Social Media goes wide in the organization.

Its not just about Marketing or PR, the Internet, Extranet and the Intranet will be impacted.
One can reduce support costs; build better products with engineering in near-real time.
Decrease the sales cycle through education, and even reduce recruiting costs and attract the
top talent. This web by nature is global, there are more Chinese internet users than all of
North America, and for some time, Japanese is a more common language in blogs than
English.

9) Social Media spans time.

Savvy companies are learning how to use these tools across all phases of the customer life
cycle. Awareness, engagement, education, pitch, negotiation, deployment, support, product
research, customer feedback, market and competitive intelligence, and then repeat. This
public conversation will be archived through as long as the internet is accessible. Google is
the memory.

10) Social Media is neither magic nor voodoo.

Use these tools are used to reach out, and connect to customers, everyone can contribute. One
learns the tools, experiment internally. This is Web Strategy. That is, the company is well

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versed with the know-how of the workings of the social media and understands its impact to
hit the target and achieve results.

5.3 Essential Social Media Tools for Content Marketers

The Basics
LinkedIn - Start the practice of connecting with every business card you receive from
contacts.
Facebook - Less business, more entertainment the better.
Twitter - The best way to broadcast great business contentperiod.
Google+ The fastest growing social media network of all-time. Due to Googles link with
search, Google+ is now critical.

Conversations and Listening

LinkedIn Answers - Listen and answer. Best if you have business customers.
LinkedIn Groups - Find groups that make sense for your business.
Yahoo! Answers - Listen and answer questions. Position yourself as the expert. Better if
you have consumer customers.
Google Alerts - Get updates on whos talking about you, your industry, your customers.
Google Groups - Find the group relevant to your job and get active.

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Google Trends Love this tool! See where keyword trends are heading. It will help you
tell better stories.

Twitter Management
Tweetdeck - The ultimate Twitter management system.
Hootsuite - Manage multiple twitter accounts from one dashboard.
Dlvr.it Possibly the best reporting structure for distributing Twitter, Facebook and
LinkedIn.
Twitter Search - Find anything on Twitter real-time.
Yammer - Its Twitter for inside the company walls.

Content Sharing
Slideshare - Upload your PowerPoint presentations for all to see.
YouTube - The #1 video sharing site and #2
Vimeo - The alternative to YouTube.
StumbleUpon - Randomly generates content for users by interest area. It still amazes me
how much traffic we get from StumbleUpon.
Scribd - Share original writings with others.

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Pinterest In less than two months becomes a Top 100 website. Amazingly addictive.
About.me Great way to share the information that is all about YOU.
BufferApp Integrates with Facebook and Twitter to easily share content.

CMS/Content Promotion/Creation Tools

WordPress - My recommendation for a blog CMS platform.
Tumblr - Post anything quickly and easily.
Zemanta - Great for adding additional content and links.
Outbrain The PPC tool for content distribution. Used by some of the best brands on the
planet.
PR Newswire Our preferred tool for distributing news and research releases.
Jing- To create screenshots for clients when something needs to be explained.

Event Tools
Lanyrd Heavy social media, but excellent conference promotion tool.
Plancast Another event listing tool.
GoToMeeting Desktop sharing and event tool for businesses of any size.
ON24 Industrial-strength online event tool.

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Measurement
Google Analytics - I recommend using Google Analytics even if you have a paid analytics
service (courtesy Cim Buser).
Alexa - Some high-level information on website traffic for any site.
Compete.com - Excellent comparison tool for web analytics-type information.
Quantcast - Provides good overview of analytics and site demographics.
Radian6 A paid social media measurement tool. Now a Salesforce.com company.

Operations
Google Apps - Runs all email and calendar functions through one place
Google Docs - Share Word documents, spreadsheets and presentations via secure
invitations. Great for editing a document with multiple people involved.
Teamwork Project Manager - Easy-to-use project management tool.
BaseCamp - An alternative to Teamwork Project Manager. Also very easy to use.
DropBox Easy way to share files with co-workers and associates.
Salesforce Track sales opportunities, leads and contacts.
Evernote Easy to way to transport documents from iPad to anywhere else you are going.
Skype Hard to do international calls without it. Plus, sometimes its helpful to see the
person.

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Chrome Remote Desktop Incredibly handy tool if you need access to someone elses
computer and you lack IT support.

5.4 Marketing Techniques

Targeting, COBRAs, and eWOM
Social media marketing involves the use of social networks, COBRAs and eWOM to
successfully advertise online. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide
advertisers with information about the likes and dislikes of their consumers. This technique is
crucial, as it provides the businesses with a target audience. With social networks,
information relevant to the users likes is available to businesses; who then advertise
accordingly.
Consumers online brand related activities (COBRAs) is another method used by advertisers
to promote their products. Activities such as uploading a picture of your new Converse
sneakers to Facebook is an example of a COBRA.
Another technique for social media marketing is electronic word of mouth (eWOM).
Electronic recommendations and appraisals are a convenient manner to have a product
promoted via consumer-to-consumer interactions. An example of eWOM would be an
online hotel review; the hotel company can have two possible outcomes based on their
service. A good service would result in a positive review which gets the hotel free
advertisement via social media; however a poor service will result in a negative consumer
review which can potentially ruin the company's reputation.

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5.5 Consequences Of Social Media Marketing On Traditional Advertising

Minimizing use
Traditional advertising techniques include print and television advertising. The Internet had
already overtaken television as the largest advertising market. Websites often include banner
or pop-up ads. Social networking sites dont always have ads. In exchange, products have
entire pages and are able to interact with users. Television commercials often end with a
spokesperson asking viewers to check out the product website for more information. Print ads
are also starting to include barcodes on them. These barcodes can be scanned by cell phones
and computers, sending viewers to the product website. Advertising is beginning to move
viewers from the traditional outlets to the electronic ones.

Leaks
Internet and social networking leaks are one of the issues facing traditional advertising. Video
and print ads are often leaked to the world via the Internet earlier than they are scheduled to
premiere. Social networking sites allow those leaks to go viral, and be seen by many users
more quickly. Time difference is also a problem facing traditional advertisers. When social
events occur and are broadcast on television, there is often a time delay between airings on

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the east coast and west coast of the United States. Social networking sites have become a hub
of comment and interaction concerning the event. This allows individuals watching the event
on the west coast (time-delayed) to know the outcome before it airs.

The 2011 Grammy Awards highlighted this problem. Viewers on the west coast learned who
won different awards based on comments made on social networking sites by individuals
watching live on the east coast. Since viewers knew who won already, many tuned out and
ratings were lower. All the advertisement and promotion put into the event was lost because
viewers didnt have a reason to watch.

This gives rise to a thought- will social media kill traditional marketing?
Heres another take: if social media advertising let companies:
- engage and build strong relationships with consumers
- gives consumers ways to share information, content and recommendations about products
and services
- makes it easier for companies to measure the impact of their efforts
..does this mean its only a matter of time before social media rules the roost?
Were starting to see many companies (include large players such as P&G and Uniliver)
allocate more of their advertising budgets to social media, although in the scheme of things,
its still a small piece of the overall pie.

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But theres little doubt social media will become a bigger part of the pie. So the question is
what other advertising vehicles will surrender turf?

Newspapers are already suffering as more advertising dollars move online while television
advertising is under threat by the a fragmented universe that includes a growing number of
online competitors.

Ironically, one of the strongest traditional advertising mediums is one of the oldest radio,
which continues to hold its own.

The Solution

Traditional advertising and social media marketing, the leaders and buzz generators in
advertising and marketing arenas. Traditional advertising is reaching the masses in and
outside of their home through targeted messages where you tell them how you will solve their
problem and how your product or service will increase their quality of life. This is very
effective when reaching your target and they are convinced that they need what you are
selling. Social media is creating a presence online, finding your target, and letting them
know you are there.

32
Traditional advertising and social media marketing have been treated as two separate
communities: on and off line. And, they are, but these inbound and outbound distant cousins
need to come closer together for an effective overall advertising and marketing strategy.
Social media is still too new for many companies and as they are attempting to wrap their
arms around it, the thought of integrating their social media efforts with their traditional
advertising is too much of a risk. Failing to take this risk will negatively impact their overall
marketing efforts in the long run.

The two way communication that is afforded in social media provides great insight into how
consumers feel and react to your brand. Ultimately you want to drive sales, and traditional
media is a fast driver of sales. Social media is slower. It is more of an indirect form of sales.
By hearing what your consumers want and expect from your brand, you listen more than you
talk in social media. Traditional advertising is an all out effort to say buy me, because you
need me.

33
Therefore, the solution lies in bridging the gap between the two.
This is how companies can bridge the gap between traditional advertising and social media
marketing-

1. Branded Message:
Staying consistent across all forms of advertising whether traditional or online. Living
up to the promise made in ads and conversations on line. Monitoring what people are
saying, answer their questions, and solving their problems.
2. Business Cards:
Adding profiles to the platforms that the company is most active on. Inviting offline
community online. Let them know where you are so they can find you online.

3. Print Ads:
Once again adding social media profiles to print ads to drive readers to the company
profiles. This is to let them see how they will benefit from interacting with online with
the company.
4. Broadcast:
Tagging spots (easier done with TV than radio) with profiles to further emphasize
company online presence.

5.6 4 P's vs. 4 C's

With the new wave of social media, marketing fundamentals have shifted from Ps to
significant Cs.

34

Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER

You have to understand what the consumers' wants and needs are. Times have changed and
you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics have to match the
specifics of what someone wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is buying is the
personal "buying experience."

Not PRICE, but COST

Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy the want or need. The product price may be only
one part of the consumer's cost structure. Often it is the cost of time to drive somewhere, the
cost of conscience of what you buy, the cost of guilt for not treating the kids, the investment a
consumer is willing to make to avoid risk, etc.

Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE

As above, turn the standard logic around. Think convenience of the buying experience and
then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all possible definitions of "convenience"
as it relates to satisfying the consumer's wants and needs. Convenience may include aspects

35
of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction service time, and hours of
availability.

Not PROMOTION, but COMMUNICATION

Communicating many mediums working together to present a unified message with a
feedback mechanism to make the communication two-way. And be sure to include an
understanding of non-traditional mediums, such as word of mouth and how it can influence
your position in the consumer's mind. How many ways can a customer hear (or see) the same
message through the course of the day, each message reinforcing the earlier images?

6.0 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STATISTICS 2012

How socially devoted is the Industry?

36

6.1 General

66 percent of online adults are connected to one or more social media platforms
50 percent of social media users say they check in to their favorite networks first
thing in the morning.

37

In one day on the Internet: Enough information is consumed to fill 168 million

DVDs
294 billion emails are sent
2 million blog posts are written (enough posts to fill TIME magazine for 770 million

years)
172 million people visit Facebook
40 million visit Twitter
22 million visit LinkedIn
20 million visit Google+
17 million visit Pinterest
4.7 billion minutes are spent on Facebook
532 million statuses are updated
250 million photos are uploaded
22 million hours of tv and movies are watched on Netflix
864,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube
More than 35 million apps are downloaded
More iPhones are sold than people are born

7.0 DIFFERENT MODES USED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

MARKETING

7.1 Twitter
Twitter allows companies to promote products on an individual level. The use of a product
can be explained in short messages that followers are more likely to read. These messages
appear on followers home pages. Messages can link to the products website, Facebook
profile, photos, videos, etc. This link provides followers the opportunity to spend more time
interacting with the product online. This interaction can create a loyal connection between

38
product and individual and can also lead to larger advertising opportunities. Twitter promotes
a product in real-time and brings customers in.

In February 2012 Twitter had 500 million registered users (approx 200m active)
Twitter accounts for approx 3.61% of referral traffic (according to Shareaholic study)
36% of Twitter users tweet at least once per day, with an average visit time of 11:50

minutes
Twitter users send 175 million tweets each day
64% of users access Twitter via twitter.com
The top three countries on Twitter USA (108 million), Brazil (33 million) and Japan

(30 million)
$259 million is Twitters projected ad revenue in 2012
1 million accounts are added to Twitter every day.

7.2 Facebook
Facebook profiles are more detailed than Twitter. They allow a product to provide videos,
photos, and longer descriptions. Videos can show when a product can be used as well as how
to use it. These also can include testimonials as other followers can comment on the product
pages for others to see. Facebook can link back to the products Twitter page as well as send
out event reminders. Facebook promotes a product in real-time and brings customers in.
As marketers see more value in social media marketing, advertisers continue to increase
sequential ad spend in social by 25%. Strategies to extend the reach with Sponsored Stories
and acquire new fans with Facebook ads contribute to an uptick in spending across the site.
The study attributes 84% of "engagement" or clicks to Likes that link back to Facebook
advertising. Today, brands increase fan counts on average of 9% monthly, increasing their fan
base by two-times the amount annually.

In February 2012 Facebook had 850 million users

Facebook accounts for approx 26% of referral traffic (according to Shareaholic study)
Of the 850+ million Facebook users, 31% check in more than once a day

39

63% of Facebook users have deleted people from their friend lists (up from 56% in

2009)
44% have deleted comments others have made
37% have untagged themselves from photos
Young adults and women are more likely to unfriend people (67% women vs 58%
men)

7.3 LinkedIn
LinkedIn, being a professional business-related networking site, allows companies to create
professional profiles for themselves as well as their business to network and meet others.
Through the use of widgets, members can promote their various social networking activities,
such as Twitter stream or blog entries of their product pages, onto their LinkedIn profile page.
LinkedIn provides its members the opportunity to generate sales leads and business partners.
Members can use Company Pages similar to Facebook pages to create an area that will
allow business owners to promote their products or services and be able to interact with their
customers.

In February 2012 LinkedIn had 135 million users

LinkedIn accounts for about 0.20% of referral traffic
American users spend an average of 17 minutes on the site
50% of LinkedIn users have a bachelors degree or higher
There are 2 million companies on LinkedIn.

40

7.4 Pinterest
In February 2012 Pinterest had 10.4 million users
Pinterest is retaining and engaging users 2-3 times better than Twitter was at a similar time
in Twitters company history
80% of Pinterests user base are women, 60% have attended at least some college, 25%
have a bachelors degree or higher, and the average household income is between (US) $25k
$75k
Pinterest accounts for about 3.6% of referral traffic (according to Shareaholic study),
compared to 3.61% for Twitter
Over 80% of Pinterest pins are repins (content already pinned being repinned by users)
30% of Pinterest users are between 25-34 years, 25% 35-44 & 17% 18-24 years old
American users of Pinterest spend an average of 1 hour 17 minutes on the site
Australian visitors to the site have doubled over the past couple of months to nearly 400,000
visits per week
50% of users have kids.

41

7.5 Google+
In February 2012 Google+ had 90 million users
Google+ accounts for about 0.22% of referral traffic
American users spend an average of 6 minutes on the site
Just 29% of Google+ users are female
44% of Google+ users are single
The top ten countries using Google+: USA (31%), India (14%), Brazil (5%), UK (4%),
Canada (2.5%), Germany (2%), Indonesia (1.8%) and Italy, Mexico and Spain (1.7%)
The top occupation is student (20%)
The Google+ button is served more than 5 billion times each day
China and Iran block access to Google+

42

7.6 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.

More than 50% of videos on YouTube have been rated or include comments from the
community
Millions of videos are favorited every day
YouTube mobile gets over 100 million views a day
The YouTube player is embedded across tens of millions of websites
YouTube says that on average there are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a
YouTube link

43

7.7 Blogs
Everyday there are more reasons for companies to use blogging platforms to their social
media repertoire. Platforms like LinkedIncreates 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.

Blogs allow a product or company to provide longer descriptions of products or services. The
longer description can include reasoning and uses. It can include testimonials and can link to
and from Facebook, Twitter and many social network and blog pages. Blogs can be updated
frequently and are promotional techniques for keeping customers. Other promotional uses are
acquiring followers and subscribers and direct them to your social network pages.

In a similar fashion, online communities benefit businesses because they enable them to reach
the clients of other businesses using the platform. These online environments can be accessed
by virtually anyone; therefore consumers are invited to be a part of the creative process. To
allow firms to measure their standing in the corporate world, Glassdoor is a site where
employees can place evaluations of their companies.

44
Some businesses opt out of integrating social media platforms into their traditional marketing
regimen because their employees dislike such isolated online environments. There are also
specific corporate standards that apply when interacting online. Other corporations fear that
the general public have too much power over how their marketing is perceived, due to the
accessibility of Internet-retrieved information. To ensure having the advantage in a businessconsumer relationship, businesses have to be aware of four key assets that consumers
maintain: information, involvement, community, and control

Social media sites and blogs reach 80% of all U.S. internet users. (Mindjumpers)

Social networks and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online twice as much

as gaming. (Mindjumpers)
Increased frequency of blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition,
according toHubSpot. 92% of of blog users who posted multiple times a day
acquired a customer through their blog, a figure that decreased to 66% for those who
blogged monthly and 43% for those who posted less than monthly. (Marketing

Charts)
The most popular frequency for blog posting is weekly (60% of bloggers). Just 10%

post daily. (Marketing Charts)

Blogs are the single most important inbound marketing tool. When asked to rank the
importance of the services they use, 25% of users rated their company blog as critical
to their business, while a further 56% considered them either important (34%) or

useful (22%) for a total of 81%. (Marketing Charts)

B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than nonblogging firms. (Social Media B2B)

45

For those looking to outsource, a professional consultant will generally charge

$1,000-$3,000 for setting up a blog, $1,000-$3,000 per month for ongoing content
development/editing, and ballpark of $200 for a single guest post. (Mack Collier)

46

8.0 SOCIAL COMMERCE

Sales via social commerce are expected to reach $30 billion within five years

45% of social media users are at least somewhat comfortable providing credit card details
through social media channels

Men, those between 18-34 and those earning over $35k are more comfortable providing
credit card details on social media

20% would purchase products from their favourite brands within their social media sites (as
opposed to normal websites)

34% would be more likely to share information about a purchase on a social media site than
one on a traditional e-commerce site

74% wouldnt use an alternative currency (eg. Facebook credits) to make a purchase on a
social media site

47
Only about 17% of Facebook pages feature products, and only 4% enable check-out
(complete purchase) within the Facebook page
by 2015 brands will be generating 50% of their web sales through social media and mobile
platforms with a projection of $30 Billion

48

9.0 SOCIAL MEDIA FOR BUSINESS

Only 26% of businesses frequently include calls to action in their tweets 49% never
include a call to action

Only 23% have used Twitter to promote a social-only deal, such as a coupon or discount
available only to Twitter users who click the link

29% of brands on Facebook have offered deals within the channel

People were 25% more likely to buy a product they would be proud of if it had social
buttons placed next to it, but 25% less likely to buy a product they would be embarrassed of
if it encouraged them to like or tweet about it (by having social share buttons nearby)

70% of business ignore complaints on Twitter

83% of people who complained on Twitter liked or loved a response by the company

58% of businesses saw a drop in marketing costs by moving to social marketing

49
72% of marketers handle social media themselves, the rest outsource

78% of women are happy to share what brand they prefer, compared to 74% of men

50

10.0 SIX SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

MISTAKES TO AVOID
Social media marketing (SMM), also sometimes called social network marketing (SNM), is a
strategy that helps you build a network of customers and potential customers, stay in touch
with those who are interested in your products and services, and ultimately build your bottom
line in the form of additional sales.
However, many businesses do not know how to build a sound SMM strategy, or they make
many mistakes along the way that actually do more harm than good. Here is a look at 6
mistakes companies should avoid:

1. Too Little Content

Forming a social network presence takes more than simply creating an account on Facebook
or Twitter. Too many businesses are of the mind that if you build it, they will come,
meaning as long as there is an account, people will find you.
However, no one will find you, or want to stay with you, if you do not offer them quality
content in your social media updates and posts. Rather, the company should focus on sending
quality updates and including links to video, pictures, podcasts, or other pertinent news
stories.

51
2. Too Many Updates
While too little content will not help you build a social network, too much can turn them off
to your efforts. Posting continuous updates becomes exhausting and makes your followers
weary of your constant presence. The company must spread out updates and make each one
count for quality, not quantity.

3. Little or No Interaction with Followers

One of the reasons so many people around the world like social media is the interaction with
others. The company should not fail to encourage and stimulate conversations with your fans
and followers. Engaging your social community helps nurture your relationship and
strengthen the bond and loyalty with your company.

4. Improper Competitor Approaches

The company should not think that its the only one trying to promote their type of business
through social media. Ignoring competitors puts you in a vacuum and prevents you from
learning how your competition operates. Likewise, ridiculing or putting down your
competition through SMM tactics can backfire and set your own fans and followers against
you.

52
5. Failing to Analyze
Do you know how effective your SMM campaigns are? How many of your social media
marketing updates result in clicks to your website? How many of those result in converted
sales? How are your SMM updates being discussed and shared? These are just a few of the
questions the company needs to answer in order to effectively re-evaluate and update its
SMM efforts.

53

11.0 FACEBOOK AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

TOOL

The number of Facebook users between the ages of 35 and 44 increased by 51%

Facebook users among the ages 45-54 grew by 47%

Facebook users ages 26-34 increased by 26%

More than half of the 140 million Facebook users are out of college

As you can see Facebook is no longer for just college students. Why should you use
Facebook as a marketing tool? The answer is easy; you can use Facebook to gain new clients,
stay in touch with current clients and promote new products and sales offers. You can also use
it to create buzz and PR that is specific about your business.

How do you do this? Facebook offers you many tools, to be successful in marketing your
business you must have an understanding of these tools. In this article we will look at two in
particular:

Facebook Pages

Facebook Groups

54
Facebook Pages

Facebook Offers you Facebook Pages. What does that mean? You can use Facebook Pages to
create and give your business their own profile on Facebook; the best thing is right now they
are free. These pages give your business an identity on Facebook which strengthens your
brand. Current customers or even potential customers can become fans of your page and by
doing so this allows them to follow you and receive any updates that you post to your page.

The great thing about Facebook Pages is that every time someone becomes a fan of your page
all of their friends see that they have become a "fan." This often attracts other followers as
well as creates a buzz regarding your business and of course your Facebook Page.

You can use your Facebook Page to not only share your company information, but you can
also use it to post photos, videos, applications and messages. Any activity that you perform
on your Facebook Page is then broadcast into the mini-feeds of your followers.

When creating your Facebook Page, there are things to keep in mind. You will be given a
choice of three options when you start out. You will be asked whether your page is about:

A Local Business

A Brand or a Product

An Artist, Band or a Public Figure

Which are you? Good question. This depends on what you want to promote. Do you want to
promote your business locally, do you want to promote your brand or a product or are you
working to promote an artist, band or public figure?

55
Each of these categories will provide you with an opportunity to complete your "basic
information", "detailed information" or your "contact information." Each option will provide
you with a page that enables you to provide different ways of showing your information. It's
important to realize that you cannot edit your page type once you select it, and also remember
that the page type that you select will categorize your page with other like pages in that
category; this is why you want to make sure you select the correct category to be displayed
in.

Your Facebook Page, when done correctly can be used to bring in new customers as well as
to help you maintain current customer relationships.

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups, carry a similarity to Facebook Pages, the difference is they are built
around a group of people rather than your business or your brand. You must be a member of
Facebook to create a Facebook Group. In order to create a group just login to Facebook and
then click on the Groups link in the main menu on the left hand side of the page.

You can use Facebook Groups to create awareness, but they do not have the feature that
allows users to become fans, they only become members. The downfall of this is it will not
share as much information with friends of "group" members as they interact with the group.

Which One is Right for You?

The question I hear most when it comes to marketing on Facebook is "Laura, do I need a
page or a group?" The answer depends on the goal you want to achieve with marketing on
Facebook. The truth is you will gain more exposure from a Facebook Page, because it can be

56
seen by unregistered users, but a group page can only be seen by registered Facebook users.

Now, that feature alone should make it easy to decide, right? Wrong. You must also consider
that when you send a message to Facebook Page members, they will only receive an update
notification, but if you are sending a message to your Facebook Group they will receive the
message via their Facebook inbox. If you goal is to be able to communicate in a personal
way, the Facebook Group option may be a better fit for you.

12.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

57
It is very important for big companies to make their customers talk about them and
recommend their brand, but it is critical for small companies that are starting. Start-ups
usually do not have a lot of resources to spend and they must use them carefully and social
networks are really cheap if they focus in a very specific market.

Once a start-up has identified the market of their product, its best strategy to grow is to make
their first customers its sales force. Make the customers talk about the company and their
products. Of course the company must have a good product, otherwise it is dead. But how a
company can achieve this? because let it happen from scratch does not work. The best way is
to offer advantages or promotions to the first customers. So they are happy both the product
and the relationship with the company. A good way to achieve this is offering the promotions
only when they talk about the product in a social network, but in a controlled way. You can
include a tweet button (or facebook share button) with a message than when it is published
the customer receives the promotion. Also the invitations works very well, the users can send
invitations to use the product to their friends and when a friend accepts the invitation the
customer get the promotion.

One of the best examples of this type of marketing has been drop box. Dropbox allows you to
have a virtual hard disk on the cloud, on Internet, and you can access from any device to your
virtual disk. What this company has done to make the customers talk about it, is to offer them
more space when they talked about the product in social networks or when they invite friends
to use dropbox.

58
In some way a company can drive their customers to talk about their products when it offers
promotions or any other advantage to these customers. But the product must be good enough
and the company must assure somehow only good comments or/and have a good plan to
change the opinion of people who shits about the product in social networks. Social networks
are very powerful.

13.0 CONCLUSION

59
Social Media Marketing along with much of the internet, is a revolutionary innovation that
allows companies to express to interact with the customers and tap every opportunity
Social networking sites are a forum to creat a brand identity, as well as means to represent
themselves publicly. However this freedom does not suggest that one can make decisions
with impugnity, because we live in a society in which expression is judged legally, socially
and even personally.

Therefore, it is important for the marketer to remember the

consequences of expression no matter how aggressive the marketing plan is.

Overall it can be stated that facebook provides the perfect platform for compaines to connect
or keep in touch with their customers and like-minded people around and also keeps them
updated about the latest happenings in their products. Moreover, it is also a potent tool to do
away with a lot of cost since it is over the internet and the social media space is free for all
users
Therefore, it can be said that social media marketing is a boon in this 21st century.

14.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

60

What

is

social

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marketing,

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25th

August,

2012

from

http://www.fullestop.com/social-media-marketing.html
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social

media

marketing,

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25th

August,

2012

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Trend

of

social

media

marketing,

retrieved

27th

August,

http://www.trendreports.com/research/social-media-marketing
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http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2006/12/18/10-social-media-strategies-for-thecorporations/
Social

media

marketing

statistics,

retrieved

30th

August,

2012

from

http://thesocialskinny.com/100-social-media-mobile-and-internet-statistics-for-2012/
Social

media

marketing

case

studies,

retrieved

1st

September,

2012

from

http://www.socialsamosa.com/2012/08/social-media-case-study-engaging-pvr-fans-onfacebook/
http://www.socialsamosa.com/2012/08/social-media-case-study-engaging-pvr-fans-onfacebook/
General

information

on

social

media,

retrieved

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing

2nd

September,

2012

from