Introduction

Social Media Marketing:

Social Media Marketing has emerged as one of the very promising ways of promoting the brands of a
company using various forms of digital advertising channels to reach the consumers. These channels
basically include Mobile, Internet, Television, Radio and any other form of digital media. Digital
Market is not only based on internet and it is seeking its using other channels as well. As a result of
this non-reliance on the Internet, the field of digital marketing includes a whole host of elements such
as mobile phones, Short Messaging Service (SMS), display / banner ads and digital outdoor.
Previously seen as a stand-alone service in its own right, it is frequently being seen as a domain that
can and does cover most, if not all, of the more traditional marketing areas such as Direct Marketing
by providing the same method of communicating with an audience but in a digital fashion. Digital is
now being broadened to support the "servicing" and "engagement" of customers.

Statistics of Digital Media available for Social Marketing:

1) India now has close to about 700mn mobile phone users and growing rapidly.
2) Social Networking is been used by 54% of internet users. The Social market grew by over
43% last year.
3) Social Media Marketing is quoted to be about 3113mn and Mobile Marketing is estimated to
be about.
4) Facebook being one of the emerging social networking website has 500mn active users of
which 50% login every day.

Social Media Tools Used for Marketing:

1) LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and

launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 2011, LinkedIn
reports more than 90 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and
territories worldwide.

This platform can then be used in a number of ways:

 A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each
of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and also the connections of second-
degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an
introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
 It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by
someone in one's contact network.
 Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.
 2) Facebook:

Facebook is a social network service and website launched in February 2004 that is operated
and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. As of January 2011, Facebook has more than 600
million active users. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and
exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile.
Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school,
or college, or other characteristics.

The companies use various guidelines when it comes to advertising on facebook. The steps
that they follow are:

1. Choose your target

2. Test, Test, and test some more
3. Do your own tracking
4. Make your Ads pop

Facebook has a concept of Ads pop where in a certain portion of the page is dedicated for
advertisements. This increases the visibility of company’s products. Companies also create
their own pages using which they keep their fans updated about the latest news related to the
new product which they may launch besides advertising for the existing ones.

Marketing using Social Media:

One of the key components in successful social media marketing implementation is building "social
authority". Social authority is developed when an individual or organization establishes themselves as
an "expert" in their given field or area, thereby becoming an "influencer" in that field or area.

It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. That is
why one of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control
your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the
"conversation" in the hopes that you can become a relevant influence in that conversation.

However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant
to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media
platforms. This may seem counter-intuitive but is the main reason building social authority with
credibility is so important. The majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company
or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they
trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report, the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from
industry experts and academics. According to Inc: "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn
towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks.”

Thus, using social media as a form of marketing has taken on whole new challenges. As the 2010
Trust Study indicates, it is most effective if marketing efforts through social media revolve around the
genuine building of authority. Someone performing a "marketing" role within a company must
honestly convince people of their genuine intentions, knowledge, and expertise in a specific area or
industry through providing valuable and accurate information on an ongoing basis without a
marketing angle overtly associated. If this can be done, trust with, and of, the recipient of that
information – and that message itself – begins to develop naturally. This person or organization
becomes a thought leader and value provider - setting themselves up as a trusted "advisor" instead of
marketer. "Top of mind awareness" develops and the consumer naturally begins to gravitate to the
products and/or offerings of the authority/influencer.

Of course, there are many ways authority can be created – and influence can be accomplished –
including: participation in Wikipedia which actually verifies user-generated content and information
more than most people may realize; providing valuable content through social networks on platforms
such as Facebook and Twitter; article writing and distribution through sites such as Ezine Articles and
Scribd; and providing fact-based answers on "social question and answer sites" such as EHow and
Yahoo! Answers.

As a result of social media – and the direct or indirect influence of social media marketers – today,
consumers are as likely – or more likely – to make buying decisions based on what they read and see
in platforms we call "social" but only if presented by someone they have come to trust. That is why a
purposeful and carefully designed social media strategy has become an integral part of any complete
and directed marketing plan but must also be designed using newer "authority building" techniques.

The Past, Present and Future of Social Media:

Growth of Social Media:

Over the last five years, social media has evolved from a handful of communities that existed solely
in a web browser to a multi-billion dollar industry that’s quickly expanding to mobile devices, driving
major changes in content consumption habits and providing users with an identity and social graph
that follows them across the web. With that framework in place, the next five years are going to see
even more dramatic change. Fueled by advancements in underlying technology – the wires, wireless
networks and hardware that make social media possible – a world where everything is connected
awaits us. The result will be both significant shifts in our everyday lives and a changing of the guard
in several industries that are only now starting to feel the impact of social media

The growth of social media in the past five years was fueled not just by innovation from Internet
entrepreneurs and developers, but by several key advancements behind the scenes. The rise of
YouTube – which we called the most important social media innovation of the past decade – would
not have been possible without the wide availability of broadband and the advent of Flash 7.
Similarly, the rapid rise of mobile apps in the last few years would not have been possible without
major advances in smartphone capabilities (jump started by iPhone) and higher speed mobile
networks. Add to that a surge in public and private investment in wireline broadband that will give
90% of homes in the India the option to have 50 mbps downstream broadband within the next few
years, and the bottom line becomes clear: There’s currently an enormous supply and demand gap to
be filled, and when that happens, it will enable a whole new wave of social media innovation.

Future of Social Media:

Given the dynamics of a faster, ubiquitous Internet, a social media landscape defined by apps built on
top of a few key services, and billions of connected devices, the next five years will see shifts in
certain areas of media – like television and radio – that will be as dramatic as those seen in print over
the past decade.
The Internet has already enabled anyone to be a publisher. But now, with Internet-connected
television, anyone is going to be able to gain access to the living room. Blip.tv, a company that bet on
this trend early, recently reported that its shows – which air solely online and on connected devices –
are being viewed nearly 100 million times per month — or, put another way, 10% as much as what’s
viewed on ABC, NBC, and FOX combined.

And while this trend was previously relegated to early adopters and startup set-top box makers like
Boxee and Roku, recent months have seen the likes of Google jump on board with Google TV and
Apple revamp its Apple TV offering. At the same time, so-called “second screen” providers are
building a social experience – leveraging Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube – on mobiles and tablets
around video content. The result of this trend is going to be the type of broad consumer choice in the
realm of video and television that we currently know on the web with printed news.

Radio is likely to see a similar shift. Late last year, we saw the LTE Connected Car concept unveiled
– an idea that will become increasingly close to reality with expanded 4G coverage. Already, we’ve
seen Ford make a play in this arena, letting you stream music from Pandora over your car stereo.

Conclusion:

We observe that Social media is now becoming a very important tool for marketing. It has evolved
from Blogs, Hi5 in 2005 to Orkut in 2007 to Facebook and Twitter now in 2011. With more and more
users logging onto internet and using these mediums, the target customer base is significant using
these channels. The companies are improvising on the ways to advertise as discussed above and treat
Social Media as one of the important marketing channels.
To conclude I would like to quote Starbuck’s executive Howard Schultz:
“Starbucks owes it all to Facebook, Twitter and Social Honesty”.