MBA final project

Project Report
MBA
(FINAL SEMESTER)
ON
“Social Commerce”
(Harbinger of a new age of Marketing)

Submitted in Partial fulfillment for the Award of the Degree of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Supervised by: - Submitted By:-
Dr. PramodSharma Harshendra Mehta
IMS SHIMLA (HPU) MBA 4th
semester
Class Roll No. 2259
Institute of Management Studies
Himachal Pradesh University
Summer hill- Shimla

Himachal Pradesh
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Harshendra Mehta, a studentof Master of Business
Administration of Instituteof Management Studies, H.P University, Shimla has
undertaken a research project on “Social Media Marketing & Social
Commerce” under my guidanceand mentorship.
I assurethat all the contents, analysis and interpretations are genuine attempts
on his part. This is also certifying that this research projectis neither submitted
nor published elsewhere.
I recommend and forward this research projectfor evaluation for the award of
Degree of “Masters inBusiness Administration.”
Project Guide and Mentor,
Dr. Pramod Sharma

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My pen falls short of words and my mind falls short of sentences to
express my heartiest gratitude and thanks to my courteous mentor
and guide Dr. Pramod Sharma, for his able guidance, professional
dexterity, constant encouragement and painstaking efforts to put this
work into present shape. He has been a valuable mentor and guide,
who constantly inspired me to shape my work.
All this was of immense help to develop a professional temperament
and outlook, which is so necessary in the cooperate world and also for
achieving a correct perspective toward life. So profound has been his
influence as a father that no acknowledgement whatsoever can
adequately reply this debt.
I emphatically owe my heartiest thanks to all the people for their
benevolent advice and solicitous and moral boost up during the
project. This work would not have been able to reach the target
without their instinctive help it gives me immense pleasure to thanks
the entire customer and other concerned people for rendering their
valuable support during the course of project.
Emotions get high on me as I think of acknowledge the moral support,
caring nature, lively inspiration and love of my parents and brother.
I thank Almighty for bestowing me with good health and courage to
undergo project smoothly.
(Harshendra Mehta)

Contents
Certificate
Acknowledgement
Chapter 1: introduction
 ExecutiveSummary
 History
 Objectives ofstudy
Chapter 2: A guide to internet marketing
 Effectiveness of the Net in Reaching Out to the Masses
 7 P's of Marketing on the Internet
 Internet Marketing Tactics
 Understanding the Internet Customers
 Critical Success factors in E-Marketing
 Traditional Marketing V/s Internet Marketing
 Building Brands Online
A Guide to Social commerce
 Social commerce in India and USA
 Successful stories in Social Commerce
 Dell twitter strategy
 Sony vaio Twitter Strategy
 1-800-Flowers Facebook strategy
 Zappos Social Media Strategy
 Ford social media strategy
 Technologies used in social commerce
 Where to start with social commerce: LEAD strategy

Chapter 3 : research methodology
Chapter 4 : – Collection & Analysis of data
4.1- Data Collection
4.2- Data Analysis
Chapter 5:- Finding & Recommendations
5.1- Conclusion
Chapter 6: – Appendices & Annexure
6.1- Questionnaire
Chapter 7- Bibliography

INTRODUCTION:
Socialthis, socialthat - it seems all marketers hearabout these days is social
networking, socialmarketing, and socialinteractiononline. But what does the
"social"monikermean for your business? How does the customervoice really
impact bottom-line sales?
In this project, I'll explore a conceptcalled"socialcommerce." Unlike the
broad brush of socialmedia - which is a catch-allphrase for word-of-mouth
activities of all kinds - socialcommerce is the strategyof connecting customers
to customers online, then leveraging those connections forcommercial
purpose. In other words, socialcommerce moves the word-of-mouth needle
from "buzz" to "buy."
Socialcommerce in the broadestsense is the strategyof facilitating customer
interactions and participation in ways that will drive measurable business
results. The word "commerce" pairedwith "social"reminds us that a smart
socialmarketing program is measured, operationalised, and optimized - and
meets its goalof driving customers to purchase.
Socialnetworking and online real-time communication/collaborationtools are
a way of life for many Gen-“Y”ers. Theyalready use these systems to get stuff
done both inside and outside the enterprise.
Over the next five years I believe that life sourcing will become acore part of
every social network, be it b2bor b2c. Like IM or corporate blogging, social life
sourcing will start as a bottom-up movement as workers tapinto the Net toget
work done in the most efficient way possible, nomatter where theseresources
may be. A groundswell may buildas word spreads and workers try hard to
compete withthose who are farming out work elsewhere.

ExecutiveSummary
In 2010, if you’re not on a social networking site, you’re
not on the Internet. It’s as true for advertisers as it is for
consumers. Social networking is the ultimate
manifestation of user generated content, and as such,
holds more potential for growth than any other form of
content on the Web today.
User Generated Content (UGC) and Social Networks are
transforming the media ecosystem. Gone are the days
when power rested in the hands of a few content creators
and media distributors. Gone are the days when marketers
controlled the communication and path between
advertisement and consumer. Today’s model is
collaborative, collective, customized and shared. It’s a
world in which the consumer is the creator, consumer and
distributor of content. Today there are over a billion
content creators and hundreds of millions of distributors.
The proliferation of quality, affordable technology and the
popularity of social networks and UGC sites have forever
changed the media landscape. Yet fears and unanswered
questions keep brands and agencies from taking full
advantage of this dynamic, prosperous new environment.
This paper will set out to alleviate as many of those fears,
and answer as many of those questions, as possible. First,
we will explore the development and examples of UGC,
then move on to explain the various social media models
available today and how some brands have explored these
unique consumer experiences.

Growth of Internet usage and E-commerce:
According to the research report of Goldman Sachs, India has emerged as the second largest Internet
market in Asia after China with 100 million users in 2005. It estimates that Indian Internet Users will
increase by 130% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 0.5 million users recorded at end of
1998. Alsothe figuresof the numberof InternetService Providers(ISPs)isexpectedtoincrease byleaps
and bounds and March 2006 sees at least 30 private international gateways.
The Figure below gives us a fairer idea of the current world internet usage.
WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS
As On Sep 30, 2009.
World Regions
Population
( 2005 Est.)
Population
% of World
Internet
Usage,
Latest Data
Usage
Growth
2000-2005
% Population
( Penetration )
World
Users
%
Africa 896,721,874 14.0 % 23,867,500 428.7 % 2.7 % 2.5 %
Asia 3,622,994,130 56.4 % 327,066,713 186.1 % 9.0 % 34.2 %
Europe 731,018,523 11.4 % 273,262,955 165.1 % 37.4 % 28.5 %
Middle East 260,814,179 4.1 % 21,422,500 305.4 % 8.2 % 2.2 %
North America 328,387,059 5.1 % 223,779,183 107.0 % 68.1 % 23.4 %
Latin America/Caribbean 546,723,509 8.5 % 70,699,084 291.31 % 12.9 % 7.4 %
Oceania / Australia 33,443,448 0.5 % 17,655,737 131.7 % 52.8 % 1.8 %
WORLD TOTAL 6,420,102,722 100.0 % 957,753,672 165.3 % 14.9 % 100.0 %
Source http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Effectiveness of the Net in Reaching Out to the Masses
The reach of Internet may not yet be as wide as that of other mass media, but given its unique
advantages, it is undoubtedly the communication medium of the future. Marketers around the
world have from time to time tried to reach their target audiences through various media.
Scientific and technological advances have and will continue to create newer media to improve
communication, and marketers will try to use the same to effectively address their audiences.
Internet is one of the latest to join the list of such media inventions.
Internet Fame with the Indian Audiences
Let us first take a quick look at the audience that this medium is trying to reach. The top 8 metros
of the country, the scope of the Internet as a medium to reach out to a large number of people is
presently limited. However, some of these limitations can be addressed.
1. Internet is available in regional languages also. Even today this medium is largely confined to
only those who are literate in English. Various initiatives of companies like ITC and HLL like E-
choupal and i-Shakti have given a considerable boost to vernacular usage of internet.
2. Government policies are aimed at broadening and strengthening the infrastructure required for
Internet accessibility.

Advantages of the Internet as seenfrom the point of view of the “user” as well
as the “marketer”:
To the user:
Internet gives more control in choosing content. It offers customization of the content, the way
the user wants to view it. It offers a variety of options for information and entertainment. It
offers a wide range to choose from for the user.
It offers tremendous convenience to the user not only in delivery of information, but also in
allowing him to transact — often in a seamless manner.
The best example of giving control of content is the My Yahoo !! service offered by the
Internet giant, Yahoo Inc. It gives the user the choice of content for various topics ranging
from news to stock options to entertainment to sports and just about everything.
To the marketer:
The Internet offers several options to a marketer trying to target a particular community
It serves not only as a channel of information, but also of product distribution
It offers a highly interactive medium that sometimes, is almost equal to one-to-one interaction
with the audience.
It offers a higher level of identification of the user to the marketer.
It allows the marketer to actually link his spends to action, and pay only on action
This action could be a click on the banner or even product purchased or just a banner impression
or per 1000 impressions. In this ability Internet is, in fact, unlike any other media.
Given the payment options and high interactivity, the Internet offers a medium for high level of
experimentation at a low cost.
This can be elaborated a little more by answering the following questions:
1. Who are the people who can be reached through the Internet?
2. Which are the products that can possibly benefit from marketing on the Internet?

3. What are the options available to the marketer to reach out more effectively to their
audiences?
4. Are there ways for monitoring effectiveness of this medium in order to control it better?
Overview of the Indian Internet Users.
According to the data available with NASSCOM, about 60 per cent of Indian Internet users are
chiefly found in the age group of 19-34. Almost 80 per cent of Internet users are males. It is
estimated that the Internet user spends an average of 10 hours per week on the Net, and usually
earns over 6000 per month. Almost 53 per cent of Internet users belong to SEC A1/A2. More
than 55 per cent of such Internet users live in towns with a population of over 40 lakhs. Even
today, Indian users are most likely to use the Net for sending and receiving emails. However,
information- and entertainment-seeking are also growing.
Which products are likely beneficiaries of the Internet?
Given that the usage of the Internet is highest amongst young, male audiences belonging to the
larger towns and who belong to higher SEC groups, for this medium to be cost-effective,
products having similar target groups would benefit the most from this medium.
The most likely examples that come to mind include telecom, financial products and services,
products related to entertainment like movies (promotions and tickets), plays, contests etc,
FMCG products where the core target audience is younger (deodorants, soft drinks), consumer
durables to some extent and high-end services like tour operators, airline services, hotels etc.
Advertising options available on the Internet.
The Internet offers a variety of options for the marketer to advertise her/his products/brands.
These include
1. Banner ads and their variations
2. E-mailers and their variations
3. Sponsorships
4. Search Engines
5. Affiliate marketing
In India, banners still remain the most popular option. However, wider options are now available
to the marketer which, even at the cost of being intrusive, serves to enhance the visibility and
effectiveness of the banner

The Variants of Banners include :
1. Banner Ad - a graphical web advertising unit, typically measuring 468 pixels wide and 60
pixels tall (i.e. 468x60).
2. Beyond the Banner - online advertising not involving standard GIF and JPEG banner ads.
3. Button Ad- a graphical advertising unit, smaller than a banner ad.
4. HTML banner - a banner ad using HTML elements, often including interactive forms,
instead of (or in addition to) standard graphical elements.
5. Interstitial - an advertisement that loads between two content pages.
6. Pop-up Ad - an ad that displays in a new browser window.
7. Pop Under Ad - an ad that displays in a new browser window behind the current browser
window.
8. Rectangle Ad - any one of the large, rectangular banner sizes suggested by the IAB.
9. Rich Media - new media that offers an enhanced experience relative to older, mainstream
formats.
10. Skyscrapper Ad- an online ad significantly taller than the 120x240 vertical banner.
11. Text Ad - advertisement using text-based hyperlinks.
12. Surround Session - advertising sequence in which a visitor receives ads from one advertiser
throughout an entire site visit.
13. Vertical Banner - a banner ad measuring 120 pixels wide and 240 pixels tall.
Given the highly interactive nature of the Internet, and the also fact that unlike other media it
offers a higher level of identification of the user, simple direct marketing tools such as email can
also be used more effectively. For example, a high-end car seller can today easily send an offer
to persons earning over Rs 25000 per month at a very reasonable cost and within a very short
period.
Then again there are sponsorships, which can be effectively used to increase brand salience and
even change image.
The other tool on the web with enormous potential, and which has possibly not been used
to its optimal level yet by marketers in India, is the search engine. Marketers can own
either popular keywords or make use of meta-tags (these are similar to the keywords which
the search engines uses to catalogue various websites/products) in order to go higher on the
search lists.

The above is used by the search engine giant Google.com and it has reaped profits so much
so that it is now being viewed as a threat by the computer giant Microsoft Inc.
7 P's of Marketing on the Internet
The four P's - Product,Price,Place andPromotionhave longbeenassociatedwithmarketing, but things
have changedon the Internet.Soalong with a change in the nature of the four P’s there are three new
P’s which are relevant to the internet marketer.
1. The Product
Product on the Internetusuallychangesformonline,and the userexperiencesit electronically,
in the form of text, imagesand multimedia. Physical goodsare usuallypresentedinthe form of
a detailed onlinecataloguethatthe customercan browse through. Technology allows the user
to virtually touch and feel the product on the Internet - rotate it, zoom in or zoom out and
even visualize the product in different configurations and combination. The example of the
above can be seen at www.dell.com where the company offers the user to virtually feel
everyaspect of theirproduct before theygo into a buy decision. Contentandsoftware are two
avatars of digitizedproductsthatcanbe evendistributed over the Internet. On the Internet, E-
marketingwill be basedmore onthe productqualities rather than on the price. Every company
will be able tobringdownthe cost of itsproductsand hence competitionwill not be on price. It
will ratherbe on the uniqueness of the product. To be able to attract the customers and retain
them, the company will have to provide nouvelle and distinct products that forces the net
users to purchase and come back for more.
2. The Price

has beendrasticallychangedoverthe Internet. It lets the buyer decides the price. Also it gives
the buyers informationaboutmultiplesellersselling the same product.It leadstobestpossible
deal forthe buyersintermsof price. A website named www.priceline.com is extremely
popular as its compares the price of many airlines and offers the least price to
the buyer. The very famous www.bazee.com now known as www.ebay.in follows
the same principles. Pricing is dynamic over the Internet.
3. The Place
This revolves around setting up of a marketing channel to reach the customer. Internet serves
as a direct marketing channel that allows the producer to reach the customer directly. The
elimination of the intermediate channel allows the producer to pass the reduced distribution
cost to the customer in the form of discounts. Dell Computers have used this strategy
very effectively and hence they have been able to reduce their prices of their
laptops drastically and reaped huge profits.
4. Promotion
isextremely necessary to entice the customer to its website, as there are currently more than
one billionwebpages. Promotingawebsite includesboth online and offline strategies. Online
strategies include search engine optimization, banner ads, multiple points of entry, viral
marketing, strategic partnership and affiliate marketing. Presently, the cyberspace is already
clutteredwiththousandsof sitesprobablysellingsimilarproducts.Forthe customerstoknowof
the Company’sexistence andtogarnerinformationon the kind of products or services that the
company is offering, promotion has to be carried out. There can be traded links or banner

advertisementsforthe same. Also the traditional mediums like print, outdoor advertising and
televisioncanbe usedtospreadawareness. Email campaignsand spamming the Chat rooms on
almost every server has been exploited to the maximum for the cause of promoting their
website.
5. Presentation
The presentation of the online business needs to have an easy to use navigation. The look
and the feel of the web site should be based on corporate logos
and standards. About 80% of the people read only 20% of the web page. Therefore, the
web page should not be cluttered with a lot of information. Also, simple but powerful
navigational aids on all web pages like search engines make it easy for customer to find their way
around. The principle of K.I.S.S ( Keep it short and simple ) is the most important factor
that has to be considered while presenting the online business.
6. Processes
Customer supports needs to be integrated into the online web site. A sales service that will be
able to answer the questions of their customers fast and in a reliable manner is necessary.
To furtherenhance aftersales service, customers must be able to find out about their order status
after the sale has been made. For e.g. FedEx (www.fedex.com), the overnight
Courier Company allows its customers to keep track of the parcel and they are well
informed about the present whereabouts of their package.Similar variants have been
usedby the Govt of India for its Speedpost and RegisteredAdserviceswhere
you can keep a track of your post by entering the code that has been issued
to you.

7. Personalization
Using the latest software from Broad-Vision and others, it is possible to customize the entire
website foreverysingle user,withoutany additional costs. The mass customization allows the
company to create web pages products and services that suit the requirement of the user. A
customized web page does not only include the preferred layout of the customer but also a
pre selectionof goods the customer may be interested in. For e.g. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.co.in)
entered the Indiancyberspace andstarted its personalizedservices. A registered user of Yahoo
can now personalizethe frontpage with all the information he needs. He can read the news of
the world, add a tax calculator, see the weather forecasts of his city and listen to his favorite
songs and all this simultaneously.
Internet Marketing Tactics
There are many different technologies to facilitate your Internet marketing strategy. Some of
the most common and effective tools are:
Search Engines and Directories:
Searchenginesare one of the most popularmeansof findingwebsites,secondonlytofollowinglinkson
web pages.
Search engines help people find relevant information on the Internet. Major search engines
maintain huge databases of web sites that users can search by typing in
keywords or phrases.

Advertise your message. Web directories/search engines are information, gateways that have high
traffic and are good for displaying advertisement banners. They are used to find Internet information
and for this reason, appeal to broad target grou
E-zines (Online magazines):
These publications are focused on specific topics and may be a way to reach a target audience
interested in that subject. Some companies have gathered the e-mail addresses of potential
customers and used these lists to send out product information specific to client interests.
Seven good reasons to establish an E-Zine
1. Establishes Trust
2. Brings Visitors Back
3. Establishes You as an Expert
4. Keeps Current & Potential Customers Updated to what is new in
your product and services.
5. Builds Relationships
6. Allows You to Build an Opt-In Email Marketing List
7. Keeps Your Website Fresh in Visitors' Minds
E-mail:
Ethical methodsof gatheringe-mail addressesare throughon-lineregistration built into your corporate
Web sites, or requests for information forms that request submission to your opt-in lists.

Online customersare becomingincreasinglyselective about their relationships, the brands they trust,
and what they consider relevant. While most marketers are aware of privacy issues and the risks of
Spam, there is still need for improvement. Email marketing campaign management is still fairly
unsophisticated even at the largest of organizations.
Marketers have to think about the drivers of customer response and purchase. Over time, as more is
learnedaboutyourcustomerbuyingbehavior,youcanwill isolate campaignandprogramcharacteristics
that drive yourcustomeror visitorresponse andaction.Isolatingthe behavior of high value customers,
businesscustomers,orthe minorityof customerswhoprefertobuyonline will be critical. For example,
newonline buyersgetreferralswhenshoppingonline,whileexperiencedfrequentbuyers prefer search
engines.
Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate Marketing enables you to increase online sales by promoting your products and
services through a network of Affiliate sites on a payment-by-results basis.
It alsoprovidesthe opportunitytogenerateadditional revenue byexploitingyoursite's own content to
promote the products and services of other online Merchants (those who want affiliates to promote
their products online).
A Merchant recruits content sites to partner with them as Affiliates in exchange for commissions. A
common third party provider such as Commission Junction can be used.
The Merchant providestheiradvertisingbanners and linksto theirAffiliates and assigns a commission
for each click-through to their site, subscription to their service, or purchase of their products that is
generated from those links.
Affiliates place the tracking code for these ads and links on their Web sites. This allows clicks to be
tracked online and commissions to be calculated. If a product or service is purchased, the customer
pays the Merchant directly and the Affiliate is paid a commission for that transaction. The dating

giant www.adultfriendfinder.com has used this strategy to the maximum and has earned
millions of dollars by proper implementation of this strategy.
Banner Advertising:
Banner advertising can play an extremely important role within your website strategy. One can use
banner advertising as a means of promoting its own products and services, raising awareness, or as a
way of generating revenue by selling advertising space on your own website.
Purchasing Advertising:
There are currently two widely recognized methods of purchasing banner advertising. The rates for
these are usually quoted on a cost per thousand basis or (CPM). The rates you pay can vary
tremendously as there is currently no standard price model - so be prepared to negotiate!
 Pay-Per-Impression:
This method of purchasing banner advertising is based on a charge for the number of times
someone seesyour banner.There are noguarantees as to how many visitors will come to your
site as a result of seeing your banner; you are simply paying for the number of times your
banner is displayed. Websites that offer such programs include www.paypopup.com and
www.adclicksor.com
 Pay-Per-Visitor:
This method of purchasing banner advertising is based on a charge for the number of times
someone visits your site as a result of clicking on your banner. This is a better method of
purchasing banner advertising as you are only paying for results, although expect to pay a
premium.

 Pay-Per-Click :
The revenue model of the Internet giant www.google.com has its very own service which
offers certain share of the profit that it makes by the click-through that a website generates
from its adsense codes. The revenue model is known as google adsense and almost every
successful website uses this model to make profits. The Google adsense ads can be seen on
websites like www.timesofindia.com
, www.moneycontrol.com ,
www.managementParadise.com
and a lot many other reputed websites.
 Branding.
While CTR and cost per sale relate to direct marketing objectives, another way of looking at
banner ads is as "branding" tools. They create brand awareness, and a brand image in the
viewer'smind,whetherornot the viewerclicksonthe ads.Brandingisverydifficulttomeasure,
but can be very powerful.
The average clickthroughratio on bannersisjust under1%, althoughwithawell planned and executed
advertisingcampaignusingeffective banners you can increase this to as much as 15%, but be prepared
to work at it.
It is a good idea to have a number of different banner ideas so that you can carry out small test
marketing campaigns with each one until you find those that work best.
There are a number of key issues that must be considered when designing a successful
banner:
 It must have an attention-grabbing headline.
 It must be simple and get your point across.
 It must invoke action (i.e.: "Click here").
 It must download quickly.
 It must be placed effectively on a web site.

Anycampaignis limitedbythe amountof advertisingyoucando depending on the size of your budget.
Therefore it is important that you target your market carefully so as to maximize advertising spend on
effective banner campaigns.
“Rich” Media Advertising:
Lookingforwaysto make online advertisingmore compelling, and hopefully thereby more acceptable,
marketers have increasingly been turning to streaming advertising.
In effect another kind of rich media advertising, streaming advertising comes in two basic
forms:
First, it can either be part of a streaming audio or video program on the web. With many people now
listening to web radio or watching web broadcasts, this makes perfect sense. After all, everyone is
accustomed to getting commercials on their TV or car radio.
The other channel for streaming advertising is essentially an infomercial. Consumers can download a
streaming clip for a product or service from a marketer's website.
Two newstudiesrecentlyreleasedsuggestthatthe streamingadvertising market is going to boom now
and in the years to come. The giant ad selling company Media Turf uses this method for providing
content to advertisers
Collaborative Marketing:
Team up with other business to:
 Cross-promote - e.g.settinguplinksfromone corporate Website to another or offering special
promotions in partnership with complementary goods or services.

 Advertise - share advertising.
 Participate in joint sponsorship of events, initiatives, informational Web
sites, mailing lists, bulletin board systems, directories, etc.
 Link exchange with trade/professionals associations to support credibility of firm, provide
furthermarketinformationtocustomers,buildtheirawarenessandprepare themforthe action
of purchasing.
Sales Promotion:
Employingmethodstostimulatesalesthroughimmediate ordelayed incentives to the customer. If the
incentive isattractive,the price:valueratioisadjustedfavourably enough to affect a sale. This strategy
should integrate with the overall marketing mix to balance extra sales with long-term profit motives.
Examples of sales promotion strategies are:
 Sampling - offering product samples, electronically.
 Bonus offers- offeringadditionalgoodsorserviceswhenmakingsinglepurchases(e.g.buy-one-get-
one-free).
 Limited time offers - attracting visitors to return to a Web site.
 Games with prizes: Useful to keep people coming back to Web sites.
 Cross-product sampling: When a customer makes a purchase they have an opportunity to try out
anothercompany’s product/service. Also, the customer may have the opportunity to try out more
than one company’s product/service while testing another. Useful for complementary
products/services.
 Feature pricing: providing special pricing to those that order electronically.
 Cross-promotionswithother companies’products/services- Buya company’sproduct/service and
get a coupon for another company’s product/service.
Publicity:

The goal of publicityistohave otherstalkaboutthe small businessoritsproducts.Itcan be inexpensive
or even free and it may have the potential to generate far more in sales than even a well executed
advertising plan.
Promotional Publications:
Facilitate customer education, with the intention of building corporate image and even brand
awareness,the small businessmaysponsorand/or publish its own electronic magazine on the Web, e-
mail, etc. These are useful in the fields, where the customer needs information to develop sufficient
knowledge for movement through the first three stages of the sales process of awareness, interest,
and desire. Although time consuming, they replace or complement the print versions of
newsletters/corporate magazines/flyers.
Subscriptions:
Businessmarketersmayuse theirWebsitesto encourage visitors to subscribe to receive regular email
messagesfromthe company.These messagesare calleddigestsornewsletters,andare a clever way for
marketers to push product news to willing customers.
Controlled-access Web pages:
Clever business marketers may use their Web site to attract new customers.
They might publish a Web page that allows customers to download a free trial version of a software
application that expires after a time if not paid for. Or, customers might receive an e-mail message
inviting them to visit a private Web page on the company’s intranet, and giving them a password. The
company,as a way of encouraging a sale, offers customers who visit the page a prize or enticement of
some sort.

Public Forums:
These are often community-basedor interest-based sites that allow visitors to communicate with one
another. Anopportunityforsmall businessestoreachto theirintendedtargetgroupviathese forums is
by posting messages or by sponsoring such a forum. E-mail based forums appeal to a wider audience
due to the greateruse of thisapplicationoverWeb-basedforums.Webbasedforumsare advantageous
for their superior display of advertising images/messages
Resellers:
Some siteswill remarket other companies’ products as intermediaries. The companies that host these
sitesmay have invested significant resources in making them attractive to the target audience a small
businessisinterestedinattracted.Bypiggybackingonanothercompany’sefforts, cost-efficiencies may
be realized by engaging in a reselling arrangement.
E-mail Links:
Visitorstoa site shouldhave the opportunity to correspond with the host of that site, especially if out
of the telephoneareaortime zone. E-mail linksmay be strategicallyplaced throughout the site to elicit
response from visitors for at various points. These are also useful for feedback on site maintenance
problems.
On-line Surveys:
Informationmaybe collectedonthe visitorstoa Web site through registration forms, on-line surveys,
or through tracking of areas of site they visit. These websites also offer referrals wherein if you refer
someone to their site and the person becomes a member then you are paid commission on that.
Virtual Malls:

Web based sites that allow companies to post their products or services for sale long with other
companies.These maybe product specific, may be arranged by complementary products, or may have
products that are not related except by their companies’ desire to attract a similar target audience.
Measurement:
The Internethasthe unique abilitytoprovide marketerswith detailedinformationabout the success of
theirWebmarketingprograms.Companiescantrackvisitors to their site and collect information about
themfromtheir“cookies,”thenprocessthisinformationusingWebsite analysissoftware. Cookies are
a type of digital identification, which is read every time the user connects to a public Web
site. The Web site can collect some very basic information about the user (e-mail address,
time of day the site was accessed, which pages were visited) and use it to create visitor
profiles. Visitors can then be identified as “old” or “new” when they visit the site.
Cookies are an essential part of many companies’ business strategies. The information
collected from them is used to measure site visitors, develop user profiles, and target
advertising — in much the same way that television allows advertisers to target their
message to a certain demographic.

Advertising on the Internet: emerging issues
Internet might be a catchy advertising medium. But, there are quite a few issues that need to be
sorted out.
Advertising on the Net is slowly catching on. In developed economies, advertising on the Net
accounts for anything between seven and 7.5 per cent of the total advertising cake. Fine, how
large is online advertising in India?
Various estimates put the size of online advertising in India between Rs 24 crore and Rs 29
crore, which is much less than one per cent of the total advertising cake.
Why is online advertising so small in India?
Why aren't the advertisers putting their money on Net advertising?
For instance, Hindustan Lever’s advertising budget is upwards of Rs 700 crore and out of this;
the company spends not more than Rs 25 lakh on online advertising. Is this because Net
penetration in India is not deeper? Yes, to an extent.
However, this might not be the case for long. For, initiatives are on to increase the number of
Internet users. It is estimated that Internet subscribers will increase to around 35 million by
2008 from the current figure of one million.

Not only that, a drive is on to make Internet more affordable. For instance, the Reliance group
is planning to set up 7,800 cyber kiosks in Madhya Pradesh and BSES is planning to put up
1,000 cyber kiosks in Bombay. And the UK-based WorldTel, in partnership with the Reliance
group, is working at building 1,000 community Internet centres in Tamil Nadu.
There is a question here, however. If numbers are the only factor, then how is that Net
advertising has picked up in Hong Kong, which boasts of 1.8 million Net users compared to
some 3.5 million in India. So, there are other reasons why online advertising is going through a
slow motion in India.
One such reason is this: there is no official organization in India that monitors and regulates
the online advertising industry. And there is no mechanism available for tracking viewership
of advertisements. Says Apurva Purohit, media director with the Mumbai-based FCB-Ulka
Advertising: "While television has two people meter services, Tam (IMRB) and Intam (ORG-
MARG), there is no possible mechanism to enable working out optimized schedules on the basis
of ad viewer ship rather than programme viewership."
True. Only such a mechanism can help to track ad viewership patterns much more accurately and
monitor television advertisements effectively. The very reason that ad viewerships in online
advertising are not monitored and audited is making quite a few corporate advertisers go slow in
latching on to the Internet medium. Says B Venkataramanan, group media manager of the
Mumbai-based Hindustan Lever: "I am skeptical about the kind of figures most dot-coms come
up with. So, we will be going about online advertising in a planned way."
All these might become things of the past with quite a few studies on online advertising in
the pipeline. For instance, AC Nielsen is looking at rating Net advertisers and ORG-MARG
is planning to kick off its research on Net advertising.
The cost factor:
Absence of a monitoring mechanism apart, online advertising has to live with another hurdle.
Many advertisers are not aware of the benefits online advertising can offer over the traditional
media. What needs to be done? The advertising industry should take efforts to educate potential
Net advertisers about the advantages of advertising on the Net.

Some steps have already been taken in this direction. For instance, advertising networks such as
Media2Net, Rightserve and Mediaturf are doing their bid to fuel online advertising in India.
Rightserve of Hughes Software is said to be spending nearly Rs two crore on seminars,
advertisements and road shows for creating awareness about the online advertising concept.
There is another reason why advertising on the Net has not really picked up. And that is
the perception that advertising on the Net is expensive. Is this perception right?
Compare the cost of a banner advertisement on the Net with a television commercial.
Though the cost of an advertising campaign on the Net could be anywhere between Rs
15,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh, advertising in the press or television will cost upwards of Rs 50
lakh. Does this not make advertising on the Net cheap? No. For, whether advertising on the
Net is cost-effective or not depends on the value per advertising Rupee.
That means, it is essential to express advertising costs on the Net in terms of cost per thousand
(CPT). Here is what Amardeep Singh, a Mumbai-based media consultant with Mediaturf.com,
has to say: "A thirty- second television commercial will cost between Rs 250 and Rs 300 per
thousand, while a ten-second banner on a reputed site such as Rediff.com will cost as much
as Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per thousand."
The implication: value per Rupee spent on advertising is higher in the case of television. That is
efficiency is higher in the case of television advertising, while in absolute terms advertising costs
are lower as far as the Net is concerned.
Fine, but how are rates fixed for advertising on the Net? It is a difficult poser considering
the fact that rates for advertising on the Net have no rationale behind them. For instance,
Rediff.com just adopted the international rate charged by Yahoo.com. Other websites in
India just took the Rediff.com's rate as a benchmark and adjusted their rates accordingly.
But, the issue here is this: since the number of Net users in India is limited now, these
Indian rates are not justified.
What are the emerging trends as far as cost of online advertising is concerned? Currently,
rates for a simple banner advertisement on the Net need to come down. Already, Mediaturf
is working in this direction. It wants to bring down the cost of Net advertising at least by 50
per cent. Mediaturf believes that when the rates come down, volumes should go up.

And that has been the international experience. In the USA, when the rate for a full banner
advertisement fell from US $33.22 to US $30.52 per thousand impressions, online advertising
outlays too rose during the same period.
The wastage factor
There are other reasons why advertising on the Net is not currently seen by advertisers as cost-
effective. One of them is the quality of desired responses. In many cases, sums spent on
advertising on the Net have not been deployed properly. There are instances where
advertisements have just been lifted and put on the banner. Though there are many early adapters
in India, there is a big gap between these adapters and the mainstream users. And most
advertisers have too small budgets for advertising on the Net to be bothered about wastages.
There could be wastages in online advertising, but one should not forget that interactivity is
the hallmark of online advertising and here it is possible to target the audience by
demography, psychography and technography. So, advertising agencies need to take into
account these factors while developing strategies.
But, wastages can be eliminated and online advertising can be made more effective through
various strategies. Some of them are: strategic tie-ups, sponsorships and banner exchanges. For
instance, the FMCG major Colgate-Palmolive has entered into a strategic tie-up with the
Calcutta-based FirstNet Solutions' portal Yantram.com for promoting its Fresh Energy Gel
toothpaste on the portal. And Coca-Cola has appointed Hungama.com, an Indian portal for
promotions and contests, as its e-marketing partner. Coca-Cola has gone ahead and launched a
new Web promotion dubbed Maaza Puzzle to promote its popular brand Maaza and has also
kicked off a series of e-promotions for the Hindi film "Hum To Mohabbat Karega".
Meanwhile, tie-ups for banner exchanges are also taking place. For instance, Bidorbuy.com has
tied up with Indiacar.com and Intel has sponsored a festival section on Satyam Online.

Product and service customization
Companies that have powerful brand awareness on the web all have sites that help consumers do something –
whether it’s configuring a computer system (www.dell.com) on-line or offering personalized services like
suburban railway pass ticket in Mumbai (www.rediff.com). Consumer demand and expectations are forecast to
drive made-to-order or customized products with rapidly shrinking lead times. Products are configured, as
customers want them to be and provide a high level of reliability, excellent quality, and longer life spans. For e.g.
‘Dell’ computer (www.dell.com) has become a leading company in selling computers because of the customization
facility it provided on its site. The consumers could build the own computer by ordering the own configuration.
For e.g. On Nike’s site (www.nike.com), the customer can become a registered user and customize the shoe of his
choice. The customization highlights the value-for-money aspect and induces the consumer to buy a product that
meets his own requirement.
Understanding the Internet Customers
Now to be able to use the seven P’s effectively in order to achieve the predefined goals of any
organization it is imperative to understand the customers. Customization will only be truly
effective if we understand our customers and their true needs.
Before adapting marketing practices to the Internet, the marketer needs to understand the
characteristics of the online customers.
The Net users can be classified into five categories depending upon their intention of using
the Internet.
The five categories of users are:
 Directed Information Seekers:
They require specific, timely and relevant information about the products and services being
offered.
 Undirected Information Seekers:

These usersrequire something interesting and useful. Something that can give them an edge,
advantage, insight or even a pleasant surprise.
 Bargain Hunters:
They are of two kind. One who look for free items on the internet and other who are seeking
better deals, higher discounts etc.
 Entertainment Seekers:
they see the Web as an entertainment medium of vast breath and potential and want to
explore the medium before the mass gets there.
 Directed Buyers:
Theywant to buysomething - now.Theyare sure what they require and just log on to the Web
to purchase the item.
The Evolving Value Propositions
The value propositionsof goodsandservicesofferedinthe physical worlddifferpointedlyfrom those in
the digital world. The ultimate aim of the universal marketer is to provide a complete end-to-end
consumerexperience---rightfromthe promise tosatisfyhisneed to its delivery. But the physical world
offersonly“PointSolutions”whichisbasicallyasolution of his needs in terms of functional benefits. A
creditcard, for instance, allows consumers to satisfy the immediate necessity of setting a transaction.
But today’sconsumersare alsolookingforprocessandrelationshipbenefit---book referrals at no extra
cost or e-mail reminders.The physical world isnotable todeliverthesebenefitsbecauseof gapsintime,
space and memory.The web,onthe otherhand providesall of these andmore (“reverse marketing, for
example,where consumersseekoutvendorsratherthanthe otherway around”) bygivingthe company
the ownership and control over all interactions with the consumer.
The Evolving Risk Profiles
The on-line customerisnota fickle customer,buthe isa riskypropositionnevertheless. This is because
all his online experience will influence consumer perceptions about the brand. If a consumer buys a
productfrom a retailerand is involved in an unhappy purchase experience at the store, he will punish
the store.But if the same experiencewere tooccurto himat the company’swebsite,the consequences
would be disastrous for the company if he were to share his experience though different user
communities using a combination of chat rooms and electronic mails.

The Evolving Supply Chain
The transformationbeingbroughtaboutthe Webrevolutionisnotlimitedtojustthe consumer.The last
fewyears have seen a flurry of suggested business models for doing business in the Internet era. Will
the Internet era signal the death of the retailer? Or will a new intermediary come into existence?
Technological innovationshave made possibletwointerestingdevelopments---theChoice board system
2 and the Vertical Portal. Because Choice boards are essentially design tools and conduits of
information, companies that produce the products need not control them. Dell uses a Choice board
system to sell its computers but there are others like Point.com that uses a Choice board to help
customers research and buy wireless phones and accessories. The market information that a Choice
board collectsabout customer preferences is absolutely enormous and if the manufacturing company
doesnotcontrol it,the site offering the Choice board can emerge as a powerful intermediary. Vertical
portals armed with sophisticated search engines, which specialize in a particular industry or product
category, and provide customized information and promote online community development are the
next emergent intermediaries. The sophistication and range of information collected on customer
preferenceswill drive emergentbusinessmodels.The Web will thusfacilitate the transformation of the
companies form transaction supporters to customer relationship managers.
Critical Successfactors in E-Marketing
Having observed the evolving paradigms of business in the Internet era, there are five critical success
factors that the E-Marketer has to keep in mind.
 Attracting the Right Customer is the first crucial step. Rising digital penetration would mean
that the numberof customervisitingparticularsiteswould inevitably go up. While the number
of eyeballsor page views has so far been conveniently used as a satisfactory measure by most
websites,it would be foolish to cater to the whole spectrum of digital visitors. Content has to
be verytarget specific.The digital companyhastoselectitstarget segmentbyfindingout which
sectionof customersare the most profitable in terms of revenue transactions and who are the

customerswho generate the maximum number of referrals. Here again it is important to note
that the majorityof online customersare notseekingthe lowest price. Rather they are seeking
convenience above everything else. The power of customer referrals has never been so
enormous,since wordof the mouse spreadsfasterthanwordof the mouth. E-Bay attracts more
than half of itscustomersthroughreferrals.Notonlydoreferred customers cost less to acquire
than those brought in by advertising or other marketing tools, they also cost less to support
since theyuse theirfriendswhoreferredthemforadvice ratherthanusing the companies’ own
technical desk.
 Delivering Content Value to engage the user’s interest is the critical importance in retaining
customer participation. This is because content serves as a powerful differentiator. Content
wouldinclude Productenhancements(Software patchesforglitches),personalized interactions
(throughcustomizednavigationpathsasseenonthe web sites of GMand Toyota) and Problem
Resolution (updates of delivery schedules and e-mail responses). Integral to the concept of
deliveringpropercontentvalueisinnovation.The retail financial servicesindustry,for example,
ischangingrapidlywithmultiple players jockeying for position. Product innovation serves as a
key tool to attract new customers.
Priceline.com, forexample,hasrevolutionizedthe travel andrelatedservicesbusinessbylettingin a
form of “buyer driven commerce”----Customers specify their desired prices and competing
companies then bid for customer requirements. Delivering proper content to make existing
customers in the traditional “brick” business switch to Web-enabled transactions makes a lot of
sense because in every conceivable case, the cost of Web-Based transactions is an order of
magnitude less than the traditional ways and is decreasing at a faster rate. The cost of an Internet
basedbankingtransactionislessthanone-tenththe costof a humantellertransaction.It is keeping
thisaspectin mindthatIndianBankshave startedtoying with the idea of setting up Internet kiosks
to lettheirlow-value customerssettletheirbankingtransactionsatthe kiosk nearest to their place.
 Ensuring E-Loyalty is vital to the success of any online venture. This is because acquiring
customersonthe Internetisenormouslyexpensive andunlessthose customers stick round and

make lotsof repeatpurchasesoverthe years,profitswillremainelusive.Contrarytothe general
view that Web customers are notoriously fickle, they in fact follow the old rules of customer
loyalty.Web customers stick to sites that they trust and with time consolidate their purchases
withone primarysuppliertothe extentthatpurchasingfromthe supplier’ssite becomespart of
theirdailyroutine.The issue of trustisintegral tothe issues of privacy and security. Companies
like Amazon.com, which command amazing levels of consumer trust, have used a variety of
encryption tools ad simple ethical decisions like not accepting money for publishers for
independent book reviews to maintain the trust of its customers.
 E-Learning to facilitate personalized interactions with customers has been the biggest
contributionof the Webto the marketingstrategists.Customersintraditional bricks-and-mortar
stores leave no record of their behavior unless they buy something—and even then the date
mightbe sketchy.Inthe digital marketplace,howevertechnologyhasmade the entire shopping
experience a
transparentprocess.Forexample,if the customerexitsthe web-site whenthe price screenappears,
he is a price sensitiveconsumer.Suchminutetrackingof customer behavior has major implications
for the world of advertising. The Internet may soon be used as a test bed for testing prototypes of
marketing and advertising campaigns. By monitoring pages selected, click throughs, responses
generated, and other indicators, the company would be able to discover which parts of a
prospective campaign would work, thus reducing the risk of a potential flop. This would make it
possible forthe companytomodifyitsproductofferingsmuch earlier than usual in the product life
cycle.
 Providing Digital value to the evolving consumer through his life cycle has become possible
because of customized interactions and emerging business models. These models have often
disturbedthe traditionalstatusquoand created new rules of business. The sectors where new
business models will emerge or have emerged are the music industry, the financial services
industry,the travel industry,the relating segment and the publishing segment. Digital value is
delivered to the consumer by promising him convenience, allowing the customer to feel his

ownershipof the Webexperience, andgiving the customer a sense of belonging that traverses
the physical boundaries.
IN
Changing patterns of Marketing
Traditional Marketing V/s Internet Marketing
Marketing over the years more so recently has started being used interchangeably with advertising.
Now since the explosion of the internet; advertising paradigms have been constantly changing.
The first Web advertisement was placed on the Hot Wired web site in October 1994. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Volvo,
Club Med, ZIMA were the first to try it out and the Internet advertising has come a long way since then. Here, I
would attempt to compare Internet Advertising with Traditional Advertising:
Let’s have a look:

Traditional Advertising:
 Traditional advertising is static.
 Space is not a restricting factor
 The proportion of advertising to editorial is high sometimes 50:50.
 Does not evoke immediate action.
 Response to the action is not immediate.
 Advertisements are passively received.
 Advertising does not always target a much focused audience.
 Advertisements are ubiquitous.
Whereas Internet Advertising :
 It is dynamic with multimedia- supporting text and graphics video sound all together.
 Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc.
 A web page would be 91% editorial and 9% advertising.
 Invokes immediate action as you at-least need to click on the ad.
 First response is immediate as when the user clicks, the person is directed to other web page
with more details.
 The user hashighattentionlevel andconcentration while using the net, and hence they notice
the ad. (please refer the chapter)
 This can be much focused.
 Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for some thing. For example the
search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel agents on the net.
Thus we see that advertising is changing and so are the rules for advertising on the internet. So while
designingorformulatinganyadvertisingstrategyforabrand on the internet amanager has to take in to
account factors like: -

1. The Internet has made a huge impact on advertising. Companies should be careful as regards
joiningthe ITbandwagon.They should not advertise on the net just to project themselves as a
technosavvycompanyor maybe because theircompetitorisdoing the same thing. It should be
a well-planned campaign full of specific information and attention catching.
2. The 'net' charges are on the higherside (thoughthere hasbeen a steep decrease in the rates in
the last fewmonths).Hence people would be wary of the fact that ads consume a lot of online
web time and hence they avoid clicking on average ads. Therefore, advertises should be
designed in such a fashion that they attract attention and induce people to click on the net.
3. One more thingwouldbe to generate 'search'specificadvertising.Thiswouldmeanthatif I give
a search for books on the search engine, the ads displayed would be related to the books.
4. Generally,people perceive the adstobe time consumingandfull of unwantedinformation.Care
should be taken to design the ads in such a way that the information they provide or the
hyperlinks they provide to a site gives adequate and specific information.
5. The ads and the subsequent information on the web site should be constantly updated and
highlighted in the ads and thus induce repeated clicks on the ad.
6. Last but not the least;the adsshouldbe designedsoasto attract attentionof maximumnumber
of people andinducing them to click, failing to do so the advertiser ends up defeating his own
purpose.
The Channel Strategies for delivering Digital Value to customers
The Interneterahas shownthat companieshave riskeddamagingrelationshipsintheirphysical chain to
compete inthe electronicchannel.The ubiquityof the Internetthe fact that cross-linkages are possible
to any degree, has meant that companies have usurped the role of other value providers in the value
chain to gain competitive advantage. When companies pirate the value chain of the industry they are

essentially eliminating layers of costs that are build into the current distribution system. However
piratingthe value chaindoes not mean that the number of intermediaries in the whole process would
necessarily decrease. The emerging economic structure of Electronic Commerce would mean that
profits would lie in the intermediate transactions rather than in the final sale of the good. Companies
wouldaimat cuttingdown their traditional margins (give up the cost plus pricing structure) and aim at
high inventory turnover. In retailing profitability is primarily.
The challenge will lie in managing these multiple channels of experience
It is likelythatmostcompanieswill findthattheywill have tointegrate several distribution channels to
provide the customer with a seamless purchase process. The key challenge is thus to ensure that the
personalizednature of the experience isnotmuchdifferentacrosschannels.Canan Internet bookseller
allow its customers to experience the same ambience on the net as it does in the bookstore or vice -
versa?If it cannot thencompanieswillface frictionamongthe alternative distribution channels and the
already established physical channel might complain about its profitability being affected by digital
purchases.Thismaybe typifiedbyfrictionbetweenvehicle dealersandthe companyoverorders trough
an auto company’s Web site. Complementary to the problem of managing multiple channels of
distribution is the development of infrastructure needed to support such a distribution network. The
billing system and pricing strategies have to be properly frames and executed
What is User Generated Content?
User Generated Content (UGC), also known as consumer-generated media (CGM),
refers to any material created and uploaded to the Internet by non-media
professionals, whether it’s a comment left on Amazon.com, a professional-quality
video uploaded to YouTube, or a student’s profile on Facebook. UGC has been
around in one form or another since the earliest days of the Internet itself. But in
the past five years, thanks to the growing availability of high-speed Internet
access and search technology, it has become one of the dominant forms of
global media. It is currently one of the fastest growing forms of content on the
Internet. UGC is fundamentally altering how audiences interact with the Internet,
and how advertisers reach those audiences. In 2006, UGC sites attracted 69

million users in the United States alone, and in 2007 generated $1 billion in
advertising revenue. By 2011, UGC sites are projected to attract 101 million users
in the U.S. and earn $4.3 billion in ad revenue1. Still, obstacles remain that
prevent advertisers from taking advantage of this dynamic new medium.
History
Early Forms of UGC
UGC has been a staple of the peer-to-peer experience since the dawn of the
digital age. The earliest forms arrived in 1980 with Usenet, a global discussion
network that allowed users to share comments and experiences of a given topic.
Early versions of Prodigy, a computer network launched in 1988, also facilitated
user discussions and comments, as did early versions of AOL. The late 1990s
saw the rise of “ratings sites,” which allowed users to rate subjects based on any
number of criteria, from physical appearance (ratemyface.com and hotornot.com)
to professional competence (ratemyprofessors.com). These spread quickly
across the Internet, and brought with them controversy over the impact they
could have on the lives of private people often unwittingly exposed to public
scrutiny. Such controversies have increased as UGC sites have become more
common and influential. Another early form of UGC are forums; areas within
content websites that allow readers to communicate with each other around
topics related to the content. Even in this era dominated by social media sites,
forums continue to be robust, controlled areas of user content. For example,
CondeNet sites incorporated forums as early as 1995, and they are still excellent
areas for marketers to research opinions and general trends.
Wikis
In its most basic sense, a Wiki is collaboration, a Web site built through the
contributions of many individuals. Though not all wikis are open to everyone—
indeed, many require some kind of membership or qualification to contribute—
they are in many ways the most democratic manifestation of UGC. These
individuals may never meet, or live in the same country, or even communicate,
but the principle behind wikis is simple: All the world’s expertise, knowledge, and
creativity can be harnessed through Internet collaboration. The most instructive
and well-known example of a wiki is Wikipedia, the free online, publicly editable
encyclopedia. Launched in 2001, it has quickly become one of the most
prominent—even trusted—reference sites on the Web. As of December 2007, it
boasted more than 2 million articles in 253 languages, making it the largest

encyclopedia ever. Nearly every article on Wikipedia is publicly editable, and
changes appear immediately, though only registered users can create new
articles. For the most part, accuracy and “neutrality,” a key principle behind
Wikipedia, are enforced by the community. There is, however, a hierarchy of
volunteer editors, who, at the top levels, have the authority to delete content and
lock articles.
OBJECTIVES:
 To find out the potential of social media in increasing traffic to owner
websites.
 To find out the impact of social media in new business partnerships.
 The impact of social media on search Ranking.
 The potential of social media in generating qualified leads.
 The potential of social media in selling products &services/closebusiness.
 To find out the impact of social media on total marketing expenses.
 How social media will help in exposure to business?
 Impacts of social media in current scenario.
 The scope of social commerce throughout the world.
 How social commerce is changing the lives of human beings?
 Why you need to consider social media marketing services?
Building Brands Online
Online has always taken a back seat to offline in brand building. Yet online offers the best
options for building a meaningful brand, options that didn't exist only a few years ago.

Companies without a solid digital brand strategy are literally being left behind as leaders
build new digital brands.
Reflecting on the current state of online advertising, the majority of online marketers are doing a terrible job
of building their digital brands. Advertisers are fighting tooth and nail to produce the world's worst
advertising, actually destroying their existing offline brands in the digital realm.
For the most part, if one looks at ads that run during top TV programs or that appear in top magazines, one
will find quality in the advertising (even if the ads are a bit dry and boring). But if one looks at a top web site
and views a few dozen ads, it will be very difficult to find quality advertising. In effect, the bulk of the ads
online do more harm than good to the brands they are trying to build.
In one industry after another, aggressive Internet upstarts are putting established brands
at risk, creating very strong brand recognition and enjoying explosive visitor growth. The
reason may have less to do with the established brands themselves than with their
managers.
Marketers know what a brand is in the physical world: the sum, in the consumer’s mind, of the
personality, presence, and performance of a given product or service. These "3 Ps" are also essential
on the World Wide Web. In addition, digital brand builders must manage the consumer’s on-line
experience of the product, from first encounter through purchase to delivery and beyond. Digital
brand buildersshould care about the consumer’s on-line experiences for the simple reason that all of
them—good, bad, or indifferent—influence consumer perceptions of a product’s brand. To put it
differently, on the Web, the experience is the brand.
Consider an example. If a consumer buys lipstick from a retailer in the physical world and has an
unpleasant in-store experience, she is more likely to blame the retailer than the manufacturer. But if
the consumerpurchases that same product from Procter & Gamble’s Reflect.com Web site, her wrath
is more likely to be directed at P&G. Thus the on-line marketer’s objective shifts from creating
brands—at least as defined in the off-line world—to creating Internet businesses that can deliver
complete, and completely satisfying, experiences.
Yet many marketers, particularly those whose experience is limited to the off-line world, lack a
coherent framework and concrete methods for achieving the broader objectives of on-line brand
building. These marketers need an approach for aligning the promises they make to consumers, the

Web design necessary to deliver those promises on-line, and the economic model required to turn a
profit. These three elements—the promise, the design, and the economic model—together form the
inseparable components of a successful Internet business, or what might be called a digital brand.
In one industry after another, aggressive Internet upstarts are putting established brands at risk,
creating very strong brand recognitionand enjoyingexplosive visitorgrowthThe reason may have less
to do with the established brands themselves than with their managers.
Marketers know what a
brand is in the physical
world: the sum, in the consumer’s mind, of the personality, presence, and performance of a given
product or service. These "3 Ps" are also essential on the World Wide Web. In addition, digital brand
buildersmust manage the consumer’son-line experience ofthe product, from first encounter through
purchase to delivery and beyond. Digital brand builders should care about the consumer’s on-line
experiences for the simple reason that all of them—good, bad, or indifferent—influence consumer
perceptions of a product’s brand. To put it differently, on the Web, the experience is the brand.
Consider an example. If a consumer buys lipstick from a retailer in the physical world and has an
unpleasant in-store experience, she is more likely to blame the retailer than the manufacturer. But if
the consumer purchases that same product from Procter & Gamble’s
Consumers Turning to Digital Brands

Reflect.com Web site, her wrath is more likely to be directed at P&G. Thus the on-line marketer’s
objective shifts from creating brands—at least as defined in the off-line world—to creating Internet
businesses that can deliver complete, and completely satisfying, experiences.
Yet many marketers, particularly those whose experience is limited to the off-line world, lack a
coherent framework and concrete methods for achieving the broader objectives of on-line brand
building. These marketers need an approach for aligning the promises they make to consumers, the
Web design necessary to deliver those promises on-line, and the economic model required to turn a
profit. These three elements—the promise, the design, and the economic model—together form the
inseparable components of a successful Internet business, or what might be called a digital brand.
Case Study
Rediff.com
Rediff.com is one of the premier worldwide online providers of news, information, communication,
entertainment and shopping services for Indians.
Known for being one of the first with news and providing accurate and trustworthy information, Rediff.com
provides an ideal platform for Indians worldwide to connect with one another online fast. Rediff.com is
committed to offering a personalized and a secure surfing and shopping environment.
Rediff.com additionally offers the Indian American community one of the oldest and largest Indian weekly
newspaper, India Abroad.
Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in New Delhi and New York,
USA

Rediff.com is the leading online network targeting India and Indians worldwide. They provide original and
third-party branded content through interest-specific channels, extensive Web-based community features
such as free e-mail, chat, personal home pages and an India adapted search engine, and the largest e-
commerce platform in India. They have designed their Web-site offerings by keeping the slow access speed
available to most Indian Internet users in mind. Rediff believes that it has created the online network of
choice for Indian Internet users, as well as created a highly desirable advertising and e-commerce platform
for advertisers and merchants respectively.
They believe that their success to date is attributable to the following key success factors:
1. Focus on India & Indians Worldwide: They serve the online needs for Indian Internet users and people of
Indian origin worldwide and have developed their product offerings based on the demands and the
requirements of their user base. They have been in business since 1996, and hence have a large archive of
Indian focused content. Rediff provides their users with:
· Broad range of community offerings such as, chat, singles channel and personal homepages that allows
users to interact with other Indians with similar interests;
· Search engine, with technology from Inktomi, that has been customized to provide India relevant content as
top searches for queries by users;
· Channels that are relevant to Indian interest, e g Horoscope, Cricket, Singles, Indian finance, Indian music
and Indian movies;
· Up-to-date news focused on India, constantly updated by their in-house editorial staff, featuring interviews
with several leading Indian politicians, movie stars, and celebrities;
· Airline and train schedule and availability, thereby eliminating the need for Indian users to queue up in
airport and train stations;
· An easy to understand interface that strikes the right balance between an attractive visual appearance and
fast down-load times for people accessing the site with low speed modems.
2. Comprehensive online offering: Rediff believes that it is "one-stop-shop" for Indian Internet users by
satisfying all their online requirements. By providing them with locally relevant content, community
functionality, and ability to shop online, it has been able to attract and retain users on its site for extended
periods. They believe that their extensive offerings coupled with their aggressive branding program have
made them the most recognized Internet brand in India. To help advertisers reach the Rediff audiences, they
help them build their sites, design their banners and sponsorships and lead them through a comprehensive
service to assist their marketing efforts on the net.

3. Leading e-commerce platform: Rediff has created the Rediff Marketplace which provides Indian
merchants a guide and effective way to move from being merely advertisers/sponsors on their site to selling
their goods and services online.
To demonstrate the value of this proposition they created a Rediff Book Store and Music Store online and the
initial positive results from them has allowed them to sign up more merchants.
Till date they have put online several dozen merchants in India and are now completing development of
software that will allow merchants to automatically sign-up, create their own store and transact business on
the web.
On the other hand they have created the necessary facilities to allow their site visitors to easily search and
provide the right goods and services in the Rediff Marketplace.
Promotional Strategies
Rediff generally believes advertising in mass media like Television, Newspaper etc.
Apart from these general means of advertising it also believes in promoting the site through web
promotion. The best e-commerce site in the world is worthless if no one can find it. But, too often,
ecommerce start-ups use shotgun marketing,simplyadvertisingeverywhere,toeveryone,inthe hope
that a fraction of a percent of those who see the ads will respond.
Majority of the Rediff customers come through search engines, such as Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and
others. So they see to it that they are getting their site listed, making sure that their site shows up
high in the list of search results and ensuring that their site is listed for specific keywords which is a
science in itself.
Rediffalso believesinWordofMouth policy,an offline strategy. This can be done only if they provide
innovative products and services to its customers and to see that what the made by them is being
fulfilled, more the number of people visiting their site more is the awareness made by them to other
people.
For E.g. Rediff offers ‘Rediff Blogs’ a service that allows a user to publish their thoughts and ideas
directly on the web. Rediff.com is the first Indian website to offer Blogs to Indians worldwide using
the latest in the internet technologies.

A Blog or a web log is a personal or conversational website updated frequently with views, links,
commentary and such other information relevant to a particular topic. This could comprise of links
and commentary from other websites on topics of interest such as writing diaries, poetry, uploading
photos, providing project updates, news about a company, a person or an idea and even fiction. This
service enables the user to express his opinions, be heard and make friends on Rediff.com.
The process of setting up and updating a blog is very simple. All a user needs is a Rediff.com account.
Thereafter a blog can be set up in three simple steps, starting with entering a subject, choosing a
template and making an entry into the blog.
Building Trust
Online users expect certain things from the service provider i.e. easy to use and trouble free procedures like
while creating a new Rediffmail account, the information asked by Rediff to the online user is very specific
and up to the point. According to them trust is an ongoing job, at no point can they afford to loose a valuable
customer. On its website they have got a Rediff Marketplace option wherein a customer can buy the products
online. Rediff has got this system whereby if a customer after shopping is not satisfied with the product
purchased from Rediff, they can return the goods back to Rediff even if they have used the product. Rohit
Varma, Chief Marketing Officer said that it is these small things that one has to take into consideration and
which can create a sense of trust in the minds of the customers.
SOCIAL COMMERCE
 "Social commerce is a kind of electronic commerce that involves using
social media, online media that supports social interaction and user
contributions, to assist in the online buying and selling of products and
services".

 Three-fourths of men ages 18 to 34 say they spend most of their time in
front of a computer screen, according to a survey of 50,000 by
AskMen.com, a lifestyle website.
 53% of 300 marketers planned to increase social-media marketing
spending this year, according to a Forrester presentation in April. Nine in
10 consumers trust their peers more than marketers, according to a
recent survey of 25,000 by Nielsen.
 Facebook is up to 250 million members, 50 million of whom joined in the
past three months, says Nielsen NetView.
 Twitter users spent nearly 300millionminutesonthe site inApril, 3,712%
more than in April 2008, Nielsen says.
 More than 10,000 websites use Facebook Connect, a service that lets
Facebook users log in to affiliated sites using their Facebook account.
SOCIAL COMMERCE IN INDIA
MY DALA
SNAPDEAL.COM
BINDASSBARGAIN.COM

USA Today on Social Commerce
You know something has gone mainstream when USA Today covers it...
How brands are using social networking to reach customers. Focus is more
inclusive than social commerce (fusing e-commerce with social media),
covering other areas of social media marketing too. Summarised and
archived below for your delight and delectation.
Top Takeouts
 Brands such as Ford, Levi Strauss and Chevron are increasingly
reengineering marketing operations to embrace digital tools to more
nimbly brand products, support customers and cash in on the social-
media wave
 Brands are using social networking platforms to do four things, add
customers quickly, do word of mouth marketing, enhance customer
service, and speak directly with customers
 Social networking is the modern-day version of knitting — to kill
downtime (Kaitlin Villanova, social-media strategist)
 Brands that don’t know how to get their arms around social media
marketing seem to be held back by worrying about the legal
implications of customers helping customers, and about being too
honest with customers
Top Facts
 Three-fourths of men ages 18 to 34 say they spend most of their time in
front of a computer screenvs. 18% in front of a TV screen, according to
a survey of 50,000by AskMen.com, a lifestyle website. Those who don’t
have a social-media plan don’t at their own risk, say marketing experts.
 53% of more than 300 marketers planned to increase social-media
marketing spending this year, according to a Forrester presentation in
April.
 Nine in 10 consumers trust their peers more than marketers, according
to a recent survey of 25,000 by Nielsen.
 The share of Americans 18 and over online who use a social-networking
service more than quadrupled to 35% in 2008 from 8% in 2005,
according to Pew Internet & American Life Project.

 Facebook is up to 250 million members, 50 million of whom joined in
the past three months. In April, they spent 13.9 billion minutes on
Facebook, up 700% from April 2008, says Nielsen NetView. About 30
million Facebook members access it through mobile devices
 Twitter users spent nearly 300 million minutes on the site in April,
3,712%more than in April 2008, Nielsen says.Twitter users spend 66%
more dollars on the Internet than non-Twitter users, says market
researcher ComScore.
 More than 10,000 websites use Facebook Connect, a service that lets
Facebook users log in to affiliated sites using their Facebook account
and share information from those sites with their Facebook friends.
 LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles. More than 12
million small-business professionals are members of LinkedIn.
 As smartphones such as iPhone and BlackBerry take off, more people
are updating their Facebook and Twitter profiles while on the
move. Smartphone shipments are expected to surge to 164 million this
year, up 13% from 2008, says market researcher Forward
Concepts. The mobile social-networking industry is expected to become
a $3.3 billion market worldwide by 2013, ABI Research predicts.
Top Cases
 Adding customers quickly: When software maker Intuit built a site for
small businesses in late January, it integrated elements of Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn, the social network for business professionals.
After 12 weeks, it generated more than 1 million visits and helped spike
QuickBooks unit shipments 57% in June, year-over-year.
 Adding customers quickly: National pizza chain Papa John’s added
148,000 fans on Nov. 17 through a guerrilla marketing campaign on
Facebook.It offered a free medium pizza to anyone who signed up to be
its fan on Facebook. The promotion gained it thousands of customers
and drove its Web traffic up 253%. It now has more than 300,000 fans
and hopes to top 1 million by the end of the year.
 Doing Word of Mouth Marketing: To support launch of new Fiesta,
Scott Monty – head of social media at Ford loaned Fiestas to 100 top
bloggers for six months – only requirement, upload video to YouTube
about the car once a month, blog, tweet and news feed it through
Facebook.
 Doing Word of Mouth Marketing: Best Buy and MyFICO, consumer
credit-risk score site have built specialized online communities where
their customers freely evaluate products and services – and advocate
those they like

 Enhancing Customer Service: Comcast has pioneered the use of
Twitter to talk directly to customers. Its Twitter page, @comcastcares,
has 28,000followers. Also cuts research costs – free online alternative
to traditional focus groups that can cost $10,000 to $15,000
 Talking Directly with Customers: The Carphone Warehouse, Europe’s
leading independent retailer of mobile phones and services, has a simple
credo: It says, “I’m sorry” when necessary on its Twitter page for
customer support.
 Talking Directly with Customers: UpMo ”There is no gap between the
CEO and customer. They now talk directly to eachother,” says Promise
Phelon, CEO of UpMo, a career-management website. “The network is
so connected, there’s no need for a middleman.”
More marketers use social networking to reach customers
SAN FRANCISCO — Ford Motor has high hopes for Fiesta, a popular model
abroad launching in the U.S. next year.
So how does it introduce the subcompact car to Americans? A massive ad
blitz on TV? In-house promotions at dealers nationwide?
Nope.
In April, Ford tapped 100 top bloggers and gave them a Fiesta for six months.
The catch: Once a month, they’re required to upload a video on YouTube
about the car, and they’re encouragedto talk — no holds barred — about the
Fiesta on their blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
“It’s extremely important to this company’s history,” says ScottMonty, whose
job as head of social media at Ford was created about a year ago to take
advantage of the growing social-networking wave. “It’s about culture change
and adapting to this ongoing way of communicating. The bloggers are fully
free to say what they want.”
Social-media services, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and countless
other websites, have had a profound effect on how millions of Americans —
especially those under 35 — interact with others (or don’t), shop and view
brands. It’s a real-time digital lifestyle, powered by smartphones and
netbooks, that often colors what products they purchase, how they view
brands and where they spend most of their waking hours.
Marketers have noticed. Social-networking services increasingly are
indispensable business tools, says ForresterResearch. According to its survey

of 1,217 business decision makers worldwide late last year, 95% use social
networks to some extent.
And 53% of more than 300 marketers planned to increase social-media
marketing spending this year, according to a Forrester presentation in April.
Some of the biggest companies — Ford, Levi Strauss and Chevron, to name a
few — are reengineering marketing operations to embrace digital tools to
more nimbly brand products, support customers and cash in on the social-
media wave. In doing so, they are creating online communities and aggressive
outreach programs, and being brutally honest in talking directly to their
customers/followers/fans/friends.
“It was an easycall. This is where our customers are,” says MeganO’Connor,
director of digital marketing at Levi’s. The more-than-150-year-old company
last month launched a social-media program on Facebook and Twitter along
with a larger “Go Forth” traditional marketing campaign. Its goal is to
burnish its brand name among young men.
Grown up digital
At their core, social networks are fostering a blistering number of personal
connections and chatter online. The share of Americans 18 and over online
who use a social-networking service more than quadrupled to 35% in 2008
from 8% in 2005, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project.
“It’s the modern-day version of knitting — to kill downtime,” says Kaitlin
Villanova, 26, a social-media strategist in Brooklyn who is an avid iPhone
user. “I use social networking to communicate, bank, comparison shop,
everything.”
Facebook is up to 250 million members, 50 million of whom joined in the past
three months. In April, they spent 13.9 billion minutes on Facebook, up 700%
from April 2008, says Nielsen NetView.
More than 300,000businesses — one-third of them small businesses — have a
presence on Facebook. Members of its fastest-growing demographic — those
35 and older — have enormous purchasing power, a powerful incentive to
marketers.
Twitter has about 40 million users who eachday produce a staggering amount
of tweets, Twitter’s quaint word to describe short messages. Its users spent
nearly 300 million minutes on the site in April, 3,712% more than in April
2008, Nielsen says.

Increasingly, consumers don’t search for products and services. Rather,
services come to their attention via social media, says Erik Qualman, author
of Socialnomics, a new book that explains how socialmedia have changedhow
companies do business.
Social-networking-savvy businesses have appointed social-media directors to
help:
 Add customers quickly. When software maker Intuit built a site for
small businesses in late January, it integrated elements of Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn, the social network for business professionals.
After 12 weeks, it generated more than 1 million visits and helped spike
QuickBooks unit shipments 57% in June, year-over-year.
“Social (media) is one of the key trends driving our business,” says Kira
Wampler, social-media marketing leader at Intuit. “It’s more than pure
marketing. It’s about fast connections with customers and building an
ongoing relationship.”
National pizza chain Papa John’s added 148,000 fans on Nov. 17 through a
guerrilla marketing campaignon Facebook. It offered a free medium pizza to
anyone who signed up to be its fan on Facebook. The promotion gained it
thousands of customers and drove its Web traffic up 253%. It now has more
than 300,000 fans and hopes to top 1 million by the end of the year.
 Word-of-mouth marketing. Sometimes a company’s best advocates are
its customers. Justask BestBuy and MyFICO, the consumer division of
Fair Isaac, which invented the FICO credit-risk score used by lenders.
They’ve built specialized online communities where their customers
freely evaluate products and services.
Those who visit MyFICO’s community website are spending 41% more than
other customers, says Lyle Fong, CEO of software Lithium, which helps build
online communities for more than 150 companies, including MyFICO.
Nine in 10 consumers trust their peers more than marketers, according to a
recent survey of 25,000 by Nielsen.
The Federal Trade Commission is in the process of amending guidelines that
would require bloggers to disclose their relationships with marketers whose
products they endorse, says Mary Engle, associate director of advertising
practices for the FTC.

 Enhance customer service. For more than a year, Comcast has
pioneered the use of Twitter to talk directly to customers. Its Twitter
page, @comcastcares, has 28,000 followers.
Comcast’s blueprint for unfettered customer support — no more waiting on
hold on the phone — fomented a movement. Software maker Sage North
America, to cite another example, routinely receives instant feedback from
hundreds of people within an hour on specific products and services. “It is a
living, breathing, 24/7 think tank of users and employees,” says Ryan Zuk, a
company spokesman.
Besides being instant, such feedback is cheap. Typically, companies have
relied on third-party focus groups that let them observe the reactions of
customers during a two-hour session that can cost $10,000 to $15,000, says
Natalie L. Petouhoff, an analyst at Forrester Research.
Lenovo has seen a 20% reduction in call-center activity in the U.S. over six
months because nearly 50,000 customers go to its community website for
information about laptops.
 Speak directly to customers. Blogs, Twitteror Facebook can be an ideal
forum for CEOs to offer customers a candid viewpoint.
When a hack attack disabled Twitter’s service for hours this month, co-
founder Biz Stone gave up-to-the-minute updates on the company’s blog.
The Carphone Warehouse, Europe’s leading independent retailer of mobile
phones and services, has a simple credo: It says, “I’m sorry” when necessary
on its Twitter page for customer support.
“There is no gap between the CEO and customer. They now talk directly to
each other,” says Promise Phelon, CEO of UpMo, a career-management
website. “The network is so connected, there’s no need for a middleman.”
“These customers want honesty, and quickly,” says Shiv Singh, who wrote a
report on social-media marketing for ad agency Razorfish.
Challenges ahead
But with rewards come risks.
Reaching out to millions of consumers who thrive online around the clock
requires an investment, a different type of thinking and some courage, says
Petouhoff. She spent six months on a just-released report on monetization of
social-media tools at 20 companies, including Lenovo and Intuit.

Many companies — reflecting the general public’s sentiment toward social
media — fall into two camps: Those who embrace it and those who eschew it.
“Those that don’t know how to get their arms around it seem to be held back
by worrying about the legalimplications of customers helping customers, and
about being too honest with customers,” Petouhoff says.
Mostcorporations are still wedded to a traditional marketing approach, based
on TV, radio and print ads, says Charlene Li, partner at technology
consulting firm Altimeter Group. “Ford and Levi’s are at the avant-garde of
social-media use, but they are not typical,” she says.
A social-media plan is hardly a guarantee of success, Li and others say. While
some companies — especiallymarketleaders such as Starbucks and Nike with
consumer products — are predisposed to the medium, others aren’t. Tightly
regulated health care providers, for example, may think twice about making
the public’s comments readily available on Facebook or Twitter.
“Socialmedia is not the messiah,” says Michael Brito, social-media strategist
at Intel. “It is one of several tools.”
Still, a growing number of marketers can’t afford to ignore millions of
potential customers who are consuming media in new ways.
Three-fourths of men ages 18 to 34 say they spend most of their time in front
of a computer screenvs. 18% in front of a TV screen, according to a survey of
50,000 by AskMen.com, a lifestyle website. Those who don’t have a social-
media plan don’t at their own risk, say marketing experts.
“Companies have no choice. This is where their customers are going,” says
Shel Israel, author of the forthcoming Twitterville: How Businesses Can
Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods. “Companieshave no choice. This is
where their customers are going.”

Successful stories In Social Commerce
 DELL---Dell’s Twitter deal feed nets $7minsales. Sometimes the simplest
ideas are the best. Realtime deals for the Realtime web.
 SONY VAIO --Sony has nettedover a £1M Vaio sales in a proof-of-concept
test of using social media as a direct sales channel
 Toy manufacturer Mattel starts selling direct with DecisionStep’s
ShopTogether social shopping toolbar at http://shop.mattel.com.
 Tuangou, Social commerce trend from china
 1-800-Flowers Claims First Retail Transaction Inside Facebook
 EasyJet Wants to Sell Flights on Facebook
 Online shoe retailer Zappos social mediastrategy andjudgedno. 1 in2009
to utilize social media marketing tools.
 Ford social media story.

Dell twitter strategy
 Segment your audience - Dell has multiple accounts to show presence
among subscribers.
 Provide timely information - Dell alerted users of deals when they
happened. When something’s new, people want to check it out.
 Make something people want to share - Dell created relevant content
that wasn’t just about pumping up their own brand. They gave useful
advice and participated in the conversation.
 Dell IdeaStorm; where they ask users to “post a new idea, promote
interesting ideas, discuss withDell andother users, andsee what they are
planning to develop.”
Tuangou( Group buying) social media strategy
 HOW DOES IT WORK?
1. User A sets up a group buy and the terms of the buy
2. User B-Z joins the team
3. Twangu makes the team official and sends it out to vendors.
4. Thousands of vendors freak out and bid on the business.
5. who will offer lesser price, he will win.
The bigger the shopping teams, the bigger the savings!

Sony vaio Twitter strategy
 Sony’s social media strategy is “relationship-driven” not “campaign
driven” – i.e. it’s more about customer relationship management and
customer service than sales.
 Social Media Engagement-
An effective social media strategy- servicing, informing and building
dialogue with customers.
 ‘Social Media Amplification‘ – amplifying marketing messages with social
media is another core objective of Sony social media strategy
OUTCOMES:
Sony has nettedover a £1M Vaio sales in a proof-of-concept test of using social
media as a direct sales channel

1-800-Flowers Facebook strategy
OUTCOME:
1-800-Flowers Claims First Retail Transaction Inside Facebook–
at 11:50 am EST on July 8, 2009 1-800 Flowers.

Zappos (online shoe store) social media strategy
 Zappos was at No. 1 spot in 2009 to utilize social media
marketingtools at the best possible extent.
 Zappos having hundredsofbloggers
 lots of video blogging
 The companies 400 employees all have Twitter accounts
 Most of their social media initiatives are about exposing
the people at Zappos, who through their actions
reinforce the companys competitive advantage.
 The CEO leads by example he communicates about his
passions..he is personallyinvested in Social Media.

Fords social media strategy
 Trust builder:-People trust corporations less so with the
rise of social media you need to allow other people
through oral communication create trust for you through
Social Media
 Reached out to those who are listening and let them do
the talking for you and to connect with people like
themselves
 Let them know that you are real people just like them
and are passionate about what they do and the Ford
Brand
 Run a competition: involving Social Media eg.. To be
selected to drive a Ford Fiesta for six months – select 100
of those who are “socially vibrant!
 Implementation multiple Social Media channels such as
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create digital buzz
RESULTS
 11 million Social Networking impressions
 11,000 videos posted
 15,000 tweets.. not including retweets

 13,000 photos
 50,000 hand raisers who have seen the product in person
or on a video who said that they want to know more
about it when it comes out and 97% of those don’t
currently drive a Ford vehicle
 38% awareness by Gen Y about the product, without
spending a dollar on traditional advertising

Technology used in Social Commerce
 Facebook connect
 Facebook apps
 Social networking invitations with various incentives
 Group gifting platform
 e-gift cards
 Branded iGoogle portals and RSS widgets
 real-time co-shopping platforms and social shopping site
sponsorships

Where to start with social commerce: LEADstrategy
 Listen: start with observing conversations and
competitors – how are competitors using social
commerce?
 Experiment – Start with small scale experiments using
the toolset to identify what works for you. Test and learn
to explore ROI potential
 Apply – Apply learning and build on tools that work for
you, integrating social commerce into your overall digital
strategy
 Develop – Constantly evolve and try to beat user
expectations – deliver with new insights and technology

Research methodology:
Research is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on
a specific topic. The increasingly complex nature of business had focused
attention on the use of research in solving operational problem. Research
with regard to demand and market factors has great utility in business.With
the given knowledge of future demand, it is generally not difficult for a firm
or for an industry to adjust its supply schedule. Market analysis had
become an integral tool of business policy these days. To be competitive in
the present business scenario it is very important to know your customers
and their preferences. Therefore research helps in fulfilling this purpose.
This type of research is known as descriptive research. In this type of
research the researcher can only report what is happening.
Sampling design :
A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given
population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would
adopt in selecting the items for the sample. Due to budgetary constraint
and shortage of time non probability sampling design was chosen.
Type of research: - Descriptive research
Sample size: - sample of 30 respondents have been chosen randomly.
Sampling technique: - Simple random sampling
Methods of data collection :
This project report is based on the information collected from both primary
and secondary sources. But basically more information is collected from
primary sources. After a detailed an attempt has been made to collect the
important and relevant information so as to make this project viable.

Primary sources:
To collect primary information a questionnaire was used as a research
vehicle. A structured questionnaire was prepared as a research instrument.
The questionnaire contains close ended, dichotomous and multiple choice
questions. There is no question of open ended type as they are often
difficult to analyze and should be avoided in a questionnaire to the extent
possible.
Secondary sources:
It would not be possible to write an effective report without referring the
various books newspapers and other sources so i took the help of different
magazines related to leather industry. I also collected information from
internet and consulted different reports of various companies to get the
relevant information.
Statistical tools:-
Pie charts, columns, pyramid and 3 D charts have been used to show the
data in a meaningful way.

Data Analysis & Interpretation
A) Gender:
Male 67%
Female 33%
Inferences:
According to the finding 67% of male respondents and 33% of
female respondents are using social media networking websites
for their social networks.
67%
33%
Gender
Male
Female

b) TO WHOM DO YOU TRUST WHILE BUYING PRODUCT ONLINE & OFFLINE
TO WHOM DO YOU TRUST % OF RESPONDENTS
COMPANY/ADVERTISING 15.4%
FRIENDS & FAMILY 93.7%
EXPERT 72%
ONLINECONSUMER REVIEW 60.3%
Inferences:
According tothe findings, more than 80% of the respondent still buy the
products and services onthe advice of friends andfamilies.
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
% OF RESPONDENTS
% OF RESPONDENTS

c) Time spenton social medianetworking websites
Weekly Hours % of respondent
1-5 hours 90%
4-5 hours 43%
6 hours 56%
10-11 hours 30%
20 hours 13%
>20 hours 10%
Inferences:

According to the findings, the 90% of the respondents spent 1 to 5 hours weekly on social
media networking websites.
d) Top benefitofsocial mediamarketing
TOP BENEFITOF SOCIAL MEDIA % OF
RESPONDENT
GENERATED EXPOSURE FOR MY BUSINESS 85%
INCREASED MY TRAFFIC/SUBSCRIBERS/OPT IN LIST 63%
RESULTED IN NEW BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP 56%
HELPED US RISE INSERACH RANKING 54%
GENERATED QUALIFIED LEADS 52%
HELPED ME SELL PRODUCTS & SERVICES 48%
REDUCED MY OVERALL MARKETING EXPENSES 48%

Inferences:
According tothe findings, the top benefit of social mediais exposure to
organization business andincrease intraffic totheir respectivewebsites.

e) Which social media networking websites is mostly employed in the organization?
Inferences:
According to the findings, facebook and twitter are doing well in social media networking
websites and even facebook is fast catching up the google.

f) How do you gauge the use of technology inyour place of work?
Performance of technology % of respondent
Excellent 48%
Good 24%
Fair 17%
Poor 11%
Inference:
According to the findings, 48% respondents feel that the use of technology is excellent at
their work place, 24% of the respondents feel that the use of technology is good at theirwork
place rest of the respondents feel that the use of technology is either fair or poor at their
work place.
Excellent Good Fair Poor
48%
24%
17%
11%
% of respondents
% of respondent

g) Outsource of social media
Inferences: According to the finding, “the largerthe organization, the more likely outsourcing
is taking place. For example, 25.7% of large businesses and 25% of mid-sized businesses are
currently outsourcing, compared to only 10.6% of sole proprietors.”

Conclusion
Social e-commerce is the process of promoting your site or business through
social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links,
attention and massive amounts of traffic. There is no other low-cost
promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of
visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.
If you are selling products/services or just publishing content for ad revenue,
social media marketing is a potent method that will make your site profitable
over time. Those who ignore the efficacyof social media usually fall into three
categories;the ones who don’t know much or anything about socialmedia, the
ones who are interested but don’t know how to use it and those who don’t
believe in the value that a social media strategy can bring to any site or
business.
Here are some reasons why you should consider using social media:
1. It’s natural. Not only do you get natural links without any discernible
pattern, your website is exposed to large groups of people in a
spontaneous fashion. This differs from paid advertising which has overt
commercial overtones.
2. It’s defensible. Once successfullymastered, social communities can be a
great source of web traffic on top of any traffic you are already
receiving from search engines. While you can’t easily increase your
search engine traffic, social media traffic can be very easily controlled
through strategic marketing.
3. It’s low-cost/high returns. If done by yourself, costs are limited to only
time and perhaps the expenses involved in hiring a freelance
programmer/designer. The benefits will often exceed the cost. It would
take you thousands of dollars to buy many links; social media has the
ability to give you that for free.
4. It complements other efforts. Social media optimization and marketing
is usually community-specific. It doesn’t interfere with any other
methods of getting traffic to your website. It can and will fit perfectly
with an advertising campaign targeting other websites or search
engines.

Social Media Questionnaire
The social media questionnaire gauges the respondents understanding and
prevalence of use of web-basedsocialinteractiontools. The most basic of all is
the web 2.0 application, which allows web users to create and exchange
content on the web. In a societyshifting from tradition forms of media such as
newspapers, TV and radio to web-based media, one’s knowledge and
frequency of social media use may determine whether he is in touch with
activities and communication in the youth market. The social media concept
evaluates respondents’ knowledge of social communication and social
networking ideas and how they embrace available technology.
YOUR PROFILE
1. Name: (Optional) __________________________________________
2. Country/State____________________________________________
3. Gender: Male ( ) Female ( )
4. Age: 1. Below 25 ( )
2. 25 – 40 ( )
3. Above 40 ( )
5. Marital Status:
1. Married ( ) 2. Single ( )
6. Educational Level:
1. Below Matriculation ( )
2. Matriculate ( )
3. Graduate ( )

4. Post Graduate (PG) ( )
5. Above PG ( )
Job Title__________
Department________________
Q1. Do you use Web 2.0 or/and other socialmedia tools in your line of work?
Yes____________No_______________
Q2. How often do you use Facebook forofficial business purposes?
Thrice a day ___________Once a day___________ Rarely_________
If yes, for what length of time have you used Facebookforofficial purposes?
Less than 1 year_______________
Between1 and 2 years ____________
More than two years _____________
Q3. Have you identified any business advantage of using Facebookover
traditional media?
Yes _________________________
No _________________________
(If yes, pleasespecify)____________________________________
Q4. What target market does this socialnetworking toolenable you to reach?
_____________________________________________________________
Q5. How do you gauge the use of technologyin your place of work?
Excellent __________________________
Good_________________________________
Fair __________________________________
Poor_____________________________________

Q6. Do you use Twitter for business purposes? ______
Q7. Do you use YouTube for business communication? _______
Q8. Does the organizationyou work for have a dedicateddepartment to
manage communication via socialmedia? ______
Q9. Tick other socialmedia used in your organization
LinkedIn________________
Blogs__________________
Wikis _________________
Q10. Who do you trust whenlooking for advise inbuying a new product ( online
& offline)?
1) Company advertising ( )
2) Friends& family ( )
3) Experts ( mediaanalysis) ( )
4) Consumerreview ( )
Q10. Have you ever outsource the social mediafor your organization?
Yes ( ) No ( )

Bibliography
Books:-
 The community rules :marketing on social web by Tamar Weinberg
 Faceook marketing- leverage social mediato grow your business by Steve
Holzne
 The social media bible –by Lon Safko and David K.
 Marketing management by Philip Kotler
 Marketing research by Naresh k. Malhotra
 Research Methodology By C.R.Kothari
Magazines:
 Business world
 Business today
Newspaper:
 Economics times
 Business standards
 Times of India
Websites:
 For searchregarding social commerce and social mediafrom
http://www.google.com.
 Http://www.socialcommercetoday.com.
 http://www.facebook.com, http://www.twitter.com,
http://www.youtube.com,htttp://www.linkedin.com,http://www.myspa
ce.com

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