Marketing in Social Media

Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2. Objective 
3. Review of literature
4. What is social media marketing and strategy in general
5. Tools of social media:
6. Social media platforms
7. Current statistics
8. Number of users on popular social networking sites
9. Unique monthly visits on top social networking websites
10. Male-female ratio
11. Age demographics of social networking users
12. Social media users in india
13. Analysis of social networking usage trends for indian internet users
14. Social media network users in india
15. Users on popular social networking sites
16. Developing marketers marketing strategies on social media
17. What social growth means for brands in india
18. Brand engagement through social media on the rise
19. Brands using social media as their marketing tool
20. Social media marketing strategy:
21. Social media and business communication strategy
22. Why social media?
23. Social media and the success
24. How does social media/Internet marketing help new fashion and lifestyle brands to get attention and recognition.
25. Launching a new brand
26. Role of social media marketing in fashion industry and lifestyle
27. How organizations use social media
28. Engagement ads
29. Advertising through apps
30. Successful campaign on social media networking
31. Common social media marketing mistakes that brands make:
32. Case Study
33. Jabong.com
34. Zappos.com
35. Methodology
36. Data sources
37. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
38. PRIMARY RESEARCH Sampling
39. Tools of data collection
40. Data analysis method
41. Findings
42. CONCLUSION
43. Limitations
44. REFERENCES / BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Introduction

The base for any media to succeed is to make Conversation impactful. Social media marketing (SMM) is the new method of marketing which is based on the common principle of Word of Mouth (WOM). Social media marketing (SMM) is the latest innovation in the marketing world. It is being found that India is the world’s 3rd largest internet market, growing at 10.2% (Comscore). The research also found some other interesting facts. There are more than 75 million people in India who are estimated to visit social media sites regularly, which is 60.50% of the total active Indian internet audience. More than 90% of Indian online users belong to 18-45 age group, which has high purchasing power and high disposable income. An average Indian spends 9.7 hours a week on social networking sites. In a nutshell, the social media websites in India are growing by almost 100% year after year. The amount of growth social media sites are experiencing is not seen anywhere.

Besides the growth, opportunities lie within the high target audience with the age group majorly consisting of 18 – 45. Also on social networking sites, it is all about conversation. Everything is an experience on this platform and it is the job of marketers to make the experience wonderful. Marketing via Social Media has become more and more interesting as the days are passing by.

Research includes fashion marketing through social media platform, social media trends, general activities and preferences of Social media users, and the impact of Fashion Brands on Social media network users.

Objective

·         To study fashion marketing through social media platform 

Sub Objective –

·         To study social media marketing

·         To study social media marketing strategies, mistakes and tools

·         To study how do fashion brands (new and existing brands) use digital media platform to promote themselves.

·         To study existing case studies

  

Review of literature

What is social media marketing and strategy in general

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites.

Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.

Tools of social media:

There are many elements / tools of SMM. The most commonly used and impactful are

·         Website,

·         Facebook,

·         Twiter,

·         Linkedin,

·         Youtube,

·         Blogs etc.

Social media platforms

·         Of 400 million users, 20 million join fan pages every day.

·         5 billion links, photos and videos are shared on facebook everyday

·         Fastest growing segment on facebook is 35 years old and older

·         Radio and TV took decades to reach 50 million users

·         Facebook added 100 million users in 6 months

Current statistics

Facts

·         3 out of 4 people use social networks regularly

·         Social media has overtaken email as the #1 activity on the web

·         17% of all web usage

·         There are over 200 million blogs

·         900,000 blog posts everyday

·         34% post opinions about companies brands and products.

·         93% of social media users believe companies should have a presence in social media

Number of users on popular social networking sites

Social Networking Sites	Number of Users(in millions)
Facebook	901
Twitter	555
Google+	170
Linkedin	150
Pinterest	11.7

Unique monthly visits on top social networking websites

Social Networking Sites	Unique Monthly Visitors (in millions)
Facebook	7012.9
Twitter	182.1
Google+	61.0
Linkedin	85.7
Pinterest	104.4

Male-female ratio

Social Networking Sites	Male	Female
Facebook	40%	60%
Twitter	43%	57%
Google+	63%	37%
Linkedin	55%	45%
Pinterest	31.8%	68.2%

Time spend by average social networking user per month

Social Networking Site	Time Spend per month ( in Minutes)
Facebook	405
Twitter	21
Google+	3
Linkedin	17
Pinterest	89

Age demographics of social networking users

Social Networking Site	13-17	18-25	26-34	35-44	45-54	55+
Facebook	11%	29%	23%	18%	12%	7%
Twitter	4%	13%	30%	27%	17%	9%
Google+	9%	23%	35%	15%	11%	7%
Linkedin	0%	18.1%	31.2%	24.8%	15%	10.5%
Pinterest	3%	6%	28%	28%	25%	11%

 

 

Social media users in india

Social networking is one of the top activities for internet users in India, fuelled by the simultaneous growth of social media adoption in the country. Social networking offer seamless integration with other functions enabling instant photo sharing, updates, and website links and more.

Analysis of social networking usage trends for indian internet users

-       Social Networking properties (apps/sites) are the most accessed to search

-       Facebook leads the list, Google+ comes in second

-       One in three Facebook users does not use any other Social Networking

Property

-       Facebook is very sticky with an average user logging in 17 days a month

-       While Facebook is used throughout the day, engagement levels peak late at night

93% of Android smartphone users in India used social networking on their smartphones in April 2012, up from 86% in October 2011. The level reached 86% via Apps and 66% via websites.

Facebook is the dominant Social Networking property with a reach that is more than 5 times higher than its nearest competitor - Google+, with a total reach of 88% vs. 17% for Google+. A sign of Facebook's domination is that one in three Facebook users doesn't use any other Social Networking property.

The more preferred way to access Facebook is through the app. Integration with other Social Networking properties and with phone features (eg., camera, browser) make the app a convenient one stop solution. (nielsenwire, May 2012)

Social media network users in india

Social media  network users in India are expected to reach 76.1 million users in 2012 and 129.3 million by 2014.
-           2011: 50.2 million
-           2012: 76.1 million
-           2013: 105.0 million
-           2014: 129.3 million

Users on popular social networking sites

Facebook –crosses 50 million users in India

Twitter–grows to 13 million users

LinkedIn–has over 14 million users. India is the second largest user base after the U.S.A.

Google Plus -India has 17.51 million users which is 10.3% of worldwide users

Activities performed on social networking websites in India:

-           Check updates: 86%
-           Send messages/mail: 82%
-           Share view photographs: 81%
-           Get in touch with old friends/colleagues: 79%
-           Watch videos/movies or listen to music: 73%
-           Keep in touch with family members: 73%
-           Use site's applications: 63%
-           Participate in discussions on issues/products/services: 58%
-           Find out more about prospective spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend: 52%
-           Play games: 51%
-           Keep track of ex-girlfriend/boyfriend/partner: 46%
-           Research future employer or employee: 43% 

 “Social media is now ingrained in the way tech savvy Indians live their lives. With its ability to play multiple roles in an individual’s life by enabling shared experiences, creating linkages between communities and satisfying the need to be networked, its role in creating a deeper engagement is a boon to marketing,” said Adrian Terron, Vice President of Global Communications and Marketing for Nielsen.

“The social web appears to have gone beyond supplementing communication. Online Indians today are using social media to facilitate activities that range from leisure like entertainment, improving their livelihood through job searches and researching prospective partners,” said Suhale Kapoor, EVP, AbsolutData.

Developing marketers marketing strategies on social media

Marketers in India expect to increase the use of social media and email to reach their customers in 2012, according to Octane Research's January 2012 "Gearing Up For Growth: India e-Marketing Outlook 2012" report. Almost 69% of marketers said they planned to adopt social media marketing in the coming year, and 53.1% plan to invest in email marketing. 46% of marketers also plan to pay more attention to developing company websites.

 eMarketer estimates that internet penetration in India will remain in the single digits, but marketers are steadily increasing their attention to digital media as online usage grows.

Social media has now become part of everyday life for a majority of online Indians. Nearly 30 million Indians who are online are members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on these social networking sites daily.

More importantly, Indians spend more time on social media than they do using personal email. The study found that an equal number spend up to an hour on social networking and email. However while just 8% spend between an hour and three hours on personal email, 20% spend the same time on social media sites.

What social growth means for brands in india

Social media is also gathering momentum rapidly. Based on the current rate of growth and the intention of online Indians to participate in social media, the study estimates that over the next 6 months 45,000 online Indians intend to join social networking sites each day.

the awareness of brands on social media, a fourth of online Indians were able to recall brands using social media. Of those consumers who are on social networking sites, a small but growing number claim to be following brands on these platforms.

“This indicates that no single brand ‘owns’ the social media space and that the opportunity to become a ‘social’ brand is overwhelming. Given that, having a social media presence connotes ‘innovation’ ‘customer friendliness’ and a sense of ‘cool’.

Brand engagement through social media on the rise

Nearly 40 million Indians are using online reviews to inform purchase decisions - 67% of Indians who are on the web use online reviews to help them make purchases. As personal opinion gains currency on the social web, online users are seeking various outlets to express themselves, be it blogs or social media sites.

Increasingly, Indians also want brands to communicate with them using social media. 60% Indians who are social media users are open to being approached by brands indicating that social media has the ability to change the dynamic between brands and consumers who are typically time-starved and may consider traditional forms of advertising obtrusive and undesirable. (Nielsen, May 2011)

Brands using social media as their marketing tool

Social media is about more than marketing and branding. It’s quickly becoming an essential part of customer outreach for brands. In addition to using social platforms to monitor conversations about their Brand, product and competitors, companies are increasingly reaching out to their customers via the social Web to communicate messages about what they have to offer. In fact, social media is transforming the way organizations communicate. The social media tools available today are very cost-effective as compared to traditional approaches such as email and online advertising. Blog posts and tweets enable businesses to create communities, offer immediate feedback or assistance, and promote their products and services.

A surprising number of companies of all sizes have yet to use social media as a communication tool. Social cast has compiled an interesting info graphic that visualizes data from many sources, including eMarketer, the Center for Marketing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Nielsen, about how Fortune 500 companies use social media. The majority of companies studied found social platforms such as blogging, social networking, and online video to be successful.

Here’s a look at why organizations adopt social media, what types of tools have been successful and how important they are for outreach and some examples of how companies have tapped Facebook, Twitter, and blogging for customer communication:

Social media marketing strategy:

1. Determine capacity and need for training.

Creating a plan by knowing how much time and money one can reasonably devote to social media marketing each day. How much time a person need to spend? It depends on three things:

• The size of the business

• Budget

• The size of one’s goals

If it is for a solo entrepreneur who just wants to expand his/her reach then he may not need to spend more than 15 minutes a day on social media marketing. If it is a business such as The Hershey Company, with dozens of brands then one should be going to an entire team of social media marketers in place.

Also one should ask himself how much social media knowledge you’re bringing to the table. Be sure to factor in time and associated costs for necessary training. This can be as simple as downloading a few free eBooks, or as complicated as taking a week-long social media workshop.

2. Listen.

Before starting, plan what to post, check other social media sites such as Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn to see what ones customers are already talking about. This is also a good time to find out competitors that are online, what kind of content they’re posting, and how often.

A good way to monitor the chatter – and find influencers in ones market – is to perform a keyword search in directories such as WeFollow or LinkedIn Groups. What topics seem to generate the most responses? What topics go ignored? Jot down any noticeable trends.

3. Choose your mediums and monitoring tools.

Most social media users can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Choose one social media site to start, then move onto others. Or some businesses create marketing plans for all three, plus a few niche sites. Whatever chosen, just be sure ones social media marketing plan is sustainable over the long haul.

Next, figure out how to monitor each social media account. Will one set his Facebook profile to email him whenever someone posts on his page, or will he check in manually? If he checks in manually, how often?

For Twitter, one can set his phone or social media browser to alert him whenever someone sends a reply or direct message. Also consider setting up a Google Alert of business name to monitor any mentions happening outside of ones account.

Option of choosing to monitor the web using Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Seesmic, or any of the new social media monitoring tools that keep popping up around the web.

4. Crafting your content

Fourth, figure out the message that is going to be posted on each social media account and how often. If one has a schedule of special promotions or events, a person may want to schedule some posts and tweets leading up to each event.

The timing of ones posts can greatly impact the effectiveness of his social media marketing. As content is posted, one may want to try different times of day and different days of the week to see which ones generate the most responses.

It is also a good idea to make a list of potential sources to pull information from during slow week. These posts don’t have to be scheduled, but it helps to have their sources identified beforehand so one doesn’t have to search for them later. 

5. Planning your responses

Fifth, brainstorm all the possible situations that could happen on a person’s social media account. Perhaps someone posts a legitimate complaint to his Twitter profile. Maybe they use his Facebook page to complain about something that’s not legitimate. How will that person judge? How will he reply?

Maybe someone uses ones Facebook page to promote his business, or post obscene photos. What will one leave up? What will he delete?

When mapping out scenarios, remember to account for the good things, too. What if someone posts a compliment? Will he respond? Can he create a strategy that leverages positive feedback in future marketing?

It helps to have a response mapped out for every situation, especially if one is responsible for the social media marketing of a large company or group of people. That way, don’t have to worry about making the wrong move.

6. Evolve

Eventually something will happen that doesn’t have a planned response. Adapt social media plan as needed. One may hire an assistant, and need to create an appendix to the social media plan that spells out who’s responsible for doing what.

Social media and business communication strategy

Social media is rapidly transforming the way organizations communicate with customers. As a cost effective way to engage online, social media gives companies boarder reach beyond traditional communication methods like email. With a simple post or tweet, businesses can promote brands, products and services, provide instant feedback or landscape requires a solid social media strategy.

Why social media?

Immediate: Social media technologies support real time dialogue and feedback, allowing companies to be more productive to potential opportunities and issues that may come up.

Broad Influence: In 2011, 6.7 billion hours were spent on social media sites. That’s 19% of all time spent online.

Easy: It takes practically no time to setup an account on social networking sites and applications. Best of all and paperless.

Free: Most social media applications today cost nothing and add tremendous value that’s an attractive alternative for businesses looking to cut costs.

Customer feedback: From customer tweets about bad experiences or praise for a job well done. Social media provides feedback from customers that business can use to improve customer service.

Brand loyalty: At least half of Twitter and Facebook users said they had become more likely to talk about recommend or purchase brand or company products after they began following company on social media

Successful brands of FACEBOOK fan pages

Coca-cola

The brand is proud of its customers. So proud, in fact, that they display user generation content in their main page wall feed

46,306,885 fans likes and 739,729 talking about

Converse

Converse belongs to the top 3 brands on Facebook.  Converse is one of the fastest growing brands with almost a million new sneaker supporters gained in June 2012. the single most engaging photo posted during June 2012. More than 109 thousands Likes went to the picture claiming: “Nothing beats a Chuck’s celebration.”

32,480,771 fans likes and 406,771 talking about

Redbull (Energy Drink)

Instead of relying on corporate tweets, Red Bull aggregated a twitter stream from sponsored athletes and celebrities on their fan page.

29,129,579 fans likes and · 336,086 talking about

Successful brands on TWITTER

Whole Foods

Invites customers to upcoming company event while also actively asking them what they are interested in reading, watching and eating.

35,206 Tweets, 2,862,552 Followers, 557,231 Following

JetBlue airways

Jet Blue aims to show that its brand is built by real people who care, so employees use twitter to engage with customers to address their travel needs.

31473 tweets, 1678826 followers, 111273 following

Starbucks’

Starbucks’ strategy is one where they would rather reach out and connect with each and every follower on a personal level.

11892 tweets, 2750567 followers, 78480 following

Successful brands on BLOGS

NOWNESS

The brand that were most successful with e-commerce haven been those who have distinguished themselves with experiential stories. Those stories are crafted through packaging and signage, highly stylized display advertising and translated to the web, blogs, social networks and mobile platforms.

LOFT 

LOFT is experiencing rapid growth on traditional blog, web and social media. Holistically can be seen in the way that Live Love Loft showcases a sophisticated lifestyle as well as its clothes.  Blog topics focus on health, beauty, environmental sustainability, travel, food and more.

How does social media/Internet marketing help new fashion and lifestyle brands to get attention and recognition.

Internet is a free tool available for all the users and manufactures. It is the most powerful medium in today’s time. Every soul has a digital presence. For a new company, internet is a good way to carry out pre launch activities like research, market study and segmentation and positioning etc.

Launching a new brand

1.    Identify your target consumer. According to Minkoff, before launching something new, a company must ask itself three questions: Who is my customer? What is he/she doing? Where are they going? Doing so, the ideal target can be realized.

2.   Authenticity is the difference between an individual's voice and a brand's online. Customers are well-disposed towards honest dialogue and story-based content.

3.   Recognition as a privilege, not a right. As social media is a conversation field, companies should think about what they want to be read if they intend to gain attention.

4.   Intention converts into action. The communication has to be as simple, clean and tangible as it is possible. If the purpose of your program is understood by "everyone", then it is guaranteed to attract attention.

5.   "You don't need to intimidate to rule", Aliza Licht said. Known across the Internet as the voice of Donna Karan International, she knows better than any brand the importance of approachability and accessibility.

6.   Find out the source of a trend. Who or what makes something go viral? Depending on what is considered trendy, the location of its birth can range from street style photography and bloggers, magazine editorials or a popular celebrity, too.

7.   Followers' count is not the ultimate goal. Darren Herman, chief digital media officer of media planning agency MediaKitchen, wants brands to know that there's no need to undestand the numbers, but the insights. This means that engagement and response from an online-based project is just as important (probably much more) than the numbers of followers an account has gained.

8.   Promotions offer limited social engagement. According to the "State of Style" report, only 20% of online followers are driven by promotions like competitions or discounts. To increase engagement, brands must be focused on the purpose and the usefulness of new campaigns.

9.   M-commerce and apps drive both traffic and revenue. Alexandra Wilkis Wilson reported that her company (Gilt Groupe) makes over 30% of its total revenue from mobile purchases.

10. Consider f-commerce in your social media plan. The Doneger Group's Catherine Moellering revealed an estimated 786% increase in e-commerce campaigns based on Facebook from 2011 to 2015.

11. Be hacker-minded. Don't be afraid to experiment, fail and experiment again.

Thus Cyber world helps

·         in determining people’s lifestyle

·         consumer behavior

·         psychographics

·         consumer preferences

·         easy to target consumers with similar tastes

·         to shape opinion about a brand or service

·         a way to build goodwill in the market

·         Analyze new trends

·         Building a brand value

·         To know legal formalities

·         In talent hunt

Role of social media marketing in fashion industry and lifestyle

Social Media in the Fashion Industry is a marketing style that allows brands to connect with their target market through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. According to Macala Wright Lee, CEO of Fashionably Marketing. Me, “Until recently, the fashion industry has been fashionably late to the social media party, refusing to adopt it at all, or merely adopting one-way communication via social networks and RSS feeds for sales and promotions.” Many brands initially believed social networking would weaken the relationship with consumers, but for most it has turned into a “genuine interaction between brand and client.”. These brands use social media as a contemporary platform to connect with younger demographics.

Becoming a part of the social media network allows companies in the fashion industry to capture a large audience. According to Macala Wright Lee, “The Fashion Industry has adopted social media as a marketing platform to reach their customers online and reignite brand passion and customer loyalty.” The easily accessible, conversational nature of social media makes it an ideal platform for building consumer trust and loyalty - crucial components of fashion marketing. Brands attempt to distinguish themselves in social media by offering promotions, perks, and discounts.

In fact, the fashion industry has embraced digital media and is basking in its new, more direct, “relationship” with its customers. It is using digital media to tell a much more interesting story about what it is offering to take an enhanced version of its traditional “runway” presentation directly to the public, to all their customers to experiment with and customize their products and to learn what their customers are buying and aren’t buying, and why.

 

How organizations use social media

Fashion brands have taken the opportunity to utilize social media in several ways, the most prevalent being advertising. The other uses include reporting news, updates, announcements, events, promotions, and customer service. This allows outsiders an inside look to what goes on. For example, organizations can use Facebook to promote events and give full news stories. They can use Twitter for shorter updates and announcements. Both social media sites have the ability to promote the brand. The company decides which sites to use and controls how these sites display their image.

Avoiding the use of social media platforms has been seen as detrimental to a brand’s success. Companies’ awareness of society’s dependence on technology drives them to delve into social media. In order to maintain their customer base, brands must be fully immersed in these technological trends. A study by Morgan Stanley shows mobile internet use will surpass that of desktop internet use by 2015. Social media has enabled consumers to feel more “connected” to companies. It has also proven to give more exposure to individual brands.

Engagement ads

Facebook developed engagement ads that allow more communication between the advertisers and the Facebook users. The most common form is a fan page where users can receive automatic updates, comment on ads, and RSVP to events. Fashion brands like American Apparel and Victoria’s Secret PINK take it a step further and include contests to further engage users. These small interactions of commenting, voting and “liking” activities allow brands to see what consumers like and dislike. The page’s fan base allows companies to pinpoint their actual target market.

Facebook has created a way to measure viral marketing by allowing page admins to track how often content is shared and how much has spread throughout the site. The brands benefit from being able to see which fans are sharing their material and it gives them a way to see their return on investment (ROI).

Here are some terms Facebook provides to help advertisers know how engaging their ads are:

Interactions: Total number of comments, Wall posts, and likes.

Interactions Per Post: Average number of comments, Wall posts, and likes generated by each piece of content you post.

Post Quality: Score measuring how engaging your content is to Facebook users. A higher Post Quality indicates material that better engages users.

Posts: Number of posts your Page has made either on the Wall or in video.

Page Views: Number of times your Page has been viewed by Facebook users.

Stream CTR / ETR: This graph is a measure of the Click Through Rate and Engagement Rate for your content appearing in the Facebook News Feed. If a user clicks on one of your posts, that will be counted as Stream CTR. If a user likes or comments on one of your posts, that will be counted in the Stream ETR. Please note that Stream data is based on a sample and therefore is an estimate of your Stream CTR and ETR.

Media Consumption: This graph tracks how many photo views, audio plays, and video plays your content have received.

Discussion Posts: Total number of discussion posts written by fans.

Reviews: Number of times your Page has been rated in the Reviews application.

 

Advertising through apps

Companies have found ways to utilize apps on both social networking sites and mobile phones.

Gilt Groupe, a private discounted site for luxury clothing, created Android apps to promote their products. According to the Vice President of Product Management for Gilt, “The Gilt for Android App was specifically designed for Android-powered devices. Android users can now shop Gilt sales, preview upcoming sales, and invite friends from anywhere via multiple messaging channels, including sharing the app via QR code. In addition, unique to Android devices is the Gilt widget, which is always viewable on the phone so that Android users can see today’s sales even if they don’t have the Gilt app open.” Gilt has found multiple ways to market itself through just one custom-made app.

Gilt Groupe earns about 4% of its revenue from purchases made from the iPad. Shoppers using the device are increasing their spend at a higher rate than consumers using other devices. The retailer, says 177,000 consumers have downloaded its iPad app. And the average order value for a purchase made from an iPad is about 30% higher than for purchases made from an iPhone.

Facebook allows independent developers to create apps that market for several brands, or custom-develop an app for one brand. The widespread use of these applications is Facebook commerce. Target released an application that allows users to virtually play with the clothing by mixing and matching outfits while trying them on. The merchandise displayed in the game constantly changes to reflect only what is being sold in Target stores. It also increases traffic by linking users to that same item on their website

Successful campaign on social media networking

Diesel Photo Booth

People love trying out new clothes, and sharing their photos in the new clothes with their friends further adds to the fun element. Diesel attracted more consumers to its stores, by tapping into this urge of shoppers. In its new campaign, Diesel brought in photo machines to its stores, through which shoppers could click their pictures and share them with their friends on the social networking site Facebook.

Common social media marketing mistakes that brands make:

Here are eight common mistakes B2B companies make when jumping into social media marketing. Avoid these, and you'll greatly increase your chances of success.

1. Using social media as a direct response vehicle.

Unless your product is a price-sensitive impulse purchase (e.g. a restaurant tweeting about today's lunch specials), social media doesn't work well for direct response. For B2B companies, social media is primarily about interaction and knowledge sharing. A hard-sell approach is not only ineffective, but it can also damage a firm's brand.

2. Expecting instant results.

Social media is not like an advertising or email blast campaign designed to produce immediate results; it takes time to develop relationships, build significant blog readership or attract a large Twitter following. Social media marketing can produce significant results, but not overnight.

3. Failing to invest sufficient time and effort.

As a consequence of #2 above, many social media efforts are dubbed failures before they have a chance to succeed. Blogs have a few posts written and are then abandoned. Twitter accounts sit silent with only a handful of followers. Facebook fan pages go without updates for months on end. The B2B companies achieving results with social media are those that set a clear strategy, adjust tactics based on results and experience, and maintain commitment to their social media efforts.

4. Focusing internally.

Social media is about listening and interacting. Focusing only on your own message -- our product this, our company that -- is as boorish as talking only about yourself at a business mixer or cocktail party. Of course, you can link to your own blog posts or other content on occasion, but these should be mixed in with links to external content, and in the context of answering a question or providing helpful information to solve a problem.

5. Not building networks or using syndication.

It's not enough to have great content. You need other people sharing it on your behalf as well. Use your blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, and other social media tools to build a network of influencers who will amplify your content, and use RSS syndication sites to expand the reach of your blog.

6. Having unoptimized and inconsistent profiles.

For CEOs and anyone who represents the "face" of your company to customers, prospects or other stakeholders, every profile on LinkedIn or other social networking sites is a marketing opportunity. While obviously allowing space for originality, every profile should include a compelling and consistent brand message (as well as links to the corporate website, blog, Twitter account, etc.).

7. Not monitoring.

One of the most significant aspects of social media is that it empowers others to share your message (or contradict it). You can't control every conversation about your brand in social media, but you can help shape them, or at least be seen as responsive in participating in them. Social media monitoring is imperative for understanding what's being said about your products or services, thanking your fans and responding to critics.

8. Ignoring synergy between different media.

Social media, your corporate website, PR activities and even online advertising don't exist in isolation from each other; the impact of all of these programs can be magnified by linking them wherever appropriate. Press releases should link to related content on your website or blog as well as to the profiles of anyone quoted. Your corporate website, email newsletters, even employee email signatures should link to your blog and Twitter account. Product microsites can be linked back to the corporate site or blog for additional information. Cross-linking between these different sites and sources raises your profile in search, maximizing your Web presence within your industry and product space.

Case Study

The best example at this point is that of a company called Jabong.com and Zappos.com who are scaling great heights.

Jabong.com

Jabong.com, founded in 2011, is a young and vibrant company that aims to provide good quality branded products. Jabong.com caters to the fashion needs of men’s, women’s and kids across footwear, apparel, jewellery and accessories. 

It is a privately held company with a total headcount of 1001 employees.                          At Jabong.com we strive to achieve the highest level of “Customer Satisfaction” possible. Our cutting edge E-commerce platform, highly experienced buying team, agile warehouse systems and state of the art customer care centre provides customer with:

·         Broader selection of products 

·         Superior buying experience 

·         On-time delivery of products 

·         Quick resolution of any concerns

Specialties Leading online retailers of fashionable Apparels, Accessories and Shoes, Outstanding customer service.

Interestingly, Jabong, which went live in October 2011, did all these within just six-eight months. It rolled out several categories like shoes, apparel, accessories, sports equipment, jewellery, beauty products, fragrances, home décor and toys in record time. The company also embarked on a huge mass communication campaign, created its own logistics network and ensured a significant presence in the market within a very short span while others took at least two-three years to build them up.

The result: Jabong has emerged as one of the top three e-commerce players in India in traffic terms. According to statistics by comScore, Jabong ranks second, with over 6 million unique visitors in June 2012.

Jabong.com is ranked #804 in the world according to Alexa traffic rankings and the monthly revenue is: $ 228,600.

 Jabong.com has Google pagerank #3. The estimated website net worth and values based on its advertising revenue is around $3 Million. Jabong.com receives 1.4 Million pageviews per day and generates nearly $4,104 every day in advertising revenue. Jabong.com has recently shown a 1.13% Loss in the traffic rank. The average page load time is 1.7 seconds, which is faster than 41% of sites around the world. Jabong.com has website back links from #607website. Jabong.com has a popular site score rating of 4 out of 5 Stars. Jabong.com appears to be hosted in India. Jabong.com hosted on.

The company has fully exploited the social media for reaching out to its customers. They have a strong presence on the web and online social communities. The company had conducted the research on web and did not indulge in traditional advertising medium like radio or TV in the beginning but instead designed a strong SMM strategy.

Zappos.com

Zappos.com is an online retailer that sells shoes, clothing and accessories. Headquarter currently based in Henderson, Nevada, United States.

In July 2009, the company announced it would be acquired by Amazon.com in an all-stock deal worth about $1.2 billion. Since its founding in 1999, Zappos has grown to be the largest online shoe store.

Zappos is known for the enormous emphasis they put on creating real relationships with their fans and customers.

Notice their Facebook custom welcome tab below. Their catchy saying, “Let’s be in a Like-Like relationship,” shows they treat their potential fans as equals, solidifying their relationships even more.

One great strategy they’ve employed is to first ask for the Like and then ask their new fans to join their email list. Once you click their Like button, the custom tab changes and you then see the opportunity to sign up for their email list and interact with their products, as seen in the image below. By waiting until after the fan clicks the Like button, Zappos is proving they care about building relationships with their fans first.

In addition, Zappos uses a strategy often called “fans-only content” where they reveal content only after someone has become a fan, such as the fashion images in the illustration above. Once you click the Like button, you get instant access to exclusive content, videos and special promotions.

They’ve also included comment widgets, as seen below, on their custom welcome tab where you can post about their products and your comments will post to your profile or page, telling all your friends or fans what you like most about Zappos. Great social proof!

One of the best engagement strategies I’ve seen on Facebook is Zappos’ “Fan of the Week” contest. They encourage fans to send in their photos with the Zappos box and other fans get to vote on the best photo of the week. What’s great is that Zappos highlights the fan of the week by putting him or her in their wall image photo for all to see. As seen below, this is definitely about putting your customers first!

Tip: Brainstorm ways you can use social media to make your fans the stars. The more you spotlight your fans and followers on your social media channels, the more often they’ll engage with you and come back for more. Remember, you don’t have to be a billion-dollar company to model what Zappos is doing on their Facebook page. You can take their best strategies, tweak them to fit your unique needs and make them work for your business.

Methodology

The research conducted so far is secondary, based on the existing body of work related to the subject and exploratory in nature as it explores various aspects of fashion marketing through social media platform and tools

Based on the study, further exploratory Research has been conducted to identify and study customer perception of fashion marketing through social media platform

The Research has been divided into two parts, Part 1) fashion marketing through social media platform and tools Part 2) To study customer perception of fashion marketing through social media platform

Data sources

To study Part 1, data and information has been collected from several sites eg: emarketer, Wikipedia and socialbakers etc.

For Part 2, An online survey has been carried out through web to gather information to be analyzed and study customer perception of fashion marketing through social media platform

Research methodology

As briefly described above, Exploratory research has been conducted by administering an online survey to collect data.

Sampling

The research conducted a snowball survey. A total of 80 participants have completed the survey questionnaire 

Tools of data collection

 An online survey creator qualtrics.com was used to create and post the online survey. The survey instrument itself included 18 open-ended, Likert Scale and multiple choice questions. The instrument  social media trends, general activities and preferences of Social media users and the impact of Fashion Brands on Social media network users. A copy of the survey questionnaire can be found in Appendix A.

Data analysis method

The results tabulated from qualtrics.com were analyzed to determine frequencies and percentages. To draw further conclusions certain questions were cross tabulated. Questions shortlisted for further conclusions were chosen to extract the following information:

-       Reasons for not using social media

-       Main user activities on social media

-       User perception of the effectiveness of fashion marketing on social media platforms

-       Fashion brands community members (age pattern)

-       Most active social media platforms for fashion brand community members

-       Potential reasons to join fashion brand communities 

-       Reasons for joining fashion brand communities

-       Main activities on fashion brand communities

-       Members’ perception of  information and activities of fashion brand communities on social media

-       Degree of influence on members’ of  fashion communities resulting in purchase  

Findings

Analysis of the collected data from 80 completed surveys based on the shortlisted questions and cross tabulations resulted in the following findings:

Table 1. Percentage wise Social Media Users and Non users.

Social Media Users In %  Social Media Users 82% Non  Social Media Users 18%

A vast majority of 82% participants are social media users, while 18% found to be non users

Table 2: Non social media users

Reasons for not using Social Media	In %
Unnecessary discussion	16.66%
Unsafe/Fake ID	50%
Privacy issues	100%
Unauthentic info.	67%

Main reason for participants for not using social media is based on concern for privacy. 100% of participants have opted for this reason. 67% of participants find the information posted on social media unauthentic and are not using social media. 50% of the respondents feel using social media is unsafe/fake while 16.66% did not join social media because of unnecessary decisions on the platform.

Table 3: General Social media Users

Main Activities on Social Media	In %
To connect with  friends, colleagues, family and business associates	76%
To find information and share feedback about brands and products	8%
Social media is a good tool for self expression	5%
To meet new people	14%
To Discuss subjects & issues of interest	9%

User perception of the effectiveness of fashion marketing on social media platform	In %
Most Effective	13%
More Effective	42%
Effective	23%
Less Effective	16%
Not Effective	6%

42% of participants find fashion marketing on social media platform more effective, while 23% find it effective. Another 13% perceive it to be most effective. 16% of respondents find fashion marketing on the platform less effective while 6% do not find it effective.

Table 5: Members and Non members on Fashion Brand communities

Fashion Brand Community members	In %
Fashion Brand Community members	52%
Non Fashion Brand Community members	48%

Out of all the social media users, 52% are members of fashion brand communities on social media while the remaining 48% are general users and have not opted for a fashion brand community membership.

Table 6: Fashion Brands community Members

Age Group	In %
15-20	0%
20-25	11%
25-30	29%
30-35	47%
35-40	11%
40+	3%

47% of Fashion brand community members are between the age group of 35 to 35 years. Another 29% are found to be between 25 to 30 years. For age groups 20 to 25 years and 35 to 40 years, it is found that there are 11% participants for each group. 3% participants are either 40yrs of age or above while there are no participants under the age of 20 yrs.

Table 7: Fashion Brands Community Members

Most Active On	In %
Facebook	68%
Linkedin	3%
Twitter	10%
Orkut	13%
Other	6%

Facebook takes the maximum share of activity by fashion brand community members at 68% while 13% members are active on Orkut. 10% members are active on fashion brand communities on twitter with 3% on Linkedin.  The remaining 6% are active on other social media platforms.

Table 8: General User’s

Potential Reasons To Join Fashion Brands Community	IN %
To receive information on new products, special promotions, sales, discounts	35%
To get knowledge about fashion style, taste and tips	34%
To follow up on status updates and news and join conversation on products/campaigns etc.	10%
To see pictures, videos or application of fashion trends	9%
To be informed about and invited to upcoming events/product Launches	8%
Because so many of my Facebook friends are ‘fans’ of that profile	2%
Because a friend invited me	2%

Receiving information on new products, special promotions, sales, discounts is found to be one of the main potential reasons to join fashion brand communities on social media as 35% of the responses have opted for it. Getting knowledge about fashion style, taste and tips at 34% is found to be another important potential reason. 10% of responses find following up on status updates and news and join conversation on products/campaigns etc. as one of the main potential reasons while viewing pictures, videos or application of fashion trends is at 9%. Another 8% would potentially join a fashion community on social media to be informed about and invited to upcoming events/product Launches. 2% of responses say that the presence of friends on a particular community would be a reason to join it while another 2% would join they receive a friend’s request.

Table 9: Fashion community members

As a member of fashion brand community on social media I find Information and activities	In %
Useful and interesting	30%
Have neutral feeling about it	19%
Helpful in understanding products and services better	9%
Lack of engaging conversations and content	13%
Annoying because of a lot of spam’s and damage to privacy	9%

30% of fashion community members find information within their communities useful and interesting while 19% have a neutral feeling about it.  13% of members do not find the conversations and content engaging . 9% find it helpful in understanding products and services better while a similar 9% find it annoying because of spam and damage to privacy. 

Conclusion

Social media marketing is the most promised upcoming tool for marketing and promotional activities. It has a deep and long lasting impact in the mindset of the customers and has effective strategy of maintaining uniform reputation among a vast section of prospective customers. The result may not be observed from the first day, however over a period of time it could surely have a remarkable difference on the marketing promotion scenario. In this evolving world of internet and social media, platform and communication, this is the future of marketing promotion and strategies.

The research finds almost half of social media users are members of Fashion Brand communities promoting different brands. Facebook is found to be the mostly widely used Social media network with maximum activity on Fashion Communities

 Both members and non members of Fashion communities on Social media believe Fashion Marketing on the platform is useful and influences them.

 A vast majority of Fashion Community members believe they feel encouraged to buy from Brands where they are members themselves as the main reason for them to be part of these communities is to gain relevant information on products and services.

Limitations

The research draws its conclusions based on snowball sampling technique and studies segments based on whether the participants use social media or not and whether the users are part of Fashion communities on Social media platforms. A much larger sample size is required to arrive at a more accurate reflection of the proportions of users, non users and those who are members are of Fashion communities on Social media.

References / Bibliography

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