A Comparative Study of Use of Social Networking Sites as a Marketing Communication Tool across Selected Sectors

This study aims to analyse the usage of social networking sites in marketing communication programmes implemented by brands and organisations. Facebook has emerged as the most important platform for marketers in India, followed by Twitter, YouTube and blogging.

Being a popular social media platform in India, with more than 82 million users, Facebook is the favourite playground for social media-savvy organisations in India to engage in everyday conversations and organise engaging promotions and contests for fans. The study summarises empirical evidence of frequency of usage, budgeting, purposes of use and metrics of evaluation, with respect to social networks, within different organisations. The information was collected from companies that have incorporated social media (to any extent) in their marketing communication programme. To study the organisational differences in all the variables and to examine the difference in means, analysis of variance was performed. The study revealed that users are leaving traditional advertising outlets and giving more time, attention and impressions to new media. To a very large extent, social networks are used for customer service, sales and marketing functions. Marketers are trying to capitalise social networks for brand building and innovation, but there is a need for a better approach and attention from the top management for better results. Moreover, there has to be a proper coordination between the paid and earned media. Marketers need to devise new purposes and metrics for use and evaluation on the basis of changing market dynamics. Social media adoption should be seen as a cultural and behavioural shift within the organisation to transparently engage with customers who are not afraid to voice their opinions and are big influencers to their connected networks.