“how marketers are using social media marketing to grow their business”

Social Media Marketing

Major Project Report On

“How Marketers are using Social Media Marketing to grow their Business”

By

Tamanna Satsangi

Roll No. 107636

In Partial full fillment for the award of the degree

Post Graduation in Management

Batch 2010-2011

Under guidance of

Rohit Rajvanshi

Dayal Bagh Educational Institute

Deptt. Of Management

Dayal Bagh Agra- 282005

Website: www.dei.ac.in

Major Research Project


Major Project Report

On

“How Marketers are using Social Media Marketing to Grow Their Business”

Under Co-guidance of

Prof. Harish Chaudhary, IIT-D, DMS

Mr. Himanshu Srivastava, Entrepreneur, www.p2cconnect.com

& With Social Media Agency

Submitted to

Dept. of Management

Dayal Bagh Educational Institute


http://www.p2cconnect.com/


Acknowledgement

There is always a sense of gratitude one expresses to others for the helpful and needy service they render during all phases of life. I have completed this Project with the help of different personalities.

I wish to express my gratitude towards all of them. It gives me immense pleasure to express my deep regards and sincere sense of gratitude to Prof. Harish Chaudhary, IIT-D, DMS and Mr. Himanshu Srivastava, an entrepreneur, www.p2cconect.com for their guidance throughout the Project. Thank you Sir for your able and worthy guidance I would also like to thank to all my respondents for their support which helped me throughout my project.

I would also like to thank to Mrs. Reena Ahuja, Advisor, Hughes India Ltd. & Mentor, DEI ICT centre Delhi, Mr. Naveen Saxena, Business Head, Lighting, Philips India Ltd. and Mr. Pranshu Saxena, Student of BITS PILANI, Goa for steering my confidence and capability for giving me insight into project by giving me exposure to the arena of competitive and real world.

Lastly I would like to thank my parents and friends for their constant support during the duration of my project!

Thank You One and All!



DECL ARA TION

I, Tamanna Satsangi, student of Dayal Bagh Educational Institute,

Batch 2010-11 declare that every part of the Project Report on “How

Marketers using Social Media Marketing to Grow Their Business”

during the months July to December 2011. The empirical findings in

the report are based on the information collected by me and also the

research I have submitted is original.

I was in regular contact with the nominated guide.

Date of project submission: 10/12/2011

Faculty comments:

Signature of faculty guide:



Table of contents

Executive Summary...........................................................................6-8Major Findings..................................................................................9-11

Social Media Marketing For Marketers:

Top 5 Social Media Questions Marketers Want Answer …………………………………………………….........................................12-14The Use of Social Media Marketing..........................................15Time Commitment for Social Media Marketing...................16-19The Benefits of Social Media Marketing .................................20Interviews with social media agency employees and social media marketers…………………………………………………………………...21-22

Social Media Marketing For Consumers:

Awareness about Social Media Marketing……………………….23Commonly Used Social Media Tools.............................................23-26How Will Consumers Change Their Social Media Activities In The Future? ......................................................................................................27-30Survey Participant Demographics .................................................31-32Questionnaire………………………………………………………………..33-39Reference………………………………………………………………………40



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This study set out to understand how marketers are using social media to grow and promote their businesses and also how consumers are dealing with SMM. On the following pages you will discover:

Social Media Marketing for Marketers:-

• The top 5 social media questions marketers want answered: We analyzed nearly 20 open-ended responses of marketers and 70 responses of consumers and summarized all the major questions that marketing pros want answered.

• The time commitment: We examined the weekly hours marketers invest in their social media efforts. This analysis will be helpful for marketers just getting started or seeking support staff.

• The benefits of social media marketing: This rather beefy section reveals all the major advantages marketers are achieving with their social media efforts. We also look at how time invested and experience enhances the benefits.

• Top interviews with social media agency groupM: I have conducted many interviews with businessman, social media employees and social media marketers, from which I have selected some fruitful suggestions and answers for my project.



Social Media Marketing for Consumers:-

• Commonly used social media tools: Wondering which social media tools consumers are using the most? Those questions are answered, along with an examination of which tools experienced folks are using.

Awareness about Social Media Marketing: We have examined 70 respondents and got the awareness level of Social Media Marketing in consumers

How Will Consumers Change Their Social Media Activities In The Future? We examined our 70 respondents about their forecasted views on their own use of social media marketing, that how consumers will change their interest in the social media activities in the future.

The time commitment: We examined the weekly hours consumers invest in their social media exploring. This analysis will be helpful for marketers just getting started or seeking support staff.

Interviews with consumers: some of our consumer respondents gave some fruitful suggestions in personal interview as well, which can be useful for social media agencies and social media marketers.



How my report is beneficial:

Regardless of your experience with social media marketing, there's something here for you. If you're a beginner, take a look at the time commitment, benefits and tools that your peers are using.If you've been at this for a while, compare yourself against other marketers, and also consumers see what tools they're looking at next and see whether you're achieving the same benefits as your more experienced brethren.If you're a social media guru, there's tons of material here to help you develop lots of "how-to" products.



Major findings

Here's a quick summary of our primary findings:

SMM for Marketers:

Top three questions marketers want answered: 1. Which is the most successful medium and why2. What is the effectiveness of this media? Is it measurable? 3. How good is it for B2B marketing?

Marketers are mostly new to social media: A significant 58% of marketers surveyed have only been involved with social media marketing for a five months or less.

How much time does this take? The majority of marketers (40%) are using social media for more than 30 hours each week and nearly but 20%, 20%, 20% marketers are investing 10-20 hours, 1-5 hours, 5-10 hours weekly.

The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating exposure for the business, indicated by 85% of all marketers, followed by increasing traffic (63%) and generating revenues(56%).



SMM for Consumers:

The top social media tools: Facebook, YouTube, Linked In and blogs were the top four social media tools used by consumers, in order.

Consumers are highly aware about SMM: According to our survey 95% people were aware about social media marketing only 5% people unaware of social media marketing.

Linked In at the rise and Social Book marking shrinking: A significant 80% of consumers plan on increasing their use of LinkedIn, while 44% have no plans to use social book marking and 6% will actually decrease their use of social book marking

How much time does this take? The majority of consumers (52%) are using social media for 1-5 hours each week and nearly but 24% consumers are investing 20-30 hours, 14% consumers investing 5-10 hours, and 10% more than 30 hours weekly.

Use of SMM surly increases in future: The majority of consumers (50%) respondent replied that they will increase their use of social media marketing whereas 25% replied that they will remain the same.



The above summary is merely a taste of what's in this report.

On the following pages you'll find nearly 20 charts that visually convey some of the fascinating findings of this report. For example, we look at which tools are used by those who invest the most time in social media marketing and the benefits achieved by those who've been at this for years.



“Top 5 social media questions marketers want answered”

We simply asked, "What question about marketing with social media does you most want answered?" A significant 25 people provided their open-ended responses. We clustered them into groups and ranked them below. These are the top questions marketing professionals want answered regarding social media marketing:

#1. Which is the most successful medium and why?The number one question marketers most want to answer is which tool is the most successful till now and what is the reason behind this?

A sampling of those questions includes:

1. Which is the most popular tool?2. Which is the most beneficial medium?3. What is the reason behind the most successful medium of

social media marketing?

#2. What is the effectiveness of this media? Is it measurable? The number two question marketers most want to answer is about the effectiveness of social media and how can one measure the effectiveness?




1. How effective is social media?2. Can we measure its effectiveness?3. How do I measure ROI of social media?

#3. How good is it for B2B marketing?

The third question marketers most want to answer is how we can use social media marketing in B2B or how good it is in B2B.


1. Does Social Media also deliver for B2B clients?2. How to I make money using social media in my B2B

business?

#4. How do I evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each platform?

Given the choices available, marketers are looking for guidance before investing in specific social media networks.


1. How do I evaluate which site will be most effective when marketing my business?

2. What is Twitter and why should I use it?3. What are the social norms for using Facebook for marketing?



#5. How do I get started?How to get started is still a major question in the minds of many marketers.


1. What are the steps to building a strong social media platform for my business?

2. How do I get it all set up if I'm not very tech-savvy?3. What are the dos and don'ts when I'm first getting started?



“The use of social media”

We asked two questions to determine the survey participants' experience using social media to market their businesses.

We began by simply asking marketers if they use social media to market their businesses.The overwhelming majority (80%) indicated they were employing social media for marketing purposes.

Small businesses were slightly more likely to be using social media.


Yes80%

No20%

Use of Social Media Marketing


“Time commitment for social media marketing”

A significant 40% of marketers are using social media for more than 30 hours each week and 20% for 5-10 hours weekly and so as 20% for 1-5 hours and 20% for 10-20 hours weekly.


10-20 hours

1-5 hours

5-10 hours

More than 30 hours

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Time Commitment

Time Commitment


The experience factor

There is a direct relationship between how long marketers have been using social media and their weekly time commitment. For people just beginning with social media, the median weekly time commitment was one hour per week. However, for folks who have been doing this for a few months or longer, the median jumps to 10 hours per week.


10-20 hours5-10 hours

More Than 30 horus More than 1 year

Less than 10 monthsAbout 5 months

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Total

Total


How occupation vary the time commitment

5-10 hours

more than 30 hours

10-20 hours

1-5 hoursW

ork

at s

ocia

l med

ia a

genc

yWor

k at

mid

bus

ines

s

0 5 10 15 20 25

Number of people

This chart shows how different-sized businesses invest their time with social media activities.

Age factor



People age 18 to 24 spend the most time using social media marketing (45% spending more than 30 hours weekly), followed by 25- to 34-year-olds (33% spending 10-20 hours weekly) and then 35 to 45-year-olds (22% spending 5-10 hours weekly).

more than 30 hours

10-20 hours

5-10 hours

25-3

4 ye

ars

0 5 10 15 20 25

Number of People

Number of People



“The Benefits of Social Media Marketing”

The number-one benefit of social media marketing is gaining the all- important eyeball.A significant 85% of all marketers indicated that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses. Improving traffic was the second major benefit, followed by generating revenue.

More than half of marketers indicated a rise in search engine rankings was a benefit of social media marketing. As search engine rankings improve, so will business exposure, lead generation efforts and a reduction in overall marketing expenses

Generated exposure

Increase Traffic

Generated revenue

helped rise in search ranking

reduced marketing expense

0 5 10 15 20 25

24

20

4

18

6

Benefits

Number of people



“Interviews with some of the social media employees (groupM)”

Interview 1:

Name- Sheetal GoelAgency - GroupMDesignation- Social Media Strategy Lead

1. How social media is beneficiary for B2B??

Helps create brand loyalty and advocacy, helps in creating positive WOM, leads to creating niche audiences which can be used for targeted messaging, Build thought leadership in the industry and be recognized as the main influencers of the industry to help build reputation and also manage it.

2. Being an employee of social media agency, what is you experience so far?

B2B social media marketing is difficult in terms of absolute numbers as the scope is quite restrictive. The advantage however is that once established, the communities created are much more engaged and can help the brand more than only consumer based communities.

3. Few lines on social media marketing.

Social media marketing is the most personal form of marketing right now where it’s not an advertising message that the end consumer sees but has a conversation with a brand. SMM is entrenched in the oldest marketing tradition of building relationships and selling through these relationships. SMM as a marketing medium has



become central to most digital campaigns and is one of the bigger trends to look out for in 2012. While platforms like FB and Twitter and LI can be used interchangeably, the essence of social media marketing will always remain.

Interview 2:Name- Roohani NayyarAgency - GroupMDesignation- Social Media Executive

1. How social media is beneficiary for B2B??

Extremely beneficiary! Provided you work smart! For B2B, one needs to know what channels to use, like linked-in & blogs. How to pitch to bloggers etc

2. Being an employee of social media agency, what is you experience so far?

Great! I work with some of the biggest clients of the world and it is a brilliant experience to work with some of the best people in the field. The exposure is simply amazing.

3. Few lines on social media marketing-

Social Media Marketing is the next big thing and there is absolutely no doubt about it! But, one should never forget that the ultimate funda for brands and companies for interaction with their clients and customers should be:

Twitter < Facebook < texting < phone call < in person!



Social media marketing for consumers

“Awareness of Social Media Marketing”

After surveying the large group of consumers we got to know that 95% of people were aware about social media marketing only 5% people were not aware about social media marketing.

“Commonly used social media tools”

By a long shot, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn were the top four social media tools used by consumers, with Facebook leading the pack by only a hair. All of the other social media tools paled in comparison to these top four.

. Another interesting finding was that men were significantly more likely to use YouTube or other video marketing than women (51.2% of all men compared to only 42.6% of women).


95%

5%

Awareness

YesNo


11%

35%

11%2%13%

11%

13%

2%2%2%

Most Popular Tool

Blogs FacebookTwitter ForumsYou Tube Other VideoLinkedIn DiggReddit Social Bookmarking

Site

A close examination of which tools more experienced social media consumers are using compared to those just getting underway provides further insight.



Tool used by students the most:

facebook

twitter

blogs

youtube

Linked In

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Students

Students

The most common tool used by students are known to be Facebook followed by twitter, you tube and blogs.

Tool used by service man the most:

facebook

twitter

blogs

youtube

Linked In

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Service Man

Service Man



The most common tool used by service men’s are known to be Facebook followed by linked In, you tube and blogs.

Tool used by businessman the most:

facebook

twitter

blogs

youtube

Linked In

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

BusinessMan

BusinessMan

The most common tool used by businessmen’s is known to be Blogs followed by Facebook and twitter.

B2C are much more focused on Facebook and B2B are much more focused on LinkedIn. Also note that B2B companies are utilizing blogs more.



“How will consumers change their social media activities in the future?”

We asked consumers to indicate how they will change their social media use in the near future. Survey takers were asked to indicate whether they will increase, decrease, remain the same or not utilize various social media networks and tools.

5%

50%

20%

25%

Use of SMM in Future

DecreaseIncreaseNo plans to use social media tool Remain the same

At least 50% of consumers plan on increasing their use of social media tools. A significant 20% said they have no plans to utilize SMM in future whereas 25% said they will remain same and only 5% said they will decrease their use of SMM tools.

Here is a breakdown by social media channel:



LinkedIn Sur

prisingly, consumers indicated that LinkedIn were the top area in which they planned on increasing their social media marketing.Small businesses were much more likely to be increasing their Linking In activities.

Facebook

Facebook is clearly a top winner. Only 10% of consumers surveyed do not plan to utilize Facebook. Second only to LinkedIn, Facebook is an area where consumers feel they can achieve substantial results.


80%

15%5%

Linked In


15%

35%

10%

40%

Facebook



Blogs

A significant 63% of consumers plan on increasing their blogging habit. Only 5% said they will decrease their blogging habit and 16% said they will remain same at their use of blogs.

Forums

Only 50% of consumers will increase their forum activities, while 30% have no plans to use forums. But also no one said that they will decrease their use of forums but yes 20% said they will remain same.

Social book marking


5%

63%

16%

16%

Blogs


50%

30%

20%

Forums



Only 22% of consumers have their plan on increasing their social bookmarking activities while 44% have no plans to use social bookmarking.

“Survey participant demographics”


6%22%

44%

28%

Social Bookmarking



I largely leveraged social media to find participants for our survey. We started with a post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, and Yahoo.com in October 2011. It simply said, "How marketers are using social media marketing to grow their business" and included a link to the survey. The message was re tweeted hundreds of times by other marketers and consumers. In addition, many people posted links to the survey on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites.I asked survey participants to help spread the word about our study. Finally, a list of 150 marketers and consumers was emailed and asked to take the survey. After 45 days, I closed the survey with 75 participants.

Here are the demographic breakdowns:Survey participants

Most people who took the survey were students (40%), service man (50%) and business man (10%)

Age of Respondents


10%

50%

40%

Occupation

BusinessServiceStudent


Most survey respondents (70%) were between the ages of 18 and 24.

Gender

Females edged out males, representing 59% of all participants.


70%

30%

Age

18-24 year25-34 year

Female59%

Male41%

Gender


Questionnaire for marketers:“Topic: How social media marketers using social media marketing to

grow their business”

Observant name:__________________________Age:_____________Company:_________________________________Gender: M/F

Question 1: "What question about marketing with social media do you most want answered?"

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question 2: Do you use social media marketing to market their business?Options:

1. Yes 2. No

Question 3: Rate your experience with social media marketingOptions:

1. Just started2. About 1-4 months 3. More than 1 year 4. Not started yet



Question 4: How much time you used to spend on social media in a week?Options:

1. 1-5 hours2. 5-10 hours3. 10-20 hours4. 20-30 hours5. More than 30 hours

Question 5: if you are using social media marketing, what is your individual benefit by using social media marketing?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question 6: Which is the tool you are using the most for social media marketing?Options:

1. My space2. Ning Sites3. Digg, Reddit, Mixx 4. Forums5. Social bookmarking sites6. You tube /other video7. Blogs8. Linked in9. Face book10. Twitter

Question 6: How you will change your social media use in the near future?Options:



A. Twitter1. Increase 2. Decrease3. Remain the same4. No plans to use social media tool

B. FacebookIncrease DecreaseRemain the same

No plans to use social media tool

C. Linked in Increase DecreaseRemain the same


D. BlogsIncrease DecreaseRemain the same No plans to use social media tool

E. Social BookmarkingIncrease DecreaseRemain the same No plans to use social media tool

F. ForumsIncrease DecreaseRemain the same




Question 7: Which social media tools you want to learn more about the most.Options:

1. My space2. Ning Sites3. Digg, Reddit, Mixx 4. Forums5. Social bookmarking sites6. You tube /other video7. Blogs8. Linked in9. Facebook10. Twitter



Questionnaire for consumers:“Topic: How social media marketers using social media marketing to

grow their business”

Observant name: __________________________Age: _____________Company: _________________________________Gender: M/F

Question 1: Are you aware about social media marketing?

Options

1. Yes2. No

Question 2: Rate your experience with social media marketing

Options:5. Just started6. About 1-4 months 7. More than 1 year 8. Not started yet

Question 3: who is your most favorite social media marketing site?

11. My space12. Ning Sites13. Digg, Reddit, Mixx 14. Forums15. Social bookmarking sites16. You tube /other video17. Blogs



18. Linked in19. Face book20. Twitter

Question 4: How much time you used to spend on social media in a week?

6. 1-5 hours7. 5-10 hours8. 10-20 hours9. 20-30 hours10. More than 30 hours

Question 5: How you will change your social media use in the near future?Options:

C. Twitter5. Increase 6. Decrease7. Remain the same8. No plans to use social media tool

D. Face bookIncrease DecreaseRemain the same


C. Linked in Increase DecreaseRemain the same




G. BlogsIncrease DecreaseRemain the same No plans to use social media tool

H. Social BookmarkingIncrease DecreaseRemain the same No plans to use social media tool

I. ForumsIncrease DecreaseRemain the sameNo plans to use social media tool

Reference:



www.business-standard.com www.wikipedia.org 84 Harvard Business Review December 2010 www.google.com 80 Harvard Business Review December 2010 28 Harvard Business Review March 2011 Washington post social reader


http://www.google.com/

http://www.wikipedia.org/

http://www.business-standard.com/