Social Media in India and its Use in Advertising

What is social media? The mid of the twentieth century saw keen interest amongst people for communication with the use of Phone Phreaking, Bulletin Board System and Commercial Online Service. Then the World Wide Web came into existence which paved way for the future favorite- Social Media. Social Media is a platform for interaction. Internet usage is essential to connect to any social site. The technologies used to facilitate the social media are not complex. These technologies turn communication to interactive dialogues. Users are allowed to create as well as exchange content. These contents are easy to publish. Business houses classify social media as a consumer generated media (CGM). Common threads run all way through the definitions. Technology and communication joins hands to co-create values. The foundations of Web 2.0 are commonly used.

The usage of social media in India is increasing at a mind-boggling rate. The social media sites popularly used in India are ‘Facebook’, ‘LinkedIn’, ‘Orkut’, YouTube’, ‘Blogger.com’ and ‘Twitter’. Techno-savvy professionals are using the social media for personal networking and talent hunting. The telecom, travel, consumer product and financial services use the social media in India more effectively compared to the other industries. A novel usage of social media in India was observed in 2009. This vehicle was used to influence voters

Current Patterns of Usages of the Social Media: The social media is gaining more and more popularity. In India, roughly 80 percent of the internet users consume this media for more than two hours per day. This is much higher than the usage rate of any other media in the country. The increase of the popularity of the social media is resulting in less usage time on all the other medias. Around 85 percent of the internet users visit the social networking sites. Almost 91 percent of the users of the social sites are hooked to the ‘Facebook’. Out of the total population of social site users approximately 35 percent are students. The youth of the age group 18 to 40 rely heavily on the social media.

Utilities of the Social Media: At present, the social sites are being used not only for communications at personal levels but also for professional purposes. Indian organizations are increasingly using the online social platforms to connect a dispersed workforce. Recruitments through social sites are also in vogue. While information technology (IT) firms are in the lead (mainly to foster communications), the consumer product makers are discovering the potential of social networking sites as brand promotion tools.

Advertising Via Social Sites: Currently, sophisticated online monitoring tools are available to enable the ‘Listen- Understand- Engage’ model. But, still most Indian companies use the social media as a broadcasting tool rather than using it as a participation tool. However, many companies are using this media to track talent, upgrade products or services, generate awareness, generate leads, increase sales and retain customers. The social media in India is a model-advertising vehicle for selected inventories. It facilitates advertising. Companies or individuals may purchase inventories on Cost-per-Mille (CPM) or Cost-per-Click (CPC) basis. Brand page or fan page creation facilities are available. Users may become fans of a particular brand. Users can join discussion groups. Companies can create their own pages and motivate users to remain connected to them by interesting contents and regular contests. The social media is generating huge success in the field of advertising. A recent example of such a success was the  popular campaign ‘Sunsilk Gang of Girls’.

Advertising via this channel (social networking) is generating huge sales. Currently, the social media follows the mode of two-way communication, even while advertising their products. They are also utilizing this media to reach out to elusive customers in multiple markets. There are two different methods in which advertising is carried out on the social sites. One is being present- where the advertising companies pay and buy space. The demographics of the users and the effective keywords are studied before utilizing the space in an effective manner. The second mode is more powerful and interesting. Here, customers endorse the brands. Referrals are always more effective than mere claims by the brands.

In India, the social media is more beneficial for reaching new customers and increasing the client base compared to maintaining rapport with the existing customers. This media increases the fan following for the brands. Companies are using this tool (especially for creating awareness).  Now-a-days, any careless mistake on the part of any organization can result in havoc for them. They need to take well-calculated steps.

The demographic details of the social media users in India indicate that the professionals earning above 10,000 rupees per month use the social media more than the others. So, the audience who can be targeted at via this media can be easily reached. The products and the services which should be advertised in the social media can be brain-stormed keeping the financial status of the social media users in mind. Students use the social networking sites in a high volume. Products and services intended for students can be effectively advertised in the social media. They may not have purchasing power, but if they are convinced of a product – they may seek help of their guardians to avail the same.

While advertising in the social sites the popularity of the sites in India or that particular region is of prime importance. Till the recent past ‘Orkut’ was the most popular social networking site in India. Now, ‘Facebook’ enjoys far more popularity than any other social site. Hence, it is advisable for advertisers that before trying out their luck in this media- they know more about the popular sites of the geographic location. In the world of internet, everything is changing very rapidly. Therefore, the strategies should be short-termed (at the most for six-months). The habits and choices of the users are dynamic, and are changing very fast in this new age. Orkut was the most popular site prior to the entry of the Facebook. The cool users in India quickly migrated to Facebook because it had more features, functionalities and was more happening!

These truths are to be noted by individuals, companies and advertising agencies if they are zealous to generate more revenue. Conventional wisdom of marketing states that a brand should be present where the users are.

How Safe and Important is Social Networking for Kids?

 

Networking is simply that what we need to live our lives isn’t it? Isn’t it very difficult for us to live without our friends, family, workmates etc? Social networking existed even before internet came into the scenario. If you are thinking, what is exactly meant when we say social networking, then to define it in a nutshell, it is when people make use of their existing contacts in order to meet up new persons as a part of the social or business circle. This helps further in expanding one’s future connections.

Anything that links you to helpful or informative resources can be termed as networking; and in the present world scenario of technological developments and scientific advancements, networking has been made possible online as well and not only face-to face. Social networking helps companies or businesses to gain clients, contacts and also make the public aware. Social networking happens through various social networking websites and different communities. The websites have been created in order to help you in online networking.

As a matured and grown up person, if you are still not sure of making your presence at the social networking sites or might be struggling hard to get acquainted with social networking online, then see if you can beat this! In a recent survey done, it was found that 84% of the kids in Chennai have access to computers and internets and are also on various social networking platforms and sites. Besides Chennai, while Mumbai and Delhi leads with about 86% of kids into social networking online, Bangalore has about 83% of children into this.

A survey that was performed in 11 cities of India, on 10,000 children within the age group of 12- 18 revealed that when it comes to online chatting by the kids, Chennai stands at 65%. In case of sports or games it is 55%, music is 27%, watching videos and movies is 8% while reading or studying is about 38%.

Experts in various fields see this as both good as well as bad.

Sangeetha Madhu, child psychologist is of the opinion that-

“What parent’s don’t understand is that such children are vulnerable to cyber bullying and other online dangers. They no more have to walk into the internet parlours, they do it from their homes,”.

School teachers are of the opinion that when children spent most of the time on the internet, they find it difficult to focus while they are in class. Many studies abroad have shown that these kids have very short span of attention and they keep getting distracted. A serious issue that has cropped in with this social networking and chatting tendency among the kids is that the chat lingo has badly affected the English of the kids.

How Safe and Important is Social Networking for Kids?

A very common complaint that keeps cropping up these days among the parents of today is, they feel that they are not quite in touch with their kids, fail to understand them and can’t speak their language. This is obvious to certain extent because the children of today spent more time in chatting, messaging, mailing, social networking etc. A major concern of the parents is that they are not aware of their kid’s friends or the group and circles they are part of. So the parents have no scope to know whether their children are in the right company and track or not!

With the increasing popularity of the many social networking sites children or teenagers sometimes are friends with people whom even the parents don’t know about. Those acquaintances know more about the children then the children’s parents. Children often create their profiles on the social networking sites and display many of their personal information that includes their photos as well. The information can be very well accessed by anyone in this world. Numerous stories can be found regarding the online predators that have made things difficult and worse for the kids and most parents were not even aware of it.

Hence experts feel that instead of getting wary of the social networking websites, the parents should rather take advantage of these sites and try to know their kids more. They should try to find out who their kids are talking to. The parents can even visit the networking sites and try to find out whether their kid’s profile is posted online or not. Since teenagers have a tendency to post almost everything about themselves ranging from hobbies, interests to personal thoughts, the information can thus be used by the parents as a means to know their kids well and communicate with them properly.

Being part of a social network definitely is a great way whereby you come to meet people, learn about varied things, find out communities that would encourage your passion or hobby. You can also be part of informative and interesting discussions.

As for the kids, social networking sites have much to offer. Apart from finding friends, the kids here can engage themselves in puzzles, games, quizzes and various kinds of team activities. Many intelligent and useful discussions takes place on social media where the kids can participate. The debate groups can prove very beneficial to children.

With all good things comes the bad. Although social networking is proving to be a great concept over the time, yet there are several issues that need to be carefully dealt with, which otherwise can create serious problems for the kids.  In order to make social networking a safe experience for the children, they should be made aware of certain important things. They should be taught about the privacy settings of the sites and their profiles. They should also be aware of the harmful affects of making their profile information and photographs accessible to all. The children should very well be aware of the many violent, sexist and racist activities that take place on these social networking sites.

In order to make sure that your children are safe and secured while they engage themselves in social networking, you can just check out the following things that might prove beneficial and help you in dealing well with the matter:

• Guardians can visit the website. Know it well and check out the loopholes if any
• Check out the privacy settings of the various social media sites where kids have their presence. Parents can also make a different profile in order to check the efficiency of the privacy settings

• You can also talk to relatives, friends and people who have a thorough knowledge about the social media sites; who would be able to guide you about the security issues of the sites

• Try to check out if your kids have photos posted in their profiles; if yes either try to prevent your child from posting the photos or check in the privacy settings properly that have been applied to the photos

• One of the effective ways is to join the site where your kid is and add him or her to your list of friends. This would keep you updated about the various activities that your child is into on the social media

• You can educate the kids and enhance their knowledge on social networking and the safety linked to it

• You can also install security software that prevents the kids from having an access to sites containing adult content

• Ensure your child with the space, time and comfort where in your child can discuss the social interactions he is engaged in

• Keep an eye on the total time spent on the internet by your child. This would not allow your child to get addicted or over passionate towards social networking

• Social networking happens to be a kind of boon that can only be enjoyed if used responsibly. So it is always recommended that you put in that extra effort in order to secure your kids as they surf through the Internet