A

PROJECT REPORT ON

“Impact of Social Media on SMEs”

SUBMITTED TO UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF TWO YEARS FULL TIME COURSE

OF

MASTER IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES

(M.M.S.-II, SEM-IV)

(2009-2011)

BY

Mr. ROHAN CHANDRASHEKHAR RANADE

Under the guidance of

Prof. Sandeep Vishwakarma

Through

MUMBAI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH,

(MIMR)
WADALA
MUMBAI-400 037.
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the report titled

A STUDY ON in “Impact of Social Media on SMEs”

Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the award of degree in

MASTER IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS)

MUMBAI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH,

WADALA,

MUMBAI

(Year 2009-2011)

Is my original work and has not been submitted for the award of any other

Degree / Diploma / Fellowship or other similar titles or prizes.

Date: Name: ROHAN CHANDRASHEKHAR RANADE

Place: Mumbai
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “Impact of Social Media on

SMEs” submitted by Mr. ROHAN C RANADE, Roll No.-899 has been
completed as a part of the M.M.S. SEM-IV, SYSTEMS, requirement of
University of Mumbai for the academic year 2010-11.

DIRECTOR Mr. Sandip Vishwakarma

Dr. R. K. SINGH External Guide

Date:
Place:
Introduction

What is Social Media Marketing?

Definition of Small and Medium Size Enterprises

Marketing in Small and Medium size enterprises

Background

SME Sector in India

SME marketing strategies

Discussions

Social Media Marketing: Impact on Businesses

How does Social Media Marketing works?

Social Media Platforms

Case Studies in Social Media for SME

Social Media Marketing Analytics and Measurements

Building a Social Reputation

Parameterized Testing of Social Media

Conclusion

References
What is Social Media?
Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable communication
techniques. Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication
into interactive dialogue.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based
applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows
the creation and exchange of user-generated content."[1] Businesses may also refer to social media
as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social
media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

Comparison of Conventional Media and Social Media.

People gain information, education, news, etc., by electronic media and print media. Social media
are distinct from industrial or traditional media, such as newspapers, television, and film. They are
relatively inexpensive and accessible to enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or
access information, compared to industrial media, which generally require significant resources to
publish information.

One characteristic shared by both social media and industrial media is the capability to reach small
or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach zero people or
millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social media
and industrial media are:

Reach - both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a
global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization,
production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized,
less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility.

Accessibility - the means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or
privately owned; social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost.

Usability - industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely,
most social media production does not require specialized skills and training, or requires only
modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of
social media production.

Immediacy - the time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days,
weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous
responses; only the participants determine any delay in response). However, as industrial media
begin adopting aspects of production normally associated with social media tools, this feature may
not prove distinctive over time.
Permanence - industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed
and distributed changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered
almost instantaneously by comments or editing.

Community media constitute an interesting hybrid of industrial and social media. Though
community-owned, some community radios, TV and newspapers are run by professionals and some
by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks.

In his 2006 book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and
Freedom, Yochai Benkler analyzed many of these distinctions and their implications in terms of both
economics and political liberty. However, Benkler, like many academics, uses the
neologism network economy or "network information economy" to describe the underlying
economic, social, and technological characteristics of what has come to be known as "social media".

Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur, writing, "Out of this
anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting
away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most
opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering."

Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do
not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that
grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation.

There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals
worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows:

Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.

A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009.

Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million
tweets per day.

Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in
December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.

Australia has some of the highest social media usage statistics in the world. In terms of Facebook
use Australia ranks highest with almost 9 hours per month from over 9 million users.

The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one
in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.
Characteristics of Social Media
Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of
the following characteristics:

Participation
Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the
line between media and audience.

Openness
Most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting,
comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making
use of content – password-protected content is frowned on.

Conversation
Whereas traditional media is about “broadcast” (content transmitted or distributed to an audience)
social media is better seen as a two-way conversation.

Community
Social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share
common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favorite TV show.

Connectedness
Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites,
resources and people.

Definition of Small and Medium Size

Enterprises
Definitions of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
In accordance with the provision of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act,
2006 the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) are classified in two Classes:
  
(a) Manufacturing Enterprises- The enterprises engaged in the manufacture or production of goods
pertaining to any industry specified in the first schedule to the industries (Development and
regulation) Act, 1951). The Manufacturing Enterprise are defined in terms of investment in Plant &
Machinery.

(b) Service Enterprises:  The enterprises engaged in providing or rendering of services and

are defined in terms of investment in equipment.

       

   The limit for investment in plant and machinery / equipment for manufacturing / service
enterprises, as notified, vide S.O. 1642(E) dtd.29-09-2006 are as under:

Manufacturing Sector

    Enterprises  Investment in plant & machinery

    Micro Enterprises  Does not exceed twenty five lakh rupees

    Small Enterprises  More than twenty five lakh rupees but does not
exceed five crore rupees

    Medium Enterprises  More than five crore rupees but does not exceed ten 
crore rupees

Service Sector

    Enterprises  Investment in equipments

    Micro Enterprises  Does not exceed ten lakh rupees:

    Small Enterprises  More than  ten lakh rupees but does not exceed two
crore rupees

    Medium Enterprises  More than two crore rupees but does not exceed five
core rupees

Marketing in small and medium size

business
Finding new customers is the major challenge for Small business owners. Small businesses typically
find themselves strapped for time but in order to create a continual stream of new business, they
must work on marketing their business every day.

Common marketing techniques for small business include networking, word of mouth, customer
referrals, yellow pages directories, television, radio, outdoor (roadside billboards), print, email
marketing, and internet. Electronic media like TV can be quite expensive and is normally intended
to create awareness of a product or service.

Many small business owners find internet marketing more affordable. Google AdWords and Yahoo!
Search Marketing are two popular options of getting small business products or services in front of
motivated Web searchers. Successful online small business marketers are also adept at utilizing the
most relevant keywords in their site content. Advertising on niche sites can also be effective, but
with the long tail of the internet, it can be time intensive to advertise on enough sites to garner an
effective reach.

Creating a business Web site has become increasingly affordable with many do-it-yourself programs
now available for beginners. A Web site can provide significant marketing exposure for small
businesses when marketed through the Internet and other channels. Some popular services
are WordPress, Joomlaand Squarespace.

Social media has proven to be very useful in gaining additional exposure for many small businesses.
Many small business owners use Facebook and Twitter as a way to reach out to their loyal
customers to give them news about specials of the day or special coupons and generate repeat
business. The relational nature of social media, along with its immediacy and 24-hour presence lend
intimacy to the relationship small businesses can have with their customers, while making it more
efficient for them to communicate with greater numbers. Facebook ads are also a very cost-
effective way for small businesses to reach a targeted audience with a very specific message.

In addition to the social networking sites, blogs have become a highly effective way for small
businesses to position themselves as experts on issues that are important to their customers. This
can be done with a proprietary blog and/or by using a backlink strategy wherein the marketer
comments on other blogs and leaves a link to the small business' own Web site.

A solid public relations strategy that utilizes speaking engagements, press releases, feature stories,
events and sponsorships can also be a very cost-effective way to build a loyal following for a small
business.
 Background

SME Sector in India

SME is the abbreviation for Small and Medium Enterprises. These enterprises can be rightly called
as the backbone of the GDP of India. The SME sector in India is growing at an exceptionally fast rate
due to which it is proving to be beneficial to the Indian Economy. However, there are some
important points that need to be considered for further development of the SME sector. Let us first
analyze the current figures related to the SME sector in India:
The contribution of the SME sector to the entire output of the country is 40 %.
Currently, there are over 11 million SME units in India that produces more than 8000 products.
90 % of the Industrial Units in India belong to the SME sector.
These SME units contribute 35 % to the Indian Industrial Export.
Let us analyze the factors that have contributed to the growth of the SME sector in India.
SME units in India are being funded by foreign and local fund providers.
The advancement in technology has also contributed highly to the SME sector. There are numerous
business directories and trade portals available online that contains a rich database of
manufacturers, sellers and buyers
To start and maintain these units, minimal investment is required.
These SME units are now being funded by many government and private banks.
The SME sector is one of the greatest contributors of domestic production as well as the export
earnings.  Many major mergers have taken place recently.
Thought the sector is flourishing and expected to grow further in the near future, there are
however certain challenges that the SME sector will have to face.
Though the SME industries are spread all over the urban areas, proper infrastructure needs to be
developed in the rural areas to establish these industries there.
The SME units are functioning efficiently and effectively, but even now there is lack of information
regarding the inputs of these industries, like the raw materials, skills, machinery and equipment.
There is need of high level research and development required to develop these sectors in both the
urban and rural areas.
The SME sector is almost at the initial stage of its growth. With further advancements in
technology, this sector is likely to grow further and contribute greatly to the economy of India

Marketing Strategies in SME

The essence of marketing is to understand your customers' needs and develop a plan that
surrounds those needs. Let's face it anyone that has a business has a desire to grow their business.
The most effective way to grow and expand your business is by focusing on organic growth.
You can increase organic growth in four different ways. They include:

Acquiring more customers

Persuading each customer to buy more products

Persuading each customer to buy more expensive products or up selling each customer

Persuading each customer to buy more profitable products

All four of these increase your revenue and profit. Let me encourage you to focus on the first which
is to acquire more customers. Why? Because by acquiring more customers you increase your
customer base and your revenues then come from a larger base.

How can you use marketing to acquire more customers?

Spend time researching and create a strategic marketing plan.

Guide your product development to reach out to customers you aren't currently attracting.

Price your products and services competitively.

Develop your message and materials based on solution marketing.

The Importance of a Target Market in Small Business

When it comes to your customers keep in mind the importance of target marketing. The reason this
is important is that only a proportion of the population is likely to purchase any products or service.
By taking time pitch your sales and marketing efforts to the correct niche market you will be more
productive and not waste your efforts or time.

It's important to consider your virtual segmentation by selecting particular verticals to present your
offerings to. Those verticals will have the particular likelihood of purchasing your products and
services. Again, this saves you from wasting valuable time and money.

Small Business Marketing and Large Business Marketing are Different

If you are like the majority of small business owners your marketing budget is limited. The most
effective way to market a small business is to create a well rounded program that combines sales
activities with your marketing tactics. Your sales activities will not only decrease your out-of-pocket
marketing expense but it also adds the value of interacting with your prospective customers and
clients. This interaction will provide you with research that is priceless.

Small businesses typically have a limited marketing budget if any at all. Does that mean you can't
run with the big dogs? Absolutely not. It just means you have to think a little more creatively. How
about launching your marketing campaign by doing one of the following:

Call your vendors or associates and ask them to participate with you in co-op advertising.

Take some time to send your existing customers' referrals and buying incentives.
Have you thought about introducing yourself to the media? Free publicity has the potential to
boost your business. By doing this you position yourself as an expert in your field.

Invite people into your place of business by piggybacking onto an event. Is there a concert coming
to town, are you willing to sell those tickets? It could mean free radio publicity. If that is not your
cup of tea, how about a walkathon that is taking place in your area, why not be a public outreach
and distribute their material?

When you do spend money on marketing, do not forget to create a way to track those marketing
efforts. You can do this by coding your ads, using multiple toll-free telephone numbers, and asking
prospects where they heard about you. This enables you to notice when a marketing tactic stops
working. You can then quickly replace it with a better choice or method.
Discussions
Impact of Social media marketing on Small
Business
Social Media in India

Today with all the business and business related activities interconnected globally, Social media is
essential for getting the message out about a business, its products and services.

It doesn't matter if a company is focused on marketing, or public relations, or sales, the social web
requires that businesses spread as wide a net as possible.

To flourish in this environment, businesses must integrate a comprehensive strategy for growing
and retaining consumers. This means putting a marketable brand in front of the target audience,
wherever they may be.

Social Media in Business is for key stake holders as social media can turn communication into a
interactive dialogue and impact on business practices and processes.
Some of the ideas of using social media to see greater success with small business are
1.Marketing. Participating in social media is a fast and easy way to market your small business to
others in a place online where youre guaranteed loads of traffic and its free. Just participating in
your favorite social media platform (commenting, voting, sharing information) will make you stand
out as a helpful member of the community and make sure others remember you. Plus, by joining
and participating in groups within larger networks or smaller niche communities like BizSugar.com
lets you focus on the audience you want to market to.

2. Branding. Through the information you share in social media, you can show your expertise,
building brand and authority within the community of your choice. While a business blog can
certainly help you do the same, social media allows you to do so before a readymade niche
audience and to build authority much faster within a larger established community while you build
your own following on your own site.

3. 3. Traffic. Nowadays, social media should be used first and foremost to get a hold of some of the
elusive traffic that can be difficult to capture at first simply by blogging. Sharing content or even just
a link to your blog via social media can make all the difference in the world in terms of the traffic
you can begin attracting almost immediately.

4. SEO.Whether the social media platform you use passes search value directly to your Website or
not as a result of participation, it is certain that the visitors you attract including those who may use
social media to search for their own content (see below) certainly will. Sharing your content or
simply links to your site will encourage first visits and then inbound links from the very niche you
are targeting and will surely eventually have a positive effect on your Search Engine Optimization.
5. Crowd sourcing. Weve done this ourselves by posting questions in order to gather responses
from our community and you can do the same. Use social media to find out what your audience
thinks or to ask them to participate. You will build better products and services with this input and
build community interaction and interest in your business online.

6. Content. Social media is a two way street, In addition to letting you create and share content,
social media enables you to find content in your industry as well. Search for topics to blog about or
news to share with your own social media following giving credit to the originators of the material,
of course.

7. Research. We mean both market research and data research here. Simply, social media allows
you not only to address but to listen to your communities hearing what others are saying about
your industry and perhaps even about your business or brand. At the same time, social media
channels can be a great place to monitor the latest news in your industry often from a variety of
perspectives.

8. Networking. Of course, social media allows you to be much more than a passive observer. One of
the greatest aspects of social media is its social aspect. You can not only share content and give and
receive feedback on that content and the content of others but also make connections, decide who
to follow and who to make a part of your networkand who you should ask to network with you.
Social media allows you to make connections not just with those in your industry but with potential
customers and those who might refer customers to you.

9. Community. Building community goes beyond traffic and visitors to your Website. It has to do
with how engaged those visiting your Website are, whether they share your content with others,
refer people in their network to your content, products and services and so on. Using social media
can help you do much more than simply build traffic on your businesses main Website. Social media
attracts engaged users interested in giving feedback, sharing comments and votes and, in general,
participating. That engagement should transfer to your home site as well and build your community
in the process.

10. Authority. Social media helps you gain authority for your content Website and brand by letting
you share it more widely and more quickly than you might ordinarily be able to simply by updating
your blog regularly. Plus, social media makes it easy for others to share your content with their
networks gradually building your authority in your niche.

Traffic. Nowadays, social media should be used first and foremost to get a hold of some of the
elusive traffic that can be difficult to capture at first simply by blogging. Sharing content or even just
a link to your blog via social media can make all the difference in the world in terms of the traffic
you can begin attracting almost immediately.
4. SEO. Whether the social media platform you use passes search value directly to your Website or
not as a result of participation, it is certain that the visitors you attract including those who may use
social media to search for their own content (see below) certainly will. Sharing your content or
simply links to your site will encourage first visits and then inbound links from the very niche you
are targeting and will surely eventually have a positive effect on your Search Engine Optimization.

5. Crowd sourcing. We have done this ourselves by posting questions in order to gather responses
from our community and you can do the same. Use social media to find out what your audience
thinks or to ask them to participate. You will build better products and services with this input and
build community interaction and interest in your business online.

6. Content. Social media is a two way street, In addition to letting you create and share content,
social media enables you to find content in your industry as well. Search for topics to blog about or
news to share with your own social media following giving credit to the originators of the material,
of course.

7. Research. We mean both market research and data research here. Simply, social media allows
you not only to address but to listen to your communities hearing what others are saying about
your industry and perhaps even about your business or brand. At the same time, social media
channels can be a great place to monitor the latest news in your industry often from a variety of
perspectives.

8. Networking. Of course, social media allows you to be much more than a passive observer. One of
the greatest aspects of social media is its social aspect. You can not only share content and give and
receive feedback on that content and the content of others but also make connections, decide who
to follow and who to make a part of your networkand who you should ask to network with you.
Social media allows you to make connections not just with those in your industry but with potential
customers and those who might refer customers to you.

9. Community. Building community goes beyond traffic and visitors to your Website. It has to do
with how engaged those visiting your Website are, whether they share your content with others,
refer people in their network to your content, products and services and so on. Using social media
can help you do much more than simply build traffic on your businesses main Website. Social media
attracts engaged users interested in giving feedback, sharing comments and votes and, in general,
participating. That engagement should transfer to your home site as well and build your community
in the process.

10. Authority. Social media helps you gain authority for your content Website and brand by letting
you share it more widely and more quickly than you might ordinarily be able to simply by updating
your blog regularly. Plus, social media makes it easy for others to share your content with their
networks gradually building your authority in your niche.
How does social media marketing work for
small business?
How exactly is Social Media Marketing Good for a Business?

This is a logical question and any business owner would want this question answered in a clear and
direct manner. There are seven main reasons you would engage in social media marketing (SMM)
and this is irrespective of your type of business:

1. Improve the ranking of your site on search engines

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, better ranking brings in greater sales. The reasons for this
are obvious; ranking on Google page one in your industry can have a dramatic effect on your sales.
In fact, in industries where sales are made online, being ranked top for the main search term in
your industry would make your company the leader in the industry. SMM allows you to rank well
through a combination of factors. Search engines like Google give high preference to sites with
numerous links from the major social media sites. A massive presence on social media sites would
gradually improve the ranking of your own site.

2. Influence brand reputation

Social media marketing helps you improve the reputation of your brand. Brand reputation is driven
by customer perceptions. Combining this marketing channel with corporate social responsibility
programs can give your brand reputation a big boost.

3. Improve brand awareness

Social media marketing is the new "word of mouth". Word of mouth has been used in traditional
channels to increase brand awareness. It is akin to having an army of sales executives working for
you... for free! A good strategy that's well executed can greatly improve the awareness of your
brand.

4. Increase Traffic to Your Website

This point is closely related to the first. However, it important to note that on its own, social media
marketing can drive lots of traffic to your site even before your website improves in ranking. A
popular page on a site like Facebook can easily bring you thousands of targeted visitors daily. Some
of the companies that have really been successful at using Facebook, such as Starbucks, Toyota and
so on, have millions of fans.
5. Lead Generation

A good strategy can generate massive leads for your business. Closely following the interests of
your customers can provide useful clues and tips on how you can tailor your offering to better
appeal to your customers. You are also in a position to offer creative solutions that directly address
the needs and wants of your clients.

6. Improve Internal Communications

This channel is becoming more sophisticated everyday and some companies now use it for
communication amongst employees, decision makers, customers and suppliers. When used in this
way, the communication process in a business becomes more democratic, interactive and
transparent.

7. Increase Online Sales

Many companies use social media to drive traffic to landing pages where they sell a product. While
this should not be the main reason you get into social media marketing, it can work well for you so
long as you do not try to cram something down the throats of your customers or trick them into
making a purchase.
Social Media Platforms
Social Media Platforms that help you Network:

Classmates: An easy, simple-to-use site that can help you track down former classmates. Great for
high school and college reunions. Strengths: Simple, uncluttered user-interface. Ease-of-use.
Weaknesses: Since it’s a site set-up to connect former classmates, it would be wise to be cautious
about using it for business purposes.

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook out of his dorm room for his fellow students at
Harvard. Today, toddlers to grandmothers can be found on Facebook. Strengths: Widely-adopted
by large segments of the population. Weaknesses: Will the younger generation stay on Facebook
once Grandma has “friended” them?

Friendster: A way to stay connected with everything that’s important to you — hobbies, interests,
causes, business, etc. Strengths: A simple web-interface makes this easy-to-use. Weaknesses: Not
as widely adopted as some other platform-runs. Might have peaked.

hi5: This is a social networking platform that skews a little younger than LinkedIn. Members can
play games, watch videos, flirt, give gifts or just hang out. Strengths: It’s a great alternative to
MySpace and/or Facebook for the younger crowd. Weaknesses: It may not be the best social
networking platform for business.

LinkedIn: This is the Grand Pooh Bah of them all. They’ve been around since 2003, which, in social
media terms is also known as “since the beginning of time.” Strengths: Everybody’s on LinkedIn.
Weaknesses: Most people have trouble knowing what to do with LinkedIn after they upload their
business information.

MyLife: A clean, simple site that helps people connect with family, friends and other relationships.
Over 750 million profiles. Strengths: The easy-to-use interface is one of the site’s great strengths.
Perfect if you’re looking for an engaging, simple way to connect with old friends. Weaknesses: Not
as widely adopted as some other sites.

Ning: This site connects groups of people who are passionate about particular interests, topics or
hobbies. Co-Founded by Marc Andreessen, who helped launch Netscape. Strengths: Great for
connecting with others who are interested in your area of expertise. Weaknesses: The user
interface is so simple and uncluttered that getting started can be confusing. But once you’ve figured
it out, it can be a good tool.

Plaxo: Currently hosts address books for more than 40 million people. Helps people stay in touch
with “Pulse,” which is a dashboard that lets you see what the people you know are sharing all over
the web. Strengths: Graphical user interface makes it easy-to-use. Weaknesses: It’s not as widely-
adopted as some other platforms such as LinkedIn.

Twitter: A surprisingly-successful tool that is widely-adopted and used for everything from business
to fun and games. Strengths: Used by large segments of the population. Weaknesses: Can be a
distraction, especially if you have Attention Deficit Disor … wow, look at that bird outside my
window!

XING: XING has more than 8 million subscribers worldwide. It has over 34,000 specialized groups
and over 150,000 live networking events each year. Strengths: XING adds new developments to
their platform on a regular basis. Weaknesses: Not as widely-adopted as some other platforms such
as LinkedIn.

Social Media Platforms that help you Promote:

Bing: Bing, Google and Yahoo aren’t technically social media platforms, but they are tools that can
be used to promote your product or service, so we’re including all three in this overview. The
technique for using any search engine to promote your product or service is the same so you’ll
want to optimize your website so that the search engines see it. By doing so, you’ll drive traffic to
your website from the people doing searches on specific topics. Strengths: Bing uses “intelligent
search” to make searches even more relevant for the user. Weaknesses: It’s fighting against Google,
which is a tough battle.

Blogging Platforms: These are tools that are used to create blogs. Some of them,
likeBlogger, Tumblr, Vox or Xanga are straightforward platforms that are great for people who want
to do a simple blog about their vacation, their company or their family reunion. If you’re ready to
create a more robust blog that adds a lot of SEO value for your website, you’ll want to
use Joomla, Drupal, Typepad or WordPress. These are the blogging platforms used by serious
bloggers.

Discussion Boards and Forums: Are you interested in creating an online forum where members of
your community can engage with each other and offer each other advice? Then a discussion board
or forum is for you. The best-known platforms for forums
include Lefora,Zoho, Drupal, PhpBB, Simple Machines, Vanila, JavaBB and vBulletin. Strengths:
Forums are a great way to build a relationship with customers and prospects. Weaknesses: They
require regular, ongoing time and energy to keep them running properly.

Google: Google is technically not a social media platform, but can be used as a social tool to drive
visits to your well-optimized website. Strengths: Ease-of-use and pervasiveness. Weaknesses: Are
they spreading their brand across too many channels? Does this confuse people? (Answer: Probably
not, but we’re struggling to come up with any weakness for Google. They’re just so darn nice, it’s
hard to figure out what they’re not good at. They’re even good at not being evil, you know?)

Email Marketing Platforms: Email can often get overlooked in the world of social media, but if you
define social media as tools that help you have a dialogue with your customers and prospects, then
email falls into the social media category. Popular email marketing tools include Constant
Contact, iContact, ExactTarget and others. Strengths: Email is a highly measurable way to connect
with customers and prospects. Weaknesses: Email marketing requires a concerted, ongoing effort if
you’re going to do it right.

Flickr: This is a photo-sharing site that can be used to build awareness and drive traffic to your
product pages. If you’re selling hunting rifles or tennis rackets or widgets, you’ll want to use Flickr
to a) build awareness for your product and b) drive people from Flickr to your website. Strengths:
Flickr is easy-to-use and has a clean user-interface. Weaknesses: Photo-sharing sites are important,
but they’re not the very first thing you’ll want to work on in your social media campaign.

Howcast: Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a website where you could watch “How To” videos on the
topic of your choice? Well, there is and it’s called Howcast. It’s an extremely worthy-competitor to
YouTube. Strengths: A great place to upload high-quality content. Weaknesses: The default is still
YouTube. Most people are conditioned to automatically type “YouTube” into their browser.

iLike: If you’re a musician, you’ll want to upload your work to iLike. It’s the dominant music
application on Facebook, Orkut and hi5. Strengths: Over 50 million music lovers use iLike via
Facebook, Orkut, iGoogle and other platforms. Weaknesses: iLike is a crowded venue, which makes
it difficult for musicians to break through.

iTunes: This is not the only podcasting site, but it’s the best-known and most popular. If you’re
doing interviews with industry experts or if you’re creating mini-radio shows, iTunes is the place to
be. Strengths: It’s a well-known, well-respected platform. Weaknesses: If you don’t create
scintillating content, people won’t come back for more.

MySpace: Ahhhhh, MySpace. They arguably started this whole social media thing to begin with.
Today, MySpace is primarily used as a congregation point for younger people interested in pop
culture. They’re evolving and seem to be finding a niche. Strengths: A well-known social media
platform that most everybody has visited at one time or another. Weaknesses: They’re not the
ubiquitous social media platform they once were.

Picasa: This is a photo organizing, editing and sharing site that’s owned by Google. You can tag
photos to enable quick searches by users. Strengths: As with most Google services, Picasa is easy-
to-use and loads very quickly. Weaknesses: Photo sharing is important, but it’s not the very first
thing you’d want to work on in your social media campaign.

Vimeo: Think of Vimeo as a high-end YouTube. It’s perfect for people interested in sharing their
videos with a community of positive, encouraging creative professionals. Strengths: You gotta love
a site that oozes upbeat, optimistic, life-affirming energy that Vimeo does. Weaknesses: It’s not a
default site the way YouTube is, but that may change in the near future.

Yahoo: Like Google and Bing, this is not technically a social media platform. But it is a tool that
ultimately can drive traffic to your website. Be sure to optimize your website so that search engines
like Yahoo can see it. Strengths: Yahoo is one of the work horses of the search engine world, so it’s
always a good idea to keep it on your radar screen. Weaknesses: Is Yahoo a search engine? An
online portal? A web magazine? Perhaps it’s all of these things. And perhaps that’s not a weakness
after all.
YouTube: Of course, YouTube is one of the better-known platforms used to promote businesses.
The key to YouTube is to keep the videos short and sweet. Make sure they solve the “what’s in it for
me” equation. YouTube is perfect for “How To” videos, but it’s not a good place to upload the CEOs
annual speech to shareholders. Strengths: YouTube is ubiquitous. Weaknesses: It’s a cluttered
environment that can sometimes have some pretty racy videos on it. (Or so we’ve heard.)

Social Media Platforms that help you Share:

Crowdstorm: If you want to get the inside scoop on digital cameras, DVD players, televisions or
other products, Crowdstorm is for you. The Crowdstorm community is built around the idea that
when people share information about products, everybody benefits. Strengths: An easy-to-use
website that leverages the power of ratings and reviews for the benefit of users. Weaknesses: Since
the site crowdsources reviews, it’s not necessarily an effective tool for marketers. But it’s always
good to check with sites like these to see how your product is being perceived in the marketplace.

Delicious: This is a social bookmarking service owned by Yahoo. When someone tags your article,
video or blog post with a Delicious bookmark, it’s the equivalent of a “vote.” The more votes you
get, the more visibility your content has on the Delicious website. Strengths: It’s everywhere.
Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot of votes to show up on the radar screen.

Digg: Similar to Delicious in that people vote for articles, videos and blog posts they like. If your
content receives enough Diggs, it’s promoted to the front page for millions of visitors to see.
Strengths: Like Delicious, Digg is everywhere. Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot
of votes to show up on the radar screen.

Feedback: This is a social media platform that allows people to provide feedback to companies as
diverse as Starbucks and Chipotle. Members of the Feedback community can read reviews and
make additional comments. Strengths: An innovative use of “crowd-sourcing” for information.
Weaknesses: Since the site crowdsources reviews, it’s not necessarily an effective tool for
marketers. But it’s always good to check with sites like these to see how your product is being
perceived in the marketplace.

HootSuite: This is a tool that allows you to manage multiple social media channels through one
dashboard. If you have a company with more than one contributor to your social media program,
HootSuite is a good solution. Strengths: A very easy-to-use interface. Simple set-up, yet still
powerful. Weaknesses: If your social media program is no more extensive than updating a Twitter
account, then HootSuite would be over-kill.

Reddit: Similar to Digg and Delicious. Reddit is a source for what’s new and popular on the web.
Users can vote articles up or down on the site, so readers can check out the hot, trending topics
from blogs, newspapers and other sources around the globe. Strengths: Like Digg and Delicious,
Reddit is everywhere. Weaknesses: You have to have a lot of traffic and a lot of votes to show up on
the radar screen.

Scribd: This is the largest social publishing and reading site in the world. You simply upload your
speech, ebook or PowerPoint presentation to the site so that others can be awed by your wisdom
and expertise. Strengths: A great way to potentially get your content in front of thousands of
readers. Weaknesses: There are a lot of other people competing for the same eyeballs.
SlideShare: One of the better-known places to upload your content for sharing with others. Take
your PowerPoint, your ebook, your Podcast or just about any other content and share it with the
SlideShare community.  Strengths: Like Scribd, SlideShare is a great way to get in front of a large
number of visitors. Weaknesses: There are a lot of other people competing for the same eyeballs.

StumbleUpon: Very similar to Digg, Delicious and Reddit. When you rate a website that you like
using StumbleUpon, it’s automatically shared with like-minded people. And it helps you find great
sites your friends recommend. Strengths: StumbleUpon helps spread your content to people not
regularly exposed to your products and/or services. Weaknesses: Competes with several other well-
established tools, like Digg, Delicious and Reddit.

TweetDeck: Like HootSuite, TweetDeck provides a way to track many of your social media channels
on one dashboard. It can be a time-saver and a productivity-enhancer, assuming you’re not easily
distracted. Strengths: It’s very easy to set-up and get started. Weaknesses: Like all dashboard tools,
it can lead to distractions for employees who are easily … Whoa! Is that a fly on the ceiling or just a
speck of dust?

Wikipedia: It still amazes us that this user-generated encyclopedia is run by just a few dozen
employees (along with hundreds of thousands of contributors around the globe). It’s a great tool
for legitimate entries. Don’t try to game the system by adding overly-promotional posts. But if your
entry will be helpful to the Wikipedia community at large, have at it. Strengths: It’s a great tool for
uploading legitimate, helpful content about your product, service or company. Weaknesses: If your
target market is over the age of 40, they might struggle with Wikipedia’s miniscule type.

Yelp: This platform offers user-generated reviews on cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play.
Yelp has an augmented reality Smart Phone application that makes using it on the run a blast.
Strengths: User-generated reviews are a great way for customers and prospects to find out about
your business. Weaknesses: Some people try to game the system with faux reviews, but Yelp does a
pretty good job of keeping those faux reviews at bay
Business Case Study: Social Media
Marketing
How Social Media Drives New Business: Six Case Studies
Businesses both big and small are flocking to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube and Foursquare. The fact is that a presence on these platforms not only allows companies
to engage in conversations with consumers, but also serves as an outlet to drive sales through deals
and coupons.

And while major brands like Starbucks, Virgin, and Levi’s have been participating in the social web
for some time now, the rate of adoption among small businesses is increasing too. According to a
recent University of Maryland study, social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from
12% to 24% in the last year. But as these businesses look to Facebook and Twitter to connect with
customers, many are finding that some strategies work and some do not produce results. We’ll be
exploring these questions at a panel on Social Media and Businesses at our Social Currency
CrunchUp on July 30. We’ve found some local and national businesses using social media
effectively, ranging from Levi’s to a creme brulee cart, whose case studies are below.  Some of
these businesses will be sharing their experiences at the CrunchUp (You can buy tickets to the
CrunchUp here).

The Creme Brulee Man: Food from street carts have become a
foodie favorite for San Franciscans. Food carts travel from neighborhood to neighborhood, offering
their delicacies to a range of local foodies. But without a set location, how do these carts let
consumers know where they will be? Well, through Twitter of course. Curtis Kimball, the man
behind the enormously popular Creme Brulee Cart in San Francisco, has quickly amassed
over12,000 followers in a little over a year. He knows that most of his business comes from people
who follow him on Twitter because Twitter is the only way you can find the cart’s location for the
day, says Kimball, a former construction worker turned creme brulee expert. “It gives people a valid
reason to follow me,” he says.

The other use of Twitter for Kimball is to tell people what flavor of creme brulee he is serving in a
given day. And Kimball says that Twitter gives him the ability to develop a personal relationship
with his followers and others. He says he tries to engage his followers by asking for suggestions of
what type of custard to serve or where he should park his cart, and he always tries to keep things
humorous.

Kimball says he has no marketing budget and Twitter has been a great way to amass fans. He
doesn’t have as much of a presence on Facebook, and he’s not sure the model is as efficient as
Twitter. “Twitter can absorb more than Facebook with very little effort,” Kimball adds. Yelp has also
been a valuable source of referrals for the entrepreneur. The cart has 224 reviews and is rated with
4 and a half stars.

Joie De Vivre: Joie De Vivre, a company that operates 33

luxury hotels in California is using a variety of social media platforms to drive sales and marketing
for its properties. Central to the hotel group’s strategy is disseminating deals and coupons to
followers and fans on Facebook and Twitter. Every Tuesday, Joie De Vivre’s Twitter account will
Tweet an exclusive deal to its nearly 10,000 followers. Followers have only hours to book the
steeply discounted room rate. For example, this past Tuesday, it offered $79 rooms at the group’s
Galleria Park Hotel in San Francisco in November and December. The company also operates similar
deals for its 5,000-plus Facebook fans on Fridays.

In less than a year, Joie De Vivre has booked over 1,000 room nights through these types of deals—
rooms that otherwise would have stayed empty.  The company has also started a partnership with
coupons site Mobile Spinach to offer coupons for the group’s restaurants. And the company
has partnered with Foursquare to offer deals for check-ins at its various restaurants. In terms of
flash sales, Joir De Vivre has done a number of deals with travel sites like Gilt’s Jetsetter as well
as RueLaLa, and Nadeau says these deals have done moderately well.

The company’s marketing VP Ann Nadeau tells me that because of the economy the hotel
industry’s marketing budgets have shrunk, and social media efforts have proved to be a great way
to both drive sales and build loyalty. The company’s social media efforts are not solely deal based.
This summer, Joie De Vivre encouraged consumers to enter its Road Trippin’ California contest,
which asked people to submit videos on YouTube that share why they love California. Three
winners, out of 270 videos that were submitted, were selected to win all-expense California road
trips with stays in the company’s hotels.

In terms of using social media for customer service, Nadeau says that each property hotel manager
is responsible for monitoring conversations and reviews on Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp.

Stone Korean Kitchen: Co-founded last November by chef Terry Lin, and LinkedIn employeesRobby
Kwok and Dan Yoo, Stone Korean Kitchen aims to bring modern Korean cuisine to the Financial
District in San Francisco. Yoo tells me that as soon as the restaurant launched, he started a
presence on social media sites, including Twitter, Yelp, and Facebook. But the challenge of many
small businesses with social media is driving traffic to the right social media channel rather than
splitting it between various sites. Yoo says that interconnecting content between the various
profiles has helped gain Twitter followers and Facebook fans. Currently the restaurant’s Twitter
profile has 65 followers and its Facebook page has 107 fans.  Many of these are repeat customers.
For a small restaurant, it doesn’t take that many loyal customers to keep the kitchen busy.

Yoo says that he consistently Tweets links to comments and

reviews on the Facebook page. Of course, Yoo also stresses the importance of managing Yelp
reviews and responding to customer complaints on social media platforms.

But what really tipped the scales for Yoo was Groupon (disclosure: my husband works for Groupon).
Yoo says that restaurant saw significant traction in both sales and traffic to its Yelp sites and
Facebook page when the restaurant signed up for a Groupon deal in April. Stone Korean Kitchen
sold 2600 groupons in one day, and saw a packed house for two months for both lunch and dinner.
Now Yoo says that they see around 5 to 10 Groupons per day instead of 30 or 40 but the restaurant
is still seeing a good number of repeat customers from the Groupon deal, says Yoo.

One effect of the Groupon deal, besides increased sales, was that there were a flux of Yelp reviews.
It took the company six months to accumulate 80 reviews on Yelp and after the deal, the restaurant
accumulated 90 reviews within three months. Yoo also says that he’s seen a steady increase in
Foursquare check-ins following the Groupon deal.

Of course, since Yoo and Kwok are both LinkedIn employees (chef Lin manages the restaurant on a
day-to-day basis), they put their heads together to figure out how they could use the professional
social network to drive sales. With the ad targeting capabilities on LinkedIn, the restaurant started
serving ads that target lawyers and bankers in the San Francisco area, as both industries are
centralized in the financial district. They’ve noticed an increase in foot traffic and corporate catering
requests as a result.  In the future, Yoo says that the restaurant is working on a promotion with
Foursquare. And he is in talks with Twitter on featuring a deal on the social network’s new Earlybird
venture.

Dr. Irena Vaksman, Dentist: Social media and dentistry don’t necessarily go hand in hand, but
one San Francisco dentist has forged an impressive social media campaign to raise awareness of her
recently launched practice. She has a Twitter profile, a Facebook page, aYouTube channel and
an website. Dr. Vaksman’s husband, lawyer Robert Vaksman, has been the strategist behind her
social media efforts. Robert says that his wife is confronted with the challenge of practicing in a
building that houses hundreds of other dentists that have more established practices. He says that
it’s a no brainer to be looking at as many social channels as possible for marketing efforts.

While the practice is still young, the Vaksmans say that they are starting to see patients and
potential patients begin to communicate with them on the Facebook page, which has 70 fans.
Vaksman will publish her Yelp reviews from patients on the site as well as YouTube videos
containing educational content about dental procedures. Twitter is still a fairly new forum for the
practice says Robert, and he’s still trying to determine the best way to engage with potential
customers on the network.

Last October, Dr. Vaksman signed up for a Groupon deal in San Francisco, and received 320 new
patients because of the deal, which was for a patient exam and x-ray. The Vaksmans say that the
deal propelled the five month old business in the right direction and boosted its patient base
significantly. Robert is also looking into partnering with Facebook campaign startup Wildfire to set
up a promotional sweepstakes for the practice’s Facebook page.

Levi’s: Now more than ever, retail brands are engaging consumers on social networks to offer deals,
allow users to socialize around purchases, and more. Levi’s Jeans was one of the brands that was
first to use Facebook as a tool for sales and marketing initiatives and has launched a number of
compelling campaigns using Facebook.

As one of Facebook’s initial partners using the social network’s new Like functionality, Levi’s allows
Facebook users to like products on Levi’s online store and its Facebook page (which has nearly
500,000 likes) and share their favorite items with their friends. Within the first week, Levi’s got
more than 4,000 likes, says Inside Facebook.

The jeans giant also promoted a major campaign in conjunction with SXSW this year, partnering
with music publication The Fader to promote a music event at the festival. The company worked
with brand marketing platform Involver to incorporate music and video into their page, with the
hopes of driving music fans to buy jeans from the Levi’s brand. Most recently, Levi’s has begun to
promote retail offerings with geo-targeted event advertisements on Facebook.

In terms of Twitter, Levi’s recently enlisted a “Levi’s Guy,” 23-year-old USC graduate Gareth, to
engage consumers on the microblogging platform. He has over 6,000 followers and is responsible
for responding to and engaging in conversations about the Levi’s brand on Twitter. The company is
currently in the process of trying to find a Levi’s Girl, which will serve as a female foil to Gareth.

Levi’s director of digital marketing, Megan O’Connor, told us that the engagement with both
Twitter and Facebook is about creating and informing brand ambassadors that will help drive sales
through their own actions and word of mouth.

Starbucks: Most experts will agree that Starbucks has one of the best social media strategies out
there.  Now that it is giving away free WiFi, it is even more of a magnet for roving laptop warriors.
And with 10 million Facebook fans, Starbucks is now close tosurpassing the Facebook fan base of
Lady Gaga. The company has held a number of promotions on its page to drive engagement. For
example, Starbucks held a promotion for free pastries on its Facebook page, allowing customers to
access a coupon that would give them a free pastry with a purchase of a coffee drink. Advertising
on the social network has also helped to drive traffic to Starbucks’ page.

In terms of Twitter, Starbucks has also been incredibly active on the microblogging network,
amassing nearly one million followers. Not only does the company’s Twitter stream serve as an
engagement tool with customers who are talking about the brand on Twitter, but it is also used as a
way to spread news from Starbucks. Starbucks has also participated in Twitter’s promoted Tweets
program, which allows advertisers to buy sponsored links on Twitter.

The combination of geolocation and social networks is also a huge avenue for Starbucks and the
company was one of the first major brands to broker a deal with popular location-based social
network Foursquare. In March, Starbucks started offering Foursquare mayors of retail stores special
‘Barista’ badges that would come with discounts on drinks and food. Starbucks also partnered
recently with mobile social network Brightkite to give members special discounts on drinks.
Social media marketing for Mahindra Homestays
Share a little about your organisation

Mahindra Homestays is a unique Indian accommodation network. Launched in 2008, and initially
targeting the UK and Indian tourist markets, it brings together a large number of premium family
homes that have quality guest rooms.

The unique selling point of a Mahindra Homestay is that travellers receive an original experience in
each one, and a more authentic, rewarding and ‘real’ experience of India than they might otherwise
get in a hotel.

Executive Summary

Mahindra Homestays has quickly established itself as a digitally-literate, self-assured and colourful

brand that relishes dialogue and collaboration with its audience. Through innovative blog content
and social media initiatives we have built the necessary foundations for any travel brand looking for
success in the modern online marketing environment.

Background

Once it was an exception to find a brand involved in social media. Now it is an

expectation.
People want to find products and services using the familiar tools of their online travels: YouTube,
Facebook and Twitter to name a few.

They want to talk with brands, discover information and explore a relationship. For brands, this is a
powerful opportunity.

The obvious benefit of being involved in social media is exposure: directly, it’s a chance to market
and create sales, sometimes immediate, sometimes years later – a way of capturing and developing
an audience; indirectly, it’s a way of improving and building on search engine rankings.

For a new brand launching in India and in the UK we wanted to explore the exciting opportunities
available to us through social media marketing.

Approach/ Strategy

Although the time and resources across different social media has varied throughout the initiative
we have chosen to work under six guiding principles and we feel these values have aided our
success.

Be honest – we act responsibly and truthfully when representing our brand in social media

Be interesting – we ensure we communicate worthwhile, engaging messages that people enjoy

Be open – we communicate in an open, collaborative and sharing way with the people who engage
with us
Be dynamic – we strive to demonstrate innovation, originality, enthusiasm and a clear sense of
purpose in communications

Be committed – we are dedicated to keeping our activity regular, timely and relevant

Be strategic – we plan and execute communications intelligently for maximum results

We’ve applied these principles across all the Mahindra Homestays social networks.

a) The India Travel Blog

We created a branded blog on the website, designed to draw traffic and ultimately send it to the
main site. We developed content strategically to appeal to different target audiences and niches,
from yoga lovers to dog owners interested in pet-friendly accommodation.

We used keyword techniques to capture search traffic on certain useful terms – particularly longtail
keywords where we saw an opportunity to get plenty of success. And we used lively editorial to
communicate the brand in an interesting way and encourage dialogue.

Our output over six months has included: 30 highly popular things-to-do articles covering key
locations; features on Indian culture, history and traditions; stunning Indian photography
collections; video tours of properties; original competitions and offers; and we have recently
started podcasting. The blog receives 6,000 visitors a month.

b) Facebook
Strong social media assets create confidence among customers, especially in an unfamiliar brand
and new product. We created an attractive Facebook page with intelligent use of apps and features
and we set about finding our audience. With conversation and user-centric initiatives such as our
Photo of the Month contest we have grown to 4,500 active fans. We use the Facebook page to seed
our blog content, answer customer enquiries and push fans to the main site at any relevant
opportunity.

c) Twitter
For us, being on Twitter was not simply a matter of following the trend. Early on we saw an
opportunity to use Twitter in a powerful way to find our audience as they are making
accommodation decisions. We developed a Twitter page which we use in much the same way
as Facebook, to seed links to the Mahindra Homestays website and respond to discussion. But we
also use it to build relationships with travel journalists, bloggers and travellers across the world. Our
approach is proactive; time is spent, for example, searching for current conversations about ‘hotels
in India’ or ‘flights to India’. When appropriate we step into discussions with useful and timely
contributions.
d) YouTube
Our 26 videos including host-led tours of accommodation as well as a short Kerala travelogue from
some well-regarded UK travel writers have brought over 21,586 views on YouTube. Mahindra
Homestays videos dominate the search results on the leading keyword term ‘India homestays’.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders we engaged through the initiative were our homestay owners who are delighted
that we have provided this platform to engage with their visitors and prospective customers.

Video has provided a great opportunity for the homestay owners to engage with the initiative,
through a profile their property, giving viewers the opportunity to get a real insight into the
homestay experience and get a taste of the hosts’ personality and the sort of hospitality they might
receive.

About the initiative

Having created publically accessible channels for communication they are able to participate
directly via Twitter and FaceBook.

We are in regular contact with homestay owners via email and telephone to provide regular
updates about the initiative and how they can get involved.

Impact – Outcome

A) Blog: Traffic to our blog has been increasing steadily since launch and currently with over 6,000
visits per month. Almost half of this traffic has come via natural search engine rankings. With a new
brand and targeting a new market (UK) we have been able to build brand awareness early on in the
travel research process. For example, those searching for things to do amongst Indian destinations
have a strong change of being exposed to the Mahindra Homestays brand. By offering useful
destination content within a friendly community such as the blog enables us to reach our audience.
We use Analytics on the blog which is fully customised to help us to measure the effectiveness of
the blog.

Although all blog visitors are being exposed to the brand (we avoid selling on the blog) a key aim is
for visitors to then explore the main Mahindra Homestays website. Currently 10-20% of all blog
visitors navigate to the main site and are more engaged that other types of referrals. For example, a
blog visitor spends 50% more time on the site and visits 35% more pages. We’re also delighted that
blog visits lead directly to online bookings.
B) Twitter: It is harder to measure direct results with Twitter. We limit our time on Twitter to a four
to six hours each month.

Our links to new blog content have been retweeted by a number of high profile followers (such as
Times Travel in the UK) that provides peaks in traffic.

PR coverage – We do use Twitter to communicate with the travel trade. One follower had a request
for accommodation coverage in Delhi and we were able to act upon this.

Facebook: Each month we review the Insights stats that Facebook provides along with information
provided through Google Analytics. One year on we’ve had 30,000 visits to our fan page.

A year after the launch we asked our fans whether they would be more likely to choose a Mahindra
Homestay when travelling in India compared to 12 months ago and all responses were positive.

Learnings

Social media (along with search) marketing has become a key part of our online marketing strategy.
We are relaunching the main Mahindra Homestays website later in and 2010 and we plan to better
integrate our social media activity. For example, onhttp://www.mahindrahomestays.com/ we simply have
buttons linking out to our blog, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr. The new website will include:
• Facebook fan box to show site visitors our presence
• Latest tweets from our Twitter stream
• Embedded YouTube videos
• RSS feeds from our blog

This tighter integration will go some way to show our website visitors the different platforms and
communities outside the main website that will build stronger positive engagements with the
brand.

Time spent on social media must be weighed up with results achieved and we strive to balance our
resources across the different networks depending on which generates the best results.

What Next

We will continue to build our social media activity around the blog and look to integrate this activity
more closely onto the main site when it is relaunched. Our aim is to continue to build the blog as a
resource for travellers and to strengthen the community.

Reasoning

It meets our business objectives to build awareness of a new brand across different country
markets.

We’ve seen steady sustained growth amongst our community networks (6000 blog visitors/month,
+4500 Facebook fans, +2119 Twitter followers).

Our initiative supports the community goals and encourages member interaction.

We’ve utilised media depending on demographics and community needs. This includes videos,
guest articles, image galleries, podcasts and competitions.
Our approach is long term but allows us to maintain agility throughout.

We have clearly defined goals and practices in place to assess whether these are met.

Credits Strategy

Dot Tourism (http://dottourism.com) is digital branding and online marketing specialist in the travel
sector.

Credits Execution

Dot Tourism (http://dottourism.com) is digital branding and online marketing specialist in the travel
sector.

Testimonials

Mahindra Homestays was recently announced winner of Wanderlust magazine’s Eureka – Travel
Innovation award. We feel that the social media marketing initiatives have been a key factor in
building awareness of the brand.

Our initiative was profiled in The Hindu Business Line – Septemer 2009.
Social Network Analysis
Social network analysis software (SNA software) facilitates quantitative or qualitative analysis of
social networks, by describing features of a network, either through numerical or visual
representation. Networks can consist of anything from families[1], project teams, classrooms,
soccer teams, legislatures, nation-states, disease vectors, membership on networking websites like
Twitter or Facebook, or even the Internet. Network features can be at the level of individual nodes,
dyads, triads, ties and/or edges, or the entire network. For example, node-level features can
include network phenomena such as betweeness and centrality, or individual attributes such as
age, sex, or income (see this e-book for further detail). SNA software generates these features from
raw network data formatted in an edgelist, adjacency list, or adjacency matrix (also called
sociomatrix), often combined with (individual/node-level) attribute data (See Hanneman's chapter
on network data for further detail). Though the vast majority of network analysis software uses a
plain text ASCII data format, some software packages contain the capability to utilize relational
databases to import and/or store network features.

Some SNA software can perform predictive analysis.[2] This includes using network phenomena
such as a tie to predict individual level outcomes (often called peer influence or contagion
modeling), using individual-level phenomena to predict network outcomes such as the formation of
a tie/edge (often called homophily models) or particular type of triad, or using network phenomena
to predict other network phenomena, such as using a triad formation at time 0 to predict tie
formation at time 1.

Network analysis software generally consists of either packages based on graphical user interfaces
(GUIs), or packages built for scripting/programming languages. GUI packages are easier to learn,
while scripting tools are more powerful and extensible. Widely used and well-documented GUI
packages include UCINet for statistical analysis of networks with easy-to-use visualization
capabilities,Pajek which is free and for which exists extensive documentation, GUESS, ORA,
and Cytoscape, the most feature-rich and extensible of these GUI-based software packages. Private
GUI packages directed at business customers include: Orgnet, which provides training on the use of
its software, and KXEN, Other SNA platforms, such as Idiro SNA Plus, have been specifically
developed for particular industries such as telecoms and online gaming where massive data sets
need to be analyzed.

Commonly used and well-documented scripting tools used for network analysis include
the statnet suite of packages for the R statistical programming language, igraph, which has
packages for R and Python, the NetworkX library for Python, and the SNAP package for large-scale
network analysis in C++. Though difficult to learn, these open source packages are growing much
faster in terms of functionality and features than privately maintained software, and extensive
documentation and tutorials are available. They also come free thanks to open-source licensing.
Visual representations of social networks are important to understand network data and convey
the result of the analysis. Visualization often also facilitates qualitative interpretation of network
data. With respect to visualization, network analysis tools are used to change the layout, colors, size
and other properties of the network representation. Though all of the tools above contain
visualization capabilities, igraph, Cytoscape, NetworkX, and have the highest level of functionality in
terms of producing high-quality graphics.

Also worthy of mention are the variety of tools built primarily for network visualization, some of
which also contain analytic features. These include general purpose visualization tools such
asSocNetV and Tulip; tools designed for medical applications such as SocioMetrica; tools designed
for law-enforcement and intelligence organizations such as SilentRunner Sentinel,i2 Analyst's
Notebook and Sentinel Visualizer; tools designed for corporations and businesses such
as NodeXL, RapidNet, KeyHubs, Idro, Ipoint, and Sonamine.

The International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) maintains a list of software packages
and libraries on their Computer Programs for Social Network Analysis page. A systematic overview
and comparison of software packages for social network analysis was conducted in 2003 by
Huisman and Van Duijn (Draft PDF ).
Parameterized testing of Social Network
No of
Events of fan pages Date &Time Fans Friends

15/2/2011
Launch of Fan Page 10.30 3
Invited Friends 50
Shared on my wall 12.30 6
Invited Friends 1/22/1900 10 50

16/2/2011

19/2/2011
14

20/2/2011
Invited friends 22 901
Total fan Till date 80
Conclusion
Social Media can be defined as the new way of communication between people. The latest
examples of Anna Hazare Protest, Egypt Crisis and Libya Crisis are new way how the social media
works. The political usage of social media which was used in Obama elections had changed the face
of internet community as well. As this paper constitutes the impact of social media on smaller
business, it also helps them to grow at a substantial level. The cost per contact and ROI by using
social media works best with SME sector by following the basic rules mentioned above.
References
Wikipedia

Google searches.

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