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IMPROVING BRAND IMAGE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: A STUDY OF E-COMMERCE COMPANIES Dr. Vivek Kaushik
Head Department of Management, St. Paul Institute of Professional Studies Deergha Jajodia
Student, St. Paul Institute of Professional Studies, Indore
Abstract - Social media marketing has gained a huge recognition in the recent years. Social networking sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have become very popular and attracting. Large population of the world uses these social networking sites because of which it has become very easy and affordable for different e-commerce companies to directly interact with customers and promote their brands. Also, social media marketing helps companies to improve their brand image. This research paper focuses on marketing strategies adopted by different e-commerce websites to create their brand name among different categories of consumers using social media marketing. Now-a-days, it has rather become a competition among different companies for promoting their products and services on social media channels instead of just advertisements in newspapers. The research revealed that that social media marketing affects the buying decision of customers and find that how different e-commerce companies are improving their brand image through the use of secondary data.
Keywords: E-commerce, Social Media, Internet Marketing, Brand Promotion.
1 INTRODUCTION
E-commerce is an old phenomenon and it is the buying and selling of goods or services through internet, includes internet advertising and the transfer of money and data to complete the sales. It‟s also known as electronic commerce. It is a platform that has attracted attention of lots of companies and individuals working as a freelancer. In today‟s technology driven world, social media platform has become a platform where companies can market their campaign to wide range of customers.
Social media allows sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. The platform has also become one of the primary way for the companies to promote their product and services at very less and affordable price. Recently, the advertisements have become prevalent on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and many more. The development of these sites has also changed the customers purchasing habits and their way of promoting the business. Now the customers have started communicating virtually by sharing their experience and opinions through wide range of applications.
1.1 Objectives
To know the strategies adopted by e-commerce companies to promote their brand.
To determine the impact of social media as a key influencer in building brand image.
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study is qualitative and descriptive in nature and has also reviewed the previous studies. The study is based on secondary data and the research is done after realizing that the use of social media platforms has increased tremendously for promoting the products and services offered by different e-commerce companies. Researchers have also consulted various Brand Marketing and Advertising experts who gave us insightful information. Three e-commerce companies were selected for study, namely Big basket, Amazon and Flipkart.
The secondary information was collected from various newsletters, articles published in magazines and websites, interviews, etc. for the selected companies which helped in the analysis and conclusion.
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3 LITERATURE REVIEWChaudhuri, P., Kumar, A. (2015) in their study find that “the economic and social transformation are set off by the massive adoption of digital technologies to generate, process, transact and share information” from societal perspective is known as Digitization.
Direct or indirect employment prospects are provided by e-commerce. Both developed and developing countries are obtaining benefits from use of digital media. Developed countries are trading higher benefits from digital marketing on other hand job creation is more in the developing countries from digital marketing.
Bala, M., Verma, D., (2018) in their detailed review revealed that for a company to be successful they will have to blend their traditional methods with online medium for meeting the needs of customers more specifically. Online advertising using social media is a influential marketing tool for building brands and increasing traffic for companies to be successful. The study also revealed that digital marketing is more cost-efficient and supports in achieving results then advertisements in print media. Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. has opened doors for businesses/ e-commerce companies to communicate with millions of people and start on their campaigns online.
Nair, K., (2017) mentioned in his study that there is substantial growth occurring in the global market with the help of internet between different countries. Trade of e- commerce companies are growing on a wide scale. E-commerce opened a new opportunity for them to interact each other which they never had before. The study also revealed that social media marketing helps organizations to create high level of brand awareness and product image with customers at low cost of investment.
3.1 Analyzing marketing strategies adopted by selected e-commerce companies on Internet and Social Media
A. Big Basket
Big basket was launched in 2011. It is an online store with nationally-focused sales operated by Supermarket Grocery Supplies Pvt., Ltd. It sales are created entirely in India.
Big Basket attain the largest part of its e-commerce sales in the “Food and Personal Care”
category. In 2020, it ranked number 1 with more than US$500m.
3.2 Digital Marketing Model of Big Basket
Big Basket has become one of the favorite online shopping platform for various items like groceries, beauty products and many more. It has attracted every age-group through its innovative top-digital marketing strategies.
3.3 Strategies adopted by Big Basket on Social Media:
The company has almost 4 lakhs followers on its Facebook page. It engages its customers by posting & promoting about various products, services, campaigns & also offers different discounts and rebates. It has now enabled the „Shop Now‟ button on its social media platforms to redirect customers to their e-commerce website to purchase the item they wish to buy.
While on Instagram, it engages the young audience of 29K fans through creative content posts. It also advertises its various range of products, offers and posts videos of many influencers.
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3.4 Other Strategies adopted by Big Basket1) Content Marketing
Posting creative and engaging content helps in attracting the customers and creating companies brand image and big basket does it all. It engages its customers through different types of content like articles, blogs, reviews, collaboration of influencers, offers and various other services.
2) Search Engine Optimization
To establish their brand presence and attract maximum customers, BigBasket opted search engine optimization services. They selected few keywords like grocery shopping, online grocery shopping, online grocery store, online supermarket, etc. to pop-up on search.
B. Amazon
Amazon‟s mission statement is “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience.” To satisfy the customers need the corporate mission promises attractive e-commerce services. The company focuses on the variables of price, selection, and convenience. The characteristics followed by the statement are- Lowest price, Utmost convenience and Best selection.
4 STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY AMAZON ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Amazon on its Facebook page has 28.7 million likes. Amazon is popular because it replies all the comments left on its post immediately and politely, provide useful information and links and also adds the human touch by addressing them with their first name.
Example:
Amazon twitter drives its 2.7 million followers more towards additional services provided by Amazon like Prime Video and Amazon Music. It also promote the company‟s blog which offers small business advice to those who are selling products on Amazon and also informs about the new innovations done by the company.
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Pinterest is one of the platform where people browse for new purchase ideas. Pinterest is also used by Amazon to promote Handmade at Amazon, Amazon Home Services and Amazon Style for Women. It is used to drive Pinterest users towards its purchase items and other works.
4.1 Other Strategies adopted by Amazon
Amazon‟s positioning/ brand strategy was offering products and services in low-price, extraordinary convenience, instant access and comprehensive selection. Also as per Porter‟s definition of strategy, Amazon was offering both value and low price to customers which helped Amazon at a great extent to grow.
C. Flipkart
Flipkart is an E-commerce website, founded in 2007. Flipkart‟s initial aim was to sell books before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials & groceries, and lifestyle products. Flipkart targets anybody who surfs the internet. Though it‟s target audience is scattered over various market segments as consumers from all demographic backgrounds can find products that appeal to their interest.
4.2 Strategies adopted by Flipkart on Social Media:
Flipkart is very much active on all social media platforms. It has 9.6 million followers on Facebook. Flipkart launches various campaigns from last few years to target large audience and to garner traffic and views. It also post about different offers and information, customer experience to reach large audience and market about the brand.
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Twitter is an important platform for social media marketing for any e-commerce brand.
Flipkart has two main accounts on Twitter. They are Flipkart, the brand‟s main promotional account, and Flipkart Support, the account that replies to all queries and complaints.
4.3 Other Strategies adopted by Flipkart
Influencer Marketing and Stardom are huge in India- Flipkart understands this and uses this medium to attract and engage more viewers.
Flipkart also largely focuses on visual-ads.
Straightforward return and exchange policies- Flipkart allows the customers to return the item they have ordered with complete refund policy within 30 days if they are not satisfied with it.
5 FINDINGS
The research reveals that, the social media is becoming a viral phenomenon and this platform is offering multiple opportunities to reach large customers. Additionally, social media launches different online campaigns which are an add-on benefit for different e- commerce companies as it helps in enhancing their brand image also. The research also find that social media has become an important part of brand promotion and analyses different strategies that have been adopted by different e-commerce companies that plays an important role in making purchasing decisions of customers. The companies taken in this research are Big Basket, Amazon and Flipkart which are also very active users of different social media platforms. It showed that social media now-a-days is used by all age group and it makes people more aware about different brand. With time social media has gained trust from consumers. Hence, for a company to grow, adopting different social media marketing strategies has become very important.
6 CONCLUSION
The detailed research on the topic concluded that social media marketing affects the buying decision of customers. The social media has made consumers more aware about different brands available and has also helped e-commerce companies in improving their brand image in many different ways by using various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. The platform also provides one-to-one chance to people to interact with retailers and share their experience. The research also told that these platforms plays a major role in making a perception of e-commerce websites, creating their brand image through the quick spread of information which can be both positive or negative. Reviews on social networking sites also helps in motivating people to purchase and create a brand image among consumers.
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