Target Users for Social Media Marketing

Internet Users are the target for social media marketing; snapshot of 2009 online user metrics in India is as given in section below. Social Media Marketing is about finding the genre specific vertical or website that can provide the target users to position the product / service.

India Online User Metrics

• 47 million people online, regular users reaching 38.5 million
• 4 million users access internet on mobile phone
• 4 out or 5 online users are 19 - 35yrs
• 91% of regular online users - search or buy online
• 20% have bought online in past 1 year

are they mass or class users for your product?
Social Media users are your quality / class users that you want to reach & communication the message, it’s not yet a mass media in India – because of the much smaller user base on internet compare to TV, Radio etc., It can help you reach students in Bangalore, who are passionate about movies – a focused smaller set of people that have a higher chances of receiving the message & considering to purchase or recommend to other users.

how is the conversion ratio of aware consumers to purchase?










Traditional Media has a smaller conversion ratio in consumer consideration to purchase funnel, because the nature of advertising is mass, we need more impressions to reach the target awareness stage of the product & achieve the required recall rate. Social Media can provide a higher conversion ratio, if the right social media channel is chosen for communicating your product / service message. Also, it’s a shorter cycle of money spends – as the performance metrics of the campaign can be viewed on a daily / hourly basis & corrective actions can be taken quicker than traditional media.

Right selection of online channels to promote your product / service can yield good return on investment, social media marketing is an emerging trend / topic in advertising industry - that has gained a significant share of advertising in US Market... but in early stage of use (only limiting to technology related products / services) in India.

-Bhaskara

What is Social Media Marketing?

This is the first in series of post about "Social Media Marketing" - we will cover the basic definition of social media marketing, how the media differs from the traditional media... that we are aware of & used extensively for marketing currently. In subsequent posts, we will understand the suitability of social media marketing for India market.


Wikipedia: “Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words and pictures.”

Marketing has been inside-out (one way) approach – to broadcast the product message to the consumer with & expect the user to listen, consider purchase of the product. Social Media Marketing is use of media that is capable of two way communication, engage consumer in a dialogue, hear their review comments, spread your product message among their network – along with increase in product sales, you would also get feedback from consumers.

Traditional Media








Television, Radio, Print are the traditional media, currently used for marketing the products / services, characteristically it adopts the “law of few” (scarce resource) that leads the products / services to fight for limited media available to broadcast their message, pricing. Demand to Price elasticity is driven by the quality of the program on the media.

Social Media






Internet & Mobile Phones are the two main constituents of Social Media and it differs in availability of scale, does not have the problem of few, less elastic demand curve compared to traditional media. Specific / narrow target user social media channel can be found or created to market the product, a new channel creation has lower entry barrier.

Next is what? for DVR, TiVo or PVR (as called in India)

I love the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) from TataSky+, television viewing experience has changed & hardly watch any movie or programs with commercials... PVR them & watch it later, still waiting for an unlimited storage or external harddisk facility. But... apart from more storage, what could be next in this space?

• PVR a favorite program, share it with other friends or families - digitally connect different PVR's & ability to browse the recorded programs & play back?

• Watch a favorite program together with friends? - Invite other members, whom you think would like to watch the program, invite them to see with you - watch together, even if you are miles away?

• Create your own video & share to your grandmother or relative far away? - extend the same recorded sharing experience to sharing user created videos, to far away relatives, friends... broadcast those cherished memories of your family with your loved ones!

As Samsung say's it... "Next is what?"

-Bhaskara