Article Preview
TopIntroduction
The usage of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. has been growing enormously over the past few years. Facebook is the most popular network in the world, with over 2.6 billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2020. (Clement, 2020). In 2020, there were above 3.6 billion social media users worldwide which is expected to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025 (Tankovska, 2021). On average social networking usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 144 minutes per day as of 2019 (Clement, 2020). The digital population of India is increasing rapidly with more than 680 million users active on the internet. It is forecasted that with the growing ease of internet access available to the population of India, there will be almost 423 million social network users in India from a little over 326 million users in 2018 (Keelery, 2020). This clearly demonstrates that with the increase in internet penetration, the digital population of India is growing fast and people are becoming accustomed to using the internet. This rapid increase in digital convergence has also given rise to the digital advertising industry. Companies have started recognizing the need of incorporating social media into their businesses and therefore, today, India’s digital advertising industry is worth over 160 billion Indian rupees, and it is estimated to reach 560 billion rupees by 2023 (Keelery, 2020).
Social media marketing (SMM) refers to the promotional activities of the companies to promote their products and services on SNSs to reach a huge customer base online. Social media allows the exchange of various types of content in digital networks. Users create profiles on social media platforms or in a smartphone application designed and maintained by social media companies. User profiles can connect with other users’ profiles and brands and create networks (Obar & Wildman, 2015). Using social media, brands can interact and communicate better with their consumers and intensify their association with them, can improve customer services, maintain customer relationships, inform about new products, offers, etc. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter are the most popular SNSs that are widely used by companies and celebrities in promoting themselves and their brands. Social media marketing is also more genuine in its interactions with people, attempting to reveal rather than manipulate the brand's profile (Karamian et al., 2015). Many businesses are turning to social media for marketing, customer service, external promotions, and internal employee communications as it becomes more convenient and relevant (Seo & Park, 2018). Even though social media marketing has not completely replaced traditional marketing, it is definitely an alternative tactic. Companies are increasingly using social media as a more cost-effective and efficient alternative marketing practice that directly communicates with customers, rather than traditional advertisement channels (Castronovo & Huang, 2012). The major difference between traditional media and social media is customer engagement. On average, users spend almost two to three hours on social media sites. Television ads nowadays do not play a much effective role in attracting customers due to easy channel swapping. This makes social media an effective and attractive platform for brands to promote their product and attract current and future prospective customers, build strong customer relationships, and ultimately build customer equity.