2. Group Information Abhishek Srivastava (S-2) Amit Sahni (S-5) Shreya Das (S-58) Sunal Kumar (S-62) Umesh Parashar (S-64)
3. Problem Definition Social network marketing or social level marketing is an advertising method that makes use of social network service and to increase their web presence. This ranges from simply advertising directly on social networking sites, viral marketing that spreads throughout the web, email, and word of mouth or providing niche social networking sites focused around the item being advertised. Many sites include features where companies can create profiles. For example, on Facebook companies can create "pages" where users can become fans of this company, product, service, individual, etc. Many companies create MySpace pages for themselves. Companies sometimes invest in internet presence management, which can include social network marketing.
4. Problem Statement Given the projections regarding the future of Social Network Marketing, the objective of our research is to measure the effectiveness of Social Network Marketing. Research Objective : The Objectives are to: Find out if advertisements on Social Networks aimed at marketing products/services, are effective i.e.: do they lead to a final sale of the product/service? Provide Feed to Company’s desirous of marketing their products through such advertisements. The Feed would include information such as: target audience, consumer demographics etc.
5. Hypothesis The research is designed to test following Hypothesis: H0 = Social Networking Marketing is not an effective tool to increase sales of products and services. H1 = Social Networking Marketing is an effective tool to increase sales of products and services.
6. Research Design Type and Nature of the Study This survey was carried out as a descriptive research to determine the perceptions of the consumers regarding Social Networking Marketing. The survey was conducted in the form of web-based personal structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were administered to a large no. of respondents who use internet regularly. The questionnaire contained variety of issues as per the specification of information finalized. The method of questionnaires has been used because it was simple to administer and the data obtained is reliable because the responses are as per the pre-specified options provided in the questionnaire. The response rate for the questionnaires has been tremendous to about 223 respondents as on 01st November 2009. Extent of researcher Interference with the study : Minimal Interference Study setting : Noncontrived
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8. Data Collection Data Collection Source : Primary The targeted respondents were of mixed demographic profiles. The respondents were Govt employees, private employees, students, self employed persons, and so on. However, most respondents were from private employees. The questionnaire form was sent to the respondents via E-mail. Scaling Techniques The scaling techniques employed were Paired Comparison Scale , Likert’s scale , and Interval scale . The paired comparison technique was used for gauging the completeness, convenience, and inclination of respondents towards Advertisements using Social Networks. The Likert’s scale was used to identify the respondent’s perception. Interval scale was used for ascertaining the relevant demographic data. Questionnaire Development and Pre-testing Fieldwork
9. Data Analysis The data analysis was carried out in the following steps. Questionnaire Checking Editing Coding Transcribing Data Cleaning Data Analysis Strategy
10. Data Analysis Results The response to each question has been collated and converted into a graph. These graphs clearly indicate the consumer preferences. These graphs are presented below for detailed consideration:
25. Conclusion Respondents Profile The majority of respondents belonged to the age bracket of 22-35 years. The majority of respondents were Graduate level qualification. The majority of respondents were employed with the Private Sector followed by employment as Consultants/Professionals The respondents have a high awareness quotient regarding the Social Networking websites, their usage & the notification of advertisements on these websites. Conclusion Though majority of the respondents are aware of advertisements on a Social Network website & they are likely to notice it with respect to their Interests & Activities, many of them believe, its an intrusion to their private information & don’t have experience in buying a product/service stated by the advertisement.
26. Recommendation Based on the research study our recommendations to the Social network marketing agencies are: People are aware of Social Networks & have been using them for a long time. Advertisements on a website are likely to be noticed by a majority of users of the website. These advertisements are considered intrusive unless they match their interest/activities preference & clearly indicate the benefit to the user. The chances of converting such advertisements to the final sale of product/service may grow in future as the users feel updated about the latest offerings. The advertisements on a Social Network website are considered informative.
