1. Report on “Social Media
Marketing Strategy of The
Accurates”
Submitted by:Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro
of
Registration number:Fpb1214/029
Indus Business Academy
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2. A
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“Social Media marketing Strategy of the Accurates”
SUBMITTED TO
INDUS BUSINESS ACADEMY
TOWARD PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
POST GRADUATE DEPLOMA MANAGEMENT (PGDM)
(2012-2014)
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
Mr. Jatin Oberoi
Civil Engineer – The Accurates, Amritsar
and internal guide Dr. M.S Ramachandra
BY
Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro
OF
Registration Number
FPB1214/029
Indus Business Academy
FPB1214/029
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4. Director’s Certificate
This is to certify that, Mr. Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro is a bona fide student of Indus Business Academy,
Bangalore and is presently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
Under my guidance, he has submitted his project titled “Social Media marketing Strategy of the
Accurates”in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Summer Internship Program during the Post
Graduate Diploma in Management.
This report has not been previously submitted by him as part of another degree or Diploma in another
school or university.
…………………………..
Dr. Subhash Sharma
Indus Business Academy
Lakshmipura, Thataguni post,
Kanakapura main road
Bangalore 560 062
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5. Mentor’s Certificate
This is to certify that, Mr. Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro is a bona fide student of Indus Business
Academy, Bangalore and is presently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
Under my guidance, he has submitted his project titled “Social Media marketing Strategy of
the Accurates”, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Summer Internship Program
during the Post Graduate Diploma in Management.
This report has not been previously submitted by him as part of another degree or Diploma in
another school or university.
…………………………..
Indus Business Academy
Lakshmipura, Thataguni post
Kanakpura main road
Bangalore – 560 062
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6. Declaration
I Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro, the undersigned, a student of Indian Business Academy, Bangalore,
declare that this project report titled “Social Media marketing Strategy of the Accurates”
in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Summer Internship Program during the PostGraduation Diploma in Management.
This work has not been previously submitted by me as a part of any other degree or diploma of
another school or University.
…………………………..
Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro
FPB1214/029
PGDM 2012-2014
INDUS BUSINESS ACADEMY
Lakshmipura, Thataguni Post
Kanakpura Main Road,
Bangalore- 560062
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7. Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to thank my college, Indus Business Academy, Bangalore and
Mr. Manish Jain (CEO) for giving me a chance to do a summer internship project, adding the
experience of practical knowledge so important to understand and to try and bridge the gap
between theoretical and practical knowledge.
I also express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Subhash Sharma, Dean, Indus Business Academy and
Dr. MS Ramachandra, Faculty of Indus Business Academy for their valuable inputs.
I am thankful to ING “The Accurates” Company Limited for giving me an opportunity to
undertake a project on “Social Media marketing Strategy of the Accurates”
And also for providing me all the information required.
I express my gratitude to Mr. Jatin Oberoi, Civil Engineer at The Accurates, who
through his vast experience and knowledge has been able to guide me, both ably and
successfully towards the completion of my summer internship project.
I am sincerely grateful for the assistance of several individuals, who have contributed towards
fulfillment of this report. The knowledge, experience, guidance and the most important factors
– support from these people are indeed valuable.
Ch. Rakesh Kumar Patro
Indus Business Academy, Bangalore
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8. Table of Content
Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 9
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Industry profile............................................................................................................................................ 10
Company profile.......................................................................................................................................... 28
Product portfolio......................................................................................................................................... 35
Analysis and Interoretation......................................................................................................................... 36
Findings ...................................................................................................................................................... 52
Recommendations ...................................................................................................................................... 53
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 54
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 55
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9. Executive Summary
Evaluating the market potential is an important aspect as the present state and
future possibilities any business can be analyzed through this.
In this project the social media marketing strategy of The Accurates Company is
measured in Amritsar area through different methods. The report will give an
insight of the current level of customer demand of The Accurates in comparison
of its competitors. Different parameters have been used to analyze the
preference of customer. Necessary suggestions have been made which will help
the company to take corrective actions to increase its sales and get a step ahead
of its competitors.
Although the findings of the report possess certain assumptions and limitations
yet it will provide the proper current state and future state analysis of the
company. This will definitely benefit the company in longer run.
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10. Introduction of The Accurates
The Accurates formally as "celerity" architects and interior designers was
established on ----. At The Accurates full-fledged
Architects and interior
designers are specialized in corporate office spaces, hospitality industry such as
hotels, hospitals, resorts, restaurants etc., institutions and housing “The
Accurates” is a team of dedicated professionals engaged in consultancy services
in the field of Architectural, Civil, Project Management and Interior Designing,
with a wealth of project and development experience covering residential,
commercial and industrial projects. What sets us apart is that we believe in
optimizing limited resources to design buildings and interiors that are
functional.
We
recognize the value of information technology by
amalgamating the latest digital technologies available with other relevant
software and hardware tools in order to meet the challenges and demands of
the construction industry in the current environment.
Industry Profile:
The Construction industry of India is an important indicator of the development
as it creates investment opportunities across various related sectors. The
construction industry has contributed an estimated 670,778 crores to the
national GDP in 2011-12 (a share of around 8%). The industry is fragmented, with
a handful of major companies involved in the construction activities across all
segments; medium sized companies specializing in niche activities; and small and
medium contractors who work on the subcontractor basis and carry out the work
in the field. In 2011, there were slightly over 500 construction equipment
manufacturing companies in all of India. The sector is labor-intensive and,
including indirect jobs, provides employment to more than 35 million people.
The Construction industry involves constructing, repairing, and renovating
buildings and engineering works, as well as subdividing and developing land.
Construction companies can work independently or under contract to other firms
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11. or property owners, and either produce complete projects or a portion of
projects.
A construction company may be the only establishment of an enterprise, or one
of several establishments of an integrated real estate enterprise engaged in the
land assembly, development, financing, building and sale of large projects.
Because of large variations between projects and the inputs required to complete
them, this industry group is divided into three sub-sectors: construction of
buildings, heavy and civil engineering construction and specialty trade
contractors. Some establishments undertake projects that require several
different construction activities (known as trades) to be performed. Other
establishments specialize in one trade.
The construction industry is divided into three major segments. The construction
of building segment includes contractors, usually called general contractors, who
build residential, industrial, commercial, and other buildings. Heavy and civil
engineering construction contractors build sewers, roads, highways, bridges,
tunnels, and other projects. Specialty trade contractors perform specialized
activities related to construction such as carpentry, painting, plumbing, and
electrical work.
History of Construction Industry in India:
The period from 1950 to mid-60’s witnessed the government playing an active
role in the development of these services and most of construction activities
during this period were carried out by state and supported by government
departments. In the first five-year plan, construction of civil works was allotted
nearly 50 per cent of the total capital outlay.
The first professional consultancy company, National Industrial Development
Corporation (NIDC), was set up in the public sector in 1954. Subsequently, many
architectural, design engineering and construction companies were set up in the
public sector (Indian Railways Construction Limited (IRCON), National Buildings
Construction Corporation (NBCC), Rail India Transportation and Engineering
Services (RITES), Engineers India Limited (EIL), etc.) and private sector (M N Dastur
and Co., Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Ansals, etc.).
In India Construction has accounted for around 40 per cent of the development
investment during the past 50 years. Around 16 per cent of the nation's working
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12. population depends on construction for its livelihood. The Indian construction
industry employs over 3 crores people and creates assets worth over 20,000
crores.
It contributes more than 5 per cent to the nation's GDP and 78 per cent to the
gross capital formation. Total capital expenditure of state and central govt. will be
touching 8,02,087 crores in 2011-12 from 1,43,587 crores (1999-2000).
The share of the Indian construction sector In total gross capital formation (GCF)
came down from 60 per cent in 1970-71 to 34 per cent in 1990-91. Thereafter, it
increased to 48 per cent in 1993-94 and stood at 44 per cent in 1999-2000. In the
21 st century, there has been an increase in the share of the construction sector
in GDP and capital formation.
GDP from Construction at factor cost (at current prices) increased to 1, 74,571
crores (12.02% of the total GDP) in 2004-05 from 1,16,238 crores (10.39% of the
total GDP) in 2000-01.
The main reason for this is the increasing emphasis on involving the private sector
infrastructure development through public-private partnerships and mechanisms
like build-operate-transfer (BOT), private sector investment has not reached the
expected levels.
The Indian construction industry comprises 200 firms in the corporate sector. In
addition to these firms, there are about 1,20,000 class A contractors registered
with various government construction bodies. There are thousands of small
contractors, which compete for small jobs or work as sub-contractors of prime or
other contractors. Total sales of construction industry have reached 42,885.38
crores in 2004 05 from 21,451.9 crores in 2000-01, almost 20% of which is a large
contract for Benson & Hedges.
Overview of Construction Sector in India:
Indian construction Sector consists of two major verticals :
Non-Residential Construction:
Residential Construction:
Construction sector is the second largest industry of the country after agriculture,
accounting for around 11% of India’s GDP & employing 32 million people, 18
million people directly & 14 million indirectly.
Proposed investment by Planning Commission of India is of around US $ 1 Trillion
in the 12th 5 year plan (2012-2017) i.e. double that of 11th
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13. Break-Up of Construction costs
Future Challenges:
The Indian economy has witnessed considerable progress in the past few decades.
Most of the infrastructure development sectors moved forward, but not to the required
extent of increasing growth rate up to the tune of 8 to 10 per cent. The Union
Government has underlined the requirements of the construction industry.
Some interesting facts about the industry:
• The share of construction sector in gross domestic product (GDP),
which was 5.4% in 1970-71, came down to 4.4% 1990-91.
Subsequently it picked up and stood at 5.1% in 1999-2000 and
now stays at a staggering 8.1% for the year 2011-2012
• Construction industry roughly employees 33million people, more
than any other sector aside from agriculture.
• The industry contribution to GDP is down from 16 per cent in the
boom period, between 2004-08. But it’s still pretty substantial
and in absolute terms, the industry has grown. The sector is very
fragmented. There are hundreds of mid-sized and small
unorganised players as well as a handful of really big players. The
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14. big ones (L&T, HCC, GMR) have become developers rather than
remaining contractors.
• For 2012, projects worth an estimated Rs 140 lakh crores are
estimated to be in various stages of the pipeline according to
CMIE. The Twelfth Plan alone is supposed to contribute Rs 41 lakh
crores worth of infrastructure creation with about half coming
from the private sector. Urban development, private sector
projects, and so on, makes up the rest.
DEMAND IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY:
Demand originates from different sub-sectors such as public housing, publicsector non-housing, owner-occupied housing and private-sector industrial and
commercial, rehabilitation, improvements, repair and maintenance .However,
only housing, industrial and infrastructure sectors largely contribute to the
construction output in Sri Lanka. It is therefore in this light that outputs in those
sub sectors are analyzed to review the trend of construction.
• The demand of construction industry is depend on interest rates, the cost and
availability of finance, and government investment decisions.
• Government policies will be the key deterministic factor in construction
demand.
•The cost of construction, land supply and available sources of finance, project
delivery systems had a direct bearing on the demand in this sector.
•The emergence of private property development companies made a
considerable impact on construction demand in this sector, particularly in urban
areas where demand grew rapidly with the expansion of the urban population. As
a result, condominium style apartments and pre-built luxury housing schemes
were built in urban/suburban areas.
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15. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE INDUSTRY:
The construction sector in India currently faces a number of challenges. The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised benchmark interest rates on multiple occasions
since March 2010 which increased the overall cost of borrowing. In addition, the
private sector deferred its capital expenditure decisions on account of uncertain
demand conditions and issues concerning land acquisition; approvals and
clearances; fuel security and pricing; counterparty credit risks and policy issues. In
FY 11, new projects announcements by the government sector also slowed down
due to delays in decision making; lack of stable leadership at key public sector
undertakings (PSUs); corruption-related investigations and state elections.
A key area of concern is the steady increase in the quantum of stalled projects to
Rs. 4.17 trillion in September 2011from Rs. 2.94 trillion in September 2010,
representing a 42% increase on a y-o-y basis (15% on q-o-q basis). Consequently,
the y-o-y revenue growth of construction companies in Q1/Q2 FY 12 has been the
slowest as compared to the past few years. The reduced pace of execution is also
evidenced by the significantly lower y-o-y growth of 2.7% (at FY 05 prices) in
construction GDP in H1 FY 12 as compared to 7.2% y-o-y growth in H1 FY 11
ORDER BACKLOG OF COMPANIES IN SAMPLE
SURVEY
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16. Based on the order books of 15 companies covered in the sample, most
companies had healthy unexecuted order book levels as of September 30, 2011
with the ratio of (unexecuted) order book to last reported annual revenues
ranging from 2.1x to
5.0 xs and an average of 3.4 xs. The corresponding averages as of 30 June 2011
and 31 March 2011 were at 3.34 xs and 3.35x; the relatively flat averages indicate
sluggishness in new order inflow and relatively slow execution
NEW PROJECTS ANNOUNCEMENT
In the government sector:
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17. New project announcements by the government sector registered an
approximate 29% decline in FY 11 over FY 10 due to multiple factors including
state elections; lack of stable leadership in some PSUs, corruption-related
investigations etc.). Nevertheless, renewed thrust on infrastructure spending led
to some improvement in the first two quarters of FY 12.
Private Sector (New Project announcements):
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18. New project announcements by the private sector registered a negative growth
for the past two quarters on a year-on-year as well as quarter on quarter basis,
with the steepest decline in Q2 FY 12 (-79% y-o-y/-73% q-o-q). The significant
drop in new project announcements by the private sector was due to issues
regarding land acquisition; securing approvals and clearances; fuel security and
pricing; counter party credit risks, policy issues etc. Further, successive hikes in
interest rates by the RBI have increased the overall cost of project
Some relevant information and statistics
related to construction industry
Projects awarded by NHAI (in Kilometers)
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23. The positive signs that would benefit
construction industry in 2012-2013:
Impact factors:
A. The Limit for tax-free bonds in the infrastructure sector has been doubled to Rs
600 billion for 2012-2013 vis-à-vis Rs 300 billion in 2011-2012
B. The access to viability gap funding for irrigation projects is expected to facilitate
private sector participation in the sector.
C. At the corporate level, there has been a reduction in the withholding tax on
interest payments of external commercial borrowing (ECB) from 20% to 5% for
certain infrastructure sectors.
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24. Research estimates the total investments in construction to nearly double over
the next five years ended 2015-2016, to Rs 18.4 trillion. The growth will largely be
spurred by continuing government spending on infrastructure. Nearly 85 percent
of the total investments in the construction sector is likely to be made in
infrastructure, specially the power, roads, and urban infrastructure sectors.
•Construction investment in individual segment is expected to amount Rs 2.7
trillion over the next five years, with the investment in gas and oil sector being the
principal investment
•The construction industry’s operating margin in expected to decline by 150-200
basis points by 2013-2014. The pressure on Industry’s operating margin is
expected to continue with the rising share of lower0margin segments like roads,
higher prices of inputs like steel and cement sustained pressure on contract
pricing
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25. Expected growth in the next few years
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2012
2013
2014
2015
The global recession has extended this business cycle to over 10 years now. The
next peak is likely to occur only in 2014-15 when the growth would peak 11%,
inching up from 8% in 2010-11. Fiscal 2011-12 would see construction industry
grow 8.2%. Thus, the growth would once again bounce back and will be faster
than the overall GDP growth.
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26. Michael porter 5 forces model for
insurance industry
Suppliers Bargaining: Weak
Industry members such as the principal contractors’ e.g. Grimacer are
integrating backwards into the business of suppliers
Construction materials are readily available from many suppliers
Switching costs of contractors Q.S firms are low
Contractors, sub-contractors and manufacturers have to work together for
successful delivery of the project
Buyers Bargaining: Strong
Construction developers have a high quality of information for decision making
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27. There are few developers and construction clients compared to the many
service providers available to deliver project
There has been a decline in the developers and client’s demand for
construction projects
Developers and clients have the ability to postpone projects until a later stage
when they can secure lower costs of building
New Entrants: Weak
Customers are not very loyal, the lowest bid always wins
Low switching costs as new projects means new consultants, contractors and
suppliers
Capital requirements for property development are high
The construction industry is highly risky and filled with uncertainty
Access to inputs such as skilled labour is difficult
Substitutes: Strong
New and emerging innovative methods and processes within construction
industry.
New innovative methods are at a lower cost than traditional methods
Low switching costs once a project is complete, new consultants may be
appointed
Industry Competitors: Strong
There has been a fall in demand for construction projects and this has resulted
in excess capacity
Construction companies are mostly involved in submitting competitive tenders
to win contracts
Quantity surveying firms also have to compete amongst one another by
offering the lowest fees for services provided to secure clients
Construction products are very similar and are delivered by means of projects
with variation amongst retail, residential and leisure.
Overcrowded market dominated by the big five construction companies as
well as the major Q.S firms
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28. Company Profile of The Accurates:
Website: http://www.theaccurates.com/
Industry: Construction
Products: Architecture & planning, Design and Technology
Contact: The Accurates, Circular Road, Amritsar - 143001.
Phone Numbers: 9888373727
Email: info@theaccurates.com
The Accurates formally as "celerity" architects and interior designers was established on ---. At The Accurates full-fledged architects and interior designers are specialized in corporate
office spaces, hospitality industry such as hotels, hospitals, Resorts, restaurants etc.,
institutions and housing.
The Accurates is a team of dedicated professionals engaged in consultancy services in
the field of Architectural, Civil, Project Management and Interior Designing, with a
wealth of project and development experience covering residential, Commercial and
industrial projects.
What sets us apart is that we believe in optimizing limited resources to design buildings and
interiors that are functional.
We recognize the value of information technology by amalgamating the latest digital
technologies available with other relevant software and hardware tools in order to meet
the challenges and demands of the construction industry in the Current environment.
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29. Services
Architecture & planning:
The Accurates perceives space with respect to occupants requirement, quality and
desirability, expanding
From space planning to interior designing.
Services Provided : Architecture, Planning, Landscape Design, Institutions and Schools,
Hospitality , Healthcare and
Laboratory, Townships, Industries, Pharmaceuticals, Mixed Use, Museums, Culture and Art
Centers, Offices, Residential and Cottages
Design:
The Accurates believes that intricate details of things enhance the spatial quality and creates
a stronger impact both physically and visually.
Services Provided : Interior Designing, Workspace Planning, Furniture design, Auditoriums,
Lecture Halls, Corporate offices, Commercial and Retails, Hospitality and Restaurants,
Institutions, Residences and apartments, sample flats and banks.
Technology:
The Accurates understands the need to adapt to better technologies available to help living
a smarter life, has a constant watch on the new materials & construction technologies
in Building industry. He has dedicated professionals and associate consultants for
providing important services like: Landscape Green Building Designing (Commercial
Kitchens, Fountains, Swimming pools)
Clients
Punjab Rice Mill
Hotel Border Land
Shakti Power Tronix
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30. Isckon Temple Amritsar
Shri Anandpur Kutia (Kashmir Avenue)
Gandhi Shoe Mall Amritsar
B.L.M Embroidery
Mr. Chopra (Villas at Dream City)
Mandir at Bhikiwind (Dal Wali Devi Ji)
Hotel Sham Regency
The Brothers Guest House (Golden Temple)
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31. Vision of The Accurates:
The leader in Construction and Property- related Services
Mission of The Accurates:
We are committed to
• Creating value for our customers and delivering quality services at worldclass standard
• Delivering value to our shareholders through maximizing market share and
returns
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32. Values of The Accurates:
Integrity
Service
Teamwork
Quality
Social
Responsibility
Innovation
SWOT Analysis:
SWOT analysis is done for a company, to find its overall strengths, weakness,
opportunity, and threats leading to gauging the competitive potential of the
company. The SWOT analysis enables a company to recognize its market standing
and strategy accordingly.
SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used
to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in
a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a
product, place, industry or person. It involves specifying the objective of the
business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that
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33. are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is
credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford Research
Institute (now SRI International) in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune
500 companies. The degree to which the internal environment of the firm
matches with the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic
fit.
Setting the objective should be done after the SWOT analysis has been
performed. This would allow achievable goals or objectives to be set for the
organization.
Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an
advantage over others
Weaknesses: are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage
relative to others
Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage
Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the
business or project
Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in
planning to achieve the objective.
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34. First, the decision makers should consider whether the objective is attainable,
given the SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable a different objective must
be selected and the process repeated.
Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate
meaningful information for each category (strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats) to make the analysis useful and find their
competitive advantage
Strength:
1. Goodwill
2. Being a full- fledged one-stop construction and interior design related
service provider
3. Experienced management team
4. Strong technical team
Weakness:
1. Capacity limitation
2. Less experience in the business
Opportunity:
1. Growing rural market
2. Increasing land supply to meet underlying housing demand
3. Increasing public housing supply for low income class
4. Significant increase in public sector’s spending
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35. Threats:
1. Increasing material cost
2. Increasing staff compensation
3. Shortage of professional workers
Product portfolio:
Architecture & Planning:
The Accurates perceives space with respect to occupants’ requirement, quality
and desirability, expanding
From space planning to interior designing.
Services Provided: Architecture, Planning, Landscape Design, Institutions and
Schools, Hospitality , Healthcare and Laboratory, Townships, Industries,
Pharmaceuticals, Mixed Use, Museums, Culture and Art Centers, Offices,
Residential and Cottages
Design:
The Accurates believes that intricate details of things enhance the spatial quality
and creates a stronger impact both physically and visually.
Services Provided : Interior Designing, Workspace Planning, Furniture design,
Auditoriums, Lecture Halls, Corporate offices, Commercial and Retails, Hospitality
and Restaurants, Institutions, Residences and apartments, sample flats and
banks.
Technology:
The Accurates understands the need to adapt to better technologies available to
help living a smarter life, has a constant watch on the new materials
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36. & construction technologies in Building industry. He has dedicated professionals
and associate consultants for providing important services like: Landscape Green
Building Designing (Commercial Kitchens, Fountains, Swimming pools)
Analysis and Interpretation:
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
Marketing has always been a crucial part of a business. Good companies have
become great on the sheer basis of effective marketing strategies. In the era of
huge competition, organizations are going great length to advertise and promote
their products and earn valuable customer loyalty. The concept of marketing has
kept evolving with the passage of time. Companies are forced to adopt new
changes in their marketing strategies to remain relevant. If there is one factor
that has really affected the way marketing plans are being defined then it must be
technology. In the new century, the marketing tools of earlier years were
rendered obsolete. Those who manage to anticipate the changes and adopt them
quickly have better chances of survival. Social media marketing is one such great
change that many companies have started to accept in a big way.
Though, it is still in a nascent stage but canny marketing strategists are already
harping onto the next big marketing revolution taking place in form of social
media marketing.
The concept of social media marketing basically refers to the process of
promoting business or websites through social media channels. It is a powerful
marketing medium that is defining the way people are communicating. It is one of
the significantly low-cost promotional methods that provide businesses large
numbers of links and huge amount of traffic. Companies manage to get massive
attention and that really works in favor of the business. Social media marketing is
a potent method applied by progressive companies for selling their
products/services or for just publishing content for ad revenue.
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37. Social media is an extremely useful tool using which companies can get their
information, product descriptions, promotions all ingrained in the chain of
networking world. Considering the newness of this marketing method,
organizations are coming up with innovative ways to develop their marketing
plans. New platforms are being created to approach potential clients. A large
number of business organizations are allocating budget for online business
development using social media marketing. It is a booming sector which is going
to redefine the way marketing strategies are being formed and promoted.
Defining Social Media Marketing
The bewildering array of social media (which seem to breed new services (faster
than rabbits) makes it hard to discern what they have in common: shared
information, often on a peer-to-peer basis. Although many social media messages
look like traditional “broadcasts” from one business to many consumers, their
interactive component offers an enticing illusion of “one-to-one” communication
that invites individual readers to respond. The phrase social media marketing
generally refers to using these online services for relationship selling — a subject
we already know all about. Social media services or channels make innovative use
of new online technologies to accomplish familiar communication and marketing
goals.
The Social Media Channels:
Blogs: Web sites designed to let we easily update or change content and allow
readers to post their
own opinions or reactions.
Examples of blogging software are:
• Word Press, Type Pad, and Blogger (formerly BlogSpot) (freestanding blog
services)
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38. • Other blog software, freestanding sites or integrated into standard Web sites
(Messages, photos, video, and audio) to groups of friends and family, these fullfeatured services offer multiple functions. From a business point of view, many of
them support subgroups that offer the Potential for more targeted marketing.
• Full networks such as Facebook, MySpace, or my Yearbook
• Micro blogging (short message) networks such as Twitter
• Professional networks such as LinkedIn and Plaxo
• Other specialty networks within vertical industry, demographic, or activity
segments
Social-media sharing services: These media channels facilitate posting and
commenting on videos, photos, and podcasts (audio):
• Video: Examples are WeTube, Vimeo, or Ustream
• Photos: Flickr, Photo bucket, or Picasa
• Audio: Podcast Alley or BlogTalkRadio
Social bookmarking services: Similar to private bookmarks for our favorite sites
on our computer,
Social bookmarks are publicly viewable lists of sites that others have
recommended:
• Recommendation services such as Stumble Upon, Delicious
• Social shopping services such as Caboodle or This Next
• Other bookmarking services organized by topic or application, such as book
recommendation sites
Social news services: On these peer-based lists of recommended articles from
news sites, blogs, or Web pages, users often “vote” on the value of the postings:
• Digg
• Reddit
• Other news sites
Social geo-location and meeting services: For a change, these services bring
people together in real space rather than in cyberspace:
• Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt
• Other GPS (global positioning system) applications, many of which operate on
mobile phones
• Meet-ups and tweet-ups
Community building services: Many comment- and content-sharing sites have
been around for a long time, such as forums, message boards, and Yahoo! and
Google groups. Other examples are:
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39. • Community building sites with multiple sharing features such as Ning
• Wikis such as Wikipedia for group-sourced content
• Review sites such as Trip Advisor and Opinions to solicit consumer views
Dozens, if not hundreds, of social tools, apps (freestanding online applications),
and widgets (small applications placed on other sites, services, or desktops)
monitor, distribute, search, analyze, and rank content. Many are specific to a
particular social network, especially Twitter. Others are designed to aggregate
information across the social media landscape, including such monitoring tools as
Google.
Alerts or Social Mention or distribution tools such as RSS or Ping.fm. Book II offers
a survey of many more of these tools; service-specific tools are covered in their
respective books.
Benefits of Social Media:
Social media marketing carries many benefits. One of the most of important is
that the marketer doesn’t have to front any cash for most services. Of course,
there’s a downside: Most services require a significant investment of time to
initiate and maintain a social media marketing campaign. As the marketer goes
about the list of benefits, what he only needs to think about is - whether the
benefit is one that applies to his needs. How important is it to the business? How
much time is he willing to allocate to it? What kind of a payoff can he expect?
Below shows how small businesses rate the relative effectiveness of social media
in meeting their goals.
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40. Social Media Campaign Goals
Rank the applicable goals of our social media campaign from 1-7 with 1 our top
goal
1. Increasing traffic/visits to hub site
2. Branding
3. Building relationships
4. Improving business process (e.g. customer service, tech support)
5. Improving visibility in natural search
6. Increasing sales revenue
7. Saving money on paid advertising
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41. 1. Casting a wide net to catch the target market:
The audience for social media is huge. In mid-2010, Facebook claimed almost 500
million users, many of whom use the service multiple times per week (and others
who never use it after the first time). By mid-March 2010, weekly traffic on
Facebook had exceeded weekly traffic on Google, which had worn the traffic
crown for years. Twitter claims more than 100 million users and insists that
millions of tweets
(Short messages) are posted daily. Even narrowly focused networking sites claim
hundreds of thousands of visitors.
A relatively small number of power users — those who post ten or more times per
day — drive a huge number of tweets. The vast majority of users either read
messages only, without posting, or post only one or two messages per week. It’s
probably the old 80/20 rule at play: 80 percent of the users produce 20 percent of
the tweets, and 20 percent of the users produce 80 percent of the tweets!
Surely, some of the people using these sites must be customers or prospects for a
business. In fact, one popular use of social media is to cast a wide net to capture
more potential visitors to our Web site.
2. Branding
Basic marketing focuses on the need for branding, name recognition, visibility,
presence, or top-of mind awareness. Call it what we will — we want people to
remember our company name when they’re in need of our product or service.
Social media services, of almost every type, are excellent ways to build our brand.
Social media works for branding as long as the name comes in front of the right
people. Plan to segment the audience on the large social media services. A
marketer can look for more targeted groups within them or search for specialty
services that may reach fewer people overall but more of the ones who are right
for his business.
3. Building relationships
It is heard repeatedly that social media marketing requires the long view. To build
effective
relationships in social media, we’re expected to:
Establish our expertise
Participate regularly as a “good citizen” of whichever social media world we’re
inhabiting
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42. Avoid overt self-promotion
Sell softly
Provide value with links, resources, and unbiased information
Watch for steady growth in the number of our followers on a particular service;
the number of people who recommend our site to others; increased downloads
of white papers; or repeat visits to our site.
All these signs indicate we’re building relationships that may later lead, if not to a
direct sale, then to a word-of-Web recommendation to someone who does buy.
In the world of social media, the term engagement refers to the length of time
and quality of interaction between our company and our followers.
4. Improving business process
Already, many clever businesses have found ways to use social media to improve
business Processes. Though individual applications depend on the nature of our
business, consider leveraging social media to:
promptly detect and correct customer problems or complaints
Obtain customer feedback and input on new product designs or changes
Provide tech support to many people at one time; if one person has a question,
chances are good that others do, too
Improve service delivery, such as cafés that accept to-go orders on Twitter
or Facebook or cupcake carts and food caravans that notify customers
where and when their carts will arrive
Locate qualified new vendors, service providers, and employees by using
professional networks such as LinkedIn
Collect critical market intelligence on our industry and competitors by
watching content on appropriate social media
Use new geo-location services to drive local traffic during slow times and
acquire new customers
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43. 5. Improve search engine rankings
Just as we optimize our Web site, we should optimize our social media outlets for search
engine ranking. Now that search engines are cataloging Twitter and Facebook and other
appearances on social media, we can gain additional front page real estate for our company
on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Search engines recognize some, but not all, appearances on
social media as inbound links, which also improve the page rank of our site.
Optimization pays off in other ways: in results on real-time searches, which are now
available on primary search engines; on external search engines that focus on blogs or
other social media services; and on internal, site specific search engines.
6. Selling when opportunity rises
Conventional thinking says that social media is designed for long-term
engagement, for marketing and branding rather than for sales. However, a few
obvious selling opportunities exist, particularly for business-to-consumer (B2C)
companies, that won’t offend followers:
Sell CDs and event tickets. Services such as MySpace cater to music and
entertainment and are considered appropriate places.
Include a link to our store on social shopping services. Recommend products —
particularly apparel, jewelry, beauty, and decor — as Style hive does.
Offer promotional codes or special offers to followers. Offering them on
particular networks encourages our followers to visit our site to make a purchase.
We can even announce sales or events.
Place links to online or third-party stores on our profile pages on various
services. We can rarely sell directly from a social media service, but some permit
we to place widgets that visually showcase our products and links to our online
store, PayPal, or the equivalent to conclude a transaction.
Include a sign-up option for our e-newsletter. It offers a bridge to sales.
7. Saving money on Advertising
The magic word is free. For a start-up company, “free” social media is likely the
only advertising we can afford. If we decide to approach social media for this
purpose, construct our master campaign just as carefully as we would a paid one:
Create a plan that outlines target markets, ad offers, publishing venues, and
scheduled “flights” for different ad campaigns.
if necessary, conduct comparative testing of messages, graphics, and offers.
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44. Monitor results and focus on the outlets that work best at driving qualified visits
that lead to conversions.
Supplement our free advertising with search optimization and press releases
and other forms of free promotion.
As we see traffic and conversions building from our social media marketing
campaigns, we may want to reduce existing paid advertising campaigns. Just don’t
stop our paid advertising until we’re confident that we have an equally profitable
stream of customers from social media. Of course, if our ad campaign isn’t
working, there’s no point continuing it.
Drawbacks of Social Media:
For all its upsides, social media has its downsides. As social media has gained in
popularity, it has also become increasingly difficult to gain visibility among its
hundreds of millions of users.
In fact, sometimes we have to craft a campaign just to build an audience on a
particular social media site. It’s quite similar to conducting optimization and inbound link campaigns so that our site is found in natural search results.
Don’t participate in social media for its own sake, or just because “everyone else
is.” By far, the biggest downside in social media is the amount of time we need to
invest to see results. We need to make an ongoing commitment to review and
respond to comments and to provide an ongoing stream of new material. An
initial commitment to set up a profile is just the tip of the iceberg.
If we couldn’t take our eyes off live coverage of the Mars landing, or if we play
Farmville or other video games with a passion, continuously run instant
messaging, or check e-mail every ten seconds, watch out for social media.
Individually and collectively, social media is the biggest-ever time sink. Without
self-discipline and a strong time schedule, we can easily become so socially
overbooked that other tasks go undone.
As we consider each of the social media options, consider the level of human
resources that are needed. Do we have the time and talent our self? If not, do
other people within our organization have the time and talent? Which other
efforts will we need to give up making room for social media? Will we have to hire
new employees or contract out services, leading to hard costs for this supposedly
“free” media?
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45. Product Strategies:
Width (No of product lines) of The Accurates company= 3
Length (No of items) of The Accurates company= 22
Pricing Strategy:
On the basis of standard of living, loyalty of customer, current market demand,
salary to be paid to employees they fix their pricing. They normally follow the
following 6 pricing strategies.
Psychology pricing
Going Rate (Price set following the competition)
Pricing Strategies
Price Discrimination (Different price for different customers) Cost plus Pricing
(Average cost + Pricing)
Place Strategy:
The Accurates do its distribution or the channel by which product or service reach
to customer by two ways as mentioned in below
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46. Amritsar
Place
Promotion Strategy:
Main objective of “The Accurates” Company behind promotion is to make
awareness the people about company and getting more revenue by create more
loyal customer.
For that this company uses following tools.
Special offer
Free Gifts
Personal Selling
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47. People:
As this is a service organization, “people” play a very important role because they
only deal with the customer directly and they only directly relate to deliver the
service to customer.
In this organization people indicates and deal with the following things.
Employees
Management
Culture
Cutomer servicce
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48. Process:
It deals with how are service consumed? This task customer has to perform to get
the service. For making that task easy for customer The Accurates, Company has
done the following thing.
User friendliness and easy access: http://www.theaccurates.com/
Phone: 9888373727
Email: info@theaccurates.com
Physical Evidence:
As service is intangible, physical evidence plays a crucial role to prove the quality
of the service. In “The Accurates” Company in terms of physical evidence it has
lots of amenities facilities, comfort, and particular dress code for every level of
employees.
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49. Value Delivery process:
Till now most of the company follow the traditional delivery process that is make
the product and sell the product but ING follows the modern delivery process i.e.
1st step
Choose the value
2nd step
Provide the value
3rd step
Communicate the value
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50. Research Methodology:
1. Statement of the Problem
People are not aware about the company
Lack of promotional activities
Company’s rank was not increasing
Type of Research:
Causal Research: I had done a causal research where I did a research with
completely certain criteria not exploratory. I just collected data through
interaction and observation
2. Objective of the Study
To study the level of awareness of “The Accurates” among the prospect and
potential customer.
Social Media Marketing strategies of “The Accurates”
To find out what level of the service of “ The Accurates” are received by
customer in case of service like response to complaints, offer given,
product updates, post purchase service.
The current level of customer demand of “The Accurates” product in
comparison of its competitors.
To analyze the strength, weakness, opportunity and threat of “The
Accurates”
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51. 3. Research Design
Panel Talk: Once in a week I used to talk with my immediate boss and
branch manager where we used to discuss about the progress, problems
and we are also trying to come up with solution that time.
o Tools for Data Collection
Secondary Data:
Internet
Broachers
Product Manual
Work Done By Me:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Content writing
Business directory Submission
Social Bookmarking
Blog Commenting
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52. Findings:
The Accurates has not a good brand image
Existing customers of “The Accurates” are satisfied, with the after sell
service.
Potential growth and demand of Construction Industry is high
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53. Recommendations:
Company should advertise more to make aware about “The Accurates” and
it’s services among the people
Effective media should be used to reach the target customer
It should convey its history, achievement and also need to create interest
for getting trust of people.
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54. Conclusion:
The study of my overall data relate with techniques to study the Social
Media marketing strategy use by The “Accurates”.
Company has more opportunity to grow but he has to wait.
For earning more revenue company has to spared the awareness about its
product with USP
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