At a time when the world loves to share content in form of pictures, videos and texts on the Internet, why should companies stay behind! This notion has prompted several brands to come out of the traditional mode and experiment with modern social technologies. Social media is the latest buzz-word discussed at company meetings and conferences to make sure the marketing spend is allocated wisely to each channel.

The last few months have seen major names such as Vodafone, Reliance, Bharti AXA, Tata, etc. join the social media bandwagon. Some of the latest initiatives include Tata Motors’ social media campaign to create hype around Indigo Manza, Vodafone’s zoozoos campaign, Reliance Big TV’s efforts to launch the movie “Avatar”, etc. This gives a clear indication that companies in India are ready to take the social media challenge and reach out to their consumers.

Going Digital:

As per Comscore’s statistics, India is the 7th largest Internet Market, with over 35 million users from across the nation. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg had stated in one of his recent blog posts that Facebook now has networks in India. Twitter is another site that is fast catching up in India where brands are connecting with users, even after the 140 characters restriction.

As the amount of time spent online increases, the scope of digital media marketing too increases. In this case, the marketing spend on digital media would depend on the company’s budget. But, on an approximate basis, it is seen that around 10-15 percent of the funds is devoted to digital, which is great news for the online industry.

What is Needed:

Numbers speak on social media! Though many brands have taken the social media route to establish a strong online presence, the numbers for most of them have been appalling. By numbers, we mean the followers on Twitter, fans on the Facebook fanpage, number of hits generated on the website through social media, etc.

Calculating ROI is a difficult task as the activities are largely conversation-based. However, when it comes to quantifying the returns, it is important to monitor your performance through tools like Google Trends, Twitter Search, etc. that allow you to track user sentiments on a regular basis. The sooner companies realize this, the better!