Gurgaon-based Cocoberry specialises in frozen yogurt, a fairly new choice of dessert in India. All thanks to social media marketing, the company has seen big growth over the last three years.
“Social media remains an effective means of marketing. We have seen a 100 per cent growth over the last three years,” said Mr G. S. Bhalla, founder and CEO of Cocoberry, which has one million ‘likes' on its Facebook page. The company uses feedback on its page to connect with customers.
Taking advantage of the ‘social media cult,' small and medium enterprises are using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to grow their businesses.
Hoping to mirror the growth of the bigger FMCG brands that first used these platforms for growth, SMEs are dedicating much effort to this kind of brand-building. “We are using Facebook as a good marketing tool for our products. It has helped bring a lot of awareness about our products,” said Ms Nirmitha Reddy, Co-founder of Uru Products, which recently started using Facebook to market its souvenirs such as T-shirts and mugs.
To help SMEs grow, FICCI recently entered into a partnership with Facebook to provide educational resources and free advertisements. Facebook also unveiled a series of ‘Facebook for Business' tutorials for SMEs.
Mr Ulhas Vardha Golccha, founder of one-month-old VanityPlaza, an online saree boutique, says using social media is the best way to generate interest. The start-up has used Facebook and Twitter for its online boutique since June last year, Mr Golccha added.
“On an average we receive at least 20-odd queries, from individuals and companies put together, every day,” he added. Currently, Vanityplaza is in talks with a couple of national saree companies to sell their products through its site.
Engaging social media specialists
SMEs are also appointing agencies to help them market their products better on social media. “We have around ten SME clients who want us to design their social media campaigns for them. In the past we even customised Facebook pages for SMEs which can also act as a selling Web site. The average cost of the social media campaign is Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 a month,” said Mr Sagar Palekar, Director, Zeist Marketing Solutions. The marketing company recently conducted a campaign for Aquest auto which is a Mitsubishi dealership company. Zeist Marketing Solutions also does social media campaigns for NGOs in Mumbai.
For IT companies it's a different ball game altogether. They create discussion forums on product-related issues to connect with prospective clients and address their requirements. These discussions help the company establish its brand.
Mr Arun Agarwal, CMD, Ebizindia Consulting Pvt Ltd, said it is all about putting “the company's name” on the Web. Ebizindia is into Web-designing and search engine ranking services.