Social media has become a synonymous concept in India. With over 2/3rd Indians spending their online time browsing through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok & others, it is evident that social media has a steady grab in the country’s market.
India currently has over 1.36 billion people, making it the second-most populous country in the world. Among those billions around 70% of them are active social media users.
Why did social media become so popular in India?
The social media penetration started around the early 2000s with Orkut. Then Facebook came along and became the ‘it’ sensation of the country. People originally used Facebook to stay connected with their friends & relatives.
Although social media has become much more than just a “social” platform.
By 2012, the number of social media users in urban India had reached 62 million. Now, the credit here goes to smartphones, surely.
A sudden availability of smartphones and mobile Internet has led to a spurt in the use of social media. Everything became so easy and with cheap internet packages, affordable as well. A few years later with Reliance Jio, the game changed forever.
All the business ventures in India rely on social media to understand their consumer base, for brand awareness and interaction. Indians through social media build virtual communities, social groups, to communicate, share, upload & chat.
Social media & Business
So as we were discussing, social media has gradually changed over the years. From being a platform to connect with people & sharing life updates, it has now become a steady podium to run business.
Consider Facebook for instance, with billions of users, it makes for a great mobile marketing unit. Thus, companies and software vendors need to provide smartphone applications to cater to the mobile world, and thus attract a large customer base.
Millions of Facebook users who access it from mobile generates 30% of Facebook’s ad revenue as well.
A study shows that a whopping 93% of marketers use social media for their business. That means there are lots of people involving and managing the social media strategy.
Also, considering the number of children that are active on Facebook, this has been a potential demographic which is waiting to be tapped by social media marketers. Discount offers and prizes can be targeted at this young demographic, using social media.
Every small or large business enterprises have their presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube channels and other related social media platforms. As far as the budget is concerned, most of the organizations set a budget below INR 10 million on their social media spending that makes 1-5% of their total marketing budget.
According to a survey by Ambassador, a famous SaaS referral marketing platform, 71% of those who have had a better social media experience with a brand will definitely refer it to others.
The Advent of Youtube
Youtube came into the scene around 2006, but it took some time for Indians to get used to it.
Youtube Stars has created a rage. These influencers have forced silver screen celebrities to be more available to their fans creating more engagement.
In the United States, YouTube’s viewers have exceeded the number of television viewers. In India, business moguls like T-series, Sony TV, have their Youtube channels with millions & millions of views. According to SEMrush, Youtube has over 1.2 billion monthly visitors from India.
Source: SEMrush
Social media & celebrities
Twitter has to be the fastest-growing social platform especially for the demographic of 55–64 years. From 2012, the demographic has grown by over 79%. So, clearly social media isn’t just for youngsters of this age.
With Indian politicians, movie celebrities, comedians, authors everyone joining Twitter, the engagement in social media platforms overall has increased a lot.
Through different activities, politics and politicians in India have brought social media into the limelight. Today, if you want to know what is going on in the world, you just need to login to your Twitter account & you get all the updates available from every corner there.
And many personas are using this medium very well. Ajay Devgan hosted his Google+ Hangout in which the common man was free to ask live questions from him.
Shah Rukh Khan with his frequently sessioned “AskSRK” gained some extra fan engagement!
Even politicians aren’t behind. A very good example would be Shashi Tharoor, who is very active on Twitter and his tweets are quoted in mainstream media.
The Future
In 2021, it is estimated that there will be around 448 million social network users in India, a significant increase from 2019 where it figures at 351 million.
With new mediums like Tiktok, Helo & other regional language-based social media platforms, companies are targeting Tier II and Tier III cities in India.
Social media marketing is a platform that provides high ROI with very less investment. This is why many small and medium scale organizations rely on social media for their marketing methods.
Also, with the rise of digital media in working sectors like LinkedIn, educational courses like learning apps, people will have to use their digital knowledge in India in some ways.
How are you implement social media in your business? Have you tried social media marketing yet? Or digital marketing for that matter?
For any help just Contact us at Skyram Technologies. We will guide you through a perfectly planned strategy where you can use this force of social media into your benefit!
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