A study on how Business entities in India are using Facebook Fan Pages

Copyright Iffort 2010 | www.iffort.com

How are business entities in India using Facebook?

An in-depth study of 25 brands from 7 industry verticals

by Iffort Consulting

List of industries covered

Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

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Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings

Copyright Iffort 2010 | www.iffort.com of 26

Executive Summary

According to Wikipedia, around 1.5 billion people1

Perhaps the most revolutionary and the biggest name among the modern

social networks is Facebook. With almost half a billion users worldwide

worldwide are active on

social networks. Today Social Networking websites have become an

inherent part of our life and are re-defining the ways in which we as users

‘Communicate’ and ‘Converse’.

2

(source: Facebakers.com), people have adopted Facebook unlike any other

social networking website. India is not far behind, with one in five Internet

users in India using Facebook. [India has 10.5 Million3

With changing times & trends, Facebook is no longer limited to just

connecting with friends or playing games; businesses are increasingly using

it as an interaction platform to engage with their target audience, identify

prospects, market their products, provide customer support and handle

customer grievances! Tapping on this need, Facebook smartly introduced

Facebook fan pages to cater to the specific needs of businesses.

(source:

Facebakers.com) people on Facebook out of a total Internet population of

50 Million (Source: emarketer.com)]

Iffort Consulting selected and reviewed the Facebook fan pages of ‘25’

select brands from ‘7’ different industry verticals for over a one month

period. We analyzed these 25 brands on various criteria to understand

their efforts to build engagement with their target audience through

Facebook. Our exercise also revealed that organizations are successfully

using several tactics like poll contests, interesting apps and videos amongst

others to drive participation, which would result in word-of-mouth and

better engagement with the brand. An interesting aspect of the exercise

was to understand the synchronization between the product category a

brand was related to, and the nature of engagement the brand built with its

community members.

However, few questions remain unanswered and with time we hope firms

would be able to streamline their activities in a more effective manner!!

1 Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network 2 Facebakers.com: http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/ 3 Facbakers.com: http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network�

http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/�

http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/�



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Methodology

We identified 7 different prominent industry verticals (Fig. 1). The portfolio

consisted of 4 service oriented verticals (media, telecom, online portals and

food chains) and 3 product oriented verticals (FMCG, consumer durables

and publishing). In our initial assessment we identified 31 brands that were

most visible and famous amongst Indian consumers in their respective

industry verticals and monitored them for a period of one month. However,

as we didn’t notice adequate engagement levels in 6 brands, we dropped

them and narrowed down our list to 25 brands. We followed an observation

method, wherein we regularly visited the fan page of these 25 brands on

daily basis and reviewed them on various quantitative and qualitative

parameters (Table 1).

Figure 1: Industry verticals

Quantitative Qualitative • No. of fans of a page

• Percentage growth of fans

• Total discussion on a page

• Activity on wall by page

admin

• Linkage with other social

networks & company

website

• Primary purpose of the page

• Methods of fan engagement

• Discussion type

• Admin Response

• Content type

Table 1: Quantitative & Qualitative parameters



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings

The leader-board is as follows:

Most popular Brand: MTV-India [522,112 Fans on 28 July]

Brand with the highest growth in terms of fans: MTV-India [3846 +

Daily fan growth]

Most active entity: Delhi Traffic Police [12.8 wall posts by admin each

day]*

Most Discussed brand: MTV-India [2085+ Interactions each day]

Brand with least growth: Haldiram’s [0.66 new fans each day]

Identified Inactive brands: Bisleri (Inactive since May 29, 2010),

Haldiram’s (Inactive since Oct 15, 2009), Bharti-Airtel (Inactive since Oct

15, 2009)

Figure 2: Industry Verticals – Daily Interaction Graph

NOTE: Delhi Traffic Police ‘Facebook page’ activity was monitored from a comparison perspective and the

primary idea was to compare its activity against the traditional business entities and brands. At the outset, it

isn’t a business/brand entity and it lies outside the ‘25’ observed brands.

459.3

172.4

76.250.9

8.7 1.5 0.3050

100150200250300350400450500

Interactions per day

Industry VerticalInteraction



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 3: Top 5 Most Popular Brands

Figure 4: Brands with Highest Fan Growth Rate

Figure 5: Most Discussed Brands

522112

357708

19901486702 64217

MTV-India Fast Track TATA Docomo

Idea Videocon

Top 5 Most Popular Brands

147.9

61.3

55.3

47.43

Ixigo.com

HT

Videocon

ImagineTV

Brands With Highest Fan Growth Rate

2085.1

555.53 444.43 226.06 200.3

MTV-India Delhi Traffic Police

Fastrack TataDocomo Ixigo.com

Most Discussed Brands



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – Media

All the companies we analyzed from this vertical were fairly successful in

attracting large enough fans.

Most of the brands had well maintained, active & responsive fan pages.

Various forms of content – photos, videos, polls, events, applications (Little

Champs, Zee TV; Axe Ur Ex, Channel V) were used to attract attention of

fans and create engagement.

Discussions on varied topics involved politics, games, weather,

infrastructure, events (CWG) etc. Some fan pages made wall posts on TV

shows that were aired on their channels (Zee TV and Imagine TV).

Channel V was the only brand to have integrated the Twitter account with

its fan page.

Our verdict: MTV was analyzed as the best performing among five brands

from this vertical. They had better engagement with their community

members, as they discussed varied topics that had relevance to various

parts of the country. We think they are trying to pitch their channel to

wider audience and hence have realized to make people from various parts

of the country to participate in discussions, by floating youth-centric topics

and other issues of general interest.

Brand No. of fans each day

No. of posts (30 days) Posts/day No. of interactions (30 days)

Interactions/day

MTV 3846.8 35.0 1.2 62554.0 2085.1

Channel V 173.0 64.0 2.1 2286.0 76.2

HT 805.3 25.0 0.8 538.0 17.9

ImagineTV 12.8 5.0 0.2 2208.0 73.6

ZeeTV 41.0 0.0 0.0 1302.0 43.4 Average 975.8 25.8 0.9 13777.6 459.3

Table 2: Findings – Media Vertical

Figure 6: Fan Growth Rate – Media

147.9

61.3

55.3

47.43

1 10 100 1000

Ixigo.com

HT

Videocon

ImagineTV

Fan Growth Rate (% ) - Media



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 7: No. of Fans

, a relatively new entrant (less than a year old) has a small

fan base in comparison to other brands.

Some key points are:

NDTV Imagine has another fan page on Facebook, so the fans are

distributed amongst the two pages.

The assessment revealed absence of post filtering as indicated by spam

comments. In addition, the queries & user concerns have not been

addressed.

The fan page of HT has almost all its wall

posts as links for news articles on HT’s main website. The important point

here is that each day only 2-3 articles are shared on the page; these

articles are chosen to entice feedback from users in the form of likes,

comments and discussions; unlike other newspaper & magazine brands

where an automated stream of links for articles on the main website is

posted on the wall.

Though, Zee TV is enjoying a decent fan base on Facebook

courtesy the TV channel’s real world popularity, there has been

a long period of in-activity last as indicated by the last post by

administrator which was made in April. According to our analysis, Zee TV

might like to relook its Facebook engagement strategy with a focus on

talking to members and understanding their needs/preferences.

17855

522112

38133

718

10142

1 100 10000 1000000

Channel[V]

MTV-India

HT

ImagineTV

Zee TV

No. of Fans (28th July 2010)



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – Consumer Durables

In this sector Fastrack leads all other brands by a large margin, though

Videocon is growing fast, thanks to its enhanced PR initiatives.

Interesting applications like the “FT Girl”, “Store locator”, “Bikers”, &

“Kickass cards” exist on Fastrack page. All wall posts revolve around their

products, offers, brand ambassadors, stores across country etc.

The first noticeable element on Videocon’s fan page is the title, it is named

as “Home Appliances and Electronics” and no corporate brand name

mention has been made (Fig 3.).

Videocon has applications – “Abhishek Bachchan contest” and “BUY” (which

directs the user to Edigiworld, an e-commerce site owned by Videocon)

The wall posts on Videocon fan page with title VFAQ are published

frequently that educate users about using their appliance and many other

aspects - regarding their usage, safety, precautions etc.


No. of posts (30 days)

Posts/day No. of interactions

(30 days)

Interactions/day

Videocon 1270.88 26 0.9 2136 71.2

Samsung Corby 6.27 0 0.0 47 1.6

Fastrack 2928.1 25 0.8 13333 444.4

Average 1401.8 17.0 0.6 5172.0 172.4

Table 3: Findings – Consumer Durables

Figure 8: Fan Growth Rate – Consumer Durables

2.94

17.28

55.33

1 10 100

Samsung Corby-India

Fastrack

Videocon

Fan Growth Rate (%) - Consumer Durables



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing


Applications on Fastrack page: Interesting apps on

the Fastrack page like, FT Girl where in Fastrack

selects a pair of shades for you in an interactive way

or Bikers where in exclusive Fastrack accessories are

presented in an interactive and appealing way.

But the best app of the lot is Kickass cards in which crazy kickass cards are

be sent to your lazy friends to

make them stop procrastinating

and start studying during exam

time!

Such apps

not only

prop up the

page but

also make the user return to the page; thus increasing user engagement

and aiding in development of a bond between the user and the brand.

3955

357708

64217

1 100 10000 1000000

Samsung Corby-India

Fastrack

Videocon

No. of Fans (28th July)



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Screenshot from Videocon fan page: Postings like these from Videocon not

only create awareness among the users, but also generate a positive

feeling about the brand, that it cares for its users.

Figure 10: Videocon Fan Page: ‘Home Appliances and Electronics’



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings - Food Chains

Pizza Hut & Barista have maintained their fan page in an active manner,

ahead of other brands in this category.

Pizza Hut has various interactive applications – “Hot on Dot”, “Hut locator”,

“VIP club”, which help community members in knowing new offerings,

locating their store, and creating an identity.

Barista also has interactive applications – “happy hours” and “breakfast”,

which help them in engaging with their community members.

The administrator of Pizza Hut fan page handled discussions on varied

topics such as FIFA, the new hot on the dot plan by Pizza Hut, to the best

getaway zones in the area.

We observed typo errors like website name bug in the fan-page (info tab)

of a popular brand in this category.

On the other hand another brand in this category has adopted a

transparent approach by sharing the name of its social media partner on its

fan page.

Our verdict: We feel strategy applied by Pizza Hut and Barista to create

applications focused on their offerings, has helped the administrator to

engage community members with other varied interest topics targeted at

youth. This provides clutter-free exhibition of offerings. On the contrary,

some other brands seem to have adopted a sales approach by having

discussions around their offerings only.




(30 days)

Interactions/day

Pizza Hut 35.88 9 0.3 310 10.3

McDonalds India 3.16 8 0.3 62 2.1

Barista Lavazza 17.8 48 1.6 413 13.8

Average 18.9 21.7 0.7 261.7 8.7

Table 4: Findings – Food Chains



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 11: Fan Growth Rate – Food Chains


7.15

9.67

3.28

1 10

McDonalds-India

Barista Lavazza

Pizza Hut

Fan Growth Rate (%) - Food Chains

854

3640

22377

1 100 10000

McDonalds-India

Barista Lavazza

Pizza Hut




Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – FMCG

The brands selected in this category had almost negligible engagement

levels on their fan page.

Although product related postings were made on the products, the

expected level of success with engagement was fairly low.

Our verdict: We feel because these products are low involvement in

nature, customers are not exactly convinced about the specific reasons to

join these fan pages. Learning from these brands provides strong indicators

for other FMCG brands to re-think their Facebook presence strategy. It

could include adoption of a fresh out-of-box thinking to lure fans,

understand their needs and build conversational activity.




(30 days)

Interactions/day

Kurkure 3.3 2 0.1 30 1.0

Haldiram’s 0.66 0 0.0 1 0.0

Bisleri 2.16 0 0.0 0 0.0

Average 2.0 0.7 0.0 10.3 0.3

Table 5: Findings – FMCG



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – Telecom

The sector that has the fiercest competition in the Indian market does not

quite have the same competition when it comes to Facebook Fan Pages or

social media marketing in general. As can be seen from the visuals TATA

Docomo is leading the pack with a large margin.

It was surprising to know that one of the largest telecom service provider

has had the least active fan page and moreover administrator hasn’t posted

any message since October, 2009

All brands in this category had their YouTube and Twitter accounts

integrated with the fan page, which is generally considered to be a wise

strategy.

Idea & Tata Docomo are the only two brands to have used photos and

videos on their fan pages.

Another popular brand in this category gives a clear message of acting as

yet another sales point. They had special tab for promotions and they also

had many links to their website regarding tariff plans for various purposes.

There is one brand which seems to be saying upfront that they are here for

customer support. They have 24 x 7 Chat applications, which they claimed

was the first in the country on a Facebook fan page.




(30 days)

Interactions/day

Uninor 34.1 25.0 0.8 498.0 16.6

Vodafone 35.9 8.0 0.3 227.0 7.6

Idea 454.6 5.0 0.2 3919.0 130.6

TataDocomo 2265.7 36.0 1.2 6782.0 226.1

Airtel 1.2 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0

Average 558.3 14.8 0.5 2285.4 76.2

Table 6: Findings – Telecom



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 13: Fan Growth Rate – Telecom

Figure 14: Total Fans

How they match up

TATA Docomo that leads the pack has a very well laid out page with links

for their services such as buddynet, online recharge, GPRS plans &

mysongs. Moreover the page administrator is very active and has replied to

almost each and every query or complaint. (Imagine replying to queries of

almost 2 lakh people!) Although the other brands (except Airtel) are also

doing this, but then compliment goes off to the Docomo guys for effectively

managing a fan base of almost 2 lakh.

Also brands like Docomo, Idea and Uninor have Facebook buttons or

banners on their company’s website to promote their Facebook page. The

same is missing on the websites of Airtel & Vodafone-India. This we think

could be one of the primary reasons for Airtel & Vodafone having less

community members on their fan page.

15.94

25.77

10.4

9.57

22.9

1 10 100

Airtel-India

TataDocomo

Idea

Vodafone

Uninor

Fan Growth Rate (%) - Telecom

160

199014

86702

7401

3288

1 100 10000 1000000

Airtel-India

TataDocomo

Idea

Vodafone

Uninor




Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Moreover, brands like Idea, Docomo & Uninor have shared many

interesting photos of offline contests that are regularly conducted by them.

This not only increases a fans attachment with the brand but also increases

the fan base as friends of the person in the picture also visit the page to

view those photos. No such photos are shared on either Airtel or Vodafone’s

page.

Moreover, presence of interesting apps on the page of Docomo further

pushes up its engagement with its users as can be seen from the graphs.

Our verdict: There is no doubt that Tata Docomo is doing a great job.

However, we feel that Uninor is also equally leveraging their fan page well.

Their target market of youth segment could be very well sensed by their

wall posts and discussions. We feel as Uninor gradually makes inroads into

the Indian telecom market, it would be interesting to note how they tweak

their fan engagement.



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – Online Portals

There are two brands in this category that are travel related online

services. Both have well maintained fan pages, but when you have a look

at the statistics, one brand is far ahead of the other with a growth rate of

approximately 148%. It includes a bunch of activities like active wall posts

by the administrator and keeping community members busy with puzzles

on site-seeing places, animals, buildings, trekking spots etc. In addition,

there is a separate tab of “Contests & Promotions” on their fan page.

Cleartrip too maintains the strategy of Ixigo by keeping members engaged

with puzzles, however we noticed that administrator hardly responded to

negative customer experiences, which we think could hamper the brand

image of Cleartrip in the minds of community members. Similar to that of

Ixigo, they too have a tab of “Offers” on their fan page.

The Pagalguy.com Fan page

PaGaLGuY has a decently maintained fan page. Some insights from the

page:

• All the wall posts are either links for articles on pagalguy.com or

news and trivia related to MBA.

• Photos seem to be the active content on the fan page and

administrator often runs contests on these photos, which

generates good engagement with community members.

The Indya.com Fan page

Indya.com is Star India’s internet initiative and a fairly popular

entertainment portal. But a low fan base of 2700 (low considering the scale

of Star India’s network) and a low growth rate of 5 % suggests that the

page is not being handled efficiently.

The main purpose of the page is to share links for articles on the main

website or on affiliated websites. Most such posts have received a poor

feedback from the fans. Sometimes the admin has tried to be philosophical

but has failed to raise user engagement.

Fans are very active on this page as they have several queries and postings

related to TV shows, actors and future episodes. However the sharing

activity has been one-dimensional with lesser focus towards clearing spam

and replying to fans.



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 15: Fan Growth Rate – Online Portals

Figure 16: Total Fans




(30 days)

Interactions/day

Indya.com 7.6 80.0 2.7 687.0 22.9

Ixigo 228 295 9.8 6009 200.3

Pagalguy 31.61 15 0.5 655 21.8

Cleartrip 2.4 48 1.6 285 9.5

Average 54.1 87.6 2.9 1527.2 50.9

Table 7: Findings – Online Portals

1.64

17.83

147.9

5.2

1 10 100 1000

Cleartrip

Pagalguy

Ixigo

Indya.com

Fan Growth Rate (%) - Online Portals

2714

3760

6878

2754

1 10 100 1000 10000

Cleartrip

Pagalguy

Ixigo

Indya.com




Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Key Findings – Publishing

These two publishing houses arrive from opposite varied business models,

as Penguin India is a commercial publisher while Pratham Books is a non-

profit publishing house.

Both the pages are being primarily used to notify the fans about new book

launches, events or seminars. The difference between the two is that, a lot

of spam is being generated on the Penguin India page by budding writers

who are trying to promote themselves and their writings.

Most of the posts on Pratham Books page are also related to social causes

being carried out and pictures from the same have been shared on a

regular basis.

Our verdict: We have compared the two fan pages even though there is a

mismatch in the scale of operations of the two brands. Despite this fact,

Pratham Books fan page has a larger following and a better growth rate in

comparison to Penguin India. We feel the major reason for this is a

responsive and conversational administrator and alert filtering of spam

posts and comments from their page.




(30 days)

Interactions/day

Pratham books 3.2 23 0.8 76 2.5

Penguin India 1.55 0 0.0 11 0.4

Average 2.4 11.5 0.4 43.5 1.5

Table 8: Findings – Publishing Houses



Executive Summary

Methodology

Key Findings


Media

Consumer Durables

Food Chains

FMCG

Telecom

Online Portals

Publishing

Figure 17: Fan Growth Rate – Publishing Houses & Total Fans

3.28

5.67

1 10

Penguin Books- India

Pratham Books

Fan Growth Rate (%) - Publishing Houses

881

1098

1 100 10000

Penguin Books- India

Pratham Books





Conversations with Fan Page Administrators

We had also connected with some of the firms and the people who manage

these fan-pages. The idea was primarily to understand their experience and

learning while managing Facebook fan pages.

We had asked a common set of questions:

1] Idea – Behind starting a Facebook fan page

2] Plan – What did you plan to achieve through your fan page when you

created it?

3] Assistance – The single biggest thing behind starting a Facebook fan

page

4] Change - At any point of point have you ever had to change your

strategy for your fan page? Have you gained anything from the change?

5] Competition – Do you review your competitor’s fan pages? How is your

fan page different from your competitors?

6] Clients – Business from FB Fan Pages

7] Execution – Outsourced or in-house?

“Gautam John – Pratham Books”

Idea: The idea was to build a unique community around reading and our

mission of a book in every child's hand.

Plan: We had planned on achieving a small but strong community - I think

we have fulfilled this.

Assistance: Mostly feedback and opportunities that we would have

otherwise missed.

Strategy Change: Yes - in the early stages we treated it identically to our

Twitter community and cross-posted - realized early on that this wasn't

working and now curate content specifically for Facebook.

Competition Check: Not really.

Clients: Yes!

Execution: We manage it in house and will continue to do that.




“Rohit Awasthi – PaGaLGuY.com”

Idea & Plan – Despite having a thriving community on our website itself, we felt Facebook was needed for:

a) The feeds, which spread the word very fast and to the right networks.

b) Providing us better tools to share photos, events and notes.

c) People are most active on PaGaLGuY when they are in the "MBA

aspirant" phase. Once they enter a B School the frequency of their

visits to PaGaLGuY reduces. A Facebook page is a nice opportunity for

them to stay connected.

d) Sharing mechanism, which helps us penetrate the individual networks.

Assistance – Sharing.

Change - Per se, we never intended to have a strategy. We follow these

simple guidelines -

a) Do not misuse

b) Do not spam

c) Share very important material, links

d) No gimmicks, contests to gain fans/likes.

e) Think for the long run and provide quality content.

Competition – No. We prefer to create awesome experiences and products

for our users in the time we save in not reviewing our competitors.

Clients – Our website provides easy links to people who want to reach us.

Since we belong to a niche industry, clients find out the way to reach us

directly.

Execution – In-house.

Concluding Note - FB or twitter, they are at the end of the day platforms,

which may or might not exist in years to come. Our basic philosophy is to

keep on providing useful products to our community and these form the

basis of all our communication.




Conclusion

This comprehensive study has further emphasized the fact that the

importance of social media usage for marketing & PR purposes is gaining

momentum amongst Indian firms. The key learnings are:

• Fan Pages are public: As fan pages are indexed on search

engines, any individual is able to view firm’s fan page, through a

simple search action. So, an individual need not be a Facebook

member, but still could visit firm’s fan page. Facebook.

• Engagement: A Facebook fan page could be an additional touch-

point between a firm (brand) and its customers. The incremental

cost of creating this touch-point is almost negligible compared to

other alternative media. Fan page enables firms (brands) to

engage with their current and prospective customers. We feel this

should be the focus of firms in creating a Facebook fan page

• Emotional Attachment: An engaging and an active fan page

creates an emotional attachment between the brand and the fan.

• Brand Evangelists: It is not necessary that each and every

member of the community would be a present/prospective

customer. Instead some members could play the role of a brand

evangelist. These members could share their experience with the

firm and product with their network members and play a role of

brand evangelist.

• Engagement Tools: Facebook fan page facilitates firms to build

varied custom applications. These applications could be simply

enlisting the offers and other sales promotions or could also take

form of some games, puzzles, etc. that ensure engagement with

the community members.

• Integration with other social media platforms: A firm’s fan

page could be integrated with other social media platforms like

Twitter, LinkedIn, TripIt, etc. Also, the RSS feed on firm’s website

and blog posts on firm’s blog could be integrated with the

Facebook posts. However, it doesn’t mean just automation of

feeds would bring in engagement. Virtual medium users are very

sound these days and could easily make out the source of the

feed. Hence, it is essential for firms to bring in a human touch to

the feeds and provide community members true engagement

• Negative comment is not indeed negative for the firm: The

fan page administrators should not behave in an offensive /

defensive manner on viewing a negative comment. This should be

looked upon as an opportunity to improve the shortcomings and

create a base for future better customer experience.




• Product category - Engagement match: We realized that it is

very essential to execute right type of engagement with the

customers depending on the product category a firm belongs to.

This could be monitored based on criteria like frequency of posts,

type of posts, type of apps, etc. A fan page administrator should

take a call on whether contests and polls are going to benefit the

firm in any respect.

Disclaimer

This study is a 100% funded research by Iffort Consulting and is not

sponsored or influenced by any brand and/or any third party agency /

institution.

All the logos and trademarks used in this study are the property of their

respective owners.

Information provided by Iffort Consulting is general in nature, has been

compiled from freely available info on public domain and is meant for non-

commercial purposes only.

Links used in this report may lead to services or sites not operated by Iffort

Consulting. No judgment or warranty is made with respect to such other

services or sites and Iffort Consulting takes no responsibility for the same.

Iffort Consulting shall accept no liability for any destruction or damage,

loss, obligation or responsibility arising from the use or misuse of this

report or any information contained on this report. Claims regarding

damage caused by the use of any information provided, including any kind

of information which is incomplete or incorrect, will therefore be rejected.




Attribution and Further Information

Any references or quotes pertaining to this document should be attributed

to the “How are business entities in India using Facebook: Iffort Consulting

Study.” Any questions or inquiries from the media should be addressed to

Director and Co-Founder, Daksh Sharma, at [email protected].

Credits

Content Strategy for the Report

We thank, Anandan Pillai for his vital inputs and direction on organizing the

content and preparing this report. He is a doctoral student (Marketing area)

with Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. His research interests

involve brand communities on social media, social media strategy and

consumer behavior on virtual mediums. He can be reached at

[email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @Anandan_Pillai.

Technology Partners

Special mention goes to our technology partners’ itemperance consulting.

For more information about itemperance consulting, please visit

www.itemperance.com or follow them on twitter at @itemperance.

Design Partners

Color Code Software http://www.colorcodesoftware.com/

Our Questionnaire Respondents

We thank the following teams for providing us vital inputs on their

Facebook Fan page initiatives:

Pratham Books, Pagalguy.com and Su-Kam Power Systems.

mailto:[email protected]�

http://twitter.com/Anandan_Pillai�

http://www.itemperance.com/�

http://twitter.com/itemperance�

http://www.colorcodesoftware.com/�




About Iffort Consulting

is an India based people centric web-strategy & social media consulting firm that plans, creates and executes a thorough roadmap to deliver tangible value for its clients. Our ranges of

services include full-spectrum web-strategy & social media consulting. For further information visit us at www.iffort.com

E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: 0120.4221295 | 0120.4355730 Facebook: facebook.com/iffort Twitter: twitter.com/iffort

http://www.iffort.com/�

mailto:[email protected]�

http://facebook.com/iffort�

http://www.twitter.com/iffort�

A study on how Business entities in India are using Facebook Fan Pages

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