Introduction Globally, the use of online social networks as a means to communicate an d interact is rising sharply.

We are in the era, where interactive social media has given people more control over their media experience. This creates both new opportunities and challenges in marketing. My project will deal in understand the effect of social media as part of a successful marketing strategy for a brand. Globally, there are more than 200 million personal profiles on social ne tworking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Orkut. However, it is important to recognize th at there are different social media platforms. Indeed, virtual worlds are touted as being a key growth platform while smaller niche networks look set to experience strong membership g rowth. After all, consumers are easily bored and are always on the lookout for new forms of e ntertainment. Social media and the related marketing campaigns will need to evolve accordingly . Resonings for prefering Social Media. Across the globe, consumers are becoming more connected through the help of new technology. In particular, increased broadband internet access has encouraged ne w internet users, as well as those already using the internet to spend more time on it, bec ause it enhances the user experience and makes the evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 pos sible. It is incorrect to assume that successful Online Social Networking (OSN) based m arketing is only relevant for brands targeting younger consumers. Although they remain the c ore group driving the trend, the reality is that OSN is also relevant to a broad range of age cohorts. Social media derived marketing needs to be engaging and not overly forced. Consu mer packaged goods companies that would be especially well-advised to engage in the commercialization of social networking are those whose target market already fee ls a strong sense of engagement. Methadology. Consider using pre-existing online communities as a medium for expanding brand e xposure and sales. - Look for opportunities to develop branded applications for social networking s ites - Use online networks as a new distribution channel to build actual product sale s - Target a social network for which usage is skewed towards your target audience - Be selective: identify and leverage brands that consumers are passionate about - Use social media platforms to tell more detailed brand stories

Use existing and newly created social networking communities to facilitate cost effective, yet targeted consumer research - Create positions in your marketing team to monitor brand conversations in soci al media - Establish 'closed' online communities that can feed into the market research p rocess by encouraging brand conversation and ideas - Establish 'open' online communities that can feed into the market research pro cess by encouraging brand conversation and ideas - Keep the content of branded social networks fun and varied - Ensure that canvassing online social networks does not become a replacement fo r traditional market research techniques Develop engaging content that easily can be shared virally online and that has h igh interactivity - Make content that leverages social media humorous - Ensure social media-aligned marketing content is simple, but with highly topic al content- Encourage user-generated content and interaction to keep the consumer's attention - Try to elicit actual product recommendations rather than just brand buzz