Strategic management opportunities in India’s social media landscape

India’s social media provides a number of strategic management opportunities for organisations in China and internationally. This is in line with the prediction that more than 200million women in India will be active social media users by 2020. This is a population that is greater than the whole population of the UK. A further prediction indicates that half of these 200million women will be shopping online. This portrays the social media as an important source of opportunities for brands in India and other international bodies wishing to sell their products within India. The advantage of the online platforms is that organisations can comfortably trade with consumers in different countries. In this case, the Indian market is just as accessible to the organisations outside India.

Another important insight that can be used to refine strategic management plans is the finding that the women are strongly inclined to be part of online communities. Online communities are groups of people who come together as unified by their mutual interests or common characteristics. They can range from a few hundreds to hundreds of thousands and the members of these groups often tend to influence each other. The online communities give members a sense of belonging. As social media users get used to using these platforms, they naturally seek to be part of bigger courses and groups. But what happens in these groups is what tends to be most significant. The dynamics of peer influence and group think exists in groups. In some cases, it is possible for consumption decisions to be influenced just because members want to express their belonging to such groups.

Instead of taking days and perhaps weeks to ask for friends who know about a brand, consumers can get answers in record time by simply enquiring on their profiles and the social media groups they belong to. Referral just got easier because of the social media. The interesting thing about referrals is that they are a very trusted source of product information. Persons who have no interest in exaggerating are seen as a safe bet when it comes to sharing product information. With other platforms for chatting like WhatsApp being more common, strategic managers have to be awake to the reality of online product information search and seek to use it to their benefit.

Online communities based on brands have also been found to be increasingly active and influential in influencing purchase decisions. Research studies have indicated that the customer value tends to be higher among online members of a brand community than those who are not members. This is because continuous interaction and a sense of attachment get the customers to purchase more from the brand. The tendency by consumers to have polygamous brand loyalty is such that they will always have a range of brands to choose from whenever they need to make a purchase. When they actively interact with a brand online, or where the online community they belong to strongly favours the brand, such a brand becomes their preferred choice whenever they need to make a purchase. Strategic management teams in organisations must therefore get familiar with the concept of online communities and position themselves to tap into its projected growing influence in India.