Social media marketing- growth, advantages & challenges: A retrospective analysis

In the present era, the concept of marketing has totally changed as compared to the earlier days. As marketing is a brand building strategy used by companies, initially it was restricted to one way communication only. The modern day marketing emphasizes two way communication, viz. the advertiser and the target recipient. Traditional marketing made use of several techniques like newspapers, magazines, billboards, television commercials, etc. On the other hand, Modern Marketing makes use of distinctive concepts like Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, etc. This research aims to investigate the effectiveness and success of Social Media Marketing (SMM) mainly over the last decade. It also makes an attempt to understand the target consumer’s perspective and satisfaction over Social Media Marketing. The Concept of social media marketing mainly involves the use of social media platforms by the Companies and Institutions to promote their product or services. This concept mainly began in the year 2004 with the launch of Face Book. Thereafter, other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, etc. emerged which paved the way towards the growth in Social Media Marketing. In this research, an attempt has been made to find out the exact growth in Social Media Marketing over the years, its impact over traditional marketing and the possible future outcome for SMM.