CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN RURAL INDIA- AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Received: 13.06.2021; Revised: 22.07.2021, Accepted: 15.09.2021, Published Online: 05.10.2021

Dr. Rakesh Kumar

Associate Professor in Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of   Delhi.

Munish Thakur

Associate Professor in Commerce, PSR Govt. College Baijnath, Himachal Pradesh.

Ramesh Kumar

Assistant Professor in Management Studies, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi.

ABSTRACT

What consumer seeks, thinks, likes, prefer and buy is of great importance to the companies to know and study the buying behavior.  Every individual has his own taste and preferences which are influenced by many factors. Consumers are now using youtube, blogs, facebook reviews and ratings to seek recommendation, peer advice about products & services and also about the company. Social media is serving as a medium in journey of the consumer purchase decision. The trend of online marketing is increasing day by day all over the world as well as in India also. So these days business owners are developing a solid social networking strategies to market their brand on social net working sites. Social media marketing is the employment of social media technologies, channels, and software to create, communicate, deliver and exchange offers that have value for an organization’s stake holder. Main purpose of this research paper to find out the challenges and opportunities for social media marketing in rural India and to find out necessary steps which are required to enhance online shopping.

KEYWORDS: Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Sites and Online Shopping.