Abstract

In a rapidly changing era, entrepreneurs, as well as marketers, need to be up to date with the change in the business environment or they may have to face the risk of being obsolete. Days are long past when a conventional business model used to grow fast and get success. In the era of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram, social marketing has evolved as an integral part of marketing strategy. It is all most impossible to think of a marketing strategy without taking into account the importance of social media. Adopting some form of online promotion through social media has become essential for all business houses. In an industry where trends are changing in faster than light, adoption of social network marketing is very vital for companies to survive in that race. In this paper, the researcher has tried to find out the importance and effectiveness of social media as a marketing and promotional tool. An attempt has been made to analyze the extent of influence of social media as a buying decision maker. The paper also tries to find out the role of gender biases. The gap between the customer#x2019;s expectation and social media performance is also attempted to find out. At the end, strategies have been recommended by the researcher for maximizing the effectiveness of social media as a promotional tool.