“A STUDY ON IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ON A START-UP BUSINESS
WITH REFERENCE TO ZOMATO”

BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

SEMESTER VI
(2019-20)

SUBMITTED BY
NANDITHA AJAY THAMPY
M.17.B.34

SIES (NERUL) COLLEGE OF ARTS SCIENCE AND

COMMERCE

SRI CHANDRASEKARENDRA SARASWATI

VIDYAPURAM, PLOT I-C, SECTOR V,
NERUL, NAVI MUMBAI. 400706
 “A STUDY ON IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA
ON A START-UP BUSINESS
WITH REFERENCE TO ZOMATO”

BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

SEMESTER VI

SUBMITTED
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENT
FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
BY
NANDITHA AJAY THAMPY
M.17.B.34
(2019-20)

SIES (NERUL) COLLEGE OF ARTS SCIENCE AND

COMMERCE

SRI CHANDRASEKARENDRA SARASWATI

VIDYAPURAM, PLOT I-C, SECTOR V, NERUL, NAVI
MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA 400706
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Nanditha Ajay Thampy, M.17.B.34 of Third Year
B.M.S., Semester VI (2019- 2020) has successfully completed the project on “A
STUDY ON IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON A START-UP BUSINESS
WITH REFERENCE TO ZOMATO” under the guidance of
DR. NEERA KUMAR.

PROF. ANANYA GON DR. MILIND VAIDHYA

Course Coordinator Principal

DR. NEERA KUMAR

Project Guide/ Internal Examiner External Examiner

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the
depth is so enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh
dimensions in the completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI for giving me

chance to do this project.

I would like to thank my Principal DR. MILIND VAIDHYA for providing the
necessary facilities required for completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our coordinator PROF. ANANYA GON for her
moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide DR.
NEERA KUMAR whose guidance and care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my college library, for having provided various reference books
and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped
me in the completion of the project especially my parents and peers who supported
me throughout my project.
 DECLARATION

I, NANDITHA AJAY THAMPY, the student of T.Y.B.M.S. Semester VI (2019-20)

hereby declare that I have completed the project on “A STUDY ON IMPACT OF SOCIAL
MEDIA ON A START-UP BUSINESS WITH REFERENCE TO ZOMATO”. The
information submitted is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

_____________________

(Signature of Student)

NANDITHA AJAY THAMPY

M.17.B.34

SIES (NERUL) COLLEGE OF ARTS SCIENCE AND COMMERCE

NERUL NAVI MUMBAI 400706
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social media is a phenomenon that has transformed the interaction and communication of
individuals throughout the world. Especially, social networking websites are very popular and
have become daily practice in a lot of people’s lives. These sites have made significant impact on
the individual’s life. Social media are often used as a source of information and spread of
knowledge changing people’s views and opinions. They belong among very important business
marketing tactics and help to create new business opportunities, develop a stronger market
position or modify consumer’s behavior. Therefore, in developed countries, social media are
gaining popularity and are increasingly used in regular operations of many companies, including
start-ups, small, medium-sized, and large organizations. The study deals with the issue of social
media and its influence on startup business. It classifies social media and explores the
possibilities and challenges of social networks in business. The study describes features and the
evolution of social media, including major social networking sites that came into existence
during the 21st century. The purpose of the survey is to review the academic literature on the
opportunities and challenges of using social media from startups, as well as identifying factors
that drive social media marketing adoption and usage in startup businesses. This study offers a
useful means to analyze the kinds of research that needs to be pursued to make additional
research progress in the related area of social media marketing. Within this research, the
qualitative method is used in order to identify opportunities and challenges and determine factors
that drive social media marketing adoption and usage in startup businesses.

The modern growth of the net has enhanced the extension of on-line food services by individuals
to go looking, comparing the quality, ease of use and expenses on these services. For a restaurant
or any eating place business to provide On-line ordering services as it has become a necessary
factor. This service is bringing a huge revenue for restaurants. Technology has affected today’s
business industry vastly, it has brought an entirely new structure for the restaurant industry. It
has become easy and accessible for the consumer to search for various restaurants according to
their cuisine specialty, ordering food, reserving tables, giving positive or negative reviews of a
restaurant and viewing the ambience of restaurant beforehand. The forerunner and leader of this
segment in India has been Zomato. Zomato as a brand has become so successful that every
customer of and e-food platform would be familiar with it.
 INDEX

SR NO. TOPICS PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. OBJECTIVES 5
3. SOCIAL MEDIA 6
4. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING 10
5. RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY 17
6. ZOMATO 21
7. ZOMATO’S DIGITAL MARKETING 26
STRATEGY
8. DATA INTERPRETATION 37
9. SWOT ANALYSIS OF ZOMATO 46
10. SUGGESTIONS 49
11. CONCLUSION 50
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY 51
13. ANNEXURE 52
 INTRODUCTION
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or
service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia,
social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most
social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, which enable companies to track the
progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders
through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential
employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media
marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope and
the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone."

In modern societies the internet has a great impact, especially social media channels are widely
used to connect people around the world together. Using various social media like social
networks, shearing websites, social networks, blogs and a lot of other channels people can
interact online with whomever they want without any restrictions in terms of quantity or quality.
This great opportunity has allowed people to share valuable information and experiences. One of
the most important opportunities that social media has offered to the world, of course, is doing
business online, so, if we look this in a business perspective we can say that social media offers
really tremendous opportunities for the businesses to use it as a marketing tool, it gives them the
chance to promote their brand and of course the products and services that they offer. Using
internet and the freedom that it offers, people are sharing their information and experiences about
certain brands and the products and services that they offer, for example there are a lot of people
that offer reviews of certain products and services that they bought or tested which can be really
helpful for the consumers on one hand, and in the other hand could be a really good marketing
tool for businesses. The growing of media and the emergence of social media has pushed the
businesses to use social media as one of their marketing tools. Lately the increasing usage of
internet in general, but especially the increasing number of internet users through smart devices
such as phones and tablets has increased greatly the content in the internet, which has resulted in
the increasing of consumption. Big businesses have seen this opportunity on its early stages as
they compete aggressively for potential consumers and have started using this new channel as a
marketing tool. So, social media is being used successfully as a marketing tool for quite some

[1]
time now from big companies. But it should not go without saying that lately social networking
marketing has seen a really big growth of usage in developing countries, this may be as a result
of cheap and effective Facebook ads that made startups willing to use them. The increase of sales
of the Start-ups that have used social media as a marketing tool has boosted the interest of other
Start-ups in using social media for marketing purposes. However, because the social media is a
relatively new phenomenon, understanding its benefits as a marketing tool still remains a
challenge.

Consumer Engagement on Social Media

Engagement with the social web means that customers and stakeholders are active participants
rather than passive viewers. An example of these are consumer advocacy groups and groups that
criticize companies. Social media use in a business or political context allows all
consumers/citizens to express and share an opinion about a company's products, services,
business practices, or a government's actions. Each participating customer, non-customer, or
citizen who is participating online via social media becomes a part of the marketing department
as other customers read their positive or negative comments or reviews. Getting consumers,
potential consumers or citizens to be engaged online is fundamental to successful social media
marketing. With the advent of social media marketing, it has become increasingly important to
gain customer interest in products and services. This can eventually be translated into buying
behavior, or voting and donating behavior in a political context. New online marketing concepts
of engagement and loyalty have emerged which aim to build customer participation and brand
reputation.

Engagement in social media for the purpose of a social media strategy is divided into two parts.
The first is proactive, regular posting of new online content. This can be seen through digital
photos, digital videos, text, and conversations. It is also represented through sharing of content
and information from others via web links. The second part is reactive conversations with social
media users responding to those who reach out to your social media profiles through
commenting or messaging. Traditional media such as TV news shows are limited to one-way
interaction with customers or 'push and tell' where only specific information is given to the
customer with few or limited mechanisms to obtain customer feedback. Traditional media such
[2]
as physical newspapers, do give readers the option of sending a letter to the editor. Though, this
is a relatively slow process, as the editorial board has to review the letter and decide if it is
appropriate for publication. On the other hand, social media is participative and open;
Participants are able to instantly share their views on brands, products, and services. Traditional
media gave control of message to the marketer, whereas social media shifts the balance to the
consumer or citizen.

Social media use by Businesses

Social media use by businesses includes a range of applications. Although social media accessed
via desktop computers offer a variety of opportunities for companies in a wide range of business
sectors, mobile social media, which users can access when they are on the go via tablet
computers or smartphones, benefit companies because of the location- and time-sensitive
awareness of their users. Mobile social media tools can be used for marketing research,
communication, sales promotions/discounts, informal employee learning/organizational
development, relationship development/loyalty programs, and e-commerce.

• Marketing research: Mobile social media applications provide companies data about offline
consumer movements at a level of detail that was previously accessible to online companies
only. These applications allow any business to know the exact time a customer who uses
social media entered one of its locations, as well as know the social media comments made
during the visit.
• Communication: Mobile social media communication takes two forms: company-to-
consumer (in which a company may establish a connection to a consumer based on its
location and provide reviews about locations nearby) and user-generated content. This
promotion increased check-ins by 33% (from 2,146 to 2,865), resulted in over 50 articles and
blog posts, and prompted several hundred thousand news feeds and Twitter messages.
• Sales promotions and discounts: Although customers have had to use printed coupons in the
past, mobile social media allows companies to tailor promotions to specific users at specific
times. This special promotion was only available to people who were at a certain location at
a certain time.

[3]
• Relationship development and loyalty programs: In order to increase long-term relationships
with customers, companies can develop loyalty programs that allow customers who check-in
via social media regularly at a location to earn discounts or perks.
• Informal employee learning/organizational development is facilitated by the social media.
Technologies such as blogs, wiki pages, web forums, social networks and other social media
act as Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) tools, and their users perceive change in
organizational structure, culture and knowledge management. The prerequisite for the
successful use of social media are motivated employees who want to use the new
technologies. It is central for companies to understand the factors that determine the
willingness to use social media.
• E-Commerce: Social media sites are increasingly implementing marketing-friendly
strategies, creating platforms that are mutually beneficial for users, businesses, and the
networks themselves in the popularity and accessibility of e-commerce, or online purchases.
The user who posts her or his comments about a company's product or service benefits
because they are able to share their views with their online friends and acquaintances. The
company benefits because it obtains insight about how their product or service is viewed by
consumers.

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 OBJECTIVES

The aim of this research paper is to improve the understanding of the benefits and challenges of
Social Media Marketing usage by Startups through examining and structuring existing
knowledge on social media marketing and its application, but in this paper it is discussed from
Zomato’s point of view. Another goal of this study is to research how Startups can use social
media to benefit their businesses and also to explore challenges and benefits that they face when
they decide to use social media as a marketing tool. The prolific success of social media
platforms such as Facebook, Orkut, Instagram and Twitter caught the attention of researchers
and business practitioners globally. Marketers started looking at social media as a new avenue to
create profitable relationships with consumers. Researchers suggest that the online environment
can provide brands with structural asset, scale and process advantages in terms of a proactive
devoted customer base, online consumer data and new campaign concepts. Recently, brands
have started allocating a significant portion of their marketing budgets to social media marketing.
Marketers are still learning how to measure the impact of their social media strategy and its
contribution to the bottom line, and how to use social media to build and sustain value-creating
relationships with their customers.

Specific objectives of the study:

Ø Explanation and clarification of social media marketing concept and its main types.
Ø Explanation of the role and functions of social media marketing.
Ø Exploration of trends of usage of social media marketing within Startups and its impact.
Ø Determining factors that drive the use of social media marketing usage from Startups.
Ø Identification and clarification of benefits, opportunities and challenges that Startups face
when they adopt social media marketing.

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 SOCIAL MEDIA

Definition of Social Media

The need to survive and the competition are the main factors that has been pushing the
businesses to always search for the best alternatives existing in the market. In 1978, before the
World Wide Web technology came, for the first time has been presented social media in the so
called Bulletin Board Systems, which was an application that has made possible the change of
information within the already existing networks. Until the discovery of social media we have
had a chance to see an advertising on TV for example and get informed about the product, but
we never had the chance to express our opinion on that product and change information between
ourselves about that product. So, we can say that the term “social media” has to do with how all
the participants change their information between themselves via the Internet. According to
experts, when you can share your opinion, photos, content, views and when people can
communicate with each other is known as ‘social media’. They also define social media by
dividing it into two parts, “social” which has to do with the communication people do with each
other and the “media” is defined as the way how we send information into different channels.

Types of Social Media Channels

Knowing that people’s interests are different, it makes even the communication in social media
channels be variable, depending on what we show more interest about. The channels that are
most frequently used for advertising are:

v Facebook

One of the top social media networks known today worldwide by big and small existing humans
is Facebook. Facebook has been launched on the 4th of February 2004 and it was realized by
three college students Marck Zuckerberger (main), Andrew McCollum and Eduardo Saverin
(Charlene Croft, 2007). By seeing a very great interest that people were showing about
Facebook, Facebook has been quickly available also in other cities of America and beyond.

[6]
Facebook thus enabled that all businesses have the ability to communicate and access directly to
consumers. Today everyone aged 13 and above have access to Facebook, they can communicate
with each other by becoming friends first and allowing access to their photos and personal
information they publish to everyone they have accepted as friends before. In Facebook we can
create groups of interests and we can discuss and find all the information about that field. The
advantage of Facebook is that there is no limit on the number of characters we can type.
According to the statistics, Facebook is seen by small companies as the best opportunity to
communicate with consumers, 92% of companies use the most of all available social media
networks. Facebook has 1.71 billion active users per month.

v Twitter

Another social media network that connects people with each other by communicating with each
other and we have all heard about it, is of course Twitter. We can hear and read everywhere how
important and famous people tweet about anything. But, Twitter has a fixed amount of characters
you can write and it is limited to maximum 140 characters. These written characters are than
called “tweet”, which can be read by all, but written only by persons registered. According to the
website of the company, they have 313 million active monthly user environments, 82% active in
mobile phones, 79% Logos opened outside of the US and 40+ foreign languages are supported.

v Google Plus

Right after Facebook, one of the biggest social media network according to its number of users is
listed Google Plus. Google plus is launched in 2011. According to the site for statistics Global
Media Insight Google plus appears to have 440 million active user per month, and has a total of
2.2 billion profiles. Most of the users are male; the proportion is 73.70% male and 26.30%
female.

v LinkedIn

LinkedIn was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoff man, but was not launched until 2003. LinkedIn
unlike other social networks it belongs to a professional profile. LinkedIn in 2013 possessed 259

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million users and today LinkedIn holds more than 443 million members in 200 different
countries of the world according to the publications on their official website. LinkedIn enables its
member’s access to various job offers, different professional information and any other
information that we need to succeed in what we are doing.

v YouTube

YouTube was founded in 2005 by Char Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim, the three employees
of PayPal. YouTube serves to make public the videos created by artists or companies that are
licensed to publish them. Since 2006 YouTube is owned by Google Company. YouTube has
over 1 billion users, according to the data published on their official website, almost every 3rd
person who is connected to the Internet generates new views on YouTube. YouTube is available
in 76 languages around the world. Videos can be uploaded only by registered members but can
be seen by everyone whether you are registered or not. Under the videos we have the option to
comment. One of the advantages for all the businesses that would like to advertise through
YouTube is that ads can appear even when viewing videos and cannot be stopped immediately;
you first have to watch few seconds depending on how they agreed. Then you can decide if you
want to watch the whole ad or stop it. But space for advertising is also in other parts of the site.
Today YouTube is one of the most selected media from various marketing companies for
advertising.

v Blogs

Blog is a page in Word Wide Web, which makes enables the so-called bloggers to post updates
in the area that they have chosen to have a blog for all their viewers. You can also have a blog on
a social media network where you can invite you followers to visit you page. Any information
that is added at the beginning of the page appears leaving the old information listed below.
Probably the best way to communicate with the public is through blogger’s, because they have
constant contact with their readers.

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v Instagram

Instagram is a photo and video sharing social media app. It allows you to share a wide
range of content such as photos, videos, Stories, and live videos. It has also recently
launched IGTV for longer-form videos. As a brand, you can have an Instagram business
profile, which will provide you with rich analytics of your profile and posts and the ability
to schedule Instagram posts using third-party tools. It’s a global platform that allows brands
to humanize their content, recruit new talent, showcase products, and inspire their audience.
Moreover, Instagram users aren’t just active — they’re engaged. More than half of the platform’s
active users visit the site daily, and 35% say they check it multiple times a day.
Instagram can also help you grow your brand awareness and introduce new products. 70% of
Instagram users have spent time searching for a brand on the platform. Instagram allows you to
promote your brand and product in a friendly, authentic way without hard selling to your
customers.

The role and functions of Social Media Networks

Social media networks enable all persons who have internet access to access the pages created by
different companies and communicate about personal things. It aims to facilitate interactions,
collaborations and the sharing of content. Even why the social media is known to be the most
important part of marketing not all the social media networks will suit the objectives of the
marketing. We already know that the main purpose of the social media is the communication
between different group of interests and that continues to be the most important contact through
the companies and their customers.

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 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

There has always been a direct contact between companies and customers. But before the social
media existed it was necessary to have a direct contact, by phone or by mail. So these have been
the only opportunities to inform the customers with the existence of a product or a business in
general. The possibility to notify the customer of a product or a business through the use of
social networking tools is defined as social media marketing. The development of information
technology and Internet has made it easier the communication between the companies and
costumers and social media have become the most famous factor. A case stated that the earliest a
company started working on comprehensive communication, they would succeed in marketing.
This is because through the social media customers communicate also about their discontent in
received products, and it is more than necessary to contact directly with unhappy customers and
try to avoid escalation of situations that can be created.

The use of social media within Startups

From the previous discussion we can clearly see that social media is a key factor in the success
and growth of a business. But of course there are advantages and disadvantages of social media
also. The main advantages are estimated to be cost savings and getting closer to the customer.
But there are also disadvantages as the lack of financial risks and sources of labor. At the same
time a quite positive role of social media might be from Word of Mouth because through this
from old costumers we can gain new costumers. Also WOM is very useful as it gives us
information in a record time and with a significant credibility. Nowadays it is very important and
crucial to be closer to the customer all the time and this has become possible through social
media. Given that a client, almost all of those who are online and use the internet, at that moment
receive a product and are unsatisfied with it, will go immediately on social media and leave a
comment about that product. Here we can see the urge for the company to be online and respond
immediately to the customer, so that they can calm them before the situation can grows and gets
out of control.

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Social media marketing adoption factors

E-marketing and social media marketing literature has been consulted in particular to conduct
this study and determine the most important factors that affect the adoption of social media
marketing. Based on different theories and methodologies examined we will discuss some
important factors both internal and external related to adoption of social media marketing.

• End Users- This factor has an important influence on the technology adoption process
from the Startups. Training system in companies will allow the transfer of knowledge
required to make the new tools at the same time modify the worker’s attitude towards
technology change. The lack of technological knowledge combined with appreciation of
benefits of e- commerce is a major difficulty for Startups. Ease of use and usefulness have
been found to have a positive direct impact on e-marketing adoption by Startups. Some
studies confirm that the end users affect the adoption of social media marketing, the
impact of this factor depends on the technological knowledge of workers within Startups,
if the workers are proficient technology users this factor has a positive influence, on
contrary, this factor will be a hold back for adopting social media marketing.
• Organizational and Management- Depending on the management objectives, the
resources are allocated an innovative type of management increases the resources and
human capacities in the direction of adoption of new technologies and other innovative
projects. These organizational characteristics determine the potential adoption and use of
social media marketing, for instance, enthusiasm about emerging technologies, comfort
with their use on part of managers, and the existence of related experimentation and
innovation positively influences the adoption of new technologies. Therefore, it can have
a great impact depending on the management style of doing business, if the management
has an open and innovative approach the social media marketing is more likely to be
adopted if the management has more conservative approach the chances are smaller for
social media marketing to be a marketing strategy for those companies.
• Technological- There are not very well established systems to measure the efficiency of
e-marketing, therefore, is difficult to identify sales derived directly from technology, so, it
is difficult to measure the return on investment in the case of e-marketing. Trends show

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 that users have become more receptive towards internet, however, there are some
concerns about the credibility of technology when it comes to money invested. There are
still some barriers to Startups when it comes to use of technology to conduct business,
spamming is one of major concerns. But, when we talk about technological factor we
should have in mind that the technology is changing with giant steps and potential
concerns are being addressed very fast. Therefore, the technological factor in my opinion
may not be considered a factor with negative influence, due to very fast development of
technology and good use of it form social media to offer a various range of marketing
options through it.
• Business Environment- Technology is used as a competition tool by Startups, when
competition use technology to create a competition advantage, other Startups tend to start
to embrace that new technology in order to remain competitive. The business
environment is an important factor that influences the adoption of social media
marketing, but that depends on the local environment, in bigger cities the adoption of
social media marketing tends to be higher due to more innovative entrepreneurs and more
competitive environment. Therefore, it can be said that the business environment has a
huge impact on adoption of social media marketing by Startups.

Benefits of social media marketing

Social Media marketing is frequently used by startups because it offers a cost effective marketing
tool. Social Media Marketing offers a variety of tools that can be used very easily and for free, in
comparison with other marketing tools. The main purposes of using Social Media Marketing are
the amplification of word-of-mouth marketing, market research, general marketing, idea
generation and new product development, customer service, public relations, employee
communications and reputation management. Indeed, social networks can increase product and
brand awareness, web traffic, customer loyalty, but also improve the company’s Search Engine
Optimization, and even increase the success of new product launches.

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Social Media Marketing helps to achieve traditional goals using non-traditional ways, through
the use of creativity, community, and relationships instead of using a lot of money to achieve
marketing objectives. The Social Media Marketing methods are considered to be a powerful
guerrilla marketing strategies. Every Startup can now be armed with very effective online
marketing tools that enable them to present their products and services in the same way that
many large corporations do. Therefore, Social Media Marketing is a great change in the world of
marketing, and a huge opportunity for Startups to increase their presence on the market and to
improve their image. Social Media platforms increase communication around brands and
products, enhancing positive as well as negative word-of-mouth around a business and its
products and services. Anything published on the Social Media channels can be seen by millions
of people in a very short time.

Evidently there are numerous benefits that Social Media Marketing brings for Startups like:

• Increased brand exposure- is the main benefit that Startups acquire by adopting and
implementing Social Media Marketing, it helps Startups to increase the brand exposure.
Brand exposure occurs when the customer becomes aware of a product or service through
at least one of their five senses, whether or not they paid attention to it. Therefore,
brands’ visibility is increased if a business creates a presence on the of Social Media
channels.
• Increased targeted traffic- Social Media Sites have hundred millions of users, this makes
them a convenient target base for people who are trying to market products or services to
people online. Actually, Social Media Marketing has become a very effective way to
drive targeted traffic to companies’ website or blogs. Social Media has opened many new
doors, generated an extremely high amount of online traffic. Targeted traffic is when the
audience reads an ad for a product or service that a brand is promoting on its website and
they are actually interested in purchasing that product, and so they click this link to go to
the company’s website. One of the biggest benefits that advertising through Social Media
can offer marketers is the ability to specifically target customers based on a variety of
different factors. Social Media sites are storing all kinds of data on their users, such as

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 age, gender, geographical location, interests, and many other pieces of information.
Consequently, these data can be used to reach the company’s target audience.
• Leads generation- a significant number of marketers implement a Social Media strategy
to increase lead generation. Leads are defined as potential customers or sales prospects.
Social media is used by millions of users, which is good place for every business to have
some prospective customers somewhere on these sites. Every person who likes Facebook
page of the company, or follows the Twitter profile is a potential customer. Therefore, by
gaining more and more followers online, brands can raise their chances of generating new
customers. The challenge is to encourage people to visit the companies’ Social Media
sites. Once the visitors feel interested by the brand, then only, they will become valuable
leads.
• Market insights- another great benefit that adoption of social media offers to Startups is
the way market insight is conducted since social media has gained popularity. Internet
and Social Media has transformed the way market research and competitor monitoring is
being accomplished. Thanks to the amount of data left in the archive of the Social Media
channels, information about the target audience and the competitors is easily accessible.
Therefore, Social Media highly facilitates market insights. Social Media channels offer
the opportunity to spy on competition. Any brand can watch and read closely what is
taking place on its competitors’ website, blogs, and Social Media sites.
• Customer interaction- Social Media channels help maintain a wide interactive dialogue
between Startups and their current or potential customers. Through the Social Media
Sites, consumers are able to leave feedbacks and share their opinions, but they can also
request help and support. The communication is very simple and often improve
relationships between Startups and their customers. This is a huge benefit for both sides,
it helps Startups to improve their brand image and potential increase in sales, but also is
beneficial for the consumers because they get a more personal and qualitative treatment
for the product or service that they paid for, in form of help with difficulties, guidelines of
usage, or can leave negative comments if the product or service is not at the expected
level.
• Marketing effectiveness- Social Media Marketing is a marketing tool that does not need
high advertising costs or an extremely high amount of time. It is a strategy of doing good

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 and costless business marketing. If a company is aware of where its target audience is
interaction in the Social Media landscape, a small investment is enough to get a Social
Media strategy started and the returns can be amazing. The best example of this cost
effectiveness is Facebook, which offers a very cheap form of targeted marketing. Cost
efficiency is one of the most important benefits of Social Media Marketing that Startups
gain, because Startups do not have the financial power to implement an expensive
marketing strategy as large corporations have. This benefit is of a great importance
especially for Startups in emerging countries, because it helps them create a marketing
presence and promote their brand, while saving a lot of money and time.

Challenges and risks of Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing offers to Startups a large variety of possibilities in terms of Social
Media channels available, and a lot of benefits, such as those mentioned on the benefits section.
However, Social Media Marketing for Startups also requires knowledge and a lot of work, and of
course has its own challenges and risks before achieving success that is worth to mention. Social
Media Marketing may not always be easy to use or cost efficient. Sometimes, depending on the
business type, size and age and management style, hard efforts need to be made in some areas.

First, Startups need to engage human and time resources to manage their Social Media presence.
An employee, and sometimes a group of employees, needs to be ready and able to communicate
with customers’ and respond to their feedbacks and complaints on daily basis. Employees
engaged in Social Media activities should be highly skilled and trained in order to respond
effectively to every questions and complain that consumers have, they should be able to manage
and control the possible negative comments before they are seen from hundred or thousand
people. Also, Social media employees has to be very active and produce new content regularly in
depending on the type of Startups, in order to stay in the radar of the consumers, this is important
because it helps Startups create a continuous communication with their consumers. But Startups
need to be careful not to publish irrelevant content that often because some people find this
annoying.

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Besides, the outcomes of the Social Media Marketing need to be controlled and measured in
order to understand how efficient this strategy is, and determine whether this strategy is working
and what is not. Some Social Media Marketing channels might be more efficient than others for
Startups, while others are not, depending on the type of business and consumer target, and they
can be considered too time-consuming and expensive comparing to its benefits. Also, as was
mentioned before it is quite difficult to measure the return on investment, when it comes to
Social Media Marketing. Measuring social media return on investment is a very difficult task.
This may be considered a serious challenge for implementing Social Media Marketing from
Startups, the impossibility to measure results of Social Media Marketing disables them to know
which channel is the best way to go, and they may implement a total useless strategy, losing time
and money without a real impact on improving their brand reputation and sales.

Furthermore, Startups also face other major risks such as reputational, legal and operational. One
of the main risks for Startups using Social Media Marketing is potential damage their reputation
by using their Social Media sites ineffectively. Overuse of advertising, presenting products and
services in a commercial way and trying too hard for sales often is seen very badly the audience,
who might get annoyed and not follow the business on Social Media. Employees can also
damage a Startup image really bad, by showing bad behaviors on Social Media channels or
posting embarrassing information. Therefore, reputational risks can easily equal or exceed the
reputational benefits of Social Media Marketing.

Secondly, Social Media makes a whole new world of privacy, security, intellectual property,
employment practices, and other legal risks possible. The Social Media employees need to
understand information technology law before engaging in social media activities. Security and
operational risks are also high and may be considered a hold back for adoption of Social Media
Marketing, security risks occur when malware, viruses or spyware are downloaded through the
Social Media sites, security concerns are a major negative factor, because Startups are afraid that
they may be the victims of financial risks through different viruses and spywares. Also, there are
intellectual property and media risks concerning the protection of third-parties or the publication
of fake positive reviews.

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 RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

WHAT IS RESEARCH?

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of

matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development
of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific
matters of our world and the universe.

The term research is also used to describe an entire collection of information about a particular
subject.

METHODOLOGY
It is the method followed while conduction the study on a particular project. Through this
methodology a systematic study is conducted on the basis of which the basis of project is produced.

TITLE

The title of this report is “A Study on Impact of Social Media on a Startup Business with
reference to Zomato”.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study what is Social Media Marketing.

2. To study about the different social media strategies of Zomato.

3. To study about the benefits, opportunities and challenges of social media marketing for
startups like Zomato.

4. To study the impact of social media trends on startup businesses.

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NATURE

The methodology adopted to achieve the project objective involved is descriptive research method.
The information required for fulfilling the objective of study was collected from various primary
and secondary sources.

TYPE OF RESEARCH

This study is Descriptive in nature. It helps in breaking vague problem into smaller and precise
problem and emphasizes in discovering of new ideas and insights.

WHY THIS RESEARCH?

A survey aids to describe situation that produces conclusion and gives quantitative ability. Unlike
exploratory research, descriptive research is methodically planned, organized and formatted to
collect quantifiable data. Grouping responses into set choices will provide statistically conclusive
data. This allows you to measure the significance of your results on the overall population, as well
as track the changes of your respondent’s opinion, attitudes and behaviors overtime.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.
The present study is done to know in detail about brand visibility and customer engagement. The
research design is descriptive in nature.

RESEARCH INTRUMENT

The instrument used for gathering data was a survey questionnaire. Online resources were used to
research further such as websites, journal articles, case studies, and professional blogs.

SAMPLING SIZE

It indicates the number of people to be surveyed. Though large samples give more reliable results
than small samples but due to constraint of time and money, the sample size was restricted to 100
respondents. The respondents were of different age groups.

SAMPLING UNIT
It defines the target population that will be sampled. It answers who is to be surveyed. In this study,
the sampling unit is of age group 18-50 years.

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TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS
The data so collected will be analyzed through the application of statistical techniques, such as bar
graphs and pie charts.

DATA COLLECTION

Keeping in view the nature of requirements of the study all the relevant information regarding
social media activity of Zomato and its strategies were collected.

SOURCE OF DATA

SECONDARY DATA

Journal articles, websites, case studies, professional blogs.

PRIMARY DATA

Questionnaire was used to collect primary data from respondents. The questionnaire was structured
type and contained questions related to customer engagement with social activity of Zomato and
brand visibility. The questions included in the questionnaire were multiple-choice, dichotomous
and rating scales.

NEED OF THE STUDY

1. To determine the impact of effective social media engagement on startups.

2. To understand what is social media marketing and various strategies used by startups to
boost their business with the help of it.

3. To study about customer engagement strategies performed by firms.

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SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1. This research is done in an urban area in and around Navi Mumbai.

2. Customers of Middle-class were taken into consideration.

3. This is a realistic source directly collected from customers.

4. A larger part of the sample size consisted of the age group 18-30.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

Every research is conducted under some constraints and this research is not an exception.

Limitations of this study are as follows:

1. As a research is based on sample, therefore, the findings may not reveal the factual
information about the research problem, though utmost care will be taken to select a truly
representative sample.
2. There may be some bias in the responses of the respondents which cannot be ruled out.
3. Sudden changes in the study topic affairs can affect the result.
4. The sample of only 100 respondents was taken for the purpose of this study, so there can
be difference between results of sample from total population.
5. People were reluctant to go in to details because of their busy schedules.
6. Due to continuous change in environment, what is relevant today may be irrelevant
tomorrow.

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 ZOMATO

Zomato is an Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery start-up founded by Deepinder
Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008. Zomato started off in 2010 after rebranding from food
directory website Foodiebay. Zomato provides information, menus and user-reviews of
restaurants, and also has food delivery options from partner restaurants in select cities. As of
2019, the service is available in 24 countries and in more than 10,000 cities. The company was
India’s first foodtech unicorn and has continued to add new features besides delivery and
discovery. Zomato extended its subscription-based Zomato Gold programme to deliveries
despite controversy and criticism.
Like most other startups, India’s pioneering foodtech unicorn Zomato has seen many peaks and
troughs in its journey. While there were some illustrious moments and accomplishments, there
were troubled times too, some that even brought the very existence of the company into question.
During the massive layoffs and losses of 2015, chances of Zomato’s survival seemed slim. In a
belt tightening move, the company laid off about 300 employees — nearly 10% of its total
headcount — to cut costs in its weaker business aspects and shift the focus to more revenue-
generating areas like reservations.
However, in Zomato’s decade of existence, this was the biggest rough spot the company actually
ever hit. The rest of the time, founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal and cofounder Pankaj Chaddah
(who left Zomato in 2018) steadfastly held on to the reins of the company and kept it on the path
of growth and expansion, making it India’s first foodtech unicorn. While Zomato competes with
Swiggy, UberEats (presently bought over by Zomato) and Ola-Foodpanda among others, the
company still continues to innovate offerings and expand in the manner it has been doing since
the day it all started.

Zomato Eats Around The World

Zomato’s quick growth can also be attributed to its rapid expansion to countries other than India.
Soon after its success in Delhi-NCR, the company started branching out to cities like Pune,
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad. By 2012, Zomato had started

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expanding overseas by extending its services to Sri Lanka, UAE, Qatar, South Africa, UK, and
the Philippines. The year 2013 saw New Zealand, Turkey, and Brazil get added to its list.

During this time, Zomato also kept working on its tech backbone to match the boom in the
smartphone trend and launched its app. The company also started aggressively acquiring foreign
competition to increase its foothold in other countries. It was also in 2015 that Zomato,
struggling with falling revenues, carried out its massive layoff. The company, however, managed
to get something good out of the year by acquiring MapleOS, which would allow it to expand its
directory, database, and operations, and add online reservations and mobile bill payment to its
service portfolio.

After a slow 2016, in which Zomato saw further loss in revenues, the company decided to roll
back operations in nine of the countries it had expanded to, handling them remotely to ensure it
did not lose out on the markets.

A Decade of Experience

Ups and downs are something all startups see in their journey to becoming industry mammoths,
how they handle their trying times and the decisions they take make or break them.

Goyal and Chaddah have done a phenomenal job of keeping Zomato’s mast up and sailing,
irrespective of the trying winds. Chaddah, while he was with the company, gave wings to many
of Zomato’s new initiatives including Zomato Gold and its cloud kitchen concept. In a surprise
turn of events early in 2018, Chaddah announced his decision to quit Zomato and take some time
off before he became “professionally active” again. He continues to own his stake of 3.11% in
Zomato.

The company is now looking to raise more funding with a view to expand its service portfolio
and reach new markets. On home ground, Zomato is battling it out with its biggest competitor —
Swiggy — which too has reached unicorn status and within a shorter time period, and with more
funding raised. Both have recorded monthly cash burns and this is largely driven by marketing
and acquisition costs for users such as discounts, promos and ads. Additionally, adding new
delivery agents and tech capability is also a major cost centre for these foodtech companies. At

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the same time they are also expanding to newer services such as Zomato with its dining-out
features, and Swiggy with Swiggy Go hyper local delivery.

With Zomato Gold, a programme by Zomato which provides free food and drinks on certain
orders in select restaurants. This has come under a lot of criticism by the restaurant body NRAI
and as a result restaurants protested with a #logout campaign in mid-2019, which damaged some
of Zomato’s goodwill. But the company has not scrapped Zomato Gold — only changing its
terms to favour restaurants a little more — but in fact double down with Gold for deliveries too.
Zomato is constantly changing things to get the revenue boost.

BUSINESS MODEL OF ZOMATO

A. Key partners

1. Uber Taxi
2. London and Partners

B. Key Activities

1. Manage Network: Zomato offers data of local restaurants to the users, at present
functioning in 24 countries. It gives us the detail like the food items, menu, cuisine,
contact, address and review of a restaurant.
2. Manage and Operate Advertising: they have huge customer database which it uses for
advertising. Zomato earns most of its revenue from posting advertisement of countless
restaurants.
3. Bring up-to-date Customer Experience Initiatives: they keep the customers engaged by
improving user experience and changing as per the trend.
4. Expand and Diversify their service offer:
a. Online food delivery and subscription: formerly Zomato was only a restaurant guide it
did not provide delivery service, it was late to the game of online food delivery.

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 Gradually it launched delivery and subscription services. It faces aggressive competition
from Swiggy and this segment does not produce much revenue for them.
b. Consultancy to Restaurant Owners

C. Key Resources

1. Large pool of database of local restaurants across cities.

2. Presence across many countries

D. Value Proposition

1. One-stop shop for diners and offers restaurants a way to differentiate themselves.
2. Bridges the gap between restaurant and consumers through efficient technology
application which helps in navigating and browsing efficiently and fast. Reduces delivery
time.

E. Customer Relationship

1. Online services built with rating mechanism.

2. 24 x 7 customer support available.

F. Channels

1. Mobile Application
2. Website

G. Customer Segments

1. Customers who try to find local restaurants of various cuisines.

2. Restaurants who want to extend their reach to their target audience.
3. Customers preferring home delivery.
4. Database Companies
5. Market Research Companies

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H. Revenue Streams

1. Advertising their website contains ads that promote restaurants which brings them major
portion of revenue.
2. Ticket sales Zomato earns by getting commission on selling tickets of several events.
3. Consulting Zomato earns by providing new restaurant startups consultation based on data
they have collected of various restaurants and users.

REVENUE MODEL OF ZOMATO

Sources of Revenue:

A. Restaurant Advertising: 72% of total revenue earned.

B. Event Advertising: 4% of total revenue earned.

C. Event Ticket Sale: 12% of total revenue earned.

D. Consulting Services: 3% of total revenue earned.

E. Online Food Ordering: 2% of total revenue earned.

F. Subscription: 7% of total revenue earned

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 ZOMATO’S DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

Some brands have grown exponentially since their inception. Zomato is one of them. How did
they manage it? What did they do to increase their customer base? What did they do to keep their
consumers coming back? We think that Zomato’s Digital Marketing Strategy played a major part
in all this. This article analyses a few e-marketing strategies used by the company to give you an
insight into what they have been doing.

About Zomato
When Zomato launched, it aimed to be the best restaurant search and discovery platform. It had
the names of various restaurants, their menu, their prices, reviews and other details. It provided
in-depth information of over 1.4 million restaurants across 23 countries.
Over the years, it has converted itself into an online food delivery platform. People can now
order food from the restaurants near them using their app or website. Zomato has delivery
executives who pick up the order from the eatery and deliver it to the address provided by the
customer.

Target Audience
Zomato’s target audience includes people between 18 to 35 years of age who have access to
smartphones and are comfortable in using apps. It targets two kinds of customers: The first group
includes people who want to order their food home and the second group includes people who
prefer to dine out. In lot of cases, these groups overlap. It offers food delivery to those who need
it delivered as well as gives incentives to people to dine out through its Zomato Gold program.
Working professionals who need food in their offices, students who need food in their hostels,
people who do not have time or space to cook for themselves, and people who occasionally like
to eat outside food- all form a part of Zomato’s target audience.

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Marketing Strategies by Zomato
I. Search Engine Optimization
Zomato has put in a lot of efforts in SEO.
As per Uber suggest data, it ranks in India for 816,952 keywords as on July 2019. Its organic
traffic is 6,719,882 users per month. These stats are really amazing.
It is very difficult to get to know the Search Engine Optimization techniques used by Zomato
because they have blocked all the SEO tools from scanning their sites. However, we have tried to
find out some of their techniques and list them here.
Ø Keywords in URL

Zomato takes the top keywords in their niche and creates webpage URLs of them. This tells the
search engine that their pages are relevant to the search query of the user. This is a very good
strategy to ensure that your website ranks.
Ø Backlinks

Zomato gets backlinks from 12,274,172 unique domains. It also gets 233 backlinks from high
authority domains like .gov and .edu domains. All this increases the Domain Authority of
Zomato’s domain and helps it rank higher.

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 Ø Keywords on the web pages

Keywords that include food names, restaurant names, and phrases like “order food online in
Mumbai” tell the search engines that these pages have the content related to these search queries.

II. Social Media Marketing

Zomato is active on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. As of July 2019, it has 154k followers on
Instagram, 1,899,405 followers and 1.42 Million followers on Twitter. Let’s analyse how their
posts are:
Ø Trendy
Zomato engages with the audience by posting on trendy topics. The brand understands the
audience’s nature. Hence, it promotes content which makes users share it, comment on it and
view it again and again. It utilises trendy topics and posts simple images in order to interact with
viewers online.
One of the most noteworthy events in the field of sports is the Olympics. During the 2016
Olympics, Zomato posted something like this.

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Another trendy topic of the time was the game “Pokemon Go!” Zomato capitalized on that as
well.

Posting on the trendy topics built connectivity with the audience. Probably, users don’t wish to
think much when they are on social media. As a matter of fact, users are there on social media to
enjoy and see funny content. And, when such content appears on their news feed, expect your
content to be shared. For sure!
Ø Current Affairs
Many in the United States and people across the world know about the border issue between the
United States and Mexico. Newly elected President Donald Trump had promised that he would
ensure that Mexico would build the wall between the two nations and pay for it.

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Zomato had some different plans in mind. Current topics were related to food. “Taco lovers”
would have surely reacted to this post in large numbers. Such posts leave an impression on the
social media audience.
Ø Comparisons
Zomato has been a master of utilizing this form of engagement. There are tons of examples to
showcase how comparisons have been carried out by Zomato.
Here you go:
These two sets of people who eat.

Those who eat a lot and still never get fat vs. others who eat less and still can’t seem to stay in
shape.
Yet another splendid image which showcases how people eat.

Yet, the best one is here, there are two ways people eat Pizza.

You can relate to such images just by looking at it. You will like, share, comment, recommend to
others. That’s what Zomato wants, engagement with you, interaction with you, a real-life user.

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 Ø Connectivity with the audience

‘How I ate your butter’. Sounds wrong, right? Does it remind you of something else? It has to.
“How I met your mother”

There is more. Check this.

Isn’t it similar to Game of Thrones?

How can Indians forget this? Demonetization

Users can relate to many things. Right from lifestyle or incidents in the life of actors-actresses to
social media content; users love such content to which they can relate to.
There is more to it.
It is related to your food habits. Zomato uses info-graphics in a way which audience can relate
too. 96% of the youngsters would relate to this image with ease.

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III. Paid Advertising
Zomato runs Search Ad Campaign using Google Adwords. It targets keywords related to food,
ordering online, names of restaurants and much more. It targets users whose intent is to get some
food delivered to them.

It also runs Google Display ads to target users on third party websites and apps.

Along with this, it runs promotions on Facebook and Instagram to target users on these
platforms.

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IV. Platform-wise Strategy
Ø Facebook
Though Zomato has a 269k strong Facebook community, it is seriously lacking in engagement.
The page doesn’t have regular updates going out. Only a handful go out each month. But
whatever content they share, they do a stellar job at it. These content pieces get amazing traction
and response from the community. Which is why it surprises me when I don’t see a lot many of
such awesome content being shared.
Ø Twitter

Twitter is where Zomato shines. Twitter is primarily being used as a conversation platform and
the brand is doing an excellent job at engaging in conversation with the people. They are keeping
a close tab on all the mentions of Zomato and are responding to each and every one of them.
Even people are tweeting questions to them asking for restaurant suggestions.

Ø Blog

The Zomato blog is the company’s mouthpiece where it shares all the latest updates about the brand
and its initiatives. Though the posts are written very well, there is no regularity here as well.

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 Ø Pinterest

A visual treat and a foodie’s true delight, the content shared on their Pinterest channel is simply
amazing! Though the account doesn’t boast of a huge follower count, the content is simply
amazing.

Ø Instagram

Zomato has come up with an amazing portal that is a beautiful amalgamation of social, mobile
and crowdsourcing. Powered by Instagram, the Zomato Food Porn microsite amasses food
images from Instagram users. If you are an Instagram user, all you have to do is to take a snap of
the food and share it using the tag #Zomato. The image automatically gets shared on the
microsite.

Zomato’s Digital Marketing Strategy will have to keep changing according to the current trends.
They will have to find new ways to attract their consumers’ attention. Right now, they are doing
a great job. If they continue working hard on it, they are going to reap a lot of benefits for it.

BENEFITS OF ZOMATO APP

A. Easy to Browse and Navigate -

Zomato has an advantage over other startups because of its beautifully designed User Interface
which helps in easily in navigating and browsing. A good UI helps customers to save time and
effort. It attracts more customers to use the mobile application for ordering and browsing.

B. Many Payment ways –

Flexible payment ways are provided by Zomato for the customers. Customer can choose the best
convenient mode for the payment. This encourages the customers to use Zomato.

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C. Real time tracking –

Zomato has integrated GPS tracking systems, the customer can view the delivery boy getting the
food from the restaurant to the ordered place.

D. Gold membership -

Zomato offers customers to buy ‘Zomato Gold’ membership for premium services like extra
discounts, complimentary food, one on one food offer, at selected restaurants. This helps save lot
of money for a customer who is a foodie.

E. Operative customer care -

Zomato provides 24/7 customer care services, mobile app provides offers fast and efficient
support to the client, their queries or complaints are attended quickly.

SUCCESS FACTORS OF ZOMATO

A. Scheme-

They build innovative schemes to retain the customers involved. They have come with the
service of Zomato Gold membership which provides customers an exclusive dine out offers like
‘Buy one Get one Free’. This has caused customers to dine out more often because the
membership merits were only on dine outs. In October, 2019, the service of Zomato gold can be
used on delivery too.

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B. Emphasis on Technology-

The website as well as the mobile application of Zomato runs seamlessly. Even for a beginner it
is very easy to browse and navigate whatever they want through it. They have focused on their
UI too which is very convincing for any kind of user. This has helped Zomato to create a slight
modification from their competitors.

C. Promotional Strategy-

They are successful in promoting its services through images and different media. It has become
very popular among the people. It ensures that they provide fresh content.

D. Efficient Employees-

The employees hired by Zomato in different sectors have helped in making the difference and
facilitated Zomato to stand out.

E. Review mechanism-

The customer can post pictures of food and ambience of the restaurant as well as post comments
about the services provided by the restaurant. This helps other customers to decide.

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 DATA INTERPRETATION

Question 1:

From the above pie diagram, we can conclude that maximum respondents are male. Percentage
of female respondents is a bit below than male.

Question 2:

The above pie diagram shows that maximum respondents lie between the age group of 18-30
years. We can interpret that most of the people who use online food ordering applications also
fall under the above age group.

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Question 3:

The above pie diagram shows that maximum respondents are students and the rest are employed
people. This denotes that students or people within the age group of 18-25 access Zomato more
than others and are more exposed to these digitized platforms in comparison.

Question 4:

The above pie diagram shows that 90% respondents order food online, which means maximum
population use online food ordering applications. This proves that applications like Zomato have
increased its audience over the years since it began as a startup business by making it easier for
consumers to surf restaurants.

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Question 5:

The above pie diagram shows that more respondents prefer to use Zomato over its competitors
like Swiggy, Foodpanda and others. This response shows that Zomato does better provide
consumer services and is more user friendly, hence respondents prefer using it more than other
food ordering platforms.

Question 6:

The above pie diagram shows that 77% respondents have preferred using Zomato to acquire
information about restaurants like pictures of the venue, location, food menu, restaurant contact
and estimated price range of the restaurants. This clearly shows that Zomato has an upper hand
over its competitors in this sector.

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Question 7:

The above pie diagram depicts that 36% of respondents completely rely on the ratings and
reviews of restaurants. The other 54% respondents are skeptical about ratings due to false
reviews. But now, Zomato monitors all the reviews and ratings given by people to eradicate false
information about restaurants.

Question 8:

The above pie diagram shows that not many respondents prefer in putting up reviews and ratings,
that is only 17% respondents always post reviews and 54% post reviews sometimes on Zomato.
In fact, people post ratings and reviews when requested by restaurateurs by offering small
discounts on their food bill per review.

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Question 9:

From the above pie diagram we can depict that maximum respondents use Zomato when they
travel to check out restaurants and information related to it in different destinations across the
world. The other few respondents may have opted for restaurants with local popularity.

Question 10:

The above pie diagram shows that the facts flashed on the Zomato application when opened are
found interesting by maximum people. Small facts like this are an extra amount of knowledge
and is a different initiative by Zomato on educating people about food and the various species
that belong in it.

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Question 11:

The above pie diagram shows that respondents or the target audience does follow Zomato’s
social media content but not regularly. Only 17% of respondents actually follow Zomato’s social
media activity which means that in a large population, the content does not reach everybody.
Zomato must keep their social media engaged on a daily basis.

Question 12:

The above pie diagram shows that maximum number of respondents find Zomato’s social media
content eye catching and attractive. Attention grabbing content on social media sites like
Instagram and Twitter is an impressive strategy by Zomato to pull more customers towards them.
With more social media users these days, Zomato must focus on bringing more interesting
content.

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Question 13:

The above pie diagram shows the content preference of respondents on social media platforms. It
is clearly obvious that most of the respondents prefer graphic content especially in the form of
picture posts. There are people who would still watch conceptual short videos, read blogs and
articles. So Zomato needs to focus on all kinds of content for different platforms.

Question 14:

The above pie diagram shows that maximum percentage of respondents find Zomato’s social
media content up-to-date, that is it means their content keeps track of social media trends and
accordingly posts interesting content. This is a really good digital marketing strategy by Zomato.
Some examples are mentioned in the “Digital Marketing Strategies” section of my project.

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Question 15:

The above chart proves that respondents agree with my study which states that Zomato’s social
media content is catchy and keeps up with current food fads. Zomato uses the help of food
bloggers, food critics and chefs to amp up their online presence. For example, they encourage
people to be aware of the nutrient value in their food by uploading posts showing calorie count,
fats, carbohydrates and sugar content of respective meals.

Question 16:

The above pie diagram shows that 76% respondents are satisfied with Zomato’s customer care
response. This proves that Zomato has 24x7 online operative customer care which is fast and
efficient in reverting to feedback and help required by customers.

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Question 17:

The above relativity chart shows that maximum people use Zomato because it is user friendly,
that means everything in the application is clear and informative about restaurants. Almost 54%
respondents voted that Zomato offers better discount coupons than any other food ordering
application. Zomato also has trustworthy reviews because it monitors all the reviews put up and
removes false ones. Zomato also updates information about restaurants like change in location,
pricing in menu as soon as they receive the data.

Question 18:

The above chart shows that maximum respondents have highly rated their experience with
Zomato. This sums up Zomato’s efficient working mechanism including various promotional
strategies, up-to-date technology, keeping up with social trends and most importantly their
customer review mechanism.

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 SWOT Analysis of Zomato

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Zomato

1. First mover advantage – One of the best upper hands of Zomato is that it is the primary
mover in a considerable lot of the countries where it is building up itself. Registries and different
types of café evaluations may exist. In any case, as an application Zomato is incredible and
numerous nations (like India) have adored the ease of use of the Zomato application.

2. Evergreen industry – The café business is an evergreen industry. Indeed, there might be
downturns and different downturns that may influence the business. Be that as it may, in general,
this industry is going to stay consistent and is just going to develop with raising extra cash.

3. Fast Expansion – It is thankful that Zomato has extended so quick. It is as of now in 24

nations and is extending year on year.

4. The fantastic design of the app – Zomato has consistently won honors for its application
structure and for its ease of use. The App configuration is fabulous and it causes you to find
cafés close by just as in a zone you are going to visit.

5. The number of users – Zomato has countless clients utilizing its application. Simultaneously,
the site likewise has 90 million guests per month roughly. With such a large number of clients
following the application and site, there are more surveys and henceforth more opportunities to
discover better eateries.

6. Focused approach – The brand has an engaged methodology and has constantly attempted to
bring the most out of its one of a kind advertising. It is very much associated with eateries and
routinely accepts criticism from clients just as cafés. This engaged methodology has likewise
helped the brand picture and notoriety of the firm.

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7. Already turning profits – In April 2017, Zomato was beneficial in each of the 24 nations it
was working in. For an organization that is a beginning up and has so a lot of subsidizing, it is a
major thing to turn beneficial in light of the fact that many supported associations are as yet
proclaiming misfortunes even following a time of the foundation.

8. Brand Equity – Zomato is esteemed at $1.4 billion inside 7 years of its initiation. That says
volumes regarding the fame and love for the brand.

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Zomato

1. Security issues for the app– A significant issue for Zomato in the past has been some
security issues because of which the application was hacked and, in any event, 17 million clients’
information was duplicated. Such security issues are a bad dream for web organizations.

2. Still a lot of expansion required – Considering that the application was set up in 24 nations,
there is great development. And yet, the application has been begun 7 years back and with the
measure of subsidizing accessible for Zomato, the extension can be a lot quicker. It is enabling
different administrations to build up themselves in this specialty before it arrives at their nation.

3. Word of mouth and Facebook check-ins – Besides such applications, in numerous spots,
verbal still trumps applications and simultaneously, Facebook registration is a solid contender
wherein individuals probably won’t require Zomato. In this manner, it is an application for early
adopters however certainly not for slouches.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Zomato

1. Further expansion – The number 1 open door for Zomato is to extend to more nations and
build up its base quicker. The administration business has a significant issue that administrations
can be replicated exceptionally quick and effectively. Accordingly, it is basic for Zomato to set
up and grow itself quicker.

2. More acquisitions – There are and were numerous little players in this space. Zomato can
secure a few of its rivals and simultaneously, it needs to watch out for the tech business and
procure any tech advancement it can get its hands on to continue rising.

[47]
3. Cloud restaurants – Zomato is thinking of the idea of Cloud eateries wherein cafés won’t
need to get a physical space to really sell their nourishment items. Rather, they can sell from
Zomato.

4. Creating a community – Zomato has a colossal after yet the clients don’t interface with one
another. Making a discussion and a network out of the clients previously following Zomato can
be a tremendous advantage for the brand.

5. Adoption of the internet and Smartphones – There is a gigantic increment in the

appropriation of the Internet crosswise over creating and immature nations too. Additionally, the
reception of cell phones has likewise expanded. In this manner, an ever-increasing number of
requests and research about cafés can happen online rather than through physical visits.

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Zomato

1. Google’s schema module – One of the significant dangers Zomato faces right presently is the
Schema module of Google wherein google areas itself is getting in eatery suggestions. Indeed,
even google landing page demonstrates the google maps page where you can look for cafés
inside your region. Google being such a major brand, tomato faces enormous challenges from
them.

2, Market followers and challengers – In the administration business, it is anything but difficult
to repeat the accomplishment of another assistance item or offer. Also, showcasing supporters
and challengers can gradually remove the piece of the pie of Zomato.

[48]
 SUGGESTIONS

Social media offers just the perfect platform to showcase your brand and build awareness. The
numbers speak for themselves how social media has taken over traditional marketing methods
and has become a world in itself. As a startup, you have these cost effective social media
platforms where you can gain access to a huge audience and leverage a huge range of features.
Then there are the latest tools to support your social media goals and objectives. With these
platforms and tools, you can easily frame a winning marketing strategy for your startup.

To help market a Startup effectively, a few suggestions have been noted below to enhance brand
awareness and to fulfill your marketing goals.

• Identify your target audience

• Pick social media marketing platforms ideal for the brand
• Create valuable content
• Keep a watch on latest trends
• Find the best time to post content
• Actively engage with your audience
• Create paid content and test it out
• Use social media to cater to your customers
• Bring social media influencers on board
• Track your social media performance

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 CONCLUSION

Social media can be a powerful tool for any organization. It can increase your visibility, enhance
relationships, establish two-way communication with customers, provide a forum for feedback,
and improve the awareness and reputation of the organization. For these reasons, social media
websites have become an important platform for organizations. As organizations “focus on
effectively leveraging social media platforms, there are a few critical things to keep in mind”.
Organizations must first develop a comprehensive social media communication strategy and then
incorporate best practices in the implementation of that strategy.

Digital marketing for startups is crucial today and many startups have failed due to the absence
of an effective social media strategy. Therefore, it is really important for every Startup to
understand the downside that exists of using Social Media Marketing. In general, Social Media
Marketing is still a new way of marketing and it needs to be implemented through a real and
concrete defined strategy.

Social Media Marketing offers advantages for a start-up like: Delivers content, Reaches out to a
huge audience, Drives sales through social commerce, Establishes trust and reputation, Promotes
products and services.

The study highlights the potential of using social media for building a brand-consumer
relationship and leveraging online interactions to influence consumer behavior. The study
highlights the importance of understanding the profile of social media consumers and their
online behavior patterns. The study also suggests evaluating consumer engagement as a key
factor in increasing the effectiveness of marketing communication through social media. With
the help of this study, organizations can effectively and successfully derive the maximum benefit
from their social media initiative.

[50]
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• www.researchgate.net

• inc42.com

• www.brandlanes.com

• www.glassdoor.co.in

• Stelzner. (2014). How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Business
• Levinson, J., & Gibson, S. (2010). Guerrilla Social Media Marketing: 100+ Weapons to
Grow your Online Influence, Attract Customers and Drive Profits
• www.wordstream.com

• iide.co

• dsim.in

• Calder, B. J., Malthouse, E. C., & Schaedel, U. (2009). An Experimental Study of the
Relationship Between Online Engagement and Advertising Effectiveness. Journal of
Interactive Marketing
• Lewis, B. K. (2010). Social Media and Strategic Communication: Attitudes and
Perceptions Among College Students. Public Relations Journal
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zomato
• https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Zomato
• https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-of-zomato
• Dr. Gomathy Thyagarajan, “ZOMATO – A CASE STUDY “,Faculty-General
Management, N.L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai

[51]
 ANNEXURE

1. What is your gender?

• Male
• Female
• Other

2. What is your age?

• Below 18
• 18-30
• 30-50
• 51 and above

3. What is your occupation?

• Student
• Employee
• Service
• Self employed

4. Do you order food online?

• Yes
• No

5. Which application do you prefer the most to order food online?

• Zomato
• Swiggy
• Foodpanda
• Box8

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 • Individual Restaurant App

6. Which application do you prefer the most for acquiring information about restaurants?
• Zomato
• Swiggy
• Foodpanda
• Box8
• Individual Restaurant App

7. Do you trust reviews and ratings of Zomato?

• Always
• Sometimes
• Never

8. How often do you post reviews or ratings on Zomato?

• Always
• Sometimes
• Never

9. Do you use Zomato to surf restaurants when you travel?

• Always
• Sometimes
• Never

10. Do you find the facts (flashed on app screen when opened) by Zomato interesting?
• Yes
• No

[53]
11. Do you follow Zomato posts on Instagram, Twitter and other social media sites?
• Always
• Sometimes
• Never

12. Does Zomato's social media content grab your attention?

• Always
• Sometimes
• Never

13. How do you prefer to see content on Zomato's social media platforms?
• Videos
• Pictures
• Articles
• Blogs

14. Do you think Zomato's content keeps up with social media trends?
• Yes
• No

15. Rate Zomato's social media activity.

o 1 (being lowest)
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5 (being highest)

[54]
16. Do you think Zomato's customer care response is efficient?
• Yes
• No

17. What makes you choose Zomato over other food delivery applications? (multiple options
can be chosen)
Ø User friendly
Ø Better offers
Ø Trustworthy reviews
Ø Up-to-date information

18. Rate your experience with Zomato.

o 1 (being lowest)
o 2
o 3
o 4
o 5 (being highest)

[55]