INTRODUCTION:

We are nowadays witnessing changes in all aspects of today world. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention Technology has profoundly altered our modes of life. In today’s world nothing is permanent except change. IT has revolutionized the way we do thing, the role IT in today’s society is phenomenal. Today’s organizations need to advance beyond a view of ethics for safeguarding their reputation or as mere compliance with forced regulations. A great opportunity awaits organizations alert to the potential of ethical values in shaping the future.

Businesses invest a lot of time and money in sustainability efforts. Regardless of their particular motivations, businesses often want to be recognized for their sustainability efforts¹. Not only marketers but consumers are also concerned about the environment, and consumers are also changing their behavior pattern. Now, individual as well as industrial consumers are becoming more concerned about environment-friendly products. As a result of this, the term "Sustainable Marketing" has emerged.

Sustainable marketing is the process of communicating these efforts; it plays a pivotal role in helping businesses achieve public recognition.

Sustainable Marketing:

Sustainable or Green Marketing consist of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment. Sustainable marketing is a holistic approach with the aim of satisfying the wants and needs of the customers while putting equal emphasis on environmental and social issues, thus generating profit in a responsible way. American Marketing Association defines green marketing as² “the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe”; it incorporates several activities such as product modification, changes to production processes, and packaging, advertising strategies and also increases awareness on compliance marketing amongst industries. It is well known that increasing production and business activities are polluting the natural environment. As resources are limited and human wants are unlimited, it is necessary for marketers to use resources efficiently, so that organizational objectives are achieved without waste of resources. Therefore, ‘Green marketing must satisfy two objectives: improved environmental quality and customer satisfaction’³. So green marketing is inevitable in today’s context.

Importance of Sustainable Marketing:

· In the 21st century the world is facing a severe threat of sustainability due to economic crisis, energy crisis, environment crisis and development crisis. Our resources are limited but human needs are unlimited For the sustainability of the humankind sustainable marketing practice is needed

· There is growing interest among people around the world regarding protection of natural environment.

· Social Conscious Consumerism is gaining importance.

· CSR has been a highly important tenet of almost every business for many years. As a part of this they are giving importance to sustainable marketing strategy.

· Sustainable marketing is the golden mantra for not only customer attraction but also for customer retention.

Social Media Marketing:

Social media refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks⁴. Social media involve user participation or user generated content. Popular social media platforms include Twitter, Face book, YouTube, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Google+ and Foursquare etc.Specific social media techniques include creating profiles, blogging, micro blogging (also known as tweeting), ratings and reviews, as well as video, photo, podcast and presentation creation and sharing.

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites⁵. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.

Role of Social Media in Sustainable Marketing:

In the Internet Age, everyone has the ability to ﬁnd out everything about one company, market, and products. If a company wants to sell, they’d better show customers that they care intensely about their product and what it stands for.”Social media executed successfully can be a powerful vehicle to build sustainable business communications by engaging with stakeholders. With new tools and strategies changing the way the business world communicates and exchanges information, social media is becoming the transparent, engaging, competitive advantage that business sustainability delivers. The role of social media in sustainable marketing can be summarizing as follows:

· Social media allow individuals to interact with one another and build relationships. When companies join the social channels, consumers can interact with them. That interaction feels personal to users because of their previous experiences with social networking site interactions.

· Social networking sites act as word of mouth.

· Social media allow individual followers to “repost” comments made by the product being promoted. By repeating the message, it reaches more people.

· For green marketers, social networks provide a compelling channel to communicate with consumers

· Social media aims at getting people to change habits and adapt a more environmental consciousness.

· Attract prospective customers

· Monitor competitive positioning and ensuring they are moving in the right track.

· Build better relationships with partners, prospects and customers

· Establish thought leadership in concerned industry.

· Build brand awareness and preference among decision makers

CONCLUSION:

Consumers are aware of and worried about environmental issues. Besides environmental impacts, consumers also express their concerns about the social impacts of products they purchase and more than ever demand ‘green’ products. As social conscious consumerism is gaining importance organizations are nowadays targeting on sustainable marketing. Consumers expect companies to be socially responsible and operate in an environmentally friendly way, and do more than just comply with legal regulations. Companies, linked to unethical business practices or business operations, which damage the environment, are readily boycotted by consumers. This has led to an expansion of role of social media in sustainable marketing.

REFERENCES:

1. New white paper “Green Marketing: Think before you act” (2012) available at www.sustainabilityconsulting.com

2. American Marketing Association. (2011, August 11). Dictionary. Retrieved August 11, 2011, from marketingpower:http://www.marketingpower.com

3. Ottman, J.A. et al, "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia", Environment, Vol-48, June-2006

4. Ahlqvist, Toni; Back, A., Halonen, M., Heinonen, S (2008). "Social media road maps exploring the futures triggered by social media". VTT Research notes (2454):13

5. Trattner, C., Kappe, F. (2013). "Social Stream Marketing on Face book: A Case Study". International Journal of Social and Humanistic Computing (IJSHC) Vol. 2, No. 1/2, 2013

Received on 24.08.2013 Modified on 09.09.2013

Asian J. Management 5(1): January–March, 2014 page 67-68