Bookman International Journal of Accounts, Economics & Business Management, Vol. 1 No. 2, October-November-December 2012 / 57 ISSN No. 2319-426X © Bookman International Journals : www.bookmanjournals.com RESEARCH ARTICLE AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR CREATING ELECTRICITY CONSERVATION AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS, IN THE NAVI MUMBAI REGION 1 Seema Rajesh Laddha* and 2 Purshottam Narayanrao Patil 1,2 Assistant Professor, Marketing Management Dept., NCRD’s Sterling Institute of Management Studies, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, INDIA. *Corresponding Author : simran.laddha@yahoo.co.in ABSTRACT In India the demand of electricity is always outstripping the supply. This severe gap in electricity supply has lead to the failure of electricity supply companies to match the demand, across India. The outcome of this phenomenon is load shedding and subsequent debacle of diminutive productivity for industry and distressed life for the community. Maharashtra is one of the leading states in the country in terms of industrialization and infrastructure. Conversely, this state also has the awful reputation of ranking in the higher order in the list of high electricity deficient states. Electricity generation and electricity adequacy, both are at a substandard level in the state. There are no indications, whatsoever, of reaching a precise solution in this regard. Consequently, there is widespread public outcry, observed frequently over this issue. Deep demand-supply fissure and increased load shedding affect the socioeconomic development of the state, adversely. Supply side management has the foremost obstacle of lack of the state’s policy decision making and execution of new power generation projects, for several reasons. This cannot be immediately focused upon. Thereby, the only alternative remains are considering the demand side management. In this regard, energy conservation is the key for the solution. This is not possible without public involvement. Through their previous research, these authors have observed, that the current awareness campaigns of the state owned electricity supplier MSEB, are ineffective in creating requisite public awareness. In India, social media played major role in the success of various campaigns. One third of India’s online consumers are aware of brands that have an online presence. Interestingly, social media has now become part of everyday life for a majority of citizens, both in the urban and rural area. According to a study on social media usage by the Nielsen Company, conducted in collaboration with Absolute Data, nearly 30 million Indians who are online consumers are members of social networking sites and about two-thirds of them spend time on these social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, daily. Nowadays, Facebook and Twitter are widely preferred choice of many businesses for promotion of their product. This study has highlighted the aspect that Facebook and Twitter are prospective dependable instruments for MSEB, in their pursuit to create public awareness on efficient use of electricity. Keywords : MSEB, Social Media, Social Networking Sites, Electricity, Conservation Campaigns, Navi Mumbai, Facebook, Twitter. 1. INTRODUCTION Power requirement for India is mounting, considering the superior economic growth. Availability of electricity is scarce, due to delay in startup of power generation projects. Moreover, power plants require extensive time for stabilization, according to CEA reports. As fuel shortage and environmental issues hit the power sector, the nation faces severe electricity shortage of over 10 percent this fiscal vis-à-vis the deficit of 8.5 per cent seen in 2010-11. "The anticipated energy and peaking shortage in the country would be 10.3 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively (in 2011-12)," the Central Electricity Authority has said. According to the projections, there would be an electricity supply shortfall of 96,367 million units in 2011-12. During this fiscal, the requirement is expected to be higher at 933,741 million units as against an estimated availability of 8,373,74 million units. To fulfill the deficit in supply, power sector resorts to the alternative of load shedding which adversely affects industrial productivity and agitates the life of people, consequently leading to national loss and public outcry. Conversely, if we are able to use electricity, efficiently and economically, by creating awareness so as to encourage people on energy conservation, the crisis would decipher significantly. Awareness campaigns run by power generating companies including MSEB, have been futile for long. According to recent research, approximately 70 percent of populations of age group between 15 to 60 are spending considerable time with social media. In our research we emphasize the precise use of social media for executing the various electricity awareness and conservation campaigns