ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: Social media has become a new selling point for online marketing maniacs. With Eidul Azha approaching, ‘bakra’ marketing has spread on Facebook - the famous social media networking site.

“Get the best deal for Qurbani this Eidul Azha - our website will give you a chance to find the best bakaras on cheap rates,” says one Facebook advertisement. Facebook has become a major tool for advertisement so it is no wonder that cattle sellers are taking advantage of this as well.

“Buy a bakra online and win a ticket,” says another advertisement as one scrolls down through different Facebook pages.

“Jori (pair) No 1, Nick: Bol, Age: two teeth, weight: 38-40kg, price: no more than Rs24,000,” says one advertisement on an online cattle market website. The online cattle market also gives you choices of collective sacrifice of a cow; also showing the part of your share.

A search on the internet search engine Google gives several results for ‘bakra mandi (cattle market) in Pakistan’. This showsthat there is good competition amongst different websites in the cyber world and that they are income generating sources online for those searching for business development opportunities.

Hasnain Raza, an online cattle market official of www.qurbanionline.com told Dawn: “We have been in this business for the last four years. This Eid we have already booked orders for 1,800 goats and 700 cows.” Mr Raza claimed that their Karachi-based company got orders globally and “is doing good business.”

He said they had established sale points across major cities and contacted different sacrificial animal sellers which helped their buyers get easy access to the goat or cow of their choice.

“We offer comprehensive reviews of ‘bakras’ and cows giving our website users the option to evaluate the picture of the sacrificial animal as well as see their breed,” he explained.

Mudassar Saeed Khan, a Google advertisement partner, told Dawn: “The recent surge in online marketing is one good example that investors have started using internet as a major marketing tool.”

Marketing on Facebook and usage of social media as marketing tools is rapidly creating an online niche for different strata of people to access more buyers. “Online marketing either through social media or internet websites is a booming business. Wehave seen changing trends in online business as internet is utilised in innovative ways. Companies are winning software projects for developing software related to religious events like developing online cattle markets and establishing transaction modes for such markets,” said Mr Khan.