Posts Tagged ‘Digital’

Supercharge Your Brands With Videos

Friday, October 17th, 2014

imageWe have landed into the generation where everything is transforming into digital; even the experiences! And in this experiential era, videos can do miracles for your inbound marketing. Videos, particularly YouTube provides referral traffic in terms of user engagement, retention and referrals. Videos can be tremendously beneficial for your inbound marketing attempts. In this time of digitalization and experiences, videos certainly dominate the marketing strategies. What you need to know are the steps towards charging all your marketing efforts with videos and connect with your consumers by appealing to their interests.

Videos nowadays are the most powerful tools for any brand. They are, sort of considered to bring along superpowers. Well, let’s check out why so!

There are millions of users who watch online videos everyday. According to a study, image

  • – 45% of internet users view atleast one online video a month
  • – 90% of online shoppers state that videos on a retailer’s website influence better and quick purchasing decisions
  • – 75% of executives view work related videos atleast once a week
  • – 59% of senior executives prefer to watch a video than read text
  • – Integrating a video in an e-mail can increase the click through rates as well

Now, the question is what makes the videos so powerful? What are the three most important traits of videos?

Well, Videos are said to improve:

  • imageVisitor experience – an average user will prefer to spend more time on a web page with a video compared to the one without it
  • Brand perception – Through body language, expressions, eye contact, voice, tone and appearance more information can be expressed through a video
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  • Search Engine Optimization – Videos are more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than normal text pages

The next question is; how popular are videos?

YouTube, the most popular video sharing and viewing platform reaches more people than the regular television networks. Every minute, millions of videos are uploaded.

With million videos being uploaded everyday, Instagram is next. The engagement level of Instagram videos is also on the rise and surprisingly, it is more viewed than Instagram photos.

Vine is next in the queue with millions of videos being uploaded everyday. Also, it is estimated that every second atleast five Vine videos are tweeted by people.

It is believed that by the year 2017, two-thirds of the World’s mobile data traffic will be video.

Now, you must be wondering how to take that first step towards creating video. Here you go:image

Firstly, define your audience & goal, which means define your message and the target audience it should reach

  • Repurpose a previously successful topic and explain it in a completely new way
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  • Brand your video with your logo and branding
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  • Keep it short; keep it simple & sweet, because most users click away from a video in the first few seconds, if the video is not engaging. Therefore, the optimal length for a video is considered to be 60-90 seconds
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  • Content is key because any video which is just about flash and no message or substance is of no use
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  • Title tips, there has to be something written that makes people watch the videos. proper keywords need to be integrated in the video title to optimize it for search engines.
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  • Optimize your video for search engines. The video has to be uploaded to right platforms, with right keywords and URLs.
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  • Go beyond YouTube. Yes, there’s more to explore, such as Instagram, Facebook, website, blog etc.

Encourage sharing and including an html embed code as embedded video views will be added to your ‘views’ tally on YouTube which is an important metric in Google’s search algorithm.
 Source: www.bixamedia.com

So, are you set to integrate videos to your marketing strategy? if yes, then do ensure you make it brief, branded, relevant, targeted and also pay attention on carefully curate the meta data. What are your thoughts on the importance of videos? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Brands and Digital Media Campaign

Monday, June 2nd, 2014

Blog ImageBy 2016, it is believed that there will be 10 billion mobile connected devices which will exceed the global population of 7.3 billion people on earth. But, reaching these many number of consumes is convoluted. The reason for this is that 20% of all the web traffic is already on mobile (majorly via iphone, ipad or android). As a result of which, we see a lot of apps being developed by brands for engaging with their consumers.

 

Even consumers spend more time using apps than mobile web. Flash, another element for video playback compatibility is found only on laptops and desktops, not on mobile devices or iphone and ipad for that matter. A lot of mobile devices infact have HTML5. And if you check out, maximum reach always requires Flash, HTML5, Mobile Web and mobile Apps for android and iOS.

Moving on, what was noticed eventually was that viewing videos on social networks grew. As the reach through these various mediums is increasing, now the time is for brands and businesses to monetize it. Yes, we mean generating revenue. It is expected that the number of users watching pay-per-view video on mobile phones and tablets will increase in the coming years. Even television is estimated to add billions of revenue due to digitalization followed by online video advertising.

What we intend to bring to light is the importance of a digital media campaign for brands. This would prove to be the fuel for brands to drive into the minds of their consumers by engaging them through the right path.

Let us see what a framework of a complete digital media campaign holds:

  • The Communication Strategy: This is the blue print of a digital media campaign which focuses or brings to light the specifics methods and mediums that can be used to reach a brand’s target demographic.
  • The Visual Identity: This is the face of any digital campaign, basically it is the visual representation of the campaign message which conveys and also supports that campaign message, visually.
  • Message: It is the heart of a brand’s digital media campaign. It fuels every interaction throughout the campaign and is at the forefront of any digital media campaign.
  • Outreach: Reaching out to the target consumers through communication to convey the campaign message.
  • The next thing is,
    Media Buying: This includes getting the best for your marketing budget when it comes to media based ad purchase.
  • Interactive Media: A successful content management system allows websites to become the centre zone for communications rather than just a static webpage.
  • Interactive Web Portals would also require unique functionality.
  • Social Media: Last but not the least, a successful social media presence is that in which all profiles are kept on brand through custom design profiles and messaging.

Hence, the success of your brand’s digital media campaign will depend on all the above factors combined together to communicate a campaign message, advertising, design, videos and publishing that not only reaches the target audience but creates a lasting impression too!

Digital-Media

Have you planned a digital media campaign for your brand yet? What were the most important factors that were a part of your campaign? Do share in your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Manu Prasad

Monday, October 15th, 2012

ManuCurrent Position and Organisation:
Head- Social at Myntra Designs Pvt. Ltd.; Blogger; Columnist at Bangalore Mirror
Areas of Expertise:
Social Media; Brand Management; Blogging; Column Writing; Idea Generation; Business Strategy; Media Planning
Educational Background:
Post Graduate Diploma in Management, Marketing from Goa Institute of Management
                                       Blog Name:  manuprasad

If there is one trait that encapsulates the essence of Manu Prasad’s plethora of achievements, it is undoubtedly the gift of the gab. It shouldn’t ideally come as a total surprise for someone who has close to a decade of experience in broadband/satellite, radio and media companies. Add to this existing list, a consultant on a popular tabloid’s editorial content where he writes reviews of restaurants and various start-ups. Quite an enviable ensemble of talent, if you ask us.

Manu describes himself in his ‘About’ section of his blog in a third person narrative that is sure to leave the reader in splits, if not in awe. With his signature mark of a devil emitting what appears to be signals (the alphabet – M), it is quite hard for him to go unnoticed.

As a person who is acing his personal and professional life, he sure knows where to draw the line. This is evident enough from the host of blogs he maintains despite his tight schedule. The presence of a dedicated work related blog alongside a personal blog where he documents his experiences tells it all. In fact one of his primary blogs has clear headers, namely work, life and balance. Each of them redirect to an entirely different set of experience for a reader.

Aesthetically, the blogs are well laid out and distinctly different in look and feel to resonate with the content and posts that go into them. The post titles are ingeniously clever. Images and videos supplement the nature of the post. The language is slick and laden with humour in most cases. The first person narrative in most posts is gripping enough for one to come back more. These attributes, although abundantly spoken of, are along the guiding principles of a genuine blogger are seldom practiced by a whole lot of existing people. We, on the other hand find it befitting to crown him with our very own title of the bloggerati of the fortnight.

Click here to read more about our Blogger of the Fortnight series.

The Golden Touch

Monday, October 1st, 2012

HOTELS SOCIAL AWARDNothing spurs us towards doing better work than being appreciated for our work. And when a global recognition comes our way, we just take it as a sign of raising the bar even further.

One of our clients, ITC Hotels, Gurgaon, won quite a few awards at the 2012 Social Hotel Award in the brand category.

The hotel was declared runner up in Online Reputation Management and Best Twitter account in the brand category.

ORM 1The brand was also awarded the Best usage of digital video award wherein the videos were hosted on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Over 1,300 views on YouTube and numerous comments were received.

Says Aditi Upadhyay, Associate Maven at Windchimes who handles the ITC Hotels account, “we engage every single user who writes to us, and make sure they get personalized attention. Thus elevating their experience & delighting them.”Twitter 1

Well, like we said, we are gearing up to think bigger and do better!

Bloggerati of the Fortnight: Priyanka Matanhelia

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

Current Position and Organisation: Program coordinator at Johns Hopkins University; Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University
Areas of Expertise: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis, Field Research, Focus Groups, Consulting, Teaching
Educational Background: Doctorate in Journalism and Public Communication from University of Maryland College Park; Masters in Communication Media from Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University; Bachelors in Child Development from Delhi University
Blog: http://www.priyankasblog.com/

Just like many other bloggers from the same sphere of involvement, Priyanka’s blog is pretty much a reflection of the current times and essentially talks about various facets of Social Media and the use of mobile phones among the youth.

Most blog posts revolve around her areas of expertise as listed above. Interviews with experts and focus groups etc., pertaining to crucial issues faced by the communication industry in this digital age are centric to most of her blog posts. They are usually written in a first person narrative as she has been moderating most of these discussions. Video clips from the sessions are duly supplemented as and where applicable.

Her recently concluded dissertation on ‘Mobile Phone usage among the youth in India’ is up on one of her posts and the sheer number of downloads bear testimony to how intricately the subject matter has been observed and studied. Needless to say, this post counts as one of her most successful entries.

Besides this, the blog also serves as a medium to chronicle events from her personal life. Every once in a while there is a pleasant bit of poetry, culture, travel, romance etc. to break the monotony of Industry discussions. Her ability to make a mark on the blogosphere by uniquely showcasing an array of well distributed content entitles her to be our Bloggerati of the Fortnight.

Click here to read more from our blogger of the fortnight series.

Social Media Trends to look out for in 2012

Monday, January 2nd, 2012

2012 trendsThe year 2011 has borne witness too many ups and downs and dynamism in the world of Social Media. Radical changes in the interface for two of the most ubiquitously popular Social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter, Klout’s remarkable drop in the ranks, Google+ and Facebook in close encounters, viral videos being recognised as a potent medium to catch eyeballs, augmented reality entering the Social Media Space et al.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which brands could maximize user engagement in the year to come.

Social Media as a 360° Brand Promotion Enabler:

Social Media platforms would be expected to aggravate and play a greater role in enabling a 360° communication. When efficiently integrated with outdoor activation and ATL communication it could lead brands to have a much enhanced user engagement with their potential consumers.

This could have a twofold approach. One, a campaign solely triggered on the social media platform supported by an ATL medium could be a building block to establish a much larger audience base. Two, campaigns initially launched on the mass media vehicles and later on reinforced by the social media. There are enough and more examples of brands that have been practicing these two strategies internationally. In India, the scope is huge considering that not many players are either not aware of the potency of combining SM with ATL or they are plain wary.

A look at Aviva’s ‘the big picture’ campaign where Aviva highlighted stories of their customers, partners and employees and brought alive the brand promise of individual recognition, gives us the idea of integrated campaigns that can be done. Entries were invited through Facebook where interested people could submit their photos and get a chance to feature on building facades of 6 big cities of the world. A classic campaign that that got triggered through the social media and supported by outdoor activation.

Aviva
Aviva’s ‘Donate a Picture’ Outdoor Campaign

Another interesting campaign took place post the inflammatory tweet made by English cricketer Michael Vaughan about Vaseline. Vaseline spawned a campaign in defense of its brand identity and reinforced the message through facebook, where supporters were asked to tag themselves on the page. Needless to say, the campaign did steer in favour of Vaseline’s brand identity and generated a lot of positive reviews.

Vaseline-print-ad       Vaseline-print-ad-2 
             Print                                          Facebook Ad

                                                                                                                                                  Google+ Hangout:

Although relatively new in the arena of Social Media, Google+ Hangout, in all probabilities is a great platform that Google+ could provide brands to create a niche user engagement. Brands, businesses, movies, musicians etc. are always on a lookout to grow their fan base. Internationally Dell and Macy’s have already used Google + hangout successfully to provide customer service and engage with their target audience base face to face. The Muppets (movie) had collaborated with Google+ hangout to create a pre-release.

 GooglePlusHangout
Characters from ‘The Muppets’ on Google+ Hangout with the makers

In the Indian context, Google+ hangout is still at a very nascent stage. Barring a few popular incidences like Shah Rukh Khan doing a Google+ hangout for his Ra.one, cricketer Virender Sehwag catching up with fans etc., for many brands Google + hangout is still a gold mine waiting to be explored.

 Screenshot at 2011-10-20 12-06-50
Shahrukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor on Google+ Hangout with fans

Google+ hangout provides 2 options for hangout: private and public. Although it has limitations on the number of people in a group who could participate in a hangout (10), if carefully planned out, a brand could really build a relationship with its customer/potential customer/stakeholder.

Viral Videos as an Attraction Enabler:

Viral videos have been a talk of the town for many years now, including the year gone by. 2012 will only see it emerging further up the ranks of a marketer’s favourite way to garner attention.

Again, looking closely into the aspect of how many brands are actually doing it and creating enough buzz in the local scenario is important. Internationally brands have been using viral videos to develop pre-launch, launch time, post launch videos at regular intervals and provide exciting content for their consumers that can further grow with the word of mouth.

For example, T-mobile did a pre-planned flash-mob invade Liverpool St train station in London and made a crowd groove to some funky beats. The sheer number of views on their official channel itself were in the tune of 15 million+. Let alone other social networking sites. Closer home, HUL’s Dove evolution’s stop motion video that talks about having self-esteem and keeping it real went viral and in the first year itself it got around 12 million+ hits.

Click on the image below to check out the video:

image

The point is, there are many brands in India that have still not recognised the potential of a

video in either directly or subtly present the brand to its audience. The recent success of an

Insanely popular video, ‘why this kolaveri di’ is a proof how the film makers of the south Indian film, ‘3’ utilized social network as a pre buzz marketing tool and are soon to set the cash registers ringing.

Location Based sites as a Market Research tool:

Much has been talked about the efficacy of location based Social networking sites like Foursquare, Gowalla, BOOYA, Google Latitude etc. The year 2011 has seen a steady rise in the number of ‘check ins’ happening across platforms. In fact, despite not being able to take off as expected by all, Facebook places has also had a decent number of people checking in through this feature, introduced not so long ago. The point being, geosocial networking is growing fast and is expected to go full throttle in 2012 in all likelihood.

Considering that there is an ever increasing footfall on these LBSN sites, the possibility of using such platforms as a market research tool is quite huge. Tracking the usage and the check in patterns of users and the titles that they win when they check in is just the start. Recognise people’s check in patterns at various locations and earmark them to do related brand promotions.

For e.g.: Considering the demographic profile of a group of users who checks in at a TGIF at regular intervals could be potential customers for say an energy brand like a Red Bull or Cloud 9. Triggering a promo campaign at the POS could be one of the things that could be done. Organising contests, quizzes with a definite brand agenda in mind is just some of the other things what associated brands could look into.

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Foursquare Check In

Augmented Reality integration into Social Media:

Augmented Reality has been quite a buzz word in the advertising circles lately. A lot many premium brands have already jumped on to the band wagon recognizing it as a key driver to brand communication and customer engagement. And coming from the understanding that most of them would mostly be live on mobile space in delivering relevant targeted content in a contextual environment, it makes more sense for us in India to tap into that.

Augmented reality has already been here in India and brands like Nike and Ford Figo have already demonstrated the use of quick response codes in their various print campaigns. AR essentially brings alive the dormant senses that usually are not quite active for traditional mass media dissemination channels.

AR for social media is to soon see a rise in 2012 based on the ever increasing presence of the target audience on various social networking sites. A simple .jpeg could contain coded information which when integrated with mobile applications could provide a much engaging experience for users.

For example, Volkswagen’s all new Beetles’ ‘Juiced up’ campaign where Augmented Reality was used to bring alive the spirit of car that was all over the hoardings. All one had to do was point their mobile devices enabled with a decoding app and see the all new Beetle do what it does best. Thrill.

Click on the image below to check out the video:

image

Although it cannot be said with surety how successful the aforementioned trends are going to be, riding high on the waves of last year’s success stories, they seemingly hold promise. A meticulous and timely dissemination of the message at the right time could spell wonder for brands.