Blog Visibility | Indian Social Media Landscape - Part 4 Indian Social Media Landscape

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Social Media & Storytelling: A Great Mix!

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

The ultimate reason that defines how a marketer knows what to do in the right way is his understanding of the consumer psychology, where he actually stood a decade or two ago and where he would be few years later. Marketers, yes they do get stuck sometimes with their ideas. They spend millions on direct mail, billboards, print, radio, TV etc. But why? Many of these mediums are already breaking up in terms of getting a genuine attention of the users. Well, if you can tell us the last time you were really excited to open an email, or stopped by to look at a billboard or outdoor media or you didn’t forward that commercial then you can surely email it to us.

The value proposition is not the same as it used to be. There used to be a day when consumes were excited to buy a particular item on online stores or ecommerce sites at half the original price, but now you do not show any interest to such offers and actually mark it as spam before it even hits your inbox because you have been already bombarded with lots of them since years now. The solution? What would one do when the ROI of billboards, Television and emails deteriorates in comparison to what it was in the early 90s?

It comes down to a fact that every single marketer is a storyteller, it becomes their job to tell their value proposition, give value and ask for business, what their story is to the customers along the lines of purchase. Period.

And therefore, to be a good storyteller one needs to get the attention of the customer to get that chance. And to be very precise, their attention is shifting, shifting at a very fast pace. Time and attention have now become like commodities which are the most valuable in the game. Now, when you talk about social media, many marketers just treat it like a distribution channel and another medium or way to shower the consumers with the same messages.They are missing the fact that social media networks are the platforms or mediums with actually a two way conversation.

For instance, if one looks at twitter, it is nothing less than a cocktail party of the internet. And what makes one a great cocktail party guest is not talking about oneself all the time. Infact, to be clear more percentage of tweets should engage with other users which in turn brings value to your brand. The truth, rather the ultimate truth is in order to succeed and provide a great value, learn to storytell in each platform (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram to name a few). The most important thing is to respect and understand the psychology of what makes the Facebook user different from a Pinterest user and more from an Instagram user.

Storytelling is something more than just telling the story about your brand. When it is about social media storytelling, it is way more than just promoting the brands on social media platforms. Authentic brand stories not only symbolize the brand, but are unique and in turn motivate the people to engage with your brand, talk about it, share and ultimately purchase it or entice profits. Storytelling is- knowing in reality what your audiences want. It is very importantly about relationship building. Determining the core story of the brand first will help you know who the audience is, how their interaction with the brand is, what & how many people are talking about the brand, how your brand differs from that of competitors, your social response parameter & time etc.

People find value in platforms and those who cannot tell their stories on today’s social media platforms are the ones that will go out of business sooner or later. Storytelling on social media and marketing have now blended together and play on the fans’ emotions. With these stories, brands connect with atheir readers on a more human level. Future not just holds churning out content but also crafting compelling stories. So are you ready to strike a chord by making your brand voice resonate with the consumers on social media? We all love stories, right? Whether it is around a campfire, or in a room with friends or on a phone call with an old friend, we love it all the time.

If so, then what about leveraging this most basic aspect (of storytelling) of human nature to your advantage on social media?

In order to go ahead with digital storytelling on your social media platforms you need to keep in mind a few things.

Your brand needs to tell a story

In order to stay connected with your audience or customers you need to show your brand’s human or personal side, your brand needs to tell a story. The brand personality should ideally resonate with your fans on social media. While doing so, make sure you don’t make the brand voice too personal and also ensure that whatever you are sharing, you are comfortable with the whole world knowing what you are sharing.

Your brand’s story – Share it!

It’s a normal consumer behaviour that they they usually don’t just buy brands they largely consider the story behind brands too. Highlight your brand’s message, the story & the attributes like you do on your website and blog on social media also. When you post content keeping this in mind, then your communication builds a strong credibility for your brand and makes your content relevant and relatable with the audience.

The best way of storytelling is to actually do that!

Yes, you can do this on Facebook by converting your updates into small blog posts or narrations. And on Twitter also with a limitation of 140 characters too you can be amazing in telling your story encouraging more creativity. Using Instagram is another great way to tell a story. Wonder how? Just post an image with interesting captions.

Consecutive post can be another way

Sharing the posts or tweets in parts makes sharing the story a way more captivating. Consecutive post after post or a tweet-after-tweet fashion works great on social media as it builds positive anticipation for what’s going to happen next.

The next generation audience and even the audience of this generation is acquiring a great level of control over the information they see, talk about and share. Brands, therefore should know the art of creating compelling stories to reach them.

Shifting from messaging to storytelling ensures successful brand stories, just as in the case of Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches which invited around 150m YouTube views in just a few months, in turn leveraging the brand’s awareness and loyalty across the platforms and within the audience.

What Dove did was, it used myth components that matched with the women that have the same thinking.

Here’s a brief description of their storytelling:

· The explanation was that the society makes women believe that they are less beautiful than they are.
· The meaning was: ‘You are more beautiful than you think”.
· The story: Dove showed this through people with whom their audience could relate to.
· The result was that Dove’s story was shared across the globe compared to the competitors or other shampoo advertisements.

When brands cast their fans or audience as the hero, their story works best. For example, Apple’s “Think Different” or Nike’s “Just Do It” or for that matter Obama’s “Yes We Can” didn’t have brands talking about themselves but their people and how great they can be. Isn’t it? And this is what excites and attracts the masses these days and inspires them to share your brand content. And will keep doing in the times to come too.

Storytelling therefore, is not a matter of a day; it requires great thinking and committed time & effort to be crafted. How strongly do you know your brand’ story? Do you plan to understand your brand’s core story and audience and then create a content strategy keeping in mind the brand’s core? Storytelling on social media holds a great future only if you understand the heart of your brand and tell it in a way that people appreciate it and further share. Do share your thoughts on the same and how have you made efforts to discover it!

Tags:Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media & Storytelling, Storytellinmg by Brands on Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience, Twitter | No Comments »

Are You Doing Social Media Right?

Friday, November 15th, 2013

Where there are people, there needs to be marketing, and not just marketing, but the right kind of marketing, in a right way. This is when brands explored the opportunities lying under the broad umbrella of social media to build strong relationships with their consumers. Brand marketers saw social media as the best medium for showcasing their marketing objectives and deliver a long term promise to their consumers. But, have you ever wondered that where are those promises made by brands now? Well, it’s evident that most of the brand marketers are still not doing social media the right way!

If looked into deeply, social media for brands has been around for long internet years, and it will remain. But have the brands explored its potential enough? Think again! If you as brand managers are still wondering what this means the answer to that is a lot more can happen.

There are a lot of reasons why brand managers are still doing social the wrong way. There is still an air of confusion existing amidst the social media strategies implemented by brands. Let’s see what are those reasons or confusions, what brands are doing wrongly and what brands should actually do.

The meaningful brand message: Most of the brands and their brand managers think that their brand consumers consider and care for their brand as much as they do. But surprisingly this is not the case as they actually spend a large percentage of lesser time thinking about your brand in reality. Maybe they do not want a relationship that you want to build with their mindset and behaviour. Maybe they are just looking at your message and not grasping it with interest. Infact, brands should think about evolving with content that turns out to be meaningful for its consumers even at the time when they are not thinking about it.

Are we talking too much about ourselves? On social media, it undoubtedly becomes impossible for us to talk about anything but ourselves. As brand managers, have you ever wondered what leads to zero or little engagement on social media? Well, talking only about ourselves is one reason. The idea of marketing a brand combines positioning it and promoting its unique selling point across the social platform. Brand specialists are good at this as they know the in and out of a brand; what consumers need etc. But, when you ask a marketer to do something like this and talk about their consumer’s requirements and what they actually want, it is not easy for them. So, ideally brand managers have the power to do it right. Are you doing it right?

Too many cooks spoil the broth! Indeed it’s true in case of social media content that goes out these days too. The amount of approvals a piece of content has to go through, by the time a post actually goes out it looks completely different than how it was designed. There are brand managers who make an effort to post content that relates to the consumers, their behaviour and their mindset; but at the same time there comes someone who takes a decision to keep it on the lines of selling (not forgetting the legal, ethical & leadership standards). This is where the post takes a form of something that does not stand relevant to the consumers but only to few. Therefore, it is very important for brands managers to get everyone & everything related to the brand message associated with the social strategy.

Do you follow the ‘proper planning prevents poor performance’ strategy? Think again!
If you step into social media without a plan then the above mentioned reasons are most likely to occur. Entering the social media world with no plan is like doing everything in a traditional way; just talk about the brand, let people look at it, put a stamp of proof which later invites low engagement and then let everybody consider social media of no use. Yes, you got it right! Social media does not work without a plan. You need to clearly understand what your consumers need from you and also what identity you want your brand to create on this media. Design a content strategy that defines your vision and supports your consumer’s needs.
(Image courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net/Design: TheWordPro.com)

In a nutshell, the things brands might be doing it all wrong on social can be because of:

· Lack of strategy
· Great expectations without consistency & effort
· Non realistic goals
· Considering social media as a low priority
· Thinking that anyone can do it is completely wrong. Will you ever hand over you car keys to somebody who doesn’t know how to drive? No, right? Then why do you do this with social media?
· Posting stuff in large intervals, maybe in weeks etc. to mention a few.
So when you sit and analyze these above mentioned reasons, do make sure your social media marketing efforts drive traffic to your page; expand your fan base and initiate conversations. So make sure you do not mistaken social media as a sales tool and use it to its full potential in the right way. Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags:Brand Managers, Brand Mangers & Social Media, Brand Promotion, Brand strategy, Brands on Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience, Traditional Media | No Comments »

Social Media for Crisis Management

Friday, November 1st, 2013

When told about social media, most brands only think about using it for business and as a part of their marketing strategy. Though in the recent past, some brands have started using it as an essential tool to reach out to their fans and offer customer service. What’s most important is that in any case of crisis or an emergency, social media can turn out to be a great tool for managing the crisis. When we talk about crisis, it can be anything from a negative comment, outrage or publicity.

Well, it’s for sure that you are reading this before you need it, but life is much better and easier if you are prepared for it, right? A crisis we all know can hit anyone anytime but at the same time it’s a smart step to know how to manage as well as prevent any crisis. Apart from all the tools, using Social Media as a crisis management tool can save and maintain a brand’s reputation in a big way.

Using social media as a crisis management tool will help brands across to reach a wider audience in less time. Today, apart from known brands, even non-profit organizations, corporate industries, government bodies and varied sectors are picking up social media and integrating it as a crisis management tool.

Social media in a crisis helps in evaluating the conversations about the brand, analyzing the threat level, set the priority of taking an action and determine how to respond to a crisis.

Let’s have a look at few examples:

After Hurricane Sandy, Justin Auciello created a Facebook page called Jersey Shore Hurricane News to report updates in real time with 191,000 “likes.”

American Red Cross case: In 2011, a Red Cross employee accidently tweeted something personal about drinking Dogfish Beer to its network of 260,000 followers. The Red Cross deleted the post and turned an incident into a fund raiser with Dogfish Beer asking fans to donate to Red Cross.

Café Coffee Day (CCD) was hit with #CCDSUCKS crisis. CCD’s interaction with its fans began like this,

“We apologize for the goof up. This will not be taken lightly.”
“Thanks for letting us know and we are sorry.”
“Give us a number to call. When resolved, we’ll tell everyone about it on Twitter. Publicly.”

Wherein consumers responded: “Why do you need a number to talk? Use Twitter!”

Brand managers took notice of the complete scenario and began saving the brand with supportive tweets like:

“I think we need to give CCD another chance.”
“Opposite to what others think about @CafeCoffeeDay I love them.”

Such a response from CCD saved them.

Burger King: The Burger King Twitter account was recently hacked and the person who gained access to the account changed the name to McDonald’s and began promoting McDonald’s in their tweets. By the time Burger King had regained control of their account and issued an apology, they had gained 30,000 new followers. This led some to suggest it wasn’t a crisis at all, but actually wielded positive results. Either way, it taught us all a lesson in the importance of password security.

Consumer opinions and views spread far easily and very quickly through social media. This is one reason why brands should use social media for building their brand’s reputation.

A lesson that other brands could learn from this crisis situation and the way it was handled is that even an isolated incident should not be ignored by a brand on social media. If a brand comes to know before that such a one-off crisis has arisen, the brand could point out first too rather than being pointed out by the fans.

In a nutshell, a crisis management has three major stages namely:
– The monitoring before an incident or crisis which helps keep things in place all the time
– The responses garnered during the crisis management and the responses after
– The lessons evolved from the complete crisis management using social media

Image Courtesy: oBizMedia.com

On the other hand, for brands which are already there on Social Media, it would be great if brand managers stay prepared and up to date for handling any crisis situation. Have a look at a few things that they need to keep in mind and consistently consider.

Monitor: Start with the monitoring first, set up the monitoring tools for reputation management.
Plan: Always have a plan in advance: In the middle of a crisis, its not a great idea to decide what needs to be done and who is going to do it.
Responsibility Chain: Have a clear, in fact a very clear chain of responsibility across the teams. Establish a perfectly set chain of command within the teams.
Crisis Scenario (s): What can be the reason of crisis and what cannot be? Make sure a list of all the factors is made to avoid even a minutest of reasons.
Fix Issue, Take Action: Now, this completely depends on what the crisis is and who’s wrong. Depending on the same, plan the action of resolving the crisis.
Don’t suppress the issue: Trying to choke or repress the crisis on Social Media is like extreme gas on fire. So it’s better if it’s left to breathe.
Track the Source: It’s better to find the actual source and deal with it technically, directly, positively and with subtlety.
Review in the end: Later, when it’s all done, go back and review. It helps one to analyze the factors responsible for crisis, how the steps or techniques used during the crisis helped and how a future crisis management plan can be planned out.

Source: tatudigital.com

Using social media as a crisis management tool can help you convert the negative influence faced by your brand or business into a positive one. A sincere and consistent customer service would go a long way in building your brand’s reputation and at the same time creating a good impression on fans or customers. These customers then talk positive about your brand which helps you garner potential customers too.

Therefore, brands hit with crisis should never wait for that moment when the crisis goes completely out of hand. A quick response is very important followed by turning the crisis into an opportunity with powerful techniques one can implement through social media. What do you think? Do share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Tags:crisis communication, Crisis in Social Media, Crisis management, Social Media for Crisis Management
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Target Audience, Twitter | No Comments »

Facebook Timeline versus App Contests

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

With timeline contests brands could ask users to enter with a like, comment or posting a message on the page. A ‘Like’ here can be termed as a sort of voting mechanism. Though it appears small, but here the barrier to entry is very small as fans can enter with a single click. And if brand managers wish to engage with their existing brand fans then this is a great way to do that. Where contests through apps encourage collection of email addresses, new likes and all such details, wall or timeline contests don’t do that. But if there is a well planned social media strategy, app contests turn out be great!

Well, if you are thinking as to what should you opt for; a Timeline contest or contest hosted on a tab on your Facebook Page? And when, then here’s a summation of the facts that will help you get through your brand contests on Facebook, whether you want to do a timeline or an app contest.

Both of these types have the pros and cons linked to each. The essence is in understanding the overall brand strategy and goals that have to be achieved through the same. And therefore, which one should be used or both should be used in collaboration. In other words, Timeline contests are more of an appetizer while contests on tabs turn out to be full course meals.

Timeline contest is great when:

· One wants to launch a contest right away
· High engagement is the requirement
· Low budget

It sure gives an engagement boost for the Facebook page of brands.
If at any point you want a promoted post on your timeline contest, it cannot be illustrated by an image containing more than 20% text.

On the other hand,

Contest hosted on the Facebook page tab work best when:

· One wants to grow the Facebook page likes (includes a Like Gate page that prompts the users to first like the page to enter the contest)
· You want to foster Lead generation, email adresses for future marketing of your brand
· Design control and advanced features is a part of your overall contest strategy

Therefore, a Facebook contest on tab gives you great control, customization and long term value of your lead generation.

This is how a Timeline contest works:

Future Generali came up with a Timeline contest during Navaratri. Check it out:

HDFC Bank’s Timeline contest Auto to Automobile is another good example.

And here is an example for an app contest:

Check out how Lotus Herbals, India’s leading natural cosmetics company with formulations inspired by Ayurveda is running an app contest Pure Colors of Joy!

Will these changes affect the Facebook marketing strategy of your brand?

Timeline contests are simple, i.e., fans are just required to like, comment, post their response or message on the Facebook page of the brand, out of which the winner is manually chosen. Timeline contests are free to run if you do not advertise and are mobile friendly too.

So, then, what are the limitations to running a contest on the timeline?

Reduced virality as fans cannot share the page posts. Where sharing is one of the greatest & most viral features of Facebook, not being used to its potential means limiting it just to the existing fans (unless of course you run ads).
Managing entries becomes a problem at one point as more the number of fans, more the engagement, more the likes, comments and entries etc; it becomes a great challenge to manage the entries as the numbers become high.
Terms & Conditions cannot be displayed when running a contest on the Facebook timeline. Every contest comes with certain rules linked to it. But, there may be cases when fans directly take part in your contest by just liking the post etc. which can later result into dissatisfaction from fans.
There is no lead generation when a timeline contest is run as there is no registration for the same neither are details like name, email addresses accumulated.

The reach is very limited as the contest run on a timeline can only be promoted using posts that talk about the contest unlike the app contests wherein multiple updates with a link to the app can be done.

So, does that mean Facebook Contest apps are anytime better?

Well, app contests do come with certain benefits like:

Allowing Social Sharing by fans on all social media platforms

Social Stories: when a fan interacts with an app, a newsfeed story is generated that is visible to friends of fans gaining more traffic to the contest

Offering customized fan experience by using custom brand videos, graphics, design etc. that in the end creates more brand recall.

Therefore, in this social battle of contests hosted on timeline and those on an app, apps stand as the winner!

However, you can also think of combining them both for a double advantage where you can:

· Manage your contest entries
· Analyze them under parameters of most likes, comments & responses.
· You can display contest rules & let your fans submit all details etc.
· Use it as a mobile-friendly app as it helps incorporate all the features mentioned

Source: antavo.com, https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php, https://www.facebook.com/faceboofforbusiness/news/page-promotions-terms

In a nutshell, if you wish to engage with your Facebook brand fans then run a timeline contest but if you wish to garner more likes and data to reach fans out of Facebook then apps are best. Brands can also try using both these methods in collaboration. The ‘TAT’ (talking about this) number of the pages can be raised with a timeline contest so that more posts are visible to the fans and then you can run an app contest to get more likes etc.

So are you all set to let your fans experience the best of both worlds? What would you, as brand managers try? Timeline contests or contests through apps? Do share in your thoughts with us.

Tags:Facebook Apps, Facebook Brand Fans, Facebook Contests, Facebook Events, Facebook Offers, Facebook Pages, Facebook Timeline versus App Contests, Timeline Contests on Facebook
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience | No Comments »

Moments to Cherish!

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

So many new things on the block, loads of new accounts and bag full of outstanding work. This is how the year was and we hope that the forthcoming years bring in success and prosperity too. We are extremely excited! The 5^th year is extremely special to us as with this new step that we take into the thrilling year ahead, we would like to thank all those who have been a part of us and have helped us make it possible. Over the last 5 years, we have had the pleasure of working with some of the amazing clients, people and partners. A lot of great things shaped our existence.

Celebrations began with super fantastic energy and enthusiasm of Mavens at Windchimes.

As a part of our celebration, an offsite trip was organized. Mavens were awarded whacky titles followed by rewards & recognition. Nimesh & Sandhya greeted everyone present there with a beautiful welcome speech and a successful smile. This marked things like, knowing each other, bonding and a quality time well spent with fellow Windchimers!

There were chimes all around in the air, of glory, success and pride. From a great event to games & pool, it was a time well spent. Everybody enjoyed to their fullest – a moment to cherish!

Click here to glance through more photographs

We now simply relate to the bamboo tree at this stage. As a Bamboo Tree is one such tree that strengthens its roots till the 5 years of its growth & grows slowly. From the 5^th year it shoots up tremendously. Relating this to our step into the 5^th year depicts the fact that from the day of its inception, Windchimes Communications worked on strengthening its foundation by evolving with fantastic strategies, ideas & concepts. And therefore, now it stands strongly in the Social Media World as one of the top social media agencies.

Team Windchimes

While we rejoice this time of the year, we send out greetings and a big thank you to all for being with us, every step of the way. It wouldn’t have been possible without you! We look forward to your continuing support in times to come.

Tags:mavens, Windchimes Anniversary Celebration, Windchimes Communications 5th Anniversary, Windchimes Moments
Posted in Awards and Recognition, Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Employee Relations, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | No Comments »

The Significance of Facebook Brand Fans

Monday, September 16th, 2013

Well, there is no set idea to place a value on a single Facebook Fan. It totally depends; as all fans differ in their worth and the way a brand builds engagement on the page determines the potency of a fan. There are different categories that help in analyzing the effectiveness of a fan, who basically turn out to be either influencers, purchasers or the engaged ones. The value (in actual terms) of a brand’s fan base totally depends on how much that brand cares about its customers and followers. Therefore, one must consistently analyze how ‘FAN’tastic is their brand on social media.

When we are talking about Facebook Fans, one most important fact is that all fans are not equal and also that every brand should not turn to Facebook to acquire their business. For brand marketers, who plan to invest into the social media strategy for their brands, analysis of their return on investment and value of a fan is essential.

There are a set of equations we need to highlight when going further with analyzing the value of a fan.

Firstly, the value of Facebook fan depends mostly on your objectives in turn sustained by significant resources to help your brand page gain traction.
The cost of acquisition of a fan is not something on which the value of a fan is based upon. Infact, how clearly you align the value of the brand with the fan’s values determines the same.
Right content delivered by your brand page at the right time will foster amazing engagement.
Finally, be stable, consistent and regular in terms of building engagement with fans. This will help you extract the best value out of a fan over time.

Therefore, the value that one can put on a Fan will depend on a brand’s objectives, the context and the willingness to build engagement on a long term basis.
Well, brand marketers need to stop and analyse the objective of the same. This helps them generate awareness of themselves and their brand services. Brand marketers need to keep a tap of how much value, sales, awareness & loyalty gets generated as a result of increasing their brand’s Facebook community or fans.

Source: the Myndset, Yopps, Brand Talking

Are you thinking about the best ways to get Facebook Fans? Here are some:

· Turn fans into friends
· Re-post their content; give them a shout out for their work
· Take fans behind the scenes
· Don’t just post and leave, return and follow up, update them
· If you got a news fans can use it, share it
· Get input from them, post a link to your story and ask a question
· Listen – let your fans guide you to great stories

Facebook Brand Fans are more likely to be the users of that brand; spend more than non-fans, are loyal, and recommend your brand. In order to determine & understand the credibility and value of a Facebook fan there are certain things that need to be done.

One can do this by:

· Measuring the rise in unaided awareness
· Recommendations received
· Frequency of purchase
· Customer service cost savings
· Clicks, lead generation
· Lifetime customer value

· Coupon redemptions etc. as a result of exposure to and interaction resulted from regular posts/content on brand’s Facebook page.

Facebook fans indeed hold a great value from the strategic perspective of a brand. They are undoubtedly as important as the economic goals too. Brand marketers therefore, need to focus on analyzing the fact that are the actions in the right direction in terms of driving fans or target to the brand page. Finally, what matters in measuring the value, is quality. Yes, Quality does matter- quality of the fans, quality of brand engagement with the fans, quality of conversion & attribution.

Check out this statistical report of Fans telling what has motivated them to like a company, brand, or association on Facebook is as shown below:

Source: www.inventhelp.com

Click here to check a report on how the ‘Average Value of a Facebook Brand Fan Increases 28%’ recently!

The ROI will bear amazing results when the brand focuses on providing long term value to its fans and build deeper engagement levels with them. This can somewhere in near future raise the cost of acquisition and at the same time retention of fans on Facebook. But compared to the value a brand will acquire, it’s more like a reward for the brand. What do you think the brands need to do? Is it just creating a value added experience for Facebook fans or something more? Do share in your thoughts.

Tags:Brands on Facebook, Consumers on facebook, Facebook, Facebook Brand Fans, Facebook Fans, Facebook Pages, Significance of Facebook Brand Fans, target audience
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Target Audience, Twitter | 1 Comment »

Facebook Contests, Deals & Events on for Engagement

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

One of the best ways to keep the interest of your customers in your Facebook page is through contests, events or deals. We all know that the most common and attractive word that attracts people these days is ‘Free’. Yes, and the more engaged your people are, the more they will keep coming back to you. There are a lot of ways to increase fan engagement for your brand, but where Facebook contests are concerned, these have been a great success provider to every brand which has tried it.

So next time you think of engaging with your fan base you can stick to simply tweeting, connecting on Facebook, replying and posting things or you can decide to step up and engage your fans through Facebook contests.

In a nutshell, Facebook contests:

– Increase the likes of your page
– Lead to higher engagement
– Increase the Edgerank of the Facebook page

Once you have planned to go ahead with this idea of adding a silver lining to your presence on Facebook get a clear understanding of your audience first. In order to resonate with them, find out what they are talking about, what they do on Facebook or what they clicked.

Deals on Facebook

Well, guess you already own a brand page and there are customers across who love your brand too. But how do you excite them? What about the deals? Yes of course, the Facebook deals. Obviously brand managers would have tried it on their brand’s Facebook page. But, did you try something extraordinary to grab all the eyeballs to your brand on Facebook? Its simple and yet very effective. What you could offer for the real time engagement is maybe a free download of your eBook, a discount shopping coupon, some audio or video downloads or simply an access to exclusive area or location for only members.

Something interesting like a fan-only reveal code offered by brands is one of the best and most effective deals on Facebook. It involves rewarding fans for ‘liking’ a brand page and where brands can offer something exciting in return. Quick tip for a quick start: To start or set up a Deal, just click ‘edit page’ box in the top right corner of your brand’s Facebook page and then click ‘Deals’ in the list of tabs on the left. Even discount codes or coupons can be used to drive the traffic on Facebook to your brand’s website in order to let them know more about your latest offers and services.

ITC Hotels has frequent offers for its fans on Facebook.

Facebook Contests

With almost an array of engagement activities happening on Facebook by brands across the globe, another thing which is at peak is Contests.

Executing contests on Facebook is one of the powerful ways to increase & spread brand awareness and create an overall buzz. Not only this, the long term benefit is the customer loyalty that is built through customer recognitions and gratifications. A generic contest by a brand might include trivia questions about the industry/market, submitting designs or anything related to art, inviting opinions about the product or maybe just posting pictures and asking fans to guess, name or caption it. However, Facebook does enforce certain rules for the same but contests do hold credibility for the entire brand that goes ahead with it. A contest cannot be made conditional on just posting a comment, photo, a status update or maybe just by liking a wall post. Omron India also held a Facebook contest ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’ to promote the spirit associated with the Bollywood film ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’.

Facebook Events

It is indeed a great way to grow or increase attendance and reach new audiences. Are you as a brand thinking of planning a life or a sale event? Then its very essential to know that events can be set up in three ways: Open, Closed & Secret.

Open events can be seen and RSVP’d by everyone. These Events can be entertainment events, sales or grand openings.
Closed events can be seen by everyone, the details also can be viewed by everyone but only the guests who are invited can do RSVP to that particular event. For example, entertainment, fans-only sales, classes etc.
Secret Events are only visible to the guests that are invited and are not visible to anybody else. Not even RSVP ones. These events are mostly employee training events or meet-ups.

When brands set up an event, the event gets its own wall. What is important is to turn on the event wall for all as the guests would want to comment on the event, share, express their excitement about the same and even ask questions etc. Gaining fans through events is a great advantage. To increase the brand awareness, closed events can be used more effectively, wherein those invited are allowed to invite their friends too. A lot of fans invite their friends leading to more engagement.

Quick tip for a quick start: To establish an Event, click ‘edit page’ box in the top right corner page & click ‘apps’ in the list of tabs on the left. You will see ‘events’ in the list. Then click ‘go to app’ and create an event.

Here’s an example of a Facebook Event by ITC Classmate that garnered a lot of people to the page and was appreciated by the masses.

Sources: mashable.com, allfacebook.com, socialmediaexaminer.com, pagemodo, socialized.me

Contests, we bet have always been and will be enticing a lot of fans to your page through conversations and feedback. With a simple understanding of what your fans identify with, responding them and gratifying them you will end them waiting to hear from you again. So, are you ready to tap this amazing tool to drive traffic to your page? Share your thoughts.

Tags:Contest, Deals, Engagement on Facebook, Facebook Contests, Facebook Events, Facebook Offers
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