Archive for the ‘Social Media Research’ Category

« Older Entries

React using Your Favourite Emojis on WhatsApp Message Threads

Tuesday, July 12th, 2022

Do you want to react with your favourite emojis on WhatsApp message threads? In that case, WhatsApp has something for you in its kitty. 

The social media platform has expanded its offerings while reacting to the messaging threads. Users can now select any emoji of their choice as a Reaction option within their messaging threads using the full emoji keyboard of WhatsApp. 

Sounds great right! 

What will this feature do? 

With this feature, you do not need to send an emoji reaction as a separate message. You can react to the message thread directly. In May this year, the platform launched its Reactions on messaging threads feature in groups. Later on, with limited feature options, it also enabled this feature with limited emoji options in personal chats. 

Users instantly took a liking to it and within a few days, Reactions became a habitual response pattern for many. 

How to use it?

To get the full emoji keyboard you need to follow the below process:

  • Press a little longer on the message in the thread you want to react to 
  • Emojis will appear on the screen. 
  • A + sign will appear at the end of the row
  • Click on the + sign and get your full emoji keyboard. 
  • Click on the emoji you want to use and share your reaction in the message thread. 

Though this is a minor update, its instant acceptance makes this as important as any other feature launched by the social media platform. All whats app users can avail of this service from 11 July 2022. 

We at Windchimes Communications, promise services par excellence. We are a digital experiential agency committed to keeping you updated with the latest trends in digital trends. We believe in finding a simpler way of doing things. 

Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research | 1 Comment »

How your Personal Branding on Social Media Affects your Recruitment Possibilities

Friday, September 11th, 2015

clip_image002If you are still under impression that only your resume and technical & communication skills are considered while recruitments, you need to revise your assumptions, especially if you are a job seeker and active on various social media platforms. Your social media activities have a major impact on your recruitment possibilities.

Gone are the days when potential recruiters would just study your resume, talk to your recommenders, test your technical skills, interview you and hire you right away. Today, as soon as you are shortlisted for a job position, your social media profiles are scrutinized to peek in your lifestyle. The practice is a convenient way to understand the candidate, his/her association with people and basic lifestyle choices.

clip_image003If a company has strict policies against internet and smartphone usage, it may want to avoid a social media addict who updates his whereabouts and activities every hour. Similarly, posts about hating Mondays and weekdays can put a negative impression about your professionalism and passion for work. The smart way to get through the social media scrutiny could be narrowing the industry you want to join, studying the basic criteria of judging a candidate’s personal branding by the firms and designing your personal branding strategy accordingly.

For a firm relying highly on LinkedIn profiles, you can keep posting your professional and academic achievements regularly and get recommendations from industry influencers. Similarly, for a marketing job or leadership position, you can voice your opinion about latest happenings regularly on Twitter, and let them know that you like getting engaged in social conversations.

clip_image005There are certain don’ts and no-no’s too that you should always take care of while posting stuff on social media. Writing a post about how you felt after a hangover, a rendezvous with local police, caste-race based comments, supporting use of abusive language, etc. are the things that might land you in trouble. What can help you authenticate your profile can be your posts and pictures of doing the tasks for the social causes that you have signed up for in your profile introduction.

You put your best step forward when you are appearing for a job interview and try to appear perfect in every aspect that you are judged upon. This is exactly why your personal brand on social media should stand a testimony for everything that you claim to be.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Employee Relations, Social Media, Social Media Research, Windchimes Comm | No Comments »

Impact & Use of Vine by Various Industries

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

imageIn our last blog that you came across, we had shared an Infographic on how brands are using Vine. As mentioned earlier, Vine, since its origin has exploded to millions of users followed by brands which have started to take notice too. Well, so we are here again with the next set of cool implications of this much popular app. When it comes to branded Vines, a Viner has to come up with something what we call unique, original, different, playful and passionate. So a little guidance, few tips, methods and secrets is what this article holds. Read to know how Vine can be used by an array of brands and segments in the best way!

Have a look at a few interesting ways that brands & various industry segments can use the new video sharing app, Vine.

Beauty Industry

It serves a great purpose for beauty brands to be on Vine as it provides a visual medium for them to share products, experiences and how-to videos. This helps them create a desire for their brands.

What can beauty brands do on Vine?

  • · Show makeup applications processes, a specific technique by a beauty or make-up professional or a speed-up version of a nail polish or a lipstick application
  • · Interviews with professionals who can give a hands-on lesson or a quick tip when applying the makeup
  • · Beauty tip, clarification or a recommendation from an expert
  • · An interview of a famous model or celebrity sharing why they use a particular brand can create a desire for the brand. For consumers who are new to brand, something like this will likely create brand advocacy
  • · Product Overviews can be shown that can include new products or shades
  • · A particular makeup or product that a celebrity or top models wear on an event, show or the runway

Brands can also show faces of models in makeup before a fashion event which can help consumers get acquainted with the beauty products used. This can also serve as an exclusive sneak peek of the backstage making them feel like a part of the brand family, a feeling not many consumers get. This creates a desire for the brand in consumer’s minds!

See how Revlon India made use of these 6 seconds to run a campaign on Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick- a Food-proof lipstick.

Click here to check out the video:

clip_image002
Click on the image to view the video

Hospitality (Hotels) Industry

Moving on, lets not miss out on one of the most loved industry i.e., hospitality. Without filling up too much into the 6 seconds, lets see what hotels can do to spice up through Vine videos:

  • · They can show a hotel tour that includes view of hotel, rooms, grounds, spa etc.
  • · Hotel staff can be shown showcasing their skills. For example: how to plate up an afternoon tea & snack, how to make coffee or a drink
  • · Clips of an even, orchestra or live event in the hotel
  • · Short interview with guests
  • · Small but interesting features of hotels can be shown such as: flower arrangements, modular infrastructure, remote controlled curtains etc.

With a clear focus on creativity, hotel brands can certainly attract a lot of visitors and guests. Sharing these Vine videos on social media platforms will also encourage interest in the brand. Fans and users can be encouraged by replying to their mentions of the hotel. These fans or guests can also be asked to post their own videos of the hotel. Vine videos will indeed give a more human and personal touch to your customers.

Healthcare Industry

Healthcare brands can come up with the most compelling and beneficial videos. Check out what they can do.

· Satisfied patients or supporters can share their praise through a vine video attaching it with the brand’s hashtag. It’s a great way for people to know your brand better
· Highlight a new medical equipment or technology via video. How it works can also be briefly highlighted
· Healthcare organization’s support for special days, weeks or months dedicated to health issues can be shown
· Inspiring messages to encourage support for a cause, personal stories of survival, interesting facts etc. can be shared
· A new building, section or a renovation can be unveiled through a teaser
· Potential patients can be shown a virtual video tour that include high-tech features, beautiful surroundings & staff
· Spread the word about health classes, fundraising, blood donation drives etc. accompanied by benefits of the event, to encourage attendance
· A quick patient testimonial

Vine offers a great potential for healthcare brands to connect and communicate with their consumers in the most convenient and modern way.

Banking Industry

Yet another sector that can bank on interesting concept of Vine videos is the banking sector. Banks can do a lot on Vine to connect and communicate with their customers.

  • · Banks can show how to manage accounts alert preferences or deal with phishing e-mails through Vine videos
  • · Answer frequently asked questions
  • · Show an online banking journey to consumers giving a clear idea to them on what to do
  • · Create a thanking video for fans

image
Click on the image to view the video

Kotak Mahindra Bank, one of the India’s leading banks had created a Vine video to celebrate the milestone of 50K followers on Twitter. This is what they tweeted:

Woohoo! We just crossed 50K followers. A #Celebrating50K #Vine dedicated for you. Thanks for your support!https://t.co/eP5L88xRVK [VIDEO]

Following this, the bank took another step to do something cool by sending a token of appreciation to the fans who engaged with these Vine videos. They sent a personalized card to each of them, further adding to the overall celebrations!

clip_image004

In a nutshell, brands can do a lot with Vines. Brands can come up with:

  • · Promotional Vines – compared to long commercials you can promote a specific product or service
  • · How- to Vines – you can show Vines of how a product can be used in more than one way etc.
  • · Before and after Vines- Vines of a revamped product/brand
  • · Storytelling – convert anything that is in a written form into a video & share
  • · Contests
  • · Ask a question through Vine, conveying a social message

A normal tweet may go unnoticed, but a twitpic or an embedded video will always be looked at. Vine will be crowd-sourced & shared significantly. It can improve your search-engine ranking of your social media platforms. By using tags, social buttons and share buttons SEO can be boosted & traffic can be driven largely.

Have you as a brand or a consumer used Vine yet? If yes, then do share with us more ways of using Vine for businesses & brands or just show us your interesting Vines. So, what are you waiting for? Add Vine to your content marketing strategy and do not forget to pair the power of these Vine videos with social media.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research | 1 Comment »

Social Media for Crisis Management

Friday, November 1st, 2013

imageWhen 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

clip_image004

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:, , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Target Audience, Twitter | No Comments »

Facebook Contests, Deals & Events on for Engagement

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

facebook-fan-engagement1One 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

facebook-deals-ukWell, 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.

ITC hotels offers ITC hotels offers 2

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 indclip_image010ustry/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’.

omron contest omron

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.

clip_image016

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.

Classmate event

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:, , , , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research | No Comments »

Brands Personalize With YouTube Customization

Friday, August 16th, 2013

272-new-youtube-icons-previewThe explosions in the video content strategies have occurred because of the ever growing YouTube channel which is now the second largest search engine. Adding to this YouTube receives billions of views every month which is indeed the great potential for brands to be active on this medium. Not just upload the video, but brands can actually connect with their target audience on a global level. One cannot miss thinking about a custom YouTube channel!

Before we move on, let us clearly understand that there are three types of YouTube channels.

1

Courtesy: Periscope

Lately have you noticed any brand or brands having cooler YouTube pages as compared to the others? If yes, then you might have also noticed they have super designs, amazing content, user friendly approach, shorter URLs, bold graphics etc. Well, these are none other than customized or branded YouTube channels.

Brand channels basically allow the marketers and brand managers to come out of the standard YouTube channel and customize their current channel by creating a true destination page. What you find in the end with this approach will truly be extravagant!

Customized channels are a sort of perk for the YouTube advertisers wherein later you have the benefits of using the channel for some advertising campaign as well. If, at some point you want to show Youtube icon on your advertising resources, you will need permission, which costs money of course. Furthermore, custom branded channels can also host contests once sanctioned by YouTube.

Viewer behaviours can be tracked through enhance metrics and tracking. You come to know the featres of your video which are good, bad, hot or cold, you can check the viewer increase or decrease. The best thing is that Google Analytics can be integrated for in-depth analysis and reports. Even third party tools for tracking can be integrated.

Get all the whistles and applauds for your brand with a customized YouTube channel and check the difference it makes to your overall brand performance.

Once you have thought of getting started with a custom branded YouTube channel, you can browse though this manual which has instructions on how to customize YouTube brand channels.

Here are examples of two beauty brands on YouTube doing well as customized channels. From thumbnails to tags, descriptions and design everything is up to the mark. Following this there are other brand categories like music, gaming, travel, fashion etc.

Be Beautiful gives an ultimate experience to its viewers and consumers.

4

3 5

Tresemme offering hair & salon products and styles from professional hair stylists has an amazing customized YouTube channel.

7

8

What is it all about YouTube custom brand channels?

Though content still remains the priority and something which cannot be avoided, with a YouTube custom brand channel every aspect of the brand’s page is customizable virtually. The complete brand look and feel can be integrated with coding and editing etc.

Now, you must be wondering ‘my brand already owns a YouTube brand channel’. Kudos to that! And of course the regular brand channel must be offering everything, from large header, to a background image, impression tags and last but not the least metrics and tracking. This is good! But, wouldn’t you want something best for your brand?

A customized YouTube brand channel can uplift your brand to new heights. You will not only engage users, but engage them in an interesting way.

YouTube Channels created for brands should be attractive enough to showcase the look & feel of the brand. A brand channel makes it easy for the clients to land to your brand’s page. Try combining these with other social media channels such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for getting higher leads.

Now there is something that is very essential for brands to put all their efforts into. Brands are:

Creating content that the audience wants, like: product reviews, how-to-videos etc.

Optimizing Videos, important keywords, description and adding tags, titles, description in a properly categorized way.

Amplifying their brand’s link building capability by linking Facebook, Twitter, blog to their YouTube video page as it will foster to & fro of traffic thus, optimizing your search results.

Sharing, yes, sharing the video with as many people as they can as simply posting a video will be of no help. Share the link with people in your circle, if they like the link they will click & share. A great word of mouth marketing this is.

Click here to check out how YouTube’s top 500 brands are pushing creativity, bite-sized videos.

6

A report from Outrigger Media has used OpenSlate‘s data to exhaustively research the top 500 brand channels on YouTube.

Brands that have a customized YouTube channel are a premium value-added source and can uplift the brand identity in a great way.

Customized YouTube brand channels still hold the uniqueness in terms of

Demographic Targeting wherein custom branded YouTube channels can restrict users according to the age, location or gender.

Design is always on the top when it comes to customized YouTube channel. All the elements can be customized according the marketing design of the brand.

Gadgets & HTML feature in branded & customized YouTube channels helps brands, for some extra functionality, add widgets to their channels and can also plan to embed their channel into their website as well.

Analytics can be viewed by both branded and personal YouTube channels. Still, branded & customized channels have an advantage to add third-party analytics if required.

Brands can also work towards personalizing their channel by handling the new changes and optimizing the new options available:

Create a Welcome Video

· In order to optimize the options available for YouTube’s brand channels, brands should take note of the below points:

· Create a welcome video that is geared towards viewers who do not subscribe to the page

· Keep the videos very short and compelling

Personalize your channel

· If brands are looking for ways to drive their traffic to their YouTube brand channel to other social media platforms they can personalize it.

· They can do so by adding a large header image called as ‘Channel Art’, a great way for brands to present their brand picture in a well sorted manner.

Organize your content

· In order to make your brand YouTube page looking neat, fresh and well structured & updated; it is very essential to categorize and organize the content that is available on your YouTube channel.

· YouTube enables its users to re-organize their content.

· Businesses can optimize their content on YouTube in such a way that users generate interest for browsing through your videos etc.

Check out an amazing Infographic on how one can optimize their brand/business YouTube channel. Click on the image to view.

2

Courtesy: http://www.brafton.com/infographics/top-10-ways-to-optimize-your-business-youtube-channel

In a nutshell, a customized YouTube channel

  • · Can make your branded video seen by billions
  • · Will show up on Google search instantly and attract a lot of potential customers
  • · Easily links to your websites or social media platforms etc.
  • · Provides a backlink to the website your brand has, thereby boosting your SEO

9

Honestly, YouTube’s new look and design is turning out to be an interesting step towards the right direction. YouTube has very nicely managed to add a well sorted layer of user experience & brand factor, which eventually gets better day by day. An evolution like this will soon prove extremely valuable to YouTube channel owners.

Brand marketers have already begun to embrace a constant, pervasive video content strategy for their brands. What their brands do on other social platforms like Twitter, Facebook etc. will always help them build engagement and identity. But the brands which make an active presence on YouTube have a great potential to branch out to success? Do you agree with the same? Share your thoughts.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Online Videos, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Target Audience | 1 Comment »

QR Codes: Potential Social Media Trend

Friday, March 1st, 2013

imageQR Codes, also popularly known as quick response codes have come up as an essential marketing trend in these few years. These square designs have been found popping almost everywhere, be it magazines, in stores, direct mail pieces etc. to name a few. QR Codes are computer generated images that help customers to directly connect with websites or online platforms without typing a URL. These codes can be easily scanned with Smartphones directing the users to the online content. The QR Code trend is catching up fast and almost all the industrial sectors, professions and brands are using it.

Today, majority of searches happen online through Smartphones which is another important factor for businesses to provide their brand’s information etc. in a mobile optimized format.

We all have at some point or the other seen QR Codes on posters, business cards, magazines, newspapers and all such places where advertisement is done. These quick response codes are also termed as one of the effective marketing tools. These QR Codes provide the users or viewers with a link to that particular company or brand’s website, services or contact information.

clip_image004QR Codes facilitate the sharing of targeted information with the audience or people keen to know about your brand or business, instantly.

Businesses can use QR Codes to:

  • · Provide discounts and offers
  • · Share the brand video or content
  • · Make it hassle free for people to join them online
  • · Get a quick feedback via a short survey or poll

 

Brand managers and advertisers are not only in search of creative places to put them but also extremely unique methods to put them. In this case, Social Media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are turning out to be the most popular places to put them with amazing content too.

It goes without saying that marketing trends come & go, but QR Codes are positioned in such a way that their use is growing every year. Firstly, the Smartphone users are increasing everyday and secondly, the QR codes direct the users to a content which is not static but one which is relevant and updated. And finally, the most important factor that makes QR Codes stand out is their compatibility with social media tools.

There are more than 200 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

QR Codes can be used at:

· Stores: One can post a signage with QR Code that links to a website that gives full details about the product, offers etc.

· Events: The printed materials can have a QR Code through which customers can access detailed content related to the event.

· On Business Cards: Apart from telling about you, your business cards can direct people to a link that speaks about your business too.

· Print Ads: Along with a call to action, QR Codes on print ads speak more about the brand story beyond what can be placed on small ads. Consumers can be offered rewards on scanning these codes too.

What to do for a perfect incorporation of QR Codes into a Social Media strategy?

Well, when doing so, its better to keep it simple.

One effective approach can be to give a vCard or links to your brand or company’s social media networks such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. If you have a blog or some other content linked to your business, you can also provide links to that as well.

Unlike printed collateral and platforms, the data at the URL which is linked to the QR Code can be regularly updated which can help you to update the content as and when required. Whenever you plan to add the QR Codes to your marketing strategies, ensure teaming up with a QR Code specialist who can render a smooth execution & administration, offering you an ease on managing your QR Code campaign.

Planning to use QR Codes in your Social Media Campaign?

If the answer is yes, then here’s what you need to know. There have been numerous debates on the use of QR Codes. Are people aware of the use of QR Codes? Do they know the how & why of QR Codes? Are people interested to use them? People feel that they are not appealing and have an unattractive feature.

On a positive note, if brands and businesses are planning to integrate the offline with the online marketing campaigns, QR Codes stand out useful. QR Codes have a great power to direct anyone to any corner of a website. For example, if one has a huge URL that further links to some product of some design etc. they can use QR Codes in their ATL marketing to direct them to the same.

fotolia_35439128

Making QR Codes look great on an advert is one thing that should be taken care of with creative and engaging solutions.

In order to enhance the overall exposure of your brand you can direct them to social media websites. As a core part of their marketing strategy, brands are directing or shifting their users to social media platforms. Here, QR Codes can help users get their quickly. Of course with smarter phones!

 

For a Successful QR Code Marketing Campaign:

· There are a few steps you should keep in your mind before planning a QR Code campaign strategy.

· Plan your QR Code campaign strategy by understanding your target audience, exploring the objectives & providing suitable incentives.

· Produce Quality QR codes and do test them in order to avoid any brand flaws.

· Test the QR Codes with several readers & devices

– For clean codes, use link shorteners

– Use mobile optimized sites to link your QR Codes

· You can track your scans and gather important data with popular code management systems

· Give your codes a value; they can act as a lead generation tool too.

QR Codes are invading the market space and QR Code scanning is growing at a fast pace for Twitter and Facebook interactions. The idea is to access vast information just by scanning them.

QR Codes for social media can be used by implementing a few techniques like:

· Generate QR Code from QR code generators and link them to social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

· Subscribe to an RSS feed or join a mailing list.

· Share content to praise some consumer experience or special deals & offers along with updated brand information.

· Engagement through polls, surveys and call to action can give useful data on ideas and feedback of users, their behavioural information and link to landing pages & promotions respectively.

· Targeting by finding out from where are people accessing your brand information via QR Codes on certain platforms.

· Offline and online actions by users can be linked to craft communities and raise influence.

QR Code can help a business increase their Facebook ‘Likes’ building large connections with the customers consistently. It can be placed anywhere and it allows people to ‘Share’ any content throughout the platform. One can create a link to a Twitter profile & increclip_image006ase the number of followers. With a QR Code, customers can ‘Tweet’ the content to ‘Followers’. Customers can be linked to the page, boards or maybe directly to the product pictures pinned on the boards. Adding a little dynamism to the print advertisement with a QR Code can direct users directly to a commercial on YouTube. One can also market a coupon which can later be redeemed in person after scanning the QR Code. These coupons can also be shared on social media platforms. Directing users to some app with a QR Code is also a great effort.

One can create Social QR Code for different social media platforms in just a few clicks.

Don’t miss out watch the Blackberry Messenger QR Code Ad.

Instagram also took a step ahead towards QR Codes:

clip_image008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

QR codes can direct users to websites, contact information, send SMS texts, and even help businesses and people get Facebook “likes.” To generate a QR code that can be used on a social media profile, it needs to be in a user friendly format (jpeg is a user friendly format) that will be useful when trying to integrate other applications for the QR code.

After uploading the QR code to Facebook, customize your Facebook post.

You need to customize a few components:

· Title: it is the headline which is helpful in grabbing the attention of Facebook Users.

· Description: provide all the important information about your campaign here.

· Image: place the QR Code here.

· Source: to provide the context for the campaign, the brand linked with the social QR Code campaign should host the code.

Followed by this, the campaign can be taken live on the Facebook page.

· Users will be able to view the ad of your business or website with the QR Code.

· They will scan the code and would be provided with a URL to website and an URL to share on Facebook.

· QR Code is then posted to the user’s wall & news feed and they can share it with their friends.

· There are a lot of benefits attached with a social media QR Code campaign. Your content can be shared across the platform amongst tons of users. Therefore, a huge amount of customers get enticed to your brand and business.

 

QR code traffic is growing in a fast pace. Brand managers can enhance their marketing strategies with these special QR Codes by bringing the online content to the mobile audience.Times ahead with QR Codes & the potential with them is limitless. It would be a really great thing to see how they imbibe the factor of connecting people with technology and rendering them enhanced experience. It is pretty exciting to wonder where these codes will stand in future when the complete content will be embedded in the code. How would you take advantage of the phenomena of QR Codes? How would you like to link it to your social Media strategies?

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Twitter | No Comments »

« Older Entries