Social Media | Indian Social Media Landscape - Part 5 Indian Social Media Landscape

Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

How Can Brands Leverage Snapchat

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

Marketers and brand managers are constantly looking out for new ways to connect with their customers & consequently social and digital media have introduced a variety of communication channels that help them do just that. When we talk about digital media, it goes without saying that digital content needs to be relevant and catchy enough to gain viewer’s attention. Constant experimentation is being done to find out the exclusivity that they can provide with their content. Meaningful, short, unique yet relevant and watchable content is the latest trend and brands are optimistic on experimenting with digital only content in the future as well. Digital content is really a way to go!

With tools like Instagram and Snapchat, will the brands be able to offer this exclusivity to their audiences? Moving on, Snapchat is the latest social media phenomenon. The promptly growing mobile app lets users communicate by sending photos that automatically disappear after a few seconds. But then, can brands overcome the creative challenges and turn disappearing content to their advantage?

The worry underneath lies for brands is that viewers have only one chance to view a Snap which is said to take away the excitement. But, there are times when these Snaps can be replayed during a day which could be useful for brands using the app.

Advantages of using Snapchat:
· It allows drawing or writing on photos and videos
· Space is not an issue
· Image is temporary
· User-friendly
· Attention grabbing

Limitations or challenges of using Snapchat:
· Snapchat does not allow marketers to improve the quality of image before they send out as it lacks editing capabilities
· It does not provide space for marketers to add text to their messages as its visually driven
· Fans and audiences won’t be able to find you on Snapchat until they add you as a friend
· Metrics, yes, Snapchat offers zero metrics due to the lack of in-app metrics. this does not allow you to track the credibility of your campaign

Well, depending on your brand’s demographics, it is indeed a great challenge to evolve with Snapchat. And guess what, brands are into it already snapping to glory! Though, brands which are majorly looking to target younger audience are using this app.

Few Examples of Brands in the Snapchat Bandwagon are:

Taco Bell used Snapchat to announce the release of it ‘Beefy Crunch Burrito’. All the users who had added Taco Bell as a friend were sent a ‘Snap’ of Burrito along with the release date of the new product.

Taco Bell also used its presence on other social media platforms effectively to spread the word about its Snapchat profile. Taco Bell was the first brand to use Snapchat’s stories feature through which it released a series of eight photos and videos. With Snapchat Stories feature brands can merge multiple snaps to create a story that remains visible for 24 hours.

See what Mc Donalds is doing on Snapchat

Also, Mashable mentions the top 8 brands rocking Snapchat. Have a look!

Ways brands can use Snapchat

Though there are not many a brands doing much on Snapchat but, a selected few are taking this app by storm and using it in their digital strategy to reach the masses. A couple of things that they are doing through Snapchat are:

· Introducing new products
· Asking immediate action or reaction
· Hosting Games/Contests
· Inviting fans to participate
· Share candid or behind the scene moments
· Show something rare like, limited edition offers, coupons & discounts
· Get creative with targeted videos (share a unique story by linking two-three videos in succession)
· Use celebs
· Incorporate other channels
· Use the Snapchat features like draw, type, time, temperature etc. and also add filters
· Share Snapchat stories
· Give a sneak peek into exclusive brand content
· Use it do some fun
· Introducing new team member or employee

ROI: Brands need to be prepared to measure the brand lift with the use of Snapchat. What needs to be kept track of is impressions, awareness and demographics. Snapchat like most of the social media platforms is based on relationship building.

See how Snapchat has added a few new features and how brands can capitalize on the same. Even thenextweb.com also mentions this news from Snapchat.

While Snapchat is still trying to add more features and monetize this platform, brands have an immense opportunity to establish themselves as ‘ahead of the game’ and reach their demographics. In order to do a Snapchat campaign brands just need a creative strategy as it is both cost effective and easy to implement. One has to be creative on Snapchat, always and persistently and push the limits of creativity. Getting results though is not going to be a one day affair as relationships take time. One has to plan, measure and then work towards lifting their brand through Snapchat. What do you think? Can brands pull off Snapchatting Successfully? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags:Brands using Snapchat, How can Brands Leverage Snapchat, Snapchat, Snapchat for Brands
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Mobile Marketing Strategies & Brands – The Big Connection!

Friday, May 2nd, 2014

People are nowadays spending a larger fraction of their time on mobile phones. The new world of marketing now stands on the terms like SEO, smartphones, geo-location, mobile sites, digital and social marketing. Also, as the attention span of people is decreasing and their need of getting everything with a click of button is escalating, marketers and brand managers are also testing new tactics to reach their customers. Technologies emerging in the mobile space are sure to help brands leverage their identity by reaching out to a much larger audience and that too across the globe.

Of the World’s 4 billion mobile phones in use, 1.08 billion are smartphones and around 3.05 billion are SMS enabled. It is believed that this year mobile internet should take over desktop internet usage. Mobile revolution is here!

As the use of mobiles is increasing, their adaptability is also growing. From search to research, everything is happening on this device.

What is the state of social and mobile media marketing?

In a report by Microsoft tag,

· 1/3^rd of Facebook’s 600 plus users use Facebook Mobile
· 50% of Twitters 165 million users use twitter mobile
· YouTube has over 200 million users and YouTube views occur on mobiles everyday
· 30% of smartphone owners accessed social networks through mobiles
· Women between the age group of 35-54 are the most active when it comes to socializing via mobile

Many brands and businesses have already entered the mobile development and many are still thinking. What they need to understand is that mobile is the new territory of business. Brands are already planning their strategies well keeping in mind the mobile marketing tactics.

What about you? Have you started doing it yet? If not, then maybe you are late as it is where your customers are these days. This is indeed the year of mobile!

· Most brands and businesses are new to mobile marketing and those using it have not been in for more than a year
· Many are not aware whether a mobile marketing strategy will benefit their brand and business
· A lot of them do not know if they can measure the ROI on mobile marketing
· In most cases, time, money and knowledge about mobile marketing is what they are lacking
· Step one to mobile marketing is a mobile website and many brands and businesses do have their websites optimized for mobile visitors though

The big fact is that if your customers are not confined to their homes, then why should your marketing be? The time to break the silence and refresh your marketing mix with mobile marketing is here.

Moving on, there are a few types of mobile marketing that you need to keep in mind while crafting a mobile marketing strategy. They are:

Mobile Website Design

Mobile devices, like smartphones & tablet computers have smaller screens. Hence, many regular websites are not readable on mobile devices. Mobile website specially designed to display on a mobile device is vital for reaching mobile customers.

App-Based Mobile Marketing

Mobile apps have mushroomed lately and are extensively used in marketing. the ads are hosted within the application design and consist of virtual machines, widgets and applications enhancing the user experiences.

Mobile Image/Banner Ads

These are just like the standard banner ads for web pages but are small enough to fit the mobile screen sizes.

Mobile Surveys

Just like online surveys help marketers improve their marketing efforts. Mobile surreys can also be done for those on the go. This helps in getting instant responses from customers at anytime from anywhere.

SMS (text messaging)

This involves sending a text messages for marketing to the customers using mobile phones. These marketing messages can include an offer, link to your website, promotional code, discounts etc. For SMS marketing it is very essential to have a mobile website which is responsive in design.

QR Codes (quick responsive barcodes)

These are those patterned squares that have been quite visible since quite some time now at various places and mediums. QR Codes can be easily scanned by any mobile device with a camera or a QR code reader application. The customer can get all the information on promotions, business information, and so on. This gives businesses a powerful way to drive traffic to stores and mobile websites. QR Codes can be incorporated in business cards, flyers, ads and in your email signature

Voice Marketing

This is the type of marketing in which the voice broadcasting calls numbers from a computerized list and plays a recorded message to the customer

Mobile Video

Mobile videos are the most powerful types of this form of marketing adding a personal touch to the marketing messages. The video created should be mobile optimized.

Pay-Per-Call or Click-to-Call

In this type of marketing, the user can directly click or tap the number on the mobile ad for which he will not be charged. After this, the customer will be lead to an automated pre-recorded message, a customer care representative or the location for which the number was given.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth marketing is the one in which the mobile device links into a hotspot with an access to a high transfer speed. It is normally, free of charge and can be used in shops/exhibitions in order to promote the products/services.

Moving on, brands can also:

Encourage Check-ins amongst their customers by persuading them to use Foursquare, Google+ location sharing and offer incentives to them for checking in, including discounts, special recognition and gifts.
Grow their e-mail list through a mobile device by texting people and asking people to join an app that directly integrates with your brand’s e-mail marketing program, business card scanning app, QR Code etc.
Join a few Mobile Directories and directory listings should include a simple description of your services, phone number, hours of operation, address and a link to your website.

Hence, the mobile landscape will continue to grow with the reforms in the content marketing in the coming days. There’s something interesting you need to know, we are sure you know that already but, the six elements of mass media print, cinema, radio, television, recordings and television are followed by the seventh element which is ‘Mobile’. All these are called mass media elements as they reach masses.

Then what is about the Mobile? Well, its capability of doing everything that the other elements could do make it stand out and accurate.

Not only mobile marketing is the fastest growing marketing method, but it also has a potential to help brands implement the same strategies as used in internet marketing techniques. Therefore, businesses and brands should consider this medium in times to come! So, what are your thoughts on this blooming marketing technique? Have you gone mobile yet? Do share your comments with us!

Tags:Mobile Marketing, Mobile Revolution, Mobile Technology, Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Social & Digital Media: Key Trends in 2014

Wednesday, April 16th, 2014

Brands are now getting serious with the way they can build human connections with their customers through the wealth of data that social media can provide. Consumers nowadays spend more time in front of their digital screens, thus the agencies, advertisers and brand managers should look towards crafting digital strategies for brands. For this, they should not only look into the current trends in the social and digital media landscape, but also understand how these trends will shape up in the times to come. This article will tell you how you can increase your customer loyalty amidst the changing trends this year.

Few things you need to know are:

Social Listening

Not only thoughts, but grievances are also being reported on social media by consumers nowadays. When something like this happens, there is no scope of ignorance of customer service by brands. They have to listen to them through what one can call as ‘Social Listening’, or in other words, paying attention to what people are talking about them on Facebook, Twitter etc. 22% marketers were already using social listening strategies in 2013 & thus, 24% plan to do so in 2014 as well. This clearly indicates that brands are still finding out how social listening is working in their favor as out of these, only 31% feel that their social listening is effective.

Effect of Social Listening

On marketers: Brands will be able to interact directly with consumers
On users: Brands will now listen, understand & respond quickly & strategically to consumer queries & thoughts

Social Advertising

Advertising spends by brands is already segmented on the Internet. Though television used to share the larger share of advertising dollars, brands have now realized the power of leveraging social media ads in a cost effective way to build business. 57% of marketers used social ads in 2013 and another 23% are expected to start using the ads in 2014.

Effect of Social Advertising

On Marketers: Brands will get a cost effective & clutter free way of engaging customers
On Users: Users will now be able to see not just posts but Facebook sponsored stories

Data-based Marketing

Brands are gathering lots of data from different places and trying to use it to market in a smarter way. This is because, unlike the traditional methods of advertising, social advertising offers real time analytics on the effectiveness of your campaigns. This is why brands & businesses would be able to spend money on Facebook-sponsored post for example, and then measure its effect before changing the campaign a week later. This leads to a marketing fueled by data.

Effect of Data-based Marketing

On Marketers: Brands will be able to take advantages of opportunities
On Users: Users will have more access to unique content & not just commercial messages

Pictures will be a better marketing tool

Nowadays, people hardly have enough time to spare. Hence, they are being attracted towards content that they can comprehend within a short time. Social media platforms are taking it all higher with an enormous emphasis on visual content. Compared to the original internet ads, today users come across more visually driven, eye-catching content. Instagram is indeed growing and giving a scope to people to filter & beautify their images online. Thus, visual social media is surely going to be a boon for brands!

Effect on Marketers: Marketers will have to find newer ways to catch attention like graphic advertisements, catchy banners, images and Infographics

Effect on Users: Users will get more information in a short time span

Social Media integration with business

Despite the fact that 78% companies have a committed social media team, yet just 26% of companies out of them integrate social media into their business strategies completely. Therefore, the time when brands learn to do this, it is then when they will unlock the potential of social media to grow and transform social media fans into loyal brand enthusiasts.

Effect on Marketers: Marketers must connect the social data to other enterprise data sources to deliver actionable insights

Effect on Users: Social platforms will become more rewarding in terms of social engagement

Social data will guide the future of relationship intelligence

Information from social sites, campaigns or other customer interactions will be used to effectively monitor and engage audiences. Brands will be able to leverage the data from the way people interact with their brands on social media. As marketers start paying more attention to what their online communities care about, their real-life products will become increasingly relevant to their customers.

Effect on Marketers: Brands will focus on unique campaigns that focus on bringing online content to the real world
Effect on Users: Brands will need to listen what the community cares about

Engaging customers both online and offline

Brands in future, will take advantage of both online and offline means to reach out to the audience. Social media is a space where one does not only spend his/her time online, but also shares thoughts and extends interactions with others. Therefore, brands are taking a leap ahead to develop ways to move online campaigns into the real world and use these human connections to augment customer’s experiences with their products. Brands in this manner extend their online personalities into the real world through live events, livestreams, reality shows, giveaways etc. to name a few.

Effect on Marketers: Brands will focus on unique campaigns that focus on bringing online content to the real world

Effect on Users: Brands will need to listen what the community cares about

Source: www.media-mosaic.com

Well, how the world of social networking will shape up is a thing to watch out for in times to come. These trends are likely to come true because they are the true state of social networking progression these days. One can definitely look forward to things becoming more interactive and personal. What are your thoughts on this? What else do you think could come of the future? Do you have any predictions of your own? Do feel free to share them with us in the comments below! #KeepChiming

Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | 3 Comments »

Brands on Instagram: Its All About Getting Started!

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014

Just like other social networks, brand managers and marketers have shown interest in Instagram too. The simple fact being that, Instagram can also help humanize your business and increase engagement for your brand. Businesses and brands are already capitalizing on this powerful medium. Instagram is highly interactive with a very high engagement rate as users are also active on the go. It allows you to showcase creative content to your customers who can in turn be powerful tools to build brand advocates as images shared on Instagram connect more creatively depicting the brand style and personality.

Nowadays, brands are gradually looking up to Instagram for increased engagement with their customers. They are invigorating a sense of excitement and visual treat for them. In fact, Instagram is slowly becoming one of the larger elements of a brand’s marketing mix. This can also be considered as the result of the rise of visual content progressively becoming popular amongst the masses.

What you as a brand or business can do on Instagram?

Firstly, have a plan!
– You can hold an employee Instagram photo contest
– Create your company’s Instagram account & share unique photos
– You can share these photos on Facebook and Twitter
– You can also spread awareness by encouraging customers to take photos of your product or service

Instagram is really good for your Business! You can:

Promote your products through images and put your message across effectively
Engage with your followers as customer engagement is very important
Competitions and giveaways for those who follow you can be a means of showing some appreciation to your loyal followers
Behind the scenes pictures of your organization can be shared as people are curious about them
Hashtags can be very useful in showing that who is using your products and also promote your brand

Not all industries have joined the Instagram bandwagon. But, according to Socialbakers’ latest Instagram performance report, FMCGs and Home goods are leading, followed by alcohol brands which produced the most engagement on Instagram in January, but a drop was witnessed in February. Have a look below:

Socialbakers, in its report, also mentioned two other brands active on Instagram and climbing the engagement ladder, General Electric and National Geographic.

General Electric (GE) invited six fans and influencers to come up with a marketing campaign and National Geographic plunges into the high-quality photography from the magazine, giving Instagram followers a magnificent look through the lenses of the magazine’s photographers.

For brands to be on Instagram, its not just about being there, but a lot depends on how close you are to your following and what is the interaction rate of your brand with your audience followed by how much you make them a part of whatever you are doing. Here’s something you can follow:

There are a few reasons and tips on why your brand should be on Instagram as mentioned below:

It is easy to find targeted users using keywords. You can search the targeted hashtags and engage with the users who posted it.

It is easy to communicate with your followers as you can mention any user that you follow and they will see it. For example you want to thank your most engaging users on Instagram and give them a 50% discount code of any product in your online store. You can just post it as a picture and mention targeted users using @ (at) sign in the comment section: @username

You can make beautiful marketing messages as pictures. You can share your products, promotions or blog posts through pictures. Few things you should keep in mind are:

– Don’t post pictures ONLY about your company
– Be creative
– Engage users with every picture by asking questions
– Reply to all comments with @username sign
– Use as many hashtags with targeted #keywords as possible in the caption to a picture

Source: newmediaforce.com

How much engagement are top brands getting on Instagram?

– Instagram says it has 90 million active users
– Top 3 brands on Instagram are NIKE, MTV and Starbuck
– 23% of active Interbrand 100 companies post more than 50 times a month
– Brands are seeing more than 5600 engagements per photo
– 98% of Instagram photos posted by brands are shared to Facebook
– More than 2 million likes, comments and shares of Instagram photos have occurred on Facebook since the network bought Instagram
Source: wishpond

Brands need to set one goal in mind when on Instagram, that is, creating loyal customers who are genuinely interested in your brand. By using Instagram, brands and organizations are able to shift perceptions by showing different aspects of the brand, it tells your brand story in a different way!

Source: sidequik

You might be wondering how images and short videos can work wonders for brands, but think about the lasting impression it creates on the minds of is audiences. With Instagram, brands can showcase their culture, special, offices, new products, events and the faces of the wonderful employees who make it all happen.

Another great thing we can’t ignore is networking. Brands can connect to people and other brands on Instagram through images and engagement. Following back your followers and interaction with them associated with hashtags can help brands reach out to their specific target audiences. Keeping the interests of audiences intact through interesting promotions and not direct selling is very important. Ignoring this fact may lead to an unfollow chain.

Here’s an Instagram secret recipe that might help!

Source: Techcrunch, Followgram

Few examples on how brands leveraged Instagram

1) See how FOREVER 21 got to 1.4 million followers on Instagram in this Infographic

2) Starbucks leverages filters and hashtag functionality to connect followers with the products. Artsy product shots, promotions and discounts are all shared exclusively via Instagram.

3) MTV is a content machine. It utilizes Instagram to drive viewership by showcasing elusive celebrity photos and important announcements

4) No engagement tactic is left unused on the Red Bull photo stream. The brand initiated promoting athletes, events and sparking relevant brand conversations with hashtags.

What brands need to do is, take advantage of the fact that there are a lot of brilliant people out there who create powerful visual content and learn a lot from them. Are you an Instagram fan? What do you think about this powerful visual marketing element? How do you think will brands explore its complete potential? Well that remains an interesting thing to watch out for in the times to come!

Tags:How Businesses are Using Instagram, Instagram, Instagram for Brands, Tips for Brands on Instagram
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | 1 Comment »

Impact & Use of Vine by Various Industries

Saturday, March 15th, 2014

In 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:

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

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!

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:Brands & Vine, Brands using Vine Videos, Video Marketing Strategy, Videos, Vine, Vine Videos
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research | 1 Comment »

How Brands Are Using Vine

Friday, February 28th, 2014

Not much of a time since Vine has been introduced and it has already exploded to millions of users followed by brands which have started to take notice too. Researchers also say that a branded Vine is four times more likely to be seen than a branded video. With every five tweets a second containing a Vine video link it is undoubtedly becoming popular day by day, but then how can marketers and brand managers explore the platform? Have you employed Vine in your brand’s video strategy yet? If not, then here’s an Infographic that depicts how there is a lot more to Vine than you think!

Embed Code:

Copy the above code to embed this Infographic on your website & share.

You can also have a look at:

The 33 Best Vine Videos of 2013
Brands that are using Vine to enhance their social media output
Brands creating skillful, creative Vine videos that make a statement

Vine is constantly revolutionizing the way brands connect with their audiences, allowing them to talk directly to their fans and consumers. It will be interesting to watch the creativity with which brands come up with in this space in the near future. So, are you set to spice up your Brand’s next marketing push with VINE? What are your thoughts on this?

Tags:Brands using Vine Videos, Video Marketing Strategy, Vine, Vine Videos
Posted in Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | 1 Comment »

Effective Social Media Use in Healthcare Marketing

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Spoken about the same, first stumble happens when they take an attempt to engage with their fans or audience without identifying their content needs. This further leads to the foundation of an inappropriate conversation. Therefore, there is no substitute for valuable content! When it comes to the consumer base, they want in-depth information. What needs to be understood by this segment is that there is an ocean of information out there, and when people get sick nowadays, they want information right away. Interaction with patients and consumers is important, but great and right content is the key!

The Healthcare Segment

Apart from all the challenges and limitations, Healthcare segment can be amplified in a great way as it includes a lot of processes from patient relations to content shared to managing health records etc. Many doctors can already be seen wearing Google Glass, patients equipped with latest technology support systems and nurses with iPads.

Social Media and Healthcare

This still remains unexplored, Social media for healthcare can garner increased communication, treatment efficacy and provider efficacy; which in turn will portray the organizational transparency. Already a good amount of doctors, family members, patients and healthcare specialists are using social media to result in more impactful treatment. Consumers are also found to use social media platforms to find and later share information about health plans, medical treatments and doctors.

What does Social Media have in store for Healthcare Industry?

Social Media is strongly transforming how doctors & patients operate and interact with each other. Although the matters related to the security concerns, confidentiality, misinformation and data review come along with anything related to healthcare, Social Media can modify the complete experience for everyone linked with it. With patients, consumers and everyone stepping in to the online space to discuss their health, medical experiences, seek opinions, research and share their symptoms or ailments; it becomes all the more important for healthcare professionals to tap into this wonderful resource and connect with them on social platforms in order to add their expert voice to these conversations.

Social Media will change the way health related communications happen.

An effective social media strategy for a healthcare brand should aim towards accomplishing goals in few categories, namely:

– Communications
– Information Sharing
– Clinical Outcomes and,
– Speed of Innovation

A few things you need to regularly keep a tab of:

Patients that share their views or opinions freely online followed by people who comment on everything, or update a status even about their cold to health related articles. There are cases when patients end up getting basic advice from medical professionals that happen to be in their network. This can help a brand get qualitative feedback or report about their services too.

Doctors are also engaging proactively and believe that social media presence improves the quality of care through constant line of communication.

Blogs written by healthcare professionals can be integrated with social media accounts too. A systematic content management system can further influence people to post content to blogs or websites.

Hosting Google Hangouts with previous patients or those undergoing treatments is a very innovative way where technology helps healthcare segments. Doctors contribute to a patient-centric model of healthcare with such technological innovations. Loyalty and satisfaction is built in the process too.

A successful social media strategy would help a healthcare brand in revamping their communication, service and feedback.

Prescription of a Strong Social Media Strategy for Healthcare Industry

Healthcare organizations should develop a social media strategy that leverages social media in healthcare marketing to help influence the customers & at the same time accomplish strategic healthcare goals.

Keep in mind that just as your patients have their own individual wants, characters and a voice; similarly your social media strategy should be unique to your organization. Healthcare professionals are empathetic and caring individuals. It’s time to demonstrate that strength to a larger, online community.

What should Healthcare Brands do to leverage Social Media?

– Follow your customers and engage with potential patients
– Provide value to consumer’s perspective. Providing value here means providing useful information
– Be active on Social media and leverage its potential
– Be a resource to those looking out for information related to healthcare
– Enable doctor searches, online scheduling, and relevant information
– Connect with loved ones of patients as its not only the patients always, but there are those who care for them too, active online
– Connect with patients or consumers through online communities
– Build discussion forums
– The content you create, make it share worthy. Ensure that it can be forwarded, printed or posted to patients
– Network with those potential healthcare employees with your social media presence. Basically, you can bring your brand to life for potential employees.
– Follow relevant hashtags & handles
– Twitter chats help you listen to perspectives on key topics & also offer a chance to raise awareness about what you as a healthcare brand offer
– Listen: know what your patients are doing by diving into some of the user generated content
– Regulations: yes, you need to take care of the content that goes up there. Don’t forget to review it by your legal, regulatory & medical teams
– Be open-minded and creative, plan & test your ideas

In the long arc of people’s journey to better health, healthcare segments strive to become more supportive and relevant through social media. In this case, what healthcare segments will win is their respect and loyalty followed by their behaviors that will change to improve their overall health with the strengthening of healthcare brands.

There is no pre-defined rule as to how we should engage with patients on social media, but we cannot deny the fact that there still lie barriers in the pharmaceutical industry as to what one can talk about online.

The elements of engagement that Healthcare brands need to know in order to understand the content needs of their audiences are:

Value can be provided by creating content that solves consumer problems. Listening to their complaints or suggestions and adding a personal touch to conversations generates value for your brand.

Efficiency of a healthcare brand depends on their ability to respond to customer inquiries, comments & questions both off and online without any delay followed by designing mobile friendly content that can be accessed by patients on the go.

Trust is built through the expectation of complete honesty from a healthcare brand by consumers. Delivering accurate advice, displaying successful customer recovery stories, testimonials, nutrition advice, health-tips, fitness routines etc. is a part of it.

Consistency includes the fact that whatever you communicate through offline and online platforms should at no point collide with the real customer/patient experiences.

Relevance is injecting a highly targeted content to patients or consumers which goes a long way in building an emotional connection and consequent click to action.
3 things you need to know!

A tweet or a post is not a diagnosis!
Always remember that any information that you post on Social Media should not be considered as a medical advice by your followers or consumers. It is not a replacement for a consultation with a doctor as one on one consultation with health care professionals is still primary & legible.

Schedule the communication!
For a better level of patient privacy, a healthcare brand should ensure that comments made on any of their social platform should not appear online before it is reviewed or approved by internal team of professionals.

Set the limits; be clear with your stand!
As a healthcare brand, clearly establish where your organization stands in regards to social media engagement by patients or consumers. Designing a strategy to improve your capability to leverage the enormous reach of social media platforms to connect and learn from the online community is vital.

With patients going online for their healthcare solutions etc., it becomes very essential for your healthcare organization to create a social media strategy where you prepare your staff to listen, engage & measure social media. Are you ready to join your patients in the social media world?

You can also have a look at another blog ‘In the pink of Health on Social Media’.

It is very important for the healthcare brands to identify and understand the consumer behaviour before they make any attempts for social media engagement. Does your healthcare brand have a clear social media policy established? Do you think we have missed out on something in this post? Do tell us about it in the comments!

Tags:Doctor, Healthcare, Healthcare Industry, Healthcare Marketing, Helpline, Hospitals, Social Media Marketing
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