Social Media | Indian Social Media Landscape - Part 9 Indian Social Media Landscape

Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

Blogger of the Fortnight: Arun Basil Lal

Friday, March 15th, 2013

Blogger of the Fortnight

Current Position and Organization:
CEO of One C Media Private Limited
Educational Background:
Graduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Blog Name:
MillionClues.com

Arun Basil Lal is from God’s own country, Kerala and is very passionate about blogging. To pursue his passion and to give a direction to his dreams he came up with the blog MillionClues. Million Clues is a blog on WordPress, Blogging tips and the web followed by reviews on websites, softwares and tools.

Arun is a fun loving person and therefore indulges into all adventurous activities to keep him rejuvenated. He loves to travel, read, eat, riding and of course blogging. He is in love with the world of technology and never misses out to blog about the same.

Extremely fascinated by what the web has to offer, he is always looking out for latest developments. He loves to explore and learn new things and later trying to implement them in life. A blogger, Web Developer and an Entrepreneur, Arun has expertise in WordPress, PHP and SEO. With WordPress at its core, he has built over 300 websites. His blogs about WordPress and internet mostly talk about problem solvers, tips and tutorials.

He loves the blue bird and therefore tweets for hours, but yes, movies are the second best thing he does post tweeting. One thing that always attracts his readers to his blog is not only his style of writing, but the uniqueness & regularity in whatever he blogs.

Arun believes that blogging is a great way to make and maintain online presence. One would definitely learn a lot about internet on the way. Blogging will also help one to make money but whether one does it for money or passion, one should always provide value to its readers. Summing up on this, he believes that, “Ideas are all around. Important thing is to capture them.”

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

Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

Content Marketing: Brands Need to Gear Up!

Friday, March 15th, 2013

If marketing is a pie, then content marketing is definitely the bigger slice of it. Most of the brand managers, marketers, companies and/or sectors would agree with this statement. Content marketing is indeed the most appealing trend of this year. If done right, it can create wonders to leading to traffic and driving sales. The key to this is to have a plan, a plan to target effectively & grab your target audience’s attention. There is no doubt about the fact that social media & mobile marketing have also showcased content to be supreme. Brands therefore, are now creating original content to engage customers. If B2B sector is taken into consideration, here the brands foster content usage by positioning company as a thought leader to the customers, producing demand.

Consumers also want a lot of information now and at the same time they want to make their own decisions. In that case brands need to provide valuable content to build trust.

Following all the changes and strategic developments happening all year around, this year marks some of the fantastic content marketing trends, when implemented correctly are sure to drive the business and brands to a great level.

Last minute web plugs, ad hoc promo driven microsites and integrating a social media strategy as an addition won’t work anymore! For a healthy and successful way forward, strategically planned content and distribution supported by well done research & inputs is the key.

Traditional publicity and content marketing differences are many. Just have a glimpse:

Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-content-marketing/

Moving on lets talk about the Social media & content marketing trends

Case studies, evolving as the most important part of content marketing are very essential when it comes to products & services. From “how it works” to “this is what I need”, case studies provide all the information related to a particular products.

E-books fill the space of B2C content marketing wherein all the questions on how to get the most out of a service or product will be a part of the content. A content that creates a comfort zone for buyers is another essential part.

Storytelling is become the most liked trend today. With everyday happenings on the social media platforms and content overflowing from all ends, some of the amazing stories are sure to get an edge. Here businesses can add that personal touch & experience with real examples and share it with people, the content they actually want to read.

Blogging by businesses will take the lead in times to came, infact it is already considered as the foundation of all sorts of content marketing actions. Blog encapsulates all types of content, posts, e-books etc. followed by links to the content in the blog.

Creating enough and original content might turn out to be the biggest challenge for content marketing. Marketers would be pressurized to come up with content based on superior quality & originality.

Social media will stand out as the most popular channel with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. distributing content that is liked and shared by people. The content can also be stored in the blog and shared with the social media platforms when required.

Content marketing goals would be sales & retention wherein B2B content would spawn leads & sales and B2C brands would move ahead with a goal of retention & generating word of mouth.

Content would be used all over. A single piece of content would be distributed & stretched to almost all the platforms where marketers will try to maximize their value. Revamping the existing content will also lighten the creation of content.

Mobile optimized content is creating buzz. Creating a mobile friendly content with a click to call option is sure to give you an edge over your competitors. From blogs, websites, case studies, e-books, videos and all other content should be made mobile friendly.

Content curation might be used as an alternative as marketers who fall short on time to create their own piece of engaging & original content shift to curation. Curation would include churning out the best content and sharing it across the social media platforms. It will lead to the brand losing its value & visitors to the page, at the same time being known as staying updated. A proper balance of original and curated content would be a good strategy.

Video would be the greatest trend with amazing video content. If you are planning to go viral with your content, then video is the answer. Short videos with easy steps to follow are good enough for engaging people who further share the content. Compelling content is the need of the hour for longer videos to make people sit back and watch. It should be shareable and eye catching. That’s it!

Infographics are a rapidly growing content format which have the visual appeal & information that is easy to understand and share.

Targeted content will get more results. Understanding the interests of potential customers and creating content based on that would foster engagement. Exploring on the buying behaviour of people will help generate targeted content.

E-mail, the most used and effective marketing channel can be leveraged by understanding the marketing goals and designing the communication to influence the buyers or consumers.

Budgets. There won’t be any slash down when it comes to content marketing. There would be increased spending on the same.

Gamified content strategy is on the rise. As the customers are getting influenced by online activities etc., they are expecting gratification to interact & engage with brands online, content that renders entertainment, learning & rewards is appreciated in a big way.

Expanding Social Media and its users generate a challenge for marketers when it comes to designing the content marketing strategies. Social media will continue to stand out as the greatest resource of real-time content distribution which is rising amongst the audiences.

Understanding the content & digital link is important. Content strategies need to be designed keeping in mind the digital strategies. Anybody could get the likes on Facebook, but what makes brands stand out is what they do with those likes. Its about the target audience and engaging them with content that brings them back everytime to the brand page. Facebook likes are not the content. Content is now also linked to SEO.

A breakthrough content backed by a strategically thought idea that the businesses or brands can deliver across platforms is the strongest step towards success.

Have a look at this, the anatomy of Content Marketing.

Image courtesy: contentplus.co.uk

Brand managers and marketers are on a constant run to look out for ways to build consumer engagement, acquire and retain them. In order to win the race of attracting the target audience marketers will have firstly capture their minds with the product, offers etc. and secondly create connecting content.

Lets see what Zomato.com, that offers restaurants listings of restaurants, food reviews etc. did. It also has Android & iOS apps that are easy enough to use. It is also active on Facebook & Twitter garnering amazing likes and fan following.

Zomato engages with its customers regularly on these social media platforms. They constantly urge their customers to praise the food etc. and also stay clear of being praised and promoting itself everytime. Recently, they came up with Food Porn Site to get more visible, where people could look at pictures of scrumptious & luscious food. Zomato also regularly maintains its presence on blogs & sites to escalate their reach and visibility.

COKE

Coca-Cola strongly believes in content marketing and therefore it is their core strategy of Content 2020 advertising strategy mission: "All advertisers need a lot more content so that they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant, because of the 24/7 connectivity. If you’re going to be successful around the world, you have to have fat and fertile ideas at the core."

Click here to watch.

COLGATE

Colgate provides an online Oral and Dental Health Resource center with videos, interactive guides, and over 400 articles. It’s a great example of a brand seeing itself as a publisher and using its depth of knowledge to provide valuable information to people, which is the key to content marketing success. Even a two person company can pull from their experience and expertise to create blogs, e-newsletters and e-books in an organized and effective way that reaches prospects.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

General Electric used content marketing to tell the story of the 132-year-old brand through different content channels. They used the content tactic Ecomagination, which is a forum for fresh thinking and conversation about clean technology and sustainable infrastructure. According to Katrina Craigwell, Digital Marketing Manager at GE’s belief, “At the end of the day, if the content isn’t good enough for the end user to want to share it with a friend or colleague, we haven’t quite succeeded.”

So, it is evident how brands are constantly updating & innovating their content, offerings and approach to connect with their customers. Also the way social media platforms are used, it beautifies the brands’ marketing. Content is surely the king as it is encouragingly served & shared to a large audience in multiple ways.

Recently, there was a brand owner’s summit where it was showcased how "Brand marketing has given way to content marketing". Check this link to read through!

A proper plan, relationship building, long term thinking and consistency helps a brand go long way with its content marketing.

What clicks through is the relationship that a brand builds with its influencers and consumers etc. They help drive in traffic by posting and sharing the content from website to various other networks.

Content is the heart of social media. It is the life savior of branding campaigns. Don’t you agree? Yes, it is. It is a lot more than an SEO, a tweet, blog or Facebook post etc. Need to create an original content is very essential. A content that moves away from brand messages to the one that’s relevant & approachable for consumers.

For a content that is not only significant but exceptional, one should aim to create, curate, plan & collect the same.

In 2012, there was a great rise in the use of images in content marketing with social media platforms like Pinterest & Instagram followed by Facebook, Linkedin & Twitter which focused on imagery. With the beginning of 2013, content marketing has evolved yet in another great way.

Brands and organizations need to plan a framework for their content marketing. They have already started looking out for media platforms to purchase & bloggers to manage the same. In almost every industry there is a great prospect for a appropriately planned content strategy.

Times ahead are now going mobile.

Mobile web browsing is also expected to outdo the web browsing through desktops and laptops. Content marketers will therefore have to create content suited to the mobile lifestyle.

The website should be designed in a way that is compatible with the smartphone. And with smartphone users and consumers increasing every fraction of a second they always expect the content to be readable on their mobile devices which they carry almost everywhere they go.

These trends are a witness to a movement that was prevalent for years and now trying to reach a larger mass. Brand managers and marketers have also come to a conclusion that social media channels are not that effective without an appealing content to engage. How would you analyse the role of content in the World where the complete consumer behaviour has changed? Don’t you think content is the most eminent marketing strategy? Do you think 2013 will be the year of content marketing with innovations & intelligence? It is expected that the applications would be developed to improve the efficiency of content creation. Would it help publishers to polish the performance of their content on web or social media? How would it improve the ROI?

Tags:B2B sector, Content Marketing, Content Marketing in 2013, Content marketing Trends, Content strategy, Infographics, Mobile, Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience, Traditional Media | 1 Comment »

Blogger of the Fortnight: S. Pradeep Kumar

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Blogger of the Fortnight

Current Position and Organization:
CEO and Founder at Slashsquare, HellBound Bloggers (HBB)
Educational Background:
Gill Adarsh Matriculation Higher Secondary School
Blog Name:
HellboundBloggers.com

S. Pradeep Kumar is the founder of HellBoundBloggers where he talks about technology related stuff and his blog attracts many guest bloggers every time. This is also one of the best Indian blogs to know about tech buzz.

Pradeep Kumar’s HellBound Bloggers, HBB as they call it popularly is a Technology Blog and Web Community, where they focus on topics like Blogging, Social Media, Technology, WordPress and Internet Tips. He started his blogging journey with Google’s Blogger platform which was the basement for his blogs earlier. For a more potential platform he turned to WordPress. He wanted to have a blog to express his views and did blogging as a hobby. Later he started blogging much more professionally and intentionally.

Time management tops the chart of importance for Pradeep. He is very particular about his passion for blogging and regularly keeps track of a few things helpful for his blog’s quality. Some of them being content & comment moderation, guest posts moderation, affiliate marketing, sponsored review preparation, monitoring social media presence & effects, drafting his own blog post, monitoring SEO and other such factors.

Apart from Hellboundbloggers, Pradeep also has a blog network called Slashsquare and a new hosting blog – HostLater which he manages too. HBB is a part of Slashsquare Network which is an Indian Blog Network and Web Consulting Media.

Pradeep believes that bloggers should enhance their blog with consistent efforts & creating it of a particular standard. This in turn generates a great amount of traffic and interested readers.

With no readers at all initially to amazing authors was a turning point and a blessing for Pradeep who now considers himself to be incomplete without blogging. Experiencing and rising from mistakes of the bygone days was a learning experience too.

Pradeep loves playing games especially racing games. He never forgets to include de-stressing in his schedule where he prefers gaming & reading books. Apart from this he is a great lover of photography too.

Pradeep believes in knowing his audience completely, analyzing their comments, understand their views and then accordingly compile his blog to rise above their expectations. He simply believes that if one is creative then surviving this era of tough competition becomes easy as you can perform accordingly.

The amazing blogging journey that Pradeep has travelled, the passion that he depicts in his Blog HellBoundBloggers and the way it resonates effectively with readers across entitles him to be our Blogger of the Fortnight.

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

Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

QR Codes: Potential Social Media Trend

Friday, March 1st, 2013

QR 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.

QR 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.

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 & increase 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:

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:Mobile Technology, QR Code Campaigns, QR Codes, QR Codes in Social Media, Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Twitter | No Comments »

Stationery Brands Go Social

Friday, February 1st, 2013

Social Media has reached a phase where a person’s tweet is a great matter of concern for all brands, Facebook posts are clearly analyzed by organizations, followed by Linkedin updates which foster insightful studies. Pinterest, YouTube & Google+ also queue up as some of the most effective social media tools triggering the finest marketing strategy for brands across the globe. In the past few years technology has changed the way Stationery brands approach their target audience.

Now, its not just the next door neighbor who hears about it, but the entire World. The basis of this fact is a clear indication of Social Media influence. Stationery Industry is moving ahead with a great pace to stand out from the competition and acquire attention from its consumers.

Kids being the primary target followed by corporate and other segment it turns out to be great challenge for the stationery sector to structure its loom towards them. Innovations, designs, variety and quality in the stationery products are some of the top attributes that instigate the buying behavior.

With social media, marketing has become more like a conversation. People view, review and communicate your brand out to the World across platforms. Blogs, social media platforms, review sites, videos and a lot more are branches to the root of your communication.

Marketing your stationery products online has a potential to offer you a variety of benefits. Spreading the word about your stationery business can lead to increased sales, fans and identity across. Social Media also allows you to stay in touch with existing customers, which can help you develop long-term relationships with loyal customers. Many stationery brands like ITC Classmate, Faber Castell, Staedtler, Staples, Post It, Scotch, Pentel, Crane & Co. etc. implementing social media strategies into branding & marketing effectively. Marketing is measurable; therefore, one can track and re-use the marketing strategies that produce the maximum return on investment for your stationery products business.

Social media integration into the stationery sector sounds as a challenging factor but when blended together with appropriate strategy and planning, it exhibited flavourful outcomes. As a stationery sector one must talk about the strength of social media and using internet as a marketing tool with an emphasis on synergizing the paper with the online.

Have a look at how some of the Stationery brands are shining on Social Media:

ITC Classmate

Classmate has gradually evolved with its successful presence across social media platforms. Its presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube has added a silver lining to its cloud of products, services and offerings. Its loved by students and appreciated for its approach.

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Staples

Staples is the world’s largest office products company and a trusted source for office solutions. It provides products, services and expertise in the categories of office supplies, technology, furniture, Copy & Print, and cleaning and breakroom. It has achieved a great recognition on Social Media.

Facebook – India

Facebook – US

Staedtler

Post-it

Faber Castell

Faber Castell is a leading stationery company which offers range of colouring and writing instruments for schools and offices. It exports to over forty countries and has seven manufacturing units across India producing high quality products, safe for children and environment.

Twitter

Moving on there’s Crane & co., a stationery brand that has implemented immensely beautiful innovation and design into its products. It is very active on Social Media and a very inspiring brand of the industry.

Crane & Co. is a well known brand in stationery and innovations.

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

User experience should be the top priority in order to acquire the best fans to your brand and in turn retain them with the best social approach. The digital connection that is efficiently blending into the world of stationery brands is evident across multiple platforms. This is further creating an amazing digital impact on stationery design and messaging that the manufacturers & retailers do to market and promote the products.

A social shift like this is a major driving force for this era, whether its Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, every platform is playing a great role in connecting the consumers to one another trying to fit their brands into their digitized and communication grid.

Now the question evolves what if consumers talk negative about your brand or business? The hidden fact here is that if your marketing has been strong to reach them, they will at some point talk about your business, be it positive or negative. They might have had a poor experience at your store, disliked your product, or maybe their queries would have been unanswered for long. Here, you just need to address the issue, work on it and resolve it! This approach will, in times to come prevent a retailer or manufacturer from losing a customer on account of an off experience.

It is extremely essential for a Stationery Brand to connect with its consumers on all the social or digital outlets. From having a faint idea about a product to a clear understanding of the same makes a lot of difference not only for the consumers but for brands too. Allow your consumers to discover your product offerings, generate interest and in turn experience it. As a Stationery brand work towards building an emotional connection, appealing your consumer’s minds and implementing innovation in your product.

Moving on, Design is the most important key for stationery companies if they want to tap into and sustain in this tech savvy, art-loving and fast moving consumer block. A great attention is being paid to the ‘Likes’, ‘Shares’, ‘Tweets’, 140 characters, ‘Pins’ etc. by stationery brands. Perhaps, their marketing strategies are gradually blending with social media at a remarkably consistent pace.

Whatever the fusion, but stationery is turning out to be a great sector in this social space and digital culture creating wonders. Traditional techniques of approaching the stationery buyers have changed on a large scale and this fresh revolution is very much appreciated by the masses.

In the Stationery sector; design, innovation and creativity will always be the major attractions. Depicting the brand offerings in 140 characters have been and will always be a challenge for this sector. With new media changing constantly, what are the challenges that have you encountered in your social media marketing as an Entrepreneur or a Brand manager? Will your ‘stationery’ brand no more be ‘stationary’ and successfully be on a constant move to shape future communications? With so many brands on Social Media will it be able to penetrate through the brand clutter? Is your social media strategy strong enough to facilitate a real time return on investment?

Tags:Social Media, Stationery Brands on Social Media, Stationery Sector, Stationery sector on Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Blogger of the Fortnight: Preeti Shenoy

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

Current Position and Organization:
Blogger at Just Mother of Two

Blog Name: justmotheroftwo

Preeti Shenoy is a Blogger, writer, painter and a poet. She does all this with ease and passion. She is an author with a passion to write the best. Preeti Shenoy’s books ‘Life is what you make it’, ‘Tea for two and a piece of cake’ & ’34 Bubblegums and Candies’ have topped the national bestselling charts. Her book ‘The Secret Wishlist’ which was out recently was also immensely appreciated nationally. Specializing in portraiture, she is qualified in this art too.

With a passion and insight to explore and learn new things, Preeti Shenoy also loves reading, travelling, art, photography, animals, nature, basketball, blogging and spending cherishing moments with her family. Roald Dahl, Audrey Niffeneger and Mitch Albom’s works is what she loves to read and therefore maintains her unique style.

She has had in the past also taught English and math to street children. Learning for her is the stepping stone to achieving great things in life. The more she learns, the more she is excited to spread it out to the world in whichever way possible.

She has also shared a word with people on how to get published in India or how to write a book etc. through her website.

Preeti Shenoy believes that life is a teacher and we should acquire the best possible things from it.

An incredible personalized touch that she adds to her blog entices a lot of readers who appreciate her work and gain inspiration and learning from it. She therefore, always portrays and talks about topics to which people can relate to easily. Readers connect to her writings and yearn for her new works of writing consistently.

She always stays in touch with her readers through mails and comments and ensures to appreciate their views and remarks.

With some of the amazing books published and an attractive Blog, Preeti Shenoy is also now on the Forbes India celebrity long list.

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

Posted in Social Media | No Comments »

FMCG Brands Now Powered by Social Media

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

When we discuss about the FMCG sector, we can see that nowadays consumers are provided with numerous choices in every shelf of every category. Those days have also faded away when there was only one-way communication and are very positively replaced by two-way communication in the social world. This in turn affected the decision making process of the consumers in a great way. The consumer behavior is different now compared to what it was years ago.

Consumers’ today research, review & seek recommendations; analyze the post purchase experience etc. before initiating any purchase. Their will to reach out to the brands directly and with ease has become easy with social media wherein the engagement and interactions lead to purchase decisions.

When leveraging an FMCG firm using social media, one should base it on few parameters like: core consumers, their engagement, tracking the interactions about the brand, measuring the success of the brand in social media and most importantly the challenges faced by FMCG brand managers in the social space.

In order to identify the core consumers, FMCG brands should not think of segmenting their social media audience. Instead, they should try engaging with the existing customers irrespective of whether they are core or not and utilize the social media tools to achieve brand’s goals.

When you are planning out a social media strategy for your FMCG brand, the initial step is listening to what your consumer has to say. Therefore the social journey of your FMCG brand should always begin with social listening. This will build up a lot of possibilities that the brand can utilize to further strengthen the bond with its customers.

Analyzing the interactions will help you gain a deeper insight into your consumer’s minds and their sentiments towards your brand. For a solid measurement of your Return on Investment always keep a consistent eye on your competitor’s activities and structure your activities accordingly.

Social Media facilitated FMCG brands to become more self expressive and stand out amongst the rest as a more challenging one.

When it’s about FMCG brands, they are amongst some of the most innovative and prompt in their Social & Digital media use. What potentially matters are the efforts taken by these brands to stay ahead in the market.

Before moving on, here are a few ways that FMCG brands should take up to market in social media:

· Plan and implement your marketing activities to know what the consumers feel about your brand. Let them not only know about the brand, but understand it, relate to it.

· Engage with your consumers. Try to reach out to their needs and directly connect with them.

· Your marketing activities should be a part of your consumer’s lives. It should reach out to them to wherever they go as they are the ones who will initiate the final purchase.

· Social media is more of a two-way communication. Do remember to ask questions to your consumers and get ideas.

· Last but not the least; do not confuse social media with media. Both have a different approach and strategy.

Challenges for FMCG brands in Social Media

An effort needs to be taken by FMCG firms/brands to not just limit their strategies, thoughts and marketing activities to campaigns in social media, but to think beyond that. They need to structure ways in which the can use the social media tools to engage more consumers persistently.

There is a great potential for FMCG firms to create a mark through social media platforms. Moving ahead, viral videos etc. can be great for an FMCG brand, but they might end up being recalled as a video or some game, but maybe not as a brand. Therefore, a strong consumer engagement through effective social media marketing on a regular basis sees greater prospects for the brand.

What the entrepreneurs need to focus on today is that social & digital media need to be integrated with all the marketing activities effectively for a successful rise of their brands.

Social Media offers the FMCG marketers a direct access to the users of their products. Engagement, of consumer with the brand gives an insight of what people actually want from the brand.

Well, there can be times when an FMCG brand has to face problems such as time consumption and signifying the Return on Investment followed by lower levels of commitment by the consumers more likely occurring due to reduced brand resonance. In order to avoid or overcome these hurdles, FMCG brand managers need to focus on a certain principles to work successfully on social media:

– Set Goals

– Clearly understand the Social Media Tools

– Set up metrics to measure success

– Relate to the consumer

– Discover influencers & Invest in success

– Flexible approach

– Measure social media responses

– Consistent Interactions/Conversations

FMCG firms need to monitor and analyze the insights of their brand’s social media presence on a regular basis. One has to keep a check on what consumers are talking online about their brand and their competitor’s. An essential social media strategy will help a brand to maintain its industry standards and stay on top.

Therefore, the most authentic part of any social media strategy shines when an FMCG brand manager takes care of certain parameters namely:

– Consumer Insights: Examine the conversations happening about your brand and your competitor’s brand and plan your communication based on that.

– Competitive Analysis: Identify what your competitors are doing already and design your strategy to stand out as a stronger brand.

– Customer Service: Interact with your consumers, respond to their queries, enquiries etc.

– Track Trends: Discover the trending topics regularly and track them for a better understanding of your communication strategy

– Category Research: A regular study of your product category will give you a larger picture of your presence in the same.

– Crisis Management: Stay well equipped to identify and respond to potential crisis circumstances.

The marketing of FMCG products on Social Media, as we discussed earlier is not an easy victory that can achieved in a day’s time. One has to be aware of the fact that a consumer nowadays is more concerned about what they feel when they purchase and use a particular product.

FMCG brand marketers therefore stress largely on the feel good factors and factors with which consumers easily relate to.

Have a look at an exciting blend of information on the Social Presence of few of the FMCG brands:

Cadbury

With a focus to make everyday a celebration, Cadbury Dairy Milk went a long way to establish itself socially. When Pappu passed his exam, Cadbury came up with its ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’ proposition followed by the ‘Shubh Aarambh’ one. Its doing really well on social platform. check out Cadbury Dairy Milk on Facebook.

Maggi

The lip-smacking noodles delight, Maggi came up with the ‘Meri Maggi’ concept and reached out to the nation widely. Its tonality online is very generic, neutral and simple.

Facebook

YouTube

Nescafe

Nescafe India Facebook page’s communication is based on the “Shake it, Make it” campaign. Although the brand does not involve lot of things that can be spoken about but its online campaign and activities keeps a major consumer base hooked to the page. Nescafe on Pinterest works a lot in creating an interest in consumer’s minds regarding the brand.

Pepsi

Pepsi as a brand is more youthful, fun and exciting. Its presence on Social Media is a well thought marketing strategy that incites the target audience to live the brand. It achieved great responses online which further helped them to structure their marketing strategy.

YouTube

Google+

Pinterest

Facebook

Twitter

There rests a great potential for FMCG brands to explore Social Media platforms and leverage their brand identity. The rising competition in times to come will surely influence and encourage the FMCG sector to create a name in Social Media World.

In the FMCG sector, a desire to be elevated on social media will always prevail with the hits of yesterday transforming to the likes of today. What is essential is how you differentiate your brand and make it unique amid the brand clutter. As Entrepreneurs and Brand managers of FMCG firms, what challenges have you encountered in your social media marketing? How have you structured the social media plan for your FMCG brand? Is your social media strategy strong enough to facilitate a real time return on investment?

Tags:FMCG, FMCG and Social Media, FMCG Brands powered by Social Media, Social Media in FMCG Sector, Social Media Marketing, Social Media tools
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