Target Audience | Indian Social Media Landscape - Part 2 Indian Social Media Landscape

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Brands Personalize With YouTube Customization

Friday, August 16th, 2013

The 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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:Brands and YouTube, Brands leveraging Custom YouTube, You Tube, YouTube Custom Channels for Brands
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Online Videos, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Research, Target Audience | 1 Comment »

INFOGRAPHICS: The Next Big Thing

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

It is strongly believed that a .jpg is worth a thousand .txt’s as it only takes a split second to see a picture and a lot more to read a text. The time has come for brands to visualize their data and convert their brand ideas into Infographics. Let’s see how they can rise with the benefits of Infographics on social media. An infographic, which ideally means “information graphic”, is basically a clear visual representation of information or data. Due to their design and structure, infographics are believed to foster enhanced content recognition & information retention. Marketers and brand managers can add this to their brand content strategy for a stimulating benefit & outcome.

Accelerating decision making to a great extent, according to topmarketingschools.net Infographics that are relevant, timely and executed properly have a potential to reach upto 15 million people.

With the influx of social media and the shift of information or news sharing in a digital format, infographics make place for brands that have a story to tell which can be encapsulated in colourful graphics and colourful pie charts. Infographics can be used in annual reports, presentations, research content, newsletters and blogs. Consumers want the information that we share to be visually appealing & not text based. Majority of people are visual learners only. More than 80% of learning is visual. People can only remember 20% of content they read.

Well, why don’t you have a look at what Infographics are all about before proceeding?
Just check the Infographic below to witness how data visualization is a great visual treat.

Click the image to view it in a new window.

Embed Code:

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

Infographics:

· Communicate a message
· Present huge data or information in a compact way
· Analyze the data in order to discover cause-and-effect relationships

Infographics are composed of:

– Visual Elements
Colour coding
Graphics
Reference icons/symbols
– Content Elements
Time frames
References
Statistics
– Knowledge Elements
Facts

How do they matter for brands?

Digital marketers have already started creating infographics. It can be a great resource for firms that want to widen their marketing horizons. Pinterest had already taken place on social media with a visual treat that it offers. The pace with which this platform is moving is even quicker than Facebook, Linkedin & Google+. Understanding the potential and reach Facebook had also introduced the Timeline Update in February 2012 showing an increased level of photo engagement.

Using visuals is yet another way to survive the game of social media marketing. With Infographics you can describe your brand. You can simply transform the information you want to share into blocks of pictures that are bold & attractive. It is indeed a fun & unique way to reach millions of people.

· They are visually appealing
· Foster brand exposure through Social Media
· They are cost effective
· They compress the information & communicate easily

Brand managers should definitely integrate Infographics to their online marketing strategy. Going by the online space where people have too little time to sit back and read , a visual treat will be welcomed and appreciated to a very large extent.

· Brand will first have to find a story to tell using the statistical data they have.
· Drive traffic by posting it on the brand page or website
· Post & share it on Social Media. You can tweet, post, pin & share.
- · Include a little bit about your company with your web site URL at the bottom, use it as Link Bait. In case someone shares it you still retain the credit as the creator.

Readers absorb the important information from infographics & feel motivated to share it across platforms. Yes, it has to be that effective! Ideally, Infographics can fit any topic provided it represents data that is necessary and relevant to the readers.

ROI of Infographics

It is essential to measure the business performance of Infographics. The business objectives, organizational culture you operate in & your definition of return on investment (ROI) contribute to this analysis. The ROI is calculated with a formula which is: (Gain from an investment – Cost of the investment) / Cost of the investment

Your content marketing plan would be considered beneficial if its able to show ROI and is able to be measured. The basic costs are associated with design, development, publishing & promotion of your brand’s infographic. It might not be important to measure the direct association between the infographic marketing efforts & revenue but, it is very important to analyse & measure the association between resource allocation & marketing performance.

Measuring the Value of Infographics is another method that evaluates both, the tangible & intangible benefits of this communication & marketing tool over a period of time.

Tangible metrics signify the exposure that your infographics are getting across different digital & social media platforms:

Inbound links

– Use Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools can be used to calculate the number of sites that link back to your infographic content.
– Incorporate an embed code to track people who copy & paste the code to embed your infographic on their sites.
– Back links, apart from measuring the awareness, also provide insight into the types of people & websites that are publishing your infographics.

Page views

– Use Google Analytics to measure how many page views & unique views each infographic on your website, page or blog is generating.

SEO ranking

– Use RankChecker to clearly measure the page rank of your infographics on major search engine, Google.

Searches

– Use Google Analytics to check the number of finding your infographics by using specific keywords.
– Understanding top industry search words will help you refine your keyword optimization in future infographic titles.

Engagement

– Engagement level with your infographic content is measured.

Subscribers

– Use analytics functionality to each application you are using to calculate the subscribers to your content across digital channels.
– These metrics only reflect your potential audience reach and also not all your subscribers would be able see every infographic that you publish.

Comments & Social Sharing

– You can track the comments & their tone for each infographic you publish.
– A social media dashboard tool like the Hootsuite can be used to calculate the tweets, mentions & shares on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ respectively.

Intangible benefits are coupled with using infographics as an external & internal communication tool.

External includes Building relationships with media, organizations & influential individuals, experience with your brand and the credibility of your infographic offering insight on your organization as a thought leader across the industry.

Internal is based on communication, learning and decision making.

Reasons why the Infographics and Data Visualization work are:

– An attractive & compelling visualization of data or information you want to share saves people from Information Overload.
– People usually have a very short attention span, so to convince them in this little time, an infographic works & catches people’s eye.
– Complex information, data, statistics of becomes easy to understand when represented visually.
– People remember only 20% of what they read, so data visualization helps in stabilizing the lowering reading retention rates.
– People are too busy to check the data you publish everyday; by designing something visually enticing, higher engagement level can be noticed.
– People love sharing visual imageries or infographics on social media that are easy to grasp rather than the textual posts.

INFOGRAPHICS on SOCIAL MEDIA

Infographics are here to stay in the social media world. Firstly, the visualization of data is the ultimate key to great social media content. On social media consumers have the ability to share your infographics on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Google+ leading to greater engagement levels. Therefore, high definition infographics will be marketed through your readers who would love it & share it.

Readability Less is more. Create infographics to speak your brand message, data or statistics. Do not add too many images. Simply, maintain a balance.

Shareability Include your Infographic on all the social media channels of your brand. They can entice a lot of viewers to your brand. When a user likes your infographic, the possibility is either he will bookmark it or share it with his online friends. Therefore, with so many sites linked together, there lies a great potential for your infographic to go viral. Make sure it is unique!

Search Engine Optimization Even the SEO experts are exploring the possibilities of a good branded infographic. Infographics are designed for social sharing & are a highly effective form of link bait which can be used to increase inbound link numbers improving a website’s ranking & provide search engine optimization significance.coming to your mind is what type of infographics are loved the most pr work best? Well, it varies from industry or sector to sector. For some sites it might be charts & graphs for their statistical data but for some it might be pyramid or a map.

Whatever it is, it has to be interesting enough to keep the viewer on your site.

In a nutshell,

– Infographics can be read quickly. Great for those pressed with time
– Explain complex issues in a simplified visualization version
– As infographics are mostly vertically-shaped, the module would show a fragment while enabling the users to click to enlarge
– Research all the facts and statistics
– Develop and present a logical story.
– Reference facts & convey the message quickly
– Draw conclusions
– Include your URL on your infographic
When it comes to designing an Infographic just keep it simple as ‘Simplicity is the best policy’.

Be clear by limiting the information overload
Think in colour as it influences the users in a great way
Be verifiable to display your data a trustworthy source of information
Appealing to the eye is what your infographic should be. Period.

Check out Visual.ly, which launched in 2011 & currently hosts more than 16,000 info graphics. It is the world’s largest community platform for data visualisation. Here, the company’s success has been a direct result of the response to the infographics & their ability to tell a story effectively but more importantly, to serve as a useful tool. For few content marketing infographics that work. Click here

If you are thinking of how to go about making an Infographic, watch out this space for more!

With the growing popularity of Infographics, it is surely going to be the key online success for brands if conceptualized, designed and implemented correctly. As a brand manager how do you value an infographic as a part of your brand content strategy? Would you try incorporating them in your next content plan and measure its effectiveness? We are sure you will be surprised by the amazing outcome of this visual representation. Do share your thoughts.

Tags:Content strategy, Growing importance of Infograohics, Infographics, Infographics and brands, Infographics Boost SEO, Visual Content Marketing
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience | 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 »

Catching the viral fever

Monday, December 5th, 2011

You would have had to be living in a different country to have missed the Kolaveri Di rage. Over the last couple of weeks, everything and anything seems to have led to this one piece of music video. From brand ads to political uproar and even a famous singer’s son making his version of the same, Kolaveri Di has had the spotlight firmly fixed on it. So what are viral videos? What purpose do they cater to? Here is an insight in to those videos that make the world catch a fever!

Prescription for a viral video

Viral videos are user generated content events, acts or largely ideas, made using a mobile device or any other video camera for simple consumption. The idea is to share the work on the web but the outcome is a huge buzz. This generally happens via multiple shares across various social networking platforms like the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. thereby giving the content a cult status.