Facebook | Indian Social Media Landscape - Part 2 Indian Social Media Landscape

Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Reality Shows Pack a Social Punch

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

Let’s admit it. Social media has radically changed the way content is consumed and enjoyed. Entertainment too, has fallen prey to its charms. Television being the biggest and the most prominent source of entertainment has undergone a sea-change when it comes to doling out programmable content. Leading the pack are the reality shows that have almost single handedly outweighed other scripted programs. And these reality shows provide an excellent opportunity for integrating social media to enhance viewers’ experience.

Viewer engagement gets a boost in the arm:

The ulterior purpose of getting onto the social media band wagon for any reality TV show is to get more viewers and creating better viewing experiences. For the most part this would mean how a show could engage fans and hold their interest in stead. Through various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube etc. the reality shows could harvest some fame beyond the accepted limited shelf life of such series.

Setting up the command center:

Facebook, the biggest and the most ubiquitously popular social networking site of all could lay the foundation for any reality show and serve as their command centre. A dedicated page on the website could be the base during the pre-launch days to create buzz. The pre-launch buzz could be created by an announcement on the brand’s (channel’s reality show) page, followed by Facebook ads that appear across profiles. The initial profile of contestants and judges during this stage would let the audience choose their favourite and build up anxiety and anticipation.

While it airs on the TV, this same page could be used to get the audience talking in real time and post the airing of an episode, the build up to the next episode could kick off here besides being aided by promotions on other parallel social platforms. Once the show has commenced, episode specific updates in real time could keep the audience connected to the show. In case the show is a competition of sorts, then at this stage the brand page could be used for polls and voting. Activities such as debates around contestant behavior could be initiated. One could even bring in innovative gaming and engaging content in sync with the theme to propel interactivity and increased stay on the page. In fact, by employing other real-time platforms further more engagement can be built upon (We’ll talk about it in a moment).

Post each episode or season, the highlights could be shared here and the fans could be encouraged to comment by sharing their opinions on the episode and their expectations from the next in the row.

Establishing visual reinforcement:

YouTube by its nature is engaging and has its features aligned to that of a reality television show which makes it more so a medium to be engaging the show’s audience. A dedicated channel with a customized background and video clips of various contestants, hosts and judges could keep the audience on the hook when they’re not actually watching the episode.

From previews and highlights to inside peaks and behind the scenes of episodes to post episode/season reviews and guest speaks the show could have a lingering effect in the minds of its target audience. Integrating it with channels and sharing such videos will potentially lure in others and help expanding the viewer base.

Readers would agree that gripping viral videos are stellar performers when it comes to creating awareness and increase viewership, as recent history bears testament to it. Similar viral video content based on the show’s theme, or even candid moments and bloopers, could prove to do wonders for the brand and what better place to start than the brand’s YouTube channel, a warehouse of all video content related to the show?

Lock, load and explode:

Twitter and Foursquare, again, in the geo-location and real time domain are the leading social networking sites. Considering the fact that the shelf life of a reality show is rather limited vis-à-vis a scripted TV program, with the show’s presence on a dedicated page on twitter or through integration with Foursquare, the brand could tap on the real time engagement during the show and get an estimated geo-targeted reach.

While twitter will keep the audience engaged in real time by making them a part and parcel of the show by gauging their response and cues, foursquare would enable the brand to know where there select audience check in from time to time. This could prove to be quite a handy research tool to determine the content the audience prefers by tapping on their psychographics and in the long run, to be treated as primary research for future projects.

An interesting concept, for use of such real time platform could be, audience round, where people on Twitter are asked to suggest next action or performance and then the participants of the reality show having to execute the same. This would probably be the highest form of engagement that the audience can have with their favourite shows.

The day after tomorrow:

The success of reality shows like the American Idol, So you think you can dance and closer home shows like MTV Roadies, Satyamev Jayate, Indian Idol, Big Boss etc. gives us a fair understanding how these shows are doing social media right.

For instance, Aamir Khan who made his debut on Indian Television with Satyamev Jayate, received a phenomenal response from both fans and critics and the social media literally exploded. Right after the first episode, the show’s website received 42, 000 likes on Facebook. To capitalize on the buzz, the debut episode was made available on the website for viewing right after the telecast. The episodes were in due course uploaded on the channel’s YouTube page for those who might have missed out on the live telecast.

In fact, the synergy of reality TV shows and social media is turning out to be such a crowd puller that it has been recently announced that the producers of American Idol, will release their latest reality TV series on Facebook in a move that would truly be historic. A Chance to Dance is slated to be the first TV show to air on the social network and cable channel at the same time. According to Dean Alms, VP of marketing at Milyoni, that is building the social entertainment software on Facebook, “Reality TV can take advantage of the concentrated activity on social networks to build buzz around the show week to week.”

Are these signs of changing times in an age where reality TV shows are trying to grab a bigger portion of the (audience) pie? You decide. Let us know what you think of the integration of social media with reality shows as a measure to create that difference.

Tags:American Idol, Facebook, Foursquare, MTV Roadies, Reality Shows, Satyamev Jayate, TV Channels, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

The Impending Surge Of Social Realtors

Thursday, August 16th, 2012

Today, when any industry that one could possibly come across has chewed on a slice of social media, what are the odds that housing and real estate would lag behind in grabbing a piece of the same? In fact, it often poses as one of the most lucrative of all industries to monetize and mobilize buying and selling of properties through social media.

A new generation of tech-savvy home buyers, sellers and real estate agents are increasingly taking to social media to expand their scope of visibility and amplify their reach to potential customers. In fact, our understanding of the space is such that social media has reached a stage where merely having a presence on a social networking site does not assure success for a brand. For real estate and housing too, it becomes imperative to have the right mix of platforms and strategy to drive in engagement and eventually returns.

A Stellar Click:

In order to understand how deep this industry has spread its roots into the social media and how tactfully this space can be used to a firm’s advantage, let’s take into account a recently conducted campaign by Qatar Coral for Real Estate Development L.L.C. The campaign was driven through Instagram for Ramadan (a holy month) titled ‘#Ramadangram’. Leveraging on this popular photo-sharing social networking forum, the weeklong contest invited users to capture and showcase their special Ramadan moments through their eyes. The winners stood to win fabulous prizes including iPads and a Nikon D-90 DSLR camera. Participants entering for the contest were required to have an account on both Instagram and Twitter. The winners were contacted through a direct message on Twitter and announced on the company’s Facebook page, which had by then become an interactive forum for Qatar Coral to engage with its fans. All this happening in the wake of their recently launched twin plush towers for contemporary living at the heart of the state of Qatar just worked wonders for the firm.

The result was most commendable. It served as a boost to the company’s image and helped it in forging a lasting bond of trust and mutual admiration with its existing patrons and prospective buyers and this campaign bags an ace in our books.

Zero Down:

An emerging trend for a handful of real estate firms on social media is the use of the geo-location function. By employing tools like Hootsuite, keyword searches could be made and a targeted pool of potential buyers, sellers, and investors etc. who are looking for properties in a particular area could be tapped into. From here on, people who tweet with search queries could be directly engaged with by the firm.

The Audio-Visual Boost:

Talking about the right mix of platforms, here’s how a certain real estate firm made an impression on the social media. YouTube channels, that have become quite a rage lately due to the audio-visual nature of the platform fetches Coldwell Banker quite a few brownie points. The real estate firm has enabled the geo location function on their channel that upon having granted permission, uses the user’s computer’s IP address to pinpoint his/her location on the globe and then displays the most relevant videos. In our opinion, it’s quite an ingenious move on the firm’s part. What’s more? Through channels such as this realtors could provide a sneak peek into a property by adding walk around or slideshows of the interior and various features of the property. This not only improves the visibility but also the increases its chances of appearing higher up on SEO.

Base Camp:

Facebook, the largest social networking platform too, has a lot in store for housing and real estate industry. Say for instance, way back in 2008, Jonathan Rivera created one of the first Real Estate Referral group as a way to find agents to refer and exchange property cues for ‘out of area’ leads. The page has tabs such as ‘get referrals now’ and ‘how to’s’ which have videos that provide a know-how of generating referrals. If numbers are anything to go by, the page currently boasts of 59,343 fans and reflects on how successful the venture has turned out to be. Ever since then, many such property referral groups have come into foray.

Acquire and Expand:

Last but not the least, when it comes to housing and real estate, how can one possibly not consider the biggest social media platform for professionals. Linkedin presents a unique platform to property dealers and investors to hold discussions and establish connect with potential customers. Landlords, property developers and builders could get a great start with the ‘groups’ feature. A quick search in the ‘Groups’ search bar for properties, real estate or housing and the results it throws up is not even funny. Basis these, potential connections could be formed and further information about properties could be discussed through various other forums for more details.

Closer home, developers have already started championing the benefits of social media. Take for instance, Lodha Developers Senior Marketing VP, Samujjwal Ghosh. According to him, his company’s involvement in the social media platform is fueled by its intention to leverage the large pool of active social media users, inform, engage and interact with them and their peer groups, causing for a positive perspective of their brand and subsequently influencing purchasing decisions over a period of time.

Social media has most definitely arrived but it appears that although some housing and realtors have already started utilizing this goldmine of a platform, there are some who are still wary about it.

Do you think in this age of burgeoning infrastructural development, social media could prove to be the key to unprecedented growth for realtors? Share some of your opinions in the comments section below. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you all.

Tags:Coldwell Banker, Facebook, geo-location, Hootsuite, Housing, Instagram, LinkedIn, Lodha Developers, Quatar Coral, Real Estate, Referral, Social Media, YouTube
Posted in Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

A Social Learning Experience

Monday, July 16th, 2012

The use of social media in primary education has been debated over a lot by the likes of social media experts, teachers and parents in recent years. While traditionalists say that allowing children to access social networks in schools would distract them from the very purpose of discipline and education, some argue that there are unseen and unfelt benefits of the same for students which outweigh the risks.

We think, if used with care, established social media platforms could be leveraged to build schools reputation and can also, on a microscopic basis, provide a sound education to students through involvement of teachers and parents. Of course it goes without saying that all the activities that a student undertakes on the social platform is under a teacher/parent’s able guidance.

A new book

It is surprising that a platform as popular as Facebook has yet not been an active provider in the education sector. What is more surprising is the fact that there are host of features that a student can capitalize to broaden their knowledge base or simply assist them in the process of learning.

For instance, a class can be divided into groups based on interests, subjects, extra-curricular activities etc. and students could be provided with access to Facebook groups under the teacher’s guidance at school and the parents at home. The groups could turn out to be quite an ideal platform to share assignments, homework, ideas and learning within the members. It can also be used as a collaborative platform for project work and assignments.

Also, features such as notes can be used to come up with feature writing on a particular topic. Teachers can use the page to:

Upload questions
Do polls
Use photos to educate
Quizzes
Notes

On a broader level, a school can run its own page. This would be a more universal display of talent and activities happening in a school. Not just that, the Facebook page can be used innovatively to live stream events/lectures etc. to a whole set of audience anywhere in the world. This would give collaborative learning a whole new meaning. Schools can work together on global projects. World history, for example, would become so much more fun if students of a country would explain their country’s past to a logged in global audience.

Also, the page could be a true notice board for parents. If used properly and correctly, the page could be a source of information for parents to regularly log back to see the calendar of events of a school. Pinning important events and notice to the page can help them communicate the news effectively.

One opportunity lies in the Discussions tab on the Facebook Page. A school can create a discussion about a specific topic and allow members of the community to share their thoughts within the thread. Page admins can engage with parents to understand their concerns and help the school address those concerns.

Bringing education to life

Information that involves more senses is known to be absorbed in a whole lot better than that which involves just one. It is always easier for students to learn new things if they see and hear things at the same time.

This is where a platform like YouTube can come in very handy. Not a lot of people know that YouTube has a dedicated YouTube for school service. YouTube for Schools gives you access to the hundreds of thousands of educational videos on YouTube EDU. This includes short lessons from top teachers around the world, full courses from the world’s best universities, professional development from fellow educators, and inspiring videos from thought leaders.

Teachers can log in and watch any video, but students cannot log in and can only watch YouTube EDU videos and videos their school has added on their school channel. All comments and related videos are disabled and search is limited to YouTube EDU videos.

Teachers can now use YouTube videos to:

Enrich classroom lessons
Spark a conversation
Make theory come to life
Tap into the mind of the visual learner

The universal encyclopedia

The biggest collaborative knowledge pool that is out there on the internet, Wikipedia, is a constant source of updated information. Teachers along with students can jointly set up internal wikis where they can add, edit, create and develop a learning theme.

Furthermore, incentivizing it with shares, likes, comments on other platforms only gives a boost to a student’s moral. Needless to say, when learning can be this fun, more students would be actively engaged in learning and sharing knowledge.

Answering the inquisitive minds

The question and answer platform, Quora, serves as a repository and knowledge pool that’s there on the internet. It is strictly a place for those who need accurate answers to questions related to a specific subject. Could it appeal to the students in schools? It mostly definitely will, we add.

Students can create boards on the basis of a group of batch mates with similar interest areas after inviting them to the forum. After this it is pretty much creating a ready pool of discussions, problems, solutions in most of the recognised streams.

The summary section lets an individual collate the important points from all the posted answer and write one perfect answer that can be used by students. It is almost like a collaborative construction of an answer to a question.

A lot of schools in India have already started using these platforms. MIT Vishwashanti Gurukul, Rajbaug, Pune is a good example of such a start. We would love to see more such initiatives. After all, of what use is technology if not used for the enrichment of the mind?

What do you think about usage of social media in schools? Do you think this could be a sound platform for improved education system? Share your views with us. We would love to hear from you.

Tags:assignments, Facebook, homework, parents, primary education, Quora, Schools, teachers, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Growing Facebook Interactions

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

Brands on Facebook have always tried to increase their engagement levels so as to keep the audience of the page glued. Sports has, for ages, kept people glued to the television screen. From a late night football match to an early morning cricket contest, sports keeps people coming back for more.

Considering that the months of June, July and August are heavy on sports, Future Generali Life Insurance brought about a change in its communication plan on social media to leverage this opportunity.

With predominantly male audience on page that was hooked to French Open, Euro 2012, Wimbledon and now waiting for Olympics, Future Generali went sporty. Updates on FG’s Facebook page were crafted around major sports events and matches that were being played.

The brand also launched a contest around sports called the ‘Friday Famous Faces’ that required the fans to identify a popular sporting personality. 3 winners each week stood a chance to win backpacks and other goodies. The brand garnered 90 fans in a span of just 3 days via the contest. Not bad, wouldn’t you say?

The communication plan also incorporated:

· Live tweeting during matches (@Future_Generali)

· Events stats on Facebook page

· Trivia about the events

To drive home the message, the ‘Worry Not Wednesday’ updates served as a unique property where quick trivia and links were shared with the fans.

Avinash Janjire, Deputy General Manager – Brand & Corporate Communication at Future Generali India Life Insurance Company, adds “We wanted to break the clutter by creating share-worthy engagement around sports like Tennis, Football and Formula 1 which are gaining wide acceptance in a cricket crazy nation. The response we got was amazing. It only shows that if you give people interesting content it will have the viral affect, which is the biggest advantage of social media from a brand’s point of view.”

The result so far has been gratifying to say the least. Interaction on the page has jumped by 49% during the campaign. This is shear indication that people have liked the communication put out by the brand.

Also organic fan growth through these campaigns has been observed. 102 fans were added on the Facebook page. We believe that a brand has to be smart and willing to engage with its audience on topics that the audience wants to engage in. Future Generali showed a willingness to give people what it wanted. And thus, they are reaping the benefit of the same.

Having said that, we would love to hear what you think about the above mentioned campaigns. How important do you think is engaging on current and relevant topics in order to increase interactions? Do share your views about the same.

Tags:Euro 2012, Facebook, Football, French Open, Future Generali, Insurance, Social Media, Sports, Tennis
Posted in Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

The Facebook Ad Debate

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

When the Cannes Lions were being announced earlier this month, one campaign made for a very interesting watch. Not only because it was a well planned and executed campaign, as you would expect from any shortlisted campaign, but also for a very different reason.

Dove Ad Makeover campaign was a mission in driving home the brand’s key message, ‘Be your beautiful self.’ The route it took was interestingly different. Using Facebook Advertising APIs, it allowed users to make ads and then place them on the network.

The user, mainly female audience, was invited to create ads that spoke about being happy with the shape and size that one was in and then used these user generated ads to replace all the ads that were targeting insecurities such as overweight, breast size and skin tone.

In order to do this, Dove went all out and doubled the ad bid for keywords used by the insecurity targeting ads. The campaign enabled women to flood Facebook with the positive messages that they had created. The campaign provoked a global debate, fundamentally challenging how advertisers use online media.

The campaign walked away with silver at Cannes, but more importantly left us wondering about the route brands should take – the route taken by Dove to invest heavily in Facebook ads or go the GM Motors USA way and pull out from it?

To give a brief idea about GM pull out, just before the Facebook IPO listing was due, GM withdrew $10 million worth of advertising revenue from Facebook. They stated that the ads were not working for them. Well, GM also stated that they may skip the super bowl, the biggest advertising platform in the American market. What one makes of it is something only GM can explain but one thing is for sure that GM is looking at every possible way of cutting it ad spends by $2 billion as it had stated. Facebook sadly could just be one of the channels to face the axe.

What also needs to be noted is that $10 million that GM pulled out was just a small amount from the $3 billion that it spends on overall advertising. In fact, GM spends $30 million alone of creating content and engagement on its Facebook pages.

So why would they say the ads were not working for them? Is it possible that they have not understood the idea of Facebook advertising for big brands?

This brings us back to the Dove campaign. Here is a brand that is ready to spend almost double of what its secondary competitors are spending on Facebook advertising to gain an advantage. And what drives them to doing this? Engagement.

Unlike GM, Dove is not looking to sell products through its campaigns. It wants to engage with its audience. It even wants to encourage co-creation of communication through its ad campaign. The platform was all about engagement and conversations. And Dove has just extended the same concept to its advertising on Facebook.

Quite possibly, GM has missed a trick. As great as it may be in its ad campaign on other platform, it seems they may have not understood the platform that is Facebook. And this in not just a plain statement. Compared to Ford, GM’s major competition, which has more than 10 million fans globally with 4 million supporting Mustang page alone, GM has just about 383,000 Likes with Chevrolet adding another 1.2 million.

Like Dove, Ford to has managed its Facebook operation with engagement as its basic idea. Speaking to Brain Solis, Scott Monty Ford’s Global Digital Communications stated that “Ford is accelerating our efforts in Facebook and other social platforms. It’s all down to execution. We’ve found Facebook ads to be very effective when strategically combined with engagement, great content and innovative ways of storytelling, rather than treating them as a straight media buy.”

The ‘Reveal’ campaign that Ford ran for its Explorer 2011 model, outperform a traditional Super Bowl advertisement for a fraction of the cost. This only leads to believing that if the understanding of the platform is arrived at before the launch of a campaign, great things can be achieved. Read here how different types of Facebook advertising campaigns can be created.

Many would still debate if GM is right or wrong in doing what it did. What many might not be looking at is did GM base its Facebook campaign on its learning from other campaign? And if so, is that the right way to go?

What do you think about it? Do share your thoughts and opinions with us.

Tags:advertising, Beautiful, Brain Solis, Chevrolet, Dove, Explorer, Facebook, Ford, General Motors, Mustang, Super Bowl
Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | 3 Comments »

Social Media Case Study: Pond’s Perfect Match

Saturday, June 30th, 2012

After researching with over 20,000 genes, the Pond’s Institute identified a specific gene that significantly affects melanin production. Through this discovery, they created their most effective skin lightening formulation containing the revolutionary GenWhite™ formula. With so much work going in the product, the next challenge was to promote this product on social media platforms.

The idea that was identified was using the gene technology that the product uses to form a perfect match with your skin. This ‘Perfect Match’ concept was represented through Facebook applications and Twitter hash tag. A dedicated campaign featuring actor Rannvijay Singha was launched.

We share with you, how the application and the hash tag helped Pond’s India add 11,482 fans on its Facebook page and trend for almost 31 hours in India.

Do share your feedback with us. We would love to hear your opinion and thoughts about this campaign and in general as well.

Social Media Case Study on Pond’s Perfect Match

View more PowerPoint from Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Tags:Case Study, Facebook, Perfect, Perfect Match, Pond's, Rannvijay Singha, skin, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Case Study, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

The Social Star

Friday, May 25th, 2012

The unprecedented involvement of Social media in our daily lives has made it impossible for anyone to overlook the impact on an individual’s image. A celebrity in this regard is therefore at the crossroads of a vigorous image makeover and upkeep. The celebrity today has associations, most of which are beyond the realms of self.

There are a few factors and situations that are to be considered while dealing with a celebrity’s presence on the Social Media. Here’s chronicling a few of them:

Celebrity for Image upkeep and branding:

A celebrity’s popularity in current times is subject to the number of fans and the positive share of voice, online. Image building traditionally, used to be a painstakingly slow and elaborate process. Thanks to a slew of social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace et al, the process has picked up a bit of pace.

A celebrity’s presence on social media needs devoted time, energy and a bit of predetermined strategy with occasional spur of the moment thoughts. Each celebrity has a distinct nuance and tonality to his/her way of being and the fans know it well. This is why it becomes crucial to establish a voice that reflects the personality, opinion and brand of an individual.

Celebrities like Lady Gaga (just breaking the 25 million followers mark on twitter) and Ashton Kutcher have a humongous fan following on twitter and they engage pretty actively with them by posting events and activities from their daily lives, quotes and share links that interest them etc.; enough to provide fodder for their star-struck fans.

Lady Gaga’s Twitter page reflects the largest fan following for any any celebrity on Twitter

Closer home, celebrities from various walks of life have already started to connect to their fans via Social Media. Close on the heels of their international counterparts, our very own Bollywood actors, leaders, sportsmen, celebrated authors etc. have resorted to twitter, Facebook, blogging platforms etc. to strengthen their appeal among fans. The new breed of celebrities including the likes of Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Mahinder Singh Dhoni, Priyanka Chopra, Chetan Bhagat, etc. along with the old stalwarts like Amitabh Bacchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan and others have connected with fans to provide a sneak peak of their future releases, share their daily routine, practice sessions, etc.

A platform to showcase talent:

This is not just with established actors. In fact even musicians who look forward to making a cut have been using MySpace besides twitter, Facebook and blogs to promote their initial releases. This mostly works as a precursor to generate enough buzz that could subsequently lead to album sales.

Actor Charlie Sheen, who had at that time just recently taken to twitter, on 7th March 2011, tweeted for an ad “I’m looking to hire a #winning INTERN with #TigerBlood. Apply here http://bit.ly/hykQQF #TigerBloodIntern #internship #ad”. Needless to say, the response was quite overwhelming. By March 11^th, there were already 475,375 clicks on the original link and about 82, 148 in surplus applications for the internship that had been received by Sheen’s social media firm from around 181 countries. If statistics are anything to go by, this kind of response is evident that a celebrity’s word to fans, draw in a lot of attention and could in turn inspire action.

Charlie Sheen’s tweet that caused quite a sensation

Celebrity as Cause Endorsers:

Promoting a social cause and committing to humane activities is what a modern day celebrity is leveraging the social media for. Owing to a large number of doting fans, a celebrity in a way becomes the torch-bearer for a more optimistic, tolerant and compassionate society. On occasions, they lend in their support for various fund-raising campaigns and help spread awareness and put up a show of solidarity through Social Media.

For instance, celebrities like Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Oprah Winfrey spend an incredible amount of time working and supporting charities and other fund-raising causes. Ian Somerhalder, who is a prominent user of Twitter and known-environmentalist, tweets about his charities to help draw in support from his fans.

Lady Gaga’s ‘Born this way foundation’ is one such initiative on the similar lines to build a society that is more acceptable of differences and celebrates individuality. This movement was to empower the youth and inspire bravery.

Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way Foundation’ Facebook tab

Two years after the devastating earthquake off the coast of Haiti, ‘Haiti: Aid Still Required’ online campaign took off. The ones who lent their support included about 40 celebrities (Maroon 5, Sting, Alicia Keys, Lady Antebellum etc.) with a combined social following of more than 125 million people on Twitter and Facebook. The money raised in collaboration with www.snobal.com (an online micro-donation portal) is to be used for funding infrastructure, trauma relief, rape victims, reforestation, schools and orphanages.

Haiti: Aid Still Required

The video made by Maroon 5 in support for Haiti: Aid Still Required

In India particularly, Social Media has another dimension to its functionality. In a country where the grapevine stirs up quite a lot of buzz, often harbouring on borderline slander, Social Media provide a platform to the celebrity to voice out their opinions and add credibility to their brand.

Also, Social causes have received a fair share of boost, riding high on a celebrity’s mileage. One of the foremost, Aamir Khan who is regarded as a part-time activist because of his several associations with social issues has garnered enormous support through his fan following.

Nurturing the Medium:

The most evident advantage that a social media platform provides to the stars and their fans is the proverbial breaking down of the 4th wall. Not till this medium came up, would a common person have imagined having a direct conversation with their demi-gods. What it also means is, that this platform is a very important listening tool for the celebrities. While they would want to deliver what their fans want, this would only happen if they listen to the audience and there is no better place to listen than social media.

The Scope Therefore:

With celebrities mushrooming from all sections of the society at a pace that can outpace the medium itself, it is increasingly getting important for celebrities to know their game well and play it in their favor. More often than not, time does not permit a lot of them to nurture their association with fans and at the most what happens is information is doled out just to keep that eager fan on the hook. To gain a following that is healthy and interactive, one must invest time.

Tags:Aamir Khan, Ashton Kutcher, Celebrities, Charlie Sheen, Facebook, Haiti, Lady Gaga, social cause, star, Twitter
Posted in Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

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