We, at Social Beat, are proud to announce that our co-founder, Vikas Chawla, has been listed as part of the prestigious Pluralsight Digi100 List powered by Paul Writer. The objective of this list is to recognize the top 100 Digital Marketers in India and it’s an honour to be enlisted in it. Last year, Vikas was also awarded As One of The Most Influential Digital Marketing Leaders in India.
The list was unveiled during the Futurist Business Conclave on August 18, 2017, at the Leela Ambience, Gurgaon. Apart from revealing the reputed list, the event also featured the master class – The Futurist Marketer – hosted by the CEO of Paul Writer, Jessie Paul. The day-long event was concluded with the revelation of the CX100 and Content 100 lists, along with a keynote delivered by Jaspreet Bindra, Vice President, Digital Transformation, Mahindra and Malcolm Frank, EVP, CSO and CMO at Cognizant and Co-Author of What to Do When Machines Do Everything.
For a closer insight into the listing, please visit the Pluralsight Digi100 List Powered by Paul Writer and get inspired!
Only 10% out of the 76% literate population of India knows English
More than 234 million Indian language users online today
Surprising? These figures might sound counter-intuitive with so much focus on English given in digital media today. But it’s a fact that there has been a profound growth of regional content online. Consequently, this holds a massive implication for brands which are not leveraging regional languages for marketing their brand. With an anticipated CAGR of 41% over the next few years, the opportunity will only grow bigger. Taking that into account we have launched 22 languages. This website provides organizations with access to an audience of more than 50 million users nationwide. Companies can use a multilingual marketing strategy to showcase their products and services in over 22 languages through this medium. To understand this concept better, here are a few interesting insights from the latest study done by KPMG India and Google on the growth of vernacular languages in India on the digital front. Check out this video to understand why your brand must adopt a multilingual strategy:
Digital news: one third of digital news consumers are Indian language consumers
Digital news has caught up easily because of its simplicity. Data is usually accessible through an app or a website with mobile compatibility. Big names have realized the importance of digital media due to the silent downfall in newspaper and magazine sales. Currently, there are 106 million users viewing digital news in local Indian languages. This figure is anticipated to add up to 180 million users by 2021. However, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Tamil make up 80% of the current users. The major categories of type of news viewed are general, sports and politics. This only means that there is a dire need of more companies to enter this segment, to keep India more informed and updated.
Digital classifieds to have major impact in matrimony,recruiment and real estate categories
Digital Classifieds are a very big sector. This sector has the potential to cause a ripple effect as people interact with each other in the same area and subsequently belong to the same target group. This would cause information to travel to a larger audience. Furthermore, Indian language usage would provide an extra boost by causing the information to reach nooks and corners of rural India. The top categories, which are looked up the most in classifieds, are matrimony, recruitment and real estate. Nevertheless, the only obstruction in digital classifieds is the lack of availability. This sector is anticipated to grow to an astonishing 100 million user base in the coming five years with individuals fluent in Hindi, Tamil and Kannada forming 70% of the total users by then.
Digital Payments to grow at 30% CAGR with almost 175 million users online
The sector of digital payments is estimated to grow at 30% CAGR and a humongous 175 million consumers are expected to use it with Indian language interface by 2021. These gates are mostly used for mobile recharge and utility bill payments. Tamil, Telugu and Kannada are heading the charts in the languages open to quick adaption and will form half of the users on the digital payment platform.
E-Tailing to reach 165 million users by 2021
According to statistics, Indian language users prefer buying electronics online rather than apparels or other accessories. As for the sellers, it has become much more convenient for local sellers to reach e-commerce giants like Amazon. One can sell their products on Amazon in five easy steps – the steps being creating an account, listing, taking products live and handing over the product to Amazon for delivery. It is quite convenient and hassle-free. The user base for e-commerce in local languages is growing at a high rate. It has a CAGR of 32% and is expected to add 120 million users in the upcoming five years. This popularity can be attributed to two major factors as voted highest by consumers: Firstly, the availability of better promotional offers and secondly, the huge variety of products available online which may not be present in the smaller cities or towns of India. The main obstruction users experience is the lack of end-to-end compatibility in Indian languages. However, as these obstructions show signs of quick recovery, e-tailing in local languages apart from e-commerce in English, will be a lucrative segment for the e-giants.
Digital entertainment to reach approximately 400 million users by 2021
It is no surprise that impressive progress has already been made in this segment. Currently, a mass population of 162 million exists as the user base. Keeping in mind that the predicted user base by 2021 is 392 million Indians, there is much more that can be done in the digital entertainment arena. The content has the space to be comparatively more experimental and creative than other platforms as the adoption rate is 90% for this sector. The viewer’s quickly adapt to the kind of material available to them. These users consume both audio and video mediums.
To tap into this huge market, we used local languages for our informative videos like the Chola Finance video which was very well received by the Hindi speaking locals. The video got a whopping 1,751,355 Views and more than 64,000 shares.
The challenge remains in picking the right medium like Facebook, Hotstar, Youtube, tvfPlay or other regional channels.
Online government services growing at a CAGR of 33%
There are currently 41 million users under the segment of online government services. It is increasing at a CAGR of 33% and is expected to land at a massive 172 million in the next five years. Some of the applications that constitute online government services are tax filling, applying for government jobs and knowing about new rules and regulations. The Indian Government can use this platform to increase transparency and cut down corruption. However, limited local language enablement combined with lack of interest and awareness poses a huge obstruction which needs to be addressed immediately.
Chat applications, Social media Platforms and digital write ups
Chat applications currently have a 170 million user base and are anticipated to reach a 400 million user base by 2021. Hindi is topping at a huge margin of 50% as of now. Kannada is expected to grow to a far second with a whopping 20% in the coming years. The major challenge in this is the upgrade needed in voice to text, language keyboard and transliteration.
Social media platforms have a total of 115 million local language users as of now. This figure is expected to grow to 300 million by 2021.The South is anticipated to dominate this area due to its better adoption skills.
Digital write ups are a very interesting scope for Indian languages on the digital platform. It will provide visibility for the users who want to put their content online. It will also provide job opportunities for local people by companies looking to improve their SEO options by generating more local language content online. Additionally, mobile friendly blogs are preferred by users. 54% of Indians would adopt reading write ups if they are optimized for mobile screens.
The Road Ahead
Government’s vital role: Government to digitally literate 60 million homes
This ongoing shift in India’s internet scenario has not gone past unseen by the Indian Government. Taking into account the increase in smart phone availability due to cheaper prices, a 176 million increment is expected till 2021. A striking 90% of these consumers are anticipated to be Indian language users. The government has taken this into account and made it mandatory for mobile phones sold in India to be Indian language friendly. Additionally, the government has also taken an initiative to make 60 million rural households digitally literate.
Changing role of internet platforms
There are approximately 500 million Indian language users online. This figure will significantly have a huge impact on the nature of content presented on digital platforms. Additionally, this audience will be more inclusive of the elderly and the rural population. Also, as long as the type of sectors is concerned, Digital Classifieds, digital news and financial solutions will see a major boost.
Investments by B2C players
Due to the local reach, many B2C users might exploit the Indian language user base on various channels. Digital marketing in Indian local languages will get them untapped markets in India. The companies which will be involved could be news sites, e-commerce players, insurance companies and m-wallets to name a few. In tier 2 and tier 3 cities, this can be encashed at a higher level. Since 90% of the new mobile buyers are local language users, a whole new customer base can be reached through this medium. Here’s an interesting video that tells you why you need to have a multilingual strategy if you want to create a strong digital presence among your regional audience.
Applications, Websites and digital advertisements
Indian language based websites and application will see a rise. Digital advertisements in local languages could also be used by B2C companies to increase reach. Additionally, Google display ads could be customized to the regional language of the state where they are being viewed.
Monetization of the newly generated data
This progress would result in new data generation for companies. The database, through structured investments, can be analyzed for specific language behaviors. This will help digital marketers in ad planning and targeting.
Voice recognition and language agnostic internet
We need to move to a language agnostic ecosystem. This is required to give a platform to the Indian language content creators. Voice recognition will be of major help to the users who find using search and navigation through text a challenge.
It is affirmative that the preference given to regional languages will play an active role in internet consumption. It will also help explore a huge new market for brands. Brands that miss this bandwagon are sure to lose out on quite a few million potential customers. Furthermore, Indian language in digital will lead to the spreading of knowledge in rural parts of India. Tier 2 and tier 3 cities will also be of prime targeting in this arena. With such profound reach, it is safe to say that marketing through your regional language is the next step in digitizing India.
Since becoming a Google Premier Partner a year ago, we have constantly pushed the bar up to leverage Google AdWords and other advertising channels to deliver the best ROI. We are happy to announce that Social Beat has been awarded for Innovation in Display Advertising at the recently concluded Google Premier Partner awards in Mumbai. We were the only agency in India shortlisted for both Search Innovation & Display Innovation category.
The award is a testimony to the fabulous team at Social beat, which constantly pushes the bar to deliver results for clients. There are only 65 Google Premier Partners in India of which 13 were shortlisted for the awards and 5 won them.
Above is a picture of Vikas Chawla collecting the award on behalf of the team, from Rajan Anand, Vice President, South East Asia and India of Google India and below is a picture of the team that made it happen.
The Google Display Network is a vast network in the digital world. It helps not only by displaying ads to people who are looking for your brand but also to people who might be interested in your brand and are occupied currently with some other work like browsing another website, watching a video on YouTube, checking their mail, reading reviews or using their mobile apps.
Google display network offers umpteen ways of targeting your ad but finding the best targeting might seem to be a tough job at times. For this reason, Google has made it easy and has introduced smart display campaigns where our job is just to provide ad assets and set a target CPA, and Google does its best to drive as many as conversions as possible. The ad’s adaptability allows you to expand your reach without you having to create dozens of ads in all the combinations of ad types and sizes.
In these types of campaigns, Google sets its target audience and placements which it feels is worth spending for. Smart display campaigns are used when the advertiser wants to target additional customers beyond the manually targeted audience. As per google, the daily budget should be 10-15 times the target CPA bid.
Eligibility Criteria for running a Smart Display ad
Unfortunately, smart display ad option may not be open for all the accounts. The advertisers have to check if they are capable of running a smart display ad before they plan. There is a passing criterion of at least 50 conversions on the display network and 100 conversions on the search network in the past 30 days without which running the ad might not be possible.
Setting up a Smart Display Campaign
Creating a smart display campaign is very simple. The process is similar to that of a display ad creation. When you promote the ad, click on “Marketing objective radio button.” In the drive action objective, select an appropriate option which then lets us know if our account is eligible to create a smart display campaign.
Once you have created the campaign, set the campaign budget, and the target CPA goal.
We provide only the ad assets, Google then scans your website and selects appropriate images with which it creates a series of responsive ads to be tested.
Size Restrictions for a Smart Display ad
Be aware of your asset size restrictions before you start, so you have all your ducks in a row before you start creating your SDC.
Headlines: 25 Characters
Descriptions: 70 Characters
Display URL: No limit
Final URL: no limit
Images (optional): 1200 x 627 (1 MB limit)
Logos (optional): 1200x 1200 or 1200 x 300 (1 MB limit)
Optimization techniques
Automated bidding
The smart display bids are based on target CPA where the performance data suggests the highest likelihood of conversion occurrence. The bid is automatically set higher, and when there is a minimum probability of conversion, it is set lower. The campaign should start optimising in two weeks or after 50 conversions, whichever comes first.
Note: Google does not guarantee to stick to the target CPA, it may vary according to various factors.
Automated targeting
As the name suggests, the targeting is based on tracking which demographics, locations, etc. help in more number of conversions for the ad.
Smart display campaigns cover two targeting methods; automated remarketing where ads are targeted to the website visitors and automated targeting where people just above the buying phase of the marketing funnel are targeted.
If a remarketing campaign is already created in another campaign, the ad with higher relevance shows up.
Apart from these, site category exclusions can also be specified.
Note: Avoid going for smart display campaigns if you have a very specific target audience in mind.
Automated Ad creation
This feature is similar to that of a responsive ad. We enter the ad copies, images, logos, etc. and google assembles it into various types, sizes and shapes based on where the ad appears on the google display network.
