In the last two years, Facebook has become immensely crucial for business owners. Small businesses, in particular, largely depend on Facebook for promotions and customer acquisition. However, as the number of businesses on Facebook increase, the total space available on the platform is diminishing. Organic reach on Facebook is at an all-time low, virtually eliminating the possibility of a customer becoming aware of your brand on Facebook without promotions. To compensate for the falling reach, Facebook has now redesigned their Business Pages. These pages will no longer be just a marketing tool, but a place for customers to gain actual utility from.
Here are the top changes you can expect to see in your Business Page.
Stressing on its commitment to providing audiences with greater utility, Facebook will now include use-specific options on a Business Page. A restaurant page, for example, will have an option for users to see the menu or make a reservation. A beauty salon could have a CTA to make an appointment on their page. To give audiences a more reliable idea of a business, Facebook is also going to showcase recommendations made by users on the Business Page. When users write reviews on the page, it will now be limited to 25 characters to improve clarity.
Ephemeral content that contributed to Snapchat’s success has become immensely popular and a social media commandment brands swear by. Facebook has utilised this previously through Instagram and Facebook Stories. Now, Business Pages will also be able to use Facebook Stories to engage with their audience. This can be very useful for small businesses because it gives them an opportunity to promote their brand beyond just the NewsFeed.
Facebook has already launched a Facebook Local app, but now, it also has plans to roll out a Local tab on the desktop version. This tab can be very useful for small businesses as it will help relevant audiences discover them. It can even help circumvent the issue of declining reach as it offers businesses a new way to connect with their audience. With Facebook updating its privacy policy to block third-party data providers, the local bookmark can also let a business find new customers and widen its base.
In what might be seen as a double-edged sword, Facebook will now also showcase related pages on a Business Page. For example, when users visit the Business Page of their local bakery, they will also be able to see pages of other bakeries nearby. On one hand, this feature can help small businesses become more discoverable. At the same time, however, it might also distract audiences and lead them to a competitor’s page. The exact implications of this update are yet to be seen.
Facebook hasn’t traditionally been used as a job search platform in the way LinkedIn is, but that might soon change. A new job applications section will be introduced to help businesses with staffing. It can also be a new way to become more visible on Facebook.
These updates will be very valuable for businesses competing for presence on a crowded News Feed. Apart from increasing reach, the updates will also help them have more meaningful interactions with their customers.
To learn more about how Facebook can help your business, read about how we achieved 4x higher return via Facebook for Mahindra Lifespaces and how Casagrand generated a record 190 crores in revenue via Facebook.
With thousands of brands vying for attention online, it is essential for companies to have a personality that cuts through the crowd and capture their target audience. A brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to brands in a way that they look, feel and interact with their audience. It is important to note that the personality should be an extension of the core values of the brand - and not conflict with it. For example, a luxury company may not find the greatest success littering their social feeds with memes, and a more fun brand may not be able to connect with its audience through stark and minimalist ads.
With more and more businesses going digital, and having a diverse social media offering, there is a strong correlation between a well thought-out brand personality and success. From designing online ads to creating a mobile responsive web design, having a compelling digital personality has many benefits, pushing brands to shift from print to digital media. A few of the benefits are discussed below:
In all this, the heart and soul of a digital personality comes down to one thing - design. The bare minimum of any successful communication that a brand puts out is good graphics, proving that design helps tell a brand story. Here are 10 tips to ensure that your brand voice is distinctive and visually arresting:
Creating a design system or a brand book is the first and most important step to ensure that you have a holistic vision for your personality. Your brand is a living, breathing organism and should be treated as such!
Many companies prefer for their image-based communications to have subtle (or heavy!) branding on them, to ensure that it is associated back to their brand. It could be adding a simple frame, an adapted logo or even a specific filter to the image that is used throughout a campaign. It gives a lift to an otherwise simple image.
Featured above are the social media posts by House of Hiranandani. Since the brand specializes in premium and stylish living, their use of visual marketing ideas bursts with personality and originality, done in a creative and subtle way.
Typography, or the art of arranging type, is a powerful element of visual communication. Gone are the days where we relied on Comic Sans or Papyrus to get our points across. Brands are now restricting themselves to using a few signature fonts in their style sheets - either using previously existing ones, or creating new ones, especially for their communications. Fonts communicate a variety of emotions and each type group is often associated with a certain kind of brand or industry. Brands that show restraint in font usage in their communication have much more focused messaging than those who get a bit too experimental with mixing type.
In the above examples, the serif fonts have been used to communicate a classic, timeless style that is usually associated with fashion. The brands featured here, Tifara and Zaamor, tend to favor these styles in their imagery as it best aligns with their tone and personality.
Before - These TVS creatives do not show strong brand characteristics. As an energetic automobile brand, the fonts used to not communicate this through their imagery.
After - After establishing a font palette with visual hierarchy of text, the creatives look as though they are part of the brand. The font choice (Euromode) pleases the eye and suggests movement, speed and progress.
The term ‘Colour Psychology’ has been around the marketing space for a while, as studies show that certain colours affect online consumer behaviour. Along the same lines, businesses are realising that using a specific set of colours in their digital communications (be it their website, Google ads, infographics or social media posts) creates retention in the customer’s mind and links the graphic back to their brand. These could even be colours that are used in a product’s packaging. We’ve seen this many times with the classic Cadbury purple, the Tiffany Blue or the McDonald’s red and yellow. There is a strong association with these colours to their corresponding businesses and products, which let the RGB and CMYK take on a whole new meaning!
Sundaram Mutual, one of our clients in the financial sector, uses tones of blue and white in their social media creatives to bring about brand recall.
The above examples illustrate perfectly how a recognizable color palette can make a graphic distinctive without the need of a logo. It goes without saying that these are made for Google.
Motion graphics are proving to be more and more popular when pitted against their static counterparts. They stand out from our newsfeeds and demand a second look. Brands are getting increasingly creative when it comes to using subtle motion in design. Cinemagraphs are the latest trend in this area - a post where only one aspect of an image is in motion in contrast to a static background.
GIFs are being redefined as more than just a grainy set of images on loop, found on 9Gag. They are quirky, clever representations of concepts that could otherwise not be depicted by a single image post. They are also easily shareable across multiple social media platforms. Companies are able to create a personality through these small clips. Brands are no longer thinking in terms of just static images, they are thinking and communicating in terms of stories.
Videos are the most heavily consumed form of content in the online space. Over half a billion people are watching video content on Facebook on a day-to-day basis. Weekly share of time spent watching TV and video on mobile devices has grown by 85% from 2010 to 2016, according to a report by Edelman. Because of this, brands have intuitively funneled a lot of their budgeting into video content for brand storytelling, promotions and ultimately, conversions (95% of a message is retained when it is portrayed through video versus text).
However, not all videos are created equal, and brands are becoming increasingly intuitive of this point. As the newsfeed develops more and more into an online billboard, it is essential to craft content to best suit the platforms. Square videos are consumed the most, as they take up 78% more space on Facebook’s newsfeed and get more engagement than horizontal ones.
The kinds of content routes that companies take are also varied - but they all stay true to the brand message. This just goes to show that one brand can have many facets to its personality - ranging from a lively, engaging side shown through Vox pop to a ‘strictly business’ side though branded videos. Whatever said and done, video content is here to stay – whether it is low-cost videos to tell a brand story or optimized YouTube videos for customer engagement.
Shape, or form, is another visual element that holds a lot of importance. Social media marketing has allowed brands to communicate with their customers like never before - and in extremely creative ways. Some even have a specific style of graphic art that is so distinctive, that the viewer immediately knows which brand it came from. Different shapes, willingly or unwillingly, mean different things. Organic, soft and rounded shapes give a friendly, relatable and pleasing feel.
For example, in the Dr. Mohan’s graphics above - the emotion of stress has been personified into a fun character to communicate to people how to be more aware of letting stress take over your life. The tone is light, to get across a more serious point - thus trying to get into the mind of the customer and make them relate to the creatives on a personal level rather than giving them complex medical advice.
Sharper, geometric shapes communicate a bold, clean and prestigious outlook. In the creatives done for House of Hiranandani, the tonal vectors used have a minimalist feel which is to communicate the perfection and luxury of their interiors, while still keeping it relevant to social media.
Knowing what your brand intends to communicate should line up with the shape and form of the elements used in all communications to ensure consistency.
There are hundreds of tiny interactions that users face, a majority of which don’t even get noticed. Through brilliant user experience, there are subtle motion design decisions made by developers that try to influence behaviour and make the process or task simpler. These are microinteractions and if done well, shouldn’t even be on the radar of the user. For example, the pull-to-refresh option on Facebook is something that we subconsciously do over other apps as well - and expect the same result. A brand that is fully aware of the spectrum of its interactions with the customer, and is focused on making the purchase funnel or journey as smooth and easy as possible, gains legitimacy and trust.
Flat design and vectors were predicted to be one of the graphic design trends of 2018. Brands are hiring graphic artists to create beautiful flat illustrations to increase lead generation through their landing pages. Tech companies, real estate and even large conglomerates alike are going with this approach instead of a traditional full-width hero image banner. It adds a fun element to the page and certainly draws the user in. Corporates are no longer trying to make their communications stuffy and pompous. This works well especially in the case of businesses with heavy processes or complex offerings - it simplifies it and makes it much less intimidating for the viewer, improving the quality of leads in the process.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube - Chances are, your company has at least two, or even all of these, active. Each one has a slightly different target audience, although many overlap. It is essential to rework the visual communication for each one, so that it is the most effective for that particular platform. Companies that do this certainly get a nod of approval for social media savants - as merely resizing a creative does not mean that it is ready-to-go for a certain platform. Rearranging the copy, the caption, the graphic, ensuring that the Call-To-Action is at the most optimal place - all these are important factors to keep in mind.
The Indian digital space is extremely diverse - and there is a growing need and appreciation for regionally targeted content and design. Companies in real estate, B2B, finance and FMCG, to name a few, have realised that using the same communication all across the country does not speak to every consumer - not just in terms of the base translation of copy, but the design and graphics as well. By using regional touches and local nuances to the design, the same ad can penetrate the tier 2 and tier 3 market in a much more effective way, and engage with India’s next billion Internet users. It also rouses a sense of pride amongst the customers as they feel represented.
This can be done by changing the color palette to better suit the aesthetic that a certain city is known for (like pink for Jaipur), include nods to monuments and local figures in that region (like Ranjikanth or temple architecture for Chennai) or even film dialogues woven into the creative copy.
This shows that the company is not only invested in the citizens of a certain area or state, but is willing to go the extra mile to build a relationship and start a conversation with them. You can read our case study on how a multilingual approach got a brand 90% growth in leads to understand the reach of regional design.
A modern brand is an entity of many moving parts - some tangible and visible, but others are just a result of good design decisions made, that make a world of difference. As the points above lay out - it is extremely important to pay attention to not only the messaging of your brand, but the way that it is being depicted for communication and consumption. Providing your brand with a strong personality and voice is the best investment in the short and long term!
You can also check out our case study on how a redesign strategy helped a brand increase social engagement for more insights.
For further information, here's our Creative Head - Panisa Shah to take you through design tips to improve social media ROI.
Working in the digital space, it is safe to say that the transitional nature of the Internet has kept us on our toes. Social media marketing trends that broke the Internet a few years back have been replaced by faster, better and more advanced concepts that have changed the way users engage with brands online. So, as we usher in the New Year and look back at what’s trending and what’s deteriorating on the internet, let’s promise ourselves to stick to the following five social media marketing commandments to optimally reach out to your target group and convert them to loyal customers.
Gone are the days when social media was used as a mere platform to showcase your products or services. Brands are leveraging the power of social media to reach out and engage with India’s next billion Internet users. As per latest statistics, 89% of messages posted to brands on social media platforms go disregarded. This only means that brands are seeing social media platforms as a one-way street in which they feature their products and services but do not work on the feedback attained from the users. Apart from product reviews and feedback, 41% of online users tag their favourite brands on various social media handles while posting on the platform. According to a recent poll, a whopping 80% of users also religiously follow their brands for regular updates and notifications. With such a high rate of acknowledgement coming from the consumer side, companies are now focusing on customer engagement as the go-to solution for higher conversions. 2018 is going to witness a stupendous increase in engagement rates which is only going to lead to happy and content customers.
We were all introduced to the concept of augmented reality through face filters brought to us by Snapchat. Social Media users worldwide went bonkers with those adorable puppy dog ear filters which were later introduced by Instagram along with their revolutionary Instagram Stories. This concept of augmented reality is going to take off in 2018 as more brands leverage the witty and youthful idea to market their brand. In 2017 alone, Instagram released more than 20 new features in the form of augmented reality. These features include contemporary filters, trendy stickers, season’s wishes and many more. These statistics are guaranteed to increase in 2018 proving the fact that brands can easily leverage this concept to produce more relatable social media content. These are few of the most effective social media trends to look out for in 2018 till they get replaced by their upgraded versions in 2019. Till then, it is time you add these innovative methods to your social media marketing strategy and take your business to towering heights. You can also check out our blogs on WhatsApp for Business and digital marketing for FMCG, real estate and Finance industry for a better understanding of the online space.
Numbers always have a story to tell; they give the right push and guide the carefully designed and executed marketing strategies to greater success. Measuring the success of your social media marketing campaigns is the only way to know the effectiveness of the campaign. With more and more social media platforms mushrooming, it is essential to have a tool in place that will help you analyse the performance of your marketing strategy.
Here are some of the top tools for advanced social media analytics. Their tools are beneficial if you are looking to analyse your data across multiple social media platforms.
Amplifr is a one stop solution for all social media analytics, while also letting you schedule posts. Some of its exciting features include traffic and conversions analysis per post, Google Analytics integration and automatic UTM tagging. Amplifr also provides the analytics in real time. In addition to this, you can also keep track of what your competitor is doing. It is open to unlimited projects and unlimited users and allows retrospective analysis of the updates as well.
Price: $5 Per month per social media page
Keyhole provides an in-depth analysis of a brand’s impact on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It tracks all the updates – hashtags, keywords and metrics in real time and calculates the reach, impression, high engagement period and the top shared posts. It also has an interesting feature called the influencer tab, which allows the use of the data to guide the influencer outreach.
Price: $89 – $3,000+ USD per month
Brandwatch offers a range of tools that work across multiple social media platforms. It is considered one of the best tools for tracking your social presence. Apart from tracking, Brandwatch also lets you track your brand’s reputation in real time. Brandwatch also provides information on the internal and external environment within which, the business resides. From mining consumer insights to conducting market intelligence, Brandwatch provides the space and flexibility to make informed business decisions.
Price: Unique to each plan
As the name suggests, with Sumall you can attach unlimited social media handles across different platforms. The features include goal tracking, performance graphs and insights based on comparisons of the previous period. Depending on the users’ preference, SumAll sends out a weekly or monthly report containing a summary of all the information. This information is also saved on a single interactive web chart for easy viewing.
Price: 7-day free trial following which it's $99 per month.
A unique feature that stands out with AgoraPulse is that it can be used across multiple languages. It lets you manage all social media messages in one place. It tracks engagement across various social media channels and provides information on the number of mentions and measures how frequently they share your brand’s content. This helps in expanding the social reach and understanding the consumer’s perspective of the brand. Best of all, AgoraPulse allows the user to export the data as a PowerPoint file that can be customised to suit the user’s requirements.
Price: $29-$199 per month
If you’re looking to see how you are doing compared to others in your field, then Quintly is the right tool for you. It provides visually appealing stats on engagement such as likes, shares, comments, followers ‘growth and they are depicted through graphs. These graphs provide information on the performance of your brand across various social media platforms. Quintly covers Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Twitter and YouTube and it has a free tool for Facebook analytics, specifically. It works on a dashboard method, and the metrics can be customised to suit the user’s requirements.
Price: $129+ per month
Unmetric not only helps you with accessing competitor’s performance and strategy, but also helps you identify who is on the top in the industry. The tool also allows you to understand and study what posts have worked and what haven’t. Additionally, it also gives social media benchmarking, content analysis, campaign analysis and social media data & analytics.
Price: $1,000/month
Simplify 360 has different products like social listening, reporting and engagement. The social listening tool gives you the latest updates on your competitors as well as your social pages. Social analytics helps with competitor benchmarking. With the help of a publishing console, you can handle and manage accounts better under a single platform. Another unique feature is the social CRM that will help you manage your reputation. This tool has number of other features such as easy data access, social customer service, contact management, easy integration, and profile comparison along with customer satisfaction.
Price: Custom pricing depending on the plan’s & needs.
Sprout Social is an ideal tool to streamline and enhance conversations between the customer and business. Sprout Social has many handy features like Smart inbox, monitoring, social CRM, publishing, mobile, collaboration, analytics and account structure to make relationships and communication simple between businesses and customers. You can use this tool for all your social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ LinkedIn and much other.
Price: $99-$249/Month
When it comes to analysing social media content of various competitors, there is no tool better than Buzzsumo. Additionally, it also helps in identifying key influencers and getting in touch with them. From brand monitoring to competitor research, content insights, and content research and discover, this tool covers all that you need for successful social media content strategy. Price: $79- $559/Month
With real-time analytics, Meltwater lets you, monitor, track and measure the success of the social media campaign. Meltwater gives you relevant data and insights that will help you understand your target audience better. It’s a one stop shop for monitoring, analysing, engaging, discovering and also reviewing various case studies for your company and industry. Another significant feature is that you can also consolidate the entire social search under one roof and receive all the relevant news and data in real time.
Price: Custom pricing depending on the needs.
Buffer co-exists as scheduling and an analytical tool. What makes buffer a great tool is that it suggests the best times to publish your content suited to your target audience. Buffer has an interesting feature where it highlights the best performing post when a particular post exceeds average performance. It also allows the user to track and analyse performance across Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Price Range: Free - $2550 USD per year
Similar to buffer, Hootsuite is a user-friendly cross-platform used for both scheduling and analytics tool. Hootsuite's real-time analytics keeps you ahead of the game and lets you spot trends as soon they pop up. Additionally, it also allows you to measure your social media ROI and make smart data-driven business decisions with confidence.
Price Range: 30-day free trial – Individual plans to Organisational plans ranging from Rs.1260 to Rs.32000 per month.
Which one of these tools would you use for your business? Let us know in the comment section below.
The e-commerce market is getting competitive by the day, and e-commerce businesses need to find unique ways to build relationships with their customers to create a loyal customer base. For any e-commerce business, website traffic is the most important segment, and yet it is the most challenging one.
Social media is playing a very powerful role today in the evolution of online shopping. It provides a platform for conversations, reviews, information and expression. An e-commerce business can leverage on the opportunities provided by the social media platforms for their own benefit. According to an article by Magento, 93% consumers turn to social media to help them make buying choices, while 90% say they trust recommendations from their peers.
Several strategies have been listed by digital marketers on how e-commerce businesses can use social media to drive traffic to their website. Listed below are five powerful tactics you can use to embrace the reach of social media for higher benefits.
Leaving your ad open out there in front of the masses is not such a great idea. Once you have figured out your prospective customer base, you can use targeting options provided by social media sites like Facebook to target your ads to the relevant customer base. Facebook provides you with numerous targeting options based on location, demographics, Interests, device type, etc. It also provides you with features like custom audiences, lookalike audiences and retargeting. Using these targeting options, you will be able to reach your potential customers and engage them more effectively. Smart Targeting will help you increase your ROI on Advertising to a great extent. Dynamic Product Ads can be used to retarget customers who have earlier shown interest in your products or services. To drive more sales across devices, dynamic product ads now provide a lot of flexibility and variety in functionality to e-commerce advertisers.
A classic example would be that of Cathay Pacific Airways. They used dynamic product ads for travel, to reach people who had earlier performed a search on their website. The ads featured an image of the destination city that people searched for to inspire them to act. The ads also included a "book now" button that linked directly to the booking process on the Cathay Pacific website.
Another example is that of eBay. eBay is successfully using dynamic product ads and retargeting to motivate their customers based on the customer's interest. They connect with their customers by showing them personalised and relevant products in their ads.
Facebook Carousel ads are also a great way of showcasing e-commerce website products. They not only help to showcase the products in detail but, when used creatively, also help drive traffic to the e-commerce websites.
Influencer marketing is the new buzz word and has currently penetrated in the marketing mix of many industries. Mostly food, travel and fashion are the three major industries where influencer marketing is really going up the ladder. Influencer marketing is a newer and organised term for the old-fashioned word of mouth marketing. The way people work through the buying process has changed due to the advent of the internet and social media. People now have become more efficient in their search process, and they look for comprehensive and authentic information online. While associating an influencer with your business, it is important to consider the influencer’s likability, credibility and trustworthiness. Remember that Influencers act as brand ambassadors for the audience and thus the information they put out there should be in sync with what the business stands for.
Influencers can be used in numerous ways: For product launches, reviews, engagement, campaigns, events and so on.
A very good example of this is the Influencer campaigns done by Nykaa.com. Nykaa is an e-commerce store that deals with skincare, beauty and makeup products. Nykaa.com engages with various beauty bloggers and influencers and weaves campaigns with them. Beauty and fashion are two areas where people rely heavily on reviews and opinions of influencers. Nykaa leverages this very well.
The majority of online shoppers have agreed to the fact that not being able to physically touch and feel the products on e-commerce websites is their least favourite part of shopping online. This is especially true in the case of fashion and beauty industry. Product images from different angles and views may not completely explain a product's functionality or provide a proper overview of the product. Videos are the new preferred form of media and e-commerce businesses should leverage on the high acceptance of videos among customers. Ecommerce businesses can use videos to bridge the gap between offline and online shopping experiences. Product videos can help in providing a holistic buying experience to the customer and also provide a clear overview of the different scenarios in which a product can be used. This makes it more appealing to online buyers. Product videos can not only be used on product pages but also on social media feeds of the e-commerce brands as well as part of Facebook or Google ads. Not only can these videos be used for Facebook and Google advertising, but they can also be used for advertising on YouTube. There are several versions of videos that are gaining popularity on social media. A few of them are live videos, 360-degree videos, 30-second videos, time lapse videos, stop motion videos and animated or white videos.
Product videos can be used to introduce a new product and show how the product works with other similar or commonly used products, from the brand, and to encourage conversions from existing customers.
On1y is a food brand that caters to a very niche market segment. It provides spices, herbs and exotic seasoning. On1y uses a lot of innovative ways to engage with its audience on social media and at the same time create a buzz around its products. In the screenshot below, On1y has shared a Facebook live video of a food influencer interacting with customers and cooking up recipes using On1y spices.
Social media for e-commerce is not simply about pushing across products and promotions. Many e-commerce companies fail to understand this. Social media can be used very well for engaging audiences online through high value textual and visual content. Ecommerce brands can find it very tempting to simply fill timelines with product promotions and advertisements. However, social media provides numerous ways by which e-commerce brands can make online shopping a delightful experience for consumers. You can engage audiences through live polls, live videos, user generated content, contests and much more. Topical posts and festive posts can also be used to attract audience attention. To garner high level of engagement, it is important to understand the need of the customers. Understanding this will help brands to curate content accordingly.
Social media can also be used by e-commerce brands to provide better customer service. Nowadays, a lot of customers look for solutions on the internet and prefer quick communication over the internet rather than going through a long phone call. At the same time, brands must encourage satisfied customers to write reviews and rate the products/e-commerce brands. Reviews and ratings go a long way in building a brand’s credibility online.
Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your e-commerce website. It helps your site rank higher in SEO through several internal links and backlinks. Blogging is also a good way to reach out to customer problems and be a problem solver. Most customers search for solutions to their problems online and blogging can be a great way to provide solutions to them. Long form content helps to drive more traffic and definitely helps in higher search page ranking. Blog posts also help to subtly introduce products or promote products in an indirect way. For instance, a blog post on the topic "summer dressing" by a fashion e-commerce site could consist of summer looks using products from the e-commerce site. This will not only create attractive and useful content for the readers but will also serve the e-commerce brand's purpose of showcasing their products. Similarly, a blog post on "Top 10 budget smartphones" by an e-commerce brand like Flipkart or Snapdeal which sells mobile phones could include descriptions of each smartphone comprising of unique features and direct links to the products on the e-commerce site.
Finally, it is important for e-commerce brands to identify the right social media channels to leverage their brand. Social media platforms, if used creatively and strategically can help e-commerce businesses reach their target audience in a much faster way. The importance of social media has been adequately realised by fashion and food industries among others. However, e-commerce brands can also leverage the benefits of social media by strategizing and creating fool-proof social media plans.
What do you get when you add a dollop of creativity, a layer of great marketing strategies and an immense helping of team effort? Two delicious awards from, Social Samosa, a portal, which is known for providing Big Data Analysis and social media insights across all industries.
We are proud to announce that we have won two ‘Best Social Media Brands’ awards for our Social Media Marketing efforts. We share the awards with our clients Murugappa Group (Gold Award under the B2B category) and Forum Vijaya Mall (Bronze Award under the Retail Category).
Murugappa Group, a leading conglomerate in the B2B segment, has not just focused on their products. They are always looking to connect with the target audience while also subtly hinting at the brand’s various services. One of the key reasons the brand won the award is the engaging and highly educative content that they have been posting.
Murugappa Group’s most popular social media campaigns include:
This interactive and informative campaign educated people about how various industries such as bicycles, tea and finance to name a few, grew and developed over time. People were asked to view videos on each industry and were later quizzed on what they had seen. The response was almost instantaneous, with over 4 lakhs views and 2,000 quiz interactions.
Murugappa has been closely associated with agriculture for over 4 decades and to pay a fitting tribute to the farmers’ tireless efforts, the company released a video on YouTube with the message “Thank You Farmers”. The video is both touching and informative and received an overwhelming response of 3.2 lakh views (on FB & YouTube) and over 1 million impressions for the entire campaign.
The Forum Vijaya Mall is a product of the Prestige Group and one of the most celebrated malls in Chennai. The mall is buzzing with amusing activities and a host of popular local and international brand outlets. Most of the mall’s social media feed include updates on activities that are going to happen, live feeds on events and interactive posts. Forum used some of the latest Facebook tools such as Live poll and 360 videos and images to create engaging content, relevant to its target audience.
Forum Vijaya Mall’s most popular social media campaigns include:
In order to promote Palazzo Cinemas, Forum Vijaya Mall came up with a live poll campaign where they asked people to vote on their favourite popcorn flavour offered at the theatre. The reaction was great with 963 unique views and 251 post engagements.
Forum Vijaya Mall geared up for one of their biggest events in spectacular social media marketing fashion. Everything from pre-event engagement to blogs to live press and video coverage was done, resulting in big numbers of reaches, likes and shares.
Here is a happy news for all you Snapchat lovers! Snap.Inc has introduced this cool and fun pair of spectacles to help you shoot videos on the go.
With Instagram now having the story feature, which is one of the major USP of Snapchat, snap decided to introduce a new hardware to stay ahead of the game. Although, the first time you hear it, it may sound like a replica of Google glass; the truth is, no it is not! The spectacles cost just one-third of the price of the Google Glass, and they look more like shades and are only used to shoot videos or photos. Experts say that you can compare them to a GoPro rather than google glass.
Interested to know further about Spectacles? We have all the info you need! About Spectacles
This device is a pair of wayfarers, which has an inbuilt camera of 115degree lens. Two yellow circles can be found at each end of the glasses: one is the camera, and the other hides a ring of LEDs that light up when the device is recording.
These glasses are paired with your Snapchat and the video recorded on this will automatically get stored in the Snapchat memories. They are available in three colours - black, teal and coral and are priced at $130 each.
Every spectacle comes with a recharging case, USB cable for the case and a glass cleaning cloth.
Spectacles are compatible with both Android and IOS devices. To pair, wear the glasses and open the Snapchat app on your phone, click on the ghost icon and press the button on the top left corner of the specs.
Now the device is paired, and all set to record. Press the button on the top left a corner of the specs. A small LED light will switch on to indicate that video is being recorded. The spectacles will record a 10-second video if you want additional recording time then press the button again to add extra 10 seconds. The longest video one can record is 30 seconds. The videos are recorded in a circular format.
The snaps are saved to your Snapchat memories automatically. In case, you do not have your phone with you then; the spectacles will store the snaps and later it can be transferred to your phone either via wifi or via Bluetooth for IOS devices.
To charge your spectacles just place it in the case, which comes with the device or you can also directly charge it using the USB cable. However, experts in the tech space recommended using the case to charge. Usually, the charge stays for a whole day or two.
These are currently available only in the US. If you are visiting the US or asking your friend to buy it for you here is where you can find it. Snap inc. is selling them through a bright yellow vending machine, don’t mistake it for a minion although it looks like one! These are called Snapbots that will travel around the country. You will be lucky if you spot one around your neighbourhood. Snap is making them in a very limited quantity.
The Snapbots will be available at each location for a day. You can also track the bots current location using the map on the spectacles website.
Snap also gives you the facility to try on the glasses before deciding to buy them. All you need to do is use the QR code provided on the website and scan it to add a filter to Snapchat, which is for a limited time to try them on virtually.
Just like Snapchat, the spectacles can also be leveraged for your business. Here is how….
Although Snapchat shares the same feature, the plus point about shooting on spectacles is that you can shoot the video while working on anything. Whether it is unboxing a product or a demo of a product, use this device and give your fans a complete walkthrough of it. (literally).
Esquire Network a TV network used spectacles to promote their show by shooting a 90-second video. Another great way to leverage this is by shooting behind the scenes videos, which can give your followers a feel of getting a unique or an exclusive pass to the event.
Spectacles can be used to promote any location or space. Feature a ride, coffee shop, your apartment, office space, etc. using this device and make your audience feel like they are a part of the scene. If you are planning to sell a property or an apartment, this is an innovative way to advertise. Your target audience can get a complete view of the property.
Now, you can ask your clients, to give a live feedback about your product or a service. You can also create a story on your Snapchat account and ask people to add their reviews on there. This can be an excellent way to promote your brand.
While Indians scurry around exchanging their notes, Americans stand in shock and awe over the result of their votes. Donald Trump emerged victorious on Tuesday as America's President-elect, leaving a rather uncomfortable feeling on the rest of the world. It's only a matter of time before the dust settles and reality bites, as "The Donald," as he is fondly known, takes office.
Many may call his campaign one of the most controversial to date, but they just can't deny that it has proven to be highly effective on his road to victory. Trump's landslide victory came as result of his smart use of social media, a platform he has praised since winning. Marketers could take a leaf out of his book on how to implement strategies and work action plans to ensure the best results on minimum expenditure. His campaign is a great example of ROI driven digital marketing, where he spent virtually nothing while making the most out of free publicity.
Have your mind blown over the review in numbers on Trump’s campaign! While the use of social media for a political advantage is not new, considering how well Obama fared during his campaign, Trump’s win is a testament to why it has become so important in daily life. Let’s have a look at the various tactics Trump employed on his campaign.
Everyone knows, a politician's biggest lie is when he is trying to convince everyone he's telling the truth. But what happens when a politician comes out with an open mike in hand, and effortlessly speaks his mind to the people. We've seen that with Modi on his public rally's and Trump took centre stage on the best platform to express oneself- social media. Forget the fact-checking, Trump's sometimes outlandish claims added a perspective of thought amongst his ever-growing flower base. Here's an example of that, one which Trump posted 24 hours ahead of election day.
Even Obama had to admit, in his last hilarious speech as president, that Hillary's attempt to bond with the public on social media failed miserably. Trump, on the other hand, having prior expertise with social media norms thanks to his entrepreneurial background, modified his approach to fit political standards while still using social media jargon and youth slang that could connect well with his followers. His use of hashtags and constant responses to queries from his supporters leveraged success to his campaign.
You've already noticed that we're referencing most of Trump's campaign with his Twitter feeds, that's because he practically owned the microblogging giant over the past few months of his rigorous campaigning. Nothing makes free press feel any better than having the power to deconstruct your opponents within 140 characters. His infamous hashtag #CrookedHillary and attack on the existing government emphasise his no-holds-barred approach to social media.
One method that has become increasingly important on social media today is the way brands interact with consumers. Engaging with an online audience makes for conversion rates to increase, turning them into potential buyers of the product. In the case of the Trump Brand, Trump knew what he represents and had a decent idea on what his audience expect, opening the floodgates to thousands of interactions per tweet.
Trump was able to achieve an incredible response on election day, all thanks to the effort he put in and the ease of reach through social media. His formula for success should be familiar with adept digital marketers, but if you are till keen on maximizing those efforts and using the full potential of social media, here's what you have to do, the Donald Way.
Trump's slogan, "Let's Make America Great Again," is a powerful example of brand positioning strategies. In just five words, he sums up what he is all about and more importantly, what America wants the most, the return of those glorious days. Digital marketers know that brand positioning is the first of many key factors that can make a campaign run successfully. While Clinton's slogan, "Stronger Together," invokes an action, it doesn't have a definitive goal. Your brand positioning must reflect the entire process of your campaign, and give consumers a meaningful reason to interact with you on social media.
Trump's entire campaign was emotion driven. He appealed to the audience by telling them what they wanted to hear. Constantly rubbing the existing governing systems in the mud and hitting out on policies the public themselves have protested against over the years. He also narrowed down his target audience to the majority race in America, slashing out on the minorities through the early stages of his campaign. This method built his fan following in quicker rates and gave him the image of an all-American common man, which touched the hearts and minds of millions in the USA.
Hillary's and most of the Democrat Party's campaign focused on benefiting the rich 1 percent of America. They left behind their blue-collar Democrats and ignored a vast majority of the American demographic. Trump did the exact opposite; his campaign appealed to existing voters as well as ignited passion in first-time voters. He even managed to pocket the blue-collar Democrats and win the vote of almost all Republicans. Trump's campaign is a good example of effective customer management, where he was able to retain old voters and garner the support of new voters.
Everyone knows that advertisements are bloated with exaggerated claims and over-the-top promises, but if that doesn't keep consumers interested, what else will? Trump's campaign was splattered with colorful promises and rather comical goals, but it played well with his audience as it clearly was a fantasy in their heads already. On the post-purchase point-of-view, every customer wants his money's worth, so it's only a matter of time before Trump's true colors come shining out.
Trump carried himself very well throughout his campaign; never backing down from a potential war of words and staying true to the image he had created over the years as an established business tycoon. Trump portrayed himself as an all-American American, winning over the public with his celebrity stylized presentation and tough-guy demeanor. It was very much like the Modi one-man-show which gave Americans the confidence to vote for "The Donald." Trump carried over this personality on every form of media he used, thus managing to cement his image in the hearts and minds of the public. Just have a look at this speech he made at one of his best rallies ever.
In typical businessman fashion, Trump knew that he could never achieve perfection without a little trial-and-error. If you've been following his campaign closely, you'll notice how he carefully shifts his marketing strategies from one perspective to another; beginning by attacking the opposition with harsh, over-the-top judgments to slowly letting go of the hominem insults and placing focus on talking about a better America. Trump also balanced his mediums of delivery smartly, telling people what they wanted to hear at the exact moment they wished to hear it, all the while constantly drilling into the consumer's mind, his underlying message of a greater American future.
The Trump Brand is the shiniest new thing popping straight out of the realms of Social Media. Polished and ready to be grasped by the consumer's hands, it's only a matter of time before the brand's USP comes into full play and hopefully deliver its promises.
You may also find it interesting to read how social media was used by Indian politicians in the 2014 elections.
By now, everyone knows what Instagram is – the social media platform that enable its users to take pictures and short videos and share them in the app (and on multiple other platforms as well, but that is a completely different blog for another day). Nevertheless, a new day is on the rise… Instagram is not only hashtags and pretty pictures. Over the last few years, the app has evolved from a teenage forum where girls would hit like when their BFF uploaded yet another selfie, to becoming a platform of huge potential revenue when it comes to all sorts of business.
As of now, Instagram drives sales with a high average in orders, and according to Shopify, Instagram referrals actually results in an average order value of $65, which is second only to Polyvore’s $66.75. Even though most visits will not end up resulting in a purchase, the ones that do, will result in considerably higher revenue than other social networks –take for example YouTube’s $37.63 average order value. Another major piece of the puzzle is the number of active users, and seeing as the user base for Instagram in India alone is estimated to be almost 6 million active mobile users every month the question should no longer be “should your company have an Instagram Handle”, but rather “how do you maximize your income through your Instagram”? E-commerce, Fashion, Real Estate, Hospitality, Medical Care… you name it, every single industry can profit from Instagram, when used correctly. Read on, and we will make sure that you are fully prepared to dive into the ocean of endless possibilities by teaching you how to leverage Instagram to build relations that ultimately can help to drive conversion with this unique social media platform.
Just like the key to any good fairy tale is to start it off with “once upon a time” and end it with “and they lived happily ever after”, the key to crack the Instagram code, is your pictures. They are easier to digest than text, and they are more effective for evoking emotions, which will enhance the chances that your message will be remembered. When it comes to visuals on social, Instagram is supreme. You want to use images that drives sales, and studies show the first real data on Instagram’s capability to drive sales and perhaps more important, the essentials of a picture that boosts sales conversions. The University of Wisconsin conducted a study and learned valuable insights, which we are more than happy to share with you. Here follows a list, in random order, of what their study showed was important when it comes to what type of pictures that drives sales:
This knowledge can be seen as somewhat of a hurdle for some, since the elements that used to inspire engagement (likes and comments) are not the same as the ones that now trigger sales conversions. No need to worry though, this simply means that one must now use a mix of criteria when creating Instagram photos.
You can use multiple tools for Instagram including some focussed on e-commerce.
Posting user generated content is one of the most powerful ways to boost the credibility of your company. As consumers, we tend to perceive content originating from our peers as being authentic, because we trust that the everyday community has less of a vested interest in making a corporation look god compared to its employees. Keep in mind that consumer decision making is not always driven by price or quality, but in fact, a lot of consumers choose brands they associate with a lifestyle that sits well with them.
For example, if you buy a BMW, you are not just buying a car, you are buying into a lifestyle. Visual user generated content, which basically is the foundation Instagram is built on, is all the more impactful, as it allows us to see products being used in real-life situations, which again makes it easier for us to imagine ourselves using these products or services. So re-post your followers content if it aligns with yours, because not only does this help to create a bond with the consumer through shared interests, it also portraits the product in real life. The emotional bond that is created when using UGC is exactly why ads with this content converts better on Instagram than the refined studio shots created by professionals.
Another very important tool to use is to leverage the reach of influencers on instagram. It is a known fact that consumers are more likely to trust a recommendation from friends and family as opposed to a brand or a vendor. This is why it is good business for companies to use social media Influencers and user generated content to get the word out about their product, offer, service or whatever they wish to convey to their online audience. Influencer marketing has the power to drive sales, sign ups and app installs by using links and promotion codes which can be tracked. Tracking and analysing the data and ‘Call Per Click’ are numbers that are going to help you modify your spend in order to generate revenue from Instagram. Instagram also its own analytics tool now.
Determine what metrics you care to track and make sure you keep a weekly or maybe a monthly report to monitor your progress. You also have to take advantage of targeting since Instagram now has the same targeting, creative and measurement abilities as Facebook. It is up to you to use the features and get the best possible results from your Instagram ads and campaigns.
Brands are excited about the success they have seen with website conversion ads on Instagram and the potential the platform has to offer –and quite frankly, so are we! Tell us what has been your experience in using Instagram. Click here to continue reading blog articles around Instagram.
For a fashion brand to be successful, the people behind it must understand, they are not just selling a product, they are selling an entire lifestyle! This has become increasingly easier to convey to the customers, since social media made their entrance. The use of social media in the fashion retail industry is on the rise, because of visual channels like Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and YouTube, simply because image is what these brands are selling.
Creating a solid, quality social media following should be a big part of any brand’s social media strategy and these channels are providing the perfect platforms for engaging with users, in order to raise brand awareness, drive website traffic and generate sales. With this in mind, we present seven ways to leverage social media for your fashion business.
A platform like Instagram is perfect for a lot of things; including sharing ‘behind the scenes’ pictures for your brand, like major fashion house Chanel or Dolce & Gabbana does. This will make your followers identify with your brand on a more personal level, and that makes them more likely to choose your brand next time. It also portraits a certain lifestyle, to which the consumer wants to belong, and again is more likely to choose your product.
To know more about how to use Instagram for your business.
When it comes to fashion on social media, one of the great things is that your followers will often create a lot of content for you, and it is right there for the taking! User-generated content works like word of mouth endorsement, with the users advertising your brand by sharing photos of themselves wearing your products. These posts, ofcourse reach the followers and provides free advertisement for your brand, but even more important, you can also share these pictures from your own platform, which not only makes the user feel valued, but further more provides any potential customer with an even more relatable post. Companies like Calvin Klein and Nike has some dedicated followers, who always posts their brand.
If you have yet to build up a strong group of followers, that automatically posts pictures of your products and tags you in it, you can consider running a campaign, that urges people to compete in posting their favorite outfit (including your brand, of course!), giving them a chance to win a price from you.
In today’s world where people believe people more than brands, Influencer marketing has become the most effective way of advertising. Over the time, many brands from different sectors and industries have shifted their marketing strategy to influencer marketing. Tie-ups with popular influencers help brands reach the right target audience.
Craftsvilla a well- known e-commerce fashion brand achieved great results through influencer marketing. The brand did a campaign with famous fashion influencers across different social media platforms. Neha, one of the fashion influencers shared her experience with crafts villa on her blog and other platforms titled ’Embrace the ethnic wear this season with craftsvilla.’ This post on Instagram received great amount of engagement from her followers.
If you have not explored influencer marketing its time you leveraged this option. So, go ahead and try it out today!
According to recent statistics, India has around 8.19 million Pinterest users. It is one of the fastest growing social platforms and allows users to save pins and create boards with anything from DIY projects to wedding ideas and fashion tips. Many fashion brands have used this platform successfully. It is a good idea for brands to explore Pinterest more.
Pinning just your products every time might make it monotonous for your users, hence, sharing some ideas or content related to the industry will be a great idea to increase engagement.
Gehna, one of India’s leading jewelry brands has over 5,000 followers on Pinterest. The brand has created boards belonging to different categories based on occasions and festivals. This is an interesting way to showcase your products. It makes it easy for followers to pin jewelry that they like directly from the category they are looking for.
For more tips on how you can use Pinterest, find out here.
Videos are always more engaging than just images. Video options are available in every social media channel today, be it Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Top Fashion brands are using videos as a promotion tool. You can showcase your products, take your audience behind the scenes, live stream a fashion show, etc., which in turn will drive more engagement to your page.
Free people, a fashion brand from the US has leveraged the videos feature on snapchat to connect with their target audience. Since the brand caters to the current generation, they decided to reach them through a medium that is most used by them, which is Snapchat. The employees, take their fans behind the scenes by giving them tours of the showroom, models during photo shoots, etc. The brand also connected with their fans on a personal level through a campaign called “Question Wednesdays”where snappers can personally snap their questions to the brand’s snapshot account. They even ask snappers personal and friendly questions. The overall involvement and engagement through Snapchat that Free People provides users ultimately creates a valued and elite relationship for the user.
Snapchat is one platform that needs to be explored for your business. Check out how you can use snapchat for your business here.
Reach a wider set of audience by targeting the right audience through your Facebook or Instagram ads. Instagram has proven to be the most appropriate and a successful platform for any fashion brand to leverage. Create and place ads with visually appealing creatives on Instagram with a Shop now or Buy no call to action button.
Fossil, created a look by putting together products that would appeal to their target segment and at the same time communicate their brand’s personality. They did this through an Instagram ad in which they used a very attractive image with a call to action button and also added a quirky caption.
Customer service is always key to any business. It is essential to make sure your customers are happy with your products and services. With social media you can do this by responding to their comments, queries, messages or tweets as quickly as possible. Also, ensure you come across as fun and exciting. People on social media do not want to interact with anything that is monotonous or dull.
Another way of making customer experience a delight would be by easing the process of shopping. With the introduction of social shopping, brands can use this feature to reduce the purchase process. Facebook shop is one of the best ways to do so. So, go ahead and leverage this feature for your brand today!
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and explore all these tips and tools today! Find the right one that will suit your business and make the best use of it.
- Other contributor to this blog is Stine
