If you don’t take risks on Social Media somebody else will. We are now in an era of experimentation as our online audience is always on the lookout for something new, something interesting, something that they have never seen before.
This is the time when advertisers can really start getting creative and take more risks and learn what works and unfortunately what backfires.
A recent experiment that has totally worked for various brands is brand conversations on Twitter. Zomato India has been one of the first ones to start these conversations and become trendsetters in the space.
Zomato’s tweet “Guys, kabhi kabhi ghar ka khana bhi kha lena chaiye” is something that is a complete 1800 from their positioning of being a food delivery app. Zomato challenged the status quo and broke the monotony by this tweet. The tweet being different broke the clutter resulting in conversations around the brand to an extent that other big brands like Ixigo, Dabur Hajmola, Youtube India, and such also participated in the conversation.
This tweet started a trend where most of the major brands on social media started conversing with other brands via Twitter making it fun for consumers to follow the brands.
Another tweet that went viral was Zomato’s “Save Water, otherwise chai kaise banaoge” tweet which was essentially Zomato preying on its consumers’ social awareness. The unconventional take on a serious topic was a risk that worked in their favor but it could’ve totally backfired.
Just like Zomato, there are multiple brands that have taken risks that have generated conversations around them. Here are 3 reasons why you should take risks on Social Media:
Consumers are inspired by brands that take stands. Taking a stand on social and political conversations can be risky for brands but the youthful consumer is more welcoming to brands that take a stand. They want to hear from brands that converse in intelligent, quirky and impactful ways. According to Sprout’s research, two-thirds (66%) of the respondents felt it’s important for brands to take a public stance on leading social and political issues.
Personifying the Brand. Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman Mahindra Group, is a role model for all CXOs of the country. With the followership of 7.2 M people, he has the capability to reach out to the consumers and establish a connection, and that is exactly what he does. Whether it is about starting a movement or a quick chat with Elon Musk or engaging in fun, light-hearted conversations with fans, Mr. Mahindra has established himself as a brand on Twitter. Twitter is a platform where the top management can directly connect with the consumers and as a result, act as an advocate while personifying the brand.
Recognizing other brands on Social Media. Recognizing a brand on Social Media can seem risky as interacting with them might give them the leverage to connect to your network of audience. But, it could also mean you leveraging their network along with highlighting your product/service USPs.
As brands strategize about how to best use social media to engage with consumers, they’re also increasingly engaging with each other. Whether the banter is friendly or snarky, it is to capture some recognition for being clever and quick and gain attention and followers on platforms like Twitter.
Spotify and Swiggy, a recent brand partnership that rose in lieu of the brand conversation trend on Twitter. The two brands partnered on Twitter to reach a wider network of consumers.
A quote from Beth Comstock (former Vice-Chair and Chief Marketing Officer at GE) new book, Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change , “What I tell them is that it really comes down to a (relatively) simple equation: great content + the right time, right place, right audience + amplification through conversation + shout louder than we spend = massive ROI. You have to grab shares of people’s hearts and minds before you can hope to grab shares of their wallets or loyalty. And you always have to make room in your budget—and mindset—to challenge and experiment” is a piece of well-thought advice to all the marketers in this world of ever-changing social media. So, take risks and take over people’s hearts and minds with content that speaks to them.
Internet users conduct millions of searches on search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc on a daily basis. Every time a brand ranks on a results page, there is a chance to grow as some of these searches are new opportunities for potential customers to find a brand’s website.
The higher a brand’s website ranks in search results, the higher are the chances that potential consumers will click on their website. And eventually, these clicks may turn into leads thereby generating revenue.
Google’s algorithm ranking is based on how helpful a website is to specific search queries, how user-friendly a website is and similar other variables. So if brands want to maximize their search engine visibility, they need to focus on these factors.
One of the most effective ways to grow a business online and promote products and services is through Search Engine Marketing or SEO. Search Engine Marketing strategies are focused on optimising a brand’s visibility on search engines which in turn increases traffic to the website and generates revenue.
Some important strategies for SEM are:
1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click or PPC advertising is an important Search Engine Marketing strategy that allows a brand to gain visibility on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. PPC focuses on promoting a brand’s website through paid ads which are based on targeting keywords. PPC ads work on a bidding system.
A brand has to select a target keyword that it wants to display for and then decide how much it is willing to pay every time someone clicks on that ad. When a brand wins the auction for any given keyword, its ad will show up in search results when someone searches for that target keyword.
There are 2 important channels for running PPC ads:
Google Adwords: Adwords uses text ads that are displayed when people search for keywords that are related to a particular brand or product. This helps a brand market its products on Google’s search engine. The advantage of using Google Adwords is that a brand can bid on a series of phrases or keywords they want but only have to pay when someone clicks on their PPC ads. Here are some of the benefits of using AdWords:
A brand can reach a large number of users through Google Adwords. This provides a number of opportunities for the growth of a brand or business.
A brand can have full control over their ad. They can decide where and when it should be displayed and how much they will pay per click.
Budgets are not an issue while opting for Adwords. Brands can work with any selective budget.
By using Adwords brands can directly reach their target customers if they have successfully chosen the right set of keywords.
Yahoo/ Bing Search Marketing: After Google, the search engine that receives the maximum number of searches each day is Yahoo. Brands need to sign up on Yahoo’s marketing platform to advertise their products or services. It works similarly to Google Adwords. Below are some of its benefits:
Brands can reach a new set of potential clients who do not use Google as their primary search engine.
Yahoo and Bing search engines have high exposure and it is proven that its users spend more time on the Internet than an average user.
Since users spend more amount of time here, therefore there are greater chances for conversion.
This is cheaper than Google Adwords as the competition is less.
2. Ad Copy of the Product/ Service
Attracting users is an important task for a brand. Therefore the ad copy should be such that it gains the interest of the customers.
3. Search Engine Optimizatioz
Search Engine Optimization is an organic marketing technique which helps a website gain high position or rank on search engines like Google or other SERP like Yahoo, Bing etc. It comprises both technical and creative elements to improve the ranking, drive traffic to the website and increase visibility on search engines.
There are two methods of SEO which help improve the position of website on SERP:
On-page SEO: On-page SEO refers to all that is done on the website like meta descriptions, meta tags, headings, content, images, keyword optimization, internal linking, Alt attributes, URL structure, domain names, sitemaps and schema. In short, on-page SEO means structuring and developing the website to be search engine friendly.
Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO assists in increasing the popularity of the website to get more visibility. These techniques help improve a website’s position on SERP. Some of these off-page SEO strategies include guest posting, keyword research, image submission, social bookmarking, web 2.0, press release, directory submission and Google my business.
Brands use this off-page method for the purpose of effective link building which helps in adding backlinks for ranking websites. Brands usually optimize their websitesby using external website links through successful link building.
The correct SEM strategies provide an improved and better position to websites and visibility on SERP through both paid and organic searches. To know more about Search Engine Marketing strategies, leave us a message and we will get back to you.
“48% of marketers build a new landing page for each marketing campaign.”
Landing pages can prove to be a powerful marketing tool if used in the right way. Be it for new product launches, promotions, enrolling for a newsletter or for digital campaigns, landing pages can be the best weapon to enrich your overall marketing strategy.
Before going into the importance of quality landing pages, it is important to know the three most distinctive features between a landing page and a homepage –
A landing page will exist apart from the main website, unlike the homepage. There will be no button on the website that will take you to the landing page.
Homepages cater to a wider audience, which includes information seekers or just casual browsers. A landing page is for a specific stream of an audience looking for a particular offer or service. This is the reason why landing pages have higher conversion rates.
Homepages have multiple options to choose from – it basically asks users what do you want? A landing page is more liking telling the users that this is the particular action I want you to take.
Source: AutoGrow.co
Developing landing pages that are related to your digital marketing campaigns can make a great positive impact on the results. Whether you use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for running your promotions and campaigns, landing pages can help them become more efficient. Take a look at the 3 main reasons why quality landing pages can make your digital marketing campaigns successful –
1. Generate leads
Primarily, a website has two main purposes for every brand – traffic generation and conversion. And according to Hubspot, 61% of marketers say generating leads and traffic is their biggest challenge. This is where a landing page can drastically improve lead generation and send users to your website.
Sending all your social media, email and search traffic to the homepage can be a loss for your business. On the other hand, sending these leads through a digital campaign to a targeted landing page can help you capture your audience at a much higher rate. For example, an Oncology digital campaign for Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore that led to a specific landing page resulted in 5X quality leads in just 2 months and established the brand as a premier Oncology treatment destination in Bangalore. (Read the case study here).
2. Improve paid search campaigns
For running an ad campaign on Google Adwords, maintaining a good quality score is important as it results in a lower cost per click and provides a greater value from the campaign. The Quality Score is determined by the ad Click Through Rate, keyword relevance, ad text relevance and the quality of the landing page.
Google prefers showing users ads that can help them take action and solve their problems. Having a good landing page will meet the purpose as it will be specifically designed for those ad campaigns and will not have any extra links. Moreover, the relevant information on the page would encourage visitors to take the action you want them to take.
3. Track data
Every time a prospective lead completes an action on your landing page, you can track the collected data that will give you an idea of how engaged people are. For example, you can understand if a user has signed up for multiple services or downloaded all your ebooks. This is an indication that the user is highly engaged and may make a purchase soon.
The data derived from landing pages can also be analyzed to have a clear understanding of how your social mediacampaign or ad campaign is performing. Accordingly, the campaigns can be optimized for better results. For example, your landing page data can help you decide whether you should run Google Ads or Facebook ads. It can also help identify the right CTAs and messaging for better user experience and lower cost per lead.
Source: Mouseflow
Do you know that companies get 55% more leads when they increase their number of landing pages from 10 to 15? The fact is that a landing page is a crucial part of your marketing and digital campaigns, especially for lead generation.
To know more about how to use landing pages for your digital campaigns, just leave us a message and we’ll get back to you!
Facebook continues to be one of the most popular social media channels in India with 241 million active users. Since it has such a large user-base, marketers use it extensively to promote their brand and increase awareness. Facebook helps brands provide information about what they have to offer with just the tap of a button.
Digital marketing on Facebook can be significant in helping startups acquire new customers and also build long-lasting relations with them. The best part about Facebook marketing is that the social media platform permits businesses to target niche audiences based on demographics, interests, behaviours etc, thus optimising their reach.
Facebook marketing tools like pages, groups and ads can be used by startups to get discovered, build presence, create awareness, generate leads, boost sales and more. Thus, Facebook has the power to shape a startup’s early growth strategy by providing a huge platform to reach out to its customers.
A brand’s Facebook page is like a personal profile or a hub of information for a brand, marketing its product or service. Users may ‘like’ and ‘follow’ a page that automatically enables them to receive updates in their news feed. For a startup that has joined Facebook to grow their business, certain guidelines need to be followed for setting up a professional business page:
The brand’s logo should be the profile photo of the page.
The cover photo can be anything as long as it provides an insight or is relatable to the brand and grabs the attention of the users who visit the page.
In the ‘about’ section, the nature of the business, working hours and location should be properly explained.
The best approach is to keep the tone friendly and informal.
A business page should post relevant information like product announcements, blogs or other details that are useful to its users.
Multiple postings in a day should be avoided as it is considered spamming and may lead to loss of followers.
Targeted Advertising:
Facebook ads are very powerful, and they’re more likely to succeed than pages or groups since you can choose who sees the ads. Paid advertising is quite inexpensive, as compared to other advertising channels and platforms in the market. It can help a startup get a number of potential leads and most importantly create awareness among the brand’s target audience.
As a marketer, there are several options to choose from when creating a Facebook ad for a business page –
Facebook ads can be created that are targeted to specific geographical areas, ages, genders, education levels and more.
Ads can be run on a per-impression or per-click basis.
Facebook shows the bids for ads placed by competitor brands, so the brand has knowledge if its bid is in line with others in the industry.
Brands can also set daily limits, so there’s no risk of blowing the budget.
Post Boosting:
Facebook’s ‘Boost Post’ feature allows startups to expand the audience for their individual posts exponentially and target highly engaged and relevant potential users within a very limited budget. It helps increase visibility as well as generate traffic to content. With boosted posts, a startup just needs to set up their target audience and a budget and the rest is good to go.
Contests & Giveaways:
Arranging interesting contests and giveaways every month can help keep the audience glued to the page. Such activities increase the number of followers, create awareness about the brand and also drive engagement and positive interactions to the page.
Posting in Third-party Groups:
This is a free of cost Facebook marketing strategy where most discussions take place outside the business page. The best approach is to post frequently in relevant third-party groups within a similar industry. This way, a startup can remain recognisable and provide value to group members.
It is not necessary to just post links to brand-related content or curated content. In addition, startups can post questions, helpful information in bite sizes, pictures, or embedded videos. By these measures, startups will gain brand awareness and become more of an authority in respective groups on the topics they post about.
This authority leads to trust which later translates into followers, subscribers, clicks to the startup’s website and conversions.
Facebook is a powerful and flexible social media marketing tool. It comes with various options for marketing which a startup can tailor according to the nature of business, budget and time restrictions. It has several features to successfully achieve business goals and meet the desired target.
To maintain a good position on Facebook, content marketing, paid advertising and engagement should be consistent or growing.
To know more on how to use Facebook as a marketing strategy, leave us a message and we will get back to you!
“Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them.”
Be it any business, the basic marketing strategy is to have a profile in the market, create awareness, build trust among the audience and generate sales. When it comes to online businesses, content marketing can be very valuable in meeting all of the mentioned targets. Moreover, with the right digital marketing strategies, your content can have the widest reach and bring the greatest success.
However, many brands overlook the connection between content marketing and online sales while planning their strategy. This disparity can cause your business to lose out on leveraging one of the most effective tools for boosting your sales.
Source: ironpaper.com
Before a potential lead takes the final buying decision, it is likely that he/she has engaged with some form of content that you have put up. Referring to the marketing funnel is the best way to understand how content affects your sales and the type of content that works in each stage. Take a look at how to connect content marketing with your sales at each phase –
Phase 1: Build interest & awareness
Also known as the ‘discovery’ phase, this is the stage where the audience is first introduced to your business and there is a probability of them being interested in what you have to offer. Prospective users can reach your business through social media, website or a simple Google search. People may also discover your business through referrals, event marketing or television and print ads.
Whatever be the platform where people see your content, it should be able to explain your business clearly and take them to the next step of the conversion funnel. In the initial stage, informative content works best to build trust and credibility in the mind of the people. Moreover, it can also help you come across as a leader in your respective industry, having a thorough knowledge of what you’re talking about.
Long-form content works best in this case. Infact, “long-term content generates almost 9 times more leads compared to short-form posts.”
Source: singlegrain.com
Blogs help grab attention but also ensure to gain confidence and increase visibility. Putting up quality blogs and guest blogs will make sure that the target audience is well acquainted with what you’re selling, eliminating the need for ‘sales messages’ that are often considered disturbing.
Phase 2: Encourage Consideration
Once the interested audience is aware of your business, they would next want to know how it can solve a problem and the reason why they should choose your brand over your competitors. Content marketing can help add maximum value in this phase.
Moving away from blogs, other forms of content like case studies, whitepapers and testimonials are suitable to show value. One of the best ways to gain the trust of your potential audience is through case studies, with 76% of B2B marketers implementing this strategy.
Moreover, the more ‘before and after’ comparing statistics you use in your case studies, the better will be the results.
Take the example of this snippet from a case study we had done for one of our clients, Dogsee Chew. Clear depiction of the challenge, as well as the results, has highlighted how we provided a chance to the brand’s potential customers to consider the brand when they think of organic pet treats.
Testimonials, on the other hand, are not just customer feedback or reviews, but they also act as social proof. According to Nielsen, “92% will trust a recommendation from a peer and 70% will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t know before making a purchase.”
Phase 3: Making a purchase
Even after the target audience has been guided to the purchasing funnel, the right content marketing strategies can help them jump the last hurdle and become buyers. Your content in this phase needs to be subtle to not only convince people to make a purchase, but also to make the buying process as simple as possible.
A well-designed and easy to comprehend landing page can be the right form of content marketing in this phase. Different types of content like videos that explain the working of a product, how-to articles that feature the usage instructions or a FAQ page that answers common queries are highly beneficial at this point.
Source: hubspot.com
“4X people prefer watching a product video than reading about it.” Apart from being engaging, it is also easy to share video content across all social media platforms and can help meet your targets.
Phase 4: Repeat business and build loyalty
Successful brands are those who can retain their existing customers in the long run as just a 5% increase in retention can lead to a 25% increase in profit. Building long-term relationships with customers by keeping in touch after the point of sale is imperative, and content marketing can prove to be an effective tool in this regard.
Email marketing is one of the best forms of content marketing to retain customers. “73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come from emails.”You can customize emails based on the audience and their preference, and decide on the frequency you wish to send them out.
This will lead to loyalty and advocacy, and your existing customers can re-purchase as well as help bring new leads to your business.
Source: Pinterest
Tip: Using emojis in the subject line of your email leads to a higher open rate.
Content marketing can actually help convert simple websitevisitors into repeat users if strategized well. The relation between content marketing and sales is very important to achieve your business goals.
When the interested audience receives the right content at the right time, their journey through the sales funnel is much faster and smoother, eventually leading to higher chances of conversion.
To know more about the best content marketing tactics to boost online sales, leave us a message and we’ll get back to you.
“The holy grail for a marketer is not a transactional relationship but an emotional relationship with the consumer.”
The world just celebrated Friendship Day, and it gave brands the perfect opportunity to be at their creative best to connect with the audience and strike an emotional chord. Unconventional friendships, distinctive concepts and strong messaging were some of the key points in the social media marketing campaigns by brands this year. By celebrating the different facets of friendship through unique creatives and digital films, marketers have successfully portrayed the love and affection of one of the most important relationships of mankind.
Here are top 5 Friendship Day campaigns by brands from various sectors –
1. Cadbury Dairy Milk – #HeartTheHate
Cyberbullying is a cause of real concern in today’s world and Dairy Milk’s social media campaign on friendship day was about standing up to such bullies – just like friends would always do.
Reports state that 37% of Indian kids are bullied on social media and Cadbury, which is renowned for its meaningful campaigns encourages everyone to come together to fight the issue. The campaign also highlights the importance of friends in fighting bullying. The video showcases a young girl being bullied online just before she is about to give a live performance which makes her upset. Seeing this, her friend sends out a purple heart in the same string of comments, helping her fight the negativity. Purple Heart Do, Dost ka Saath Do forms the essence of the video.
Source: Facebook
The campaign was a huge hit on social media with 12M views, 63K reactions, 1K+ comments and 2.4K+ shares on Facebook. Celebrities like Radhika Apte, Karan Wahi, Asha Negi and Kusha Kapila also supported the campaign and expressed their views on fighting cyberbullying. YouTube garnered 39M views on the video.
Highlighting the importance of offline social interactions, Vodafone launched the #FriendsUnplugged campaign urging friends to initiate more face-to-face conversations instead of just commenting on social media posts. In order to introduce the campaign, the brand roped in celebrity friends Neha Dhupia and Soha Ali Khan who unfollowed each other on social media. The reason was later revealed that they did it so that they can catch up more in real life and make meaningful conversations.
qSource: FacebookThe concept of the campaign has been executed beautifully, with visuals that are relatable to everyone. It witnessed 1.9M views on Facebook, with 47K reactions, 600+ comments and 4.6K reactions. There were 940K+ views on YouTube in just two days.
Mercedes Benz is known for its creative campaigns and this time too, the brand went the extra mile with their #MBFriends campaign. Mercedes released a digital video where they thanked their ‘competitor friends’ for always inspiring them to do their best. The team also visited a few car owners of competitive brands and surprised them with a Mercedes band on their car and an exclusive gift hamper.
The brand created a special Friendship Day filter on Facebook where users were asked to use the Mercedes filter on spotting cars from other brands and upload it on social media in return for exciting goodies.
Source: Facebook
The campaign witnessed 9.9K views on Twitter, with 900+ likes, 120+ retweets and 44K+ views on Instagram.
Watch the video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbS_QxPujsE
4. Dogsee Chew – Friendship Day with Dogsee
Dogsee Chew, the international pet treat brand celebrated the unique friendship between humans and dogs through all the highs and lows of life. The video depicts everyday life – whether that’s coming home after a tiring day at work or when you simply need a healing hug – and how dogs have always been there to provide comfort and care. The campaign encourages users to celebrate this purest form of friendship with the purest dog treats.
HDFC came up with an interesting campaign, #YaariNotUdhaari around the awkward situation that friends face when they borrow money from each other and then fail to return it, eventually leading to avoidance. The campaign shows a friend avoiding another friend after borrowing from him, in every way possible – by lying, by trying to be unrecognizable or pretending to be over a phone call. The campaign sends out the message of not hampering your friendship in the name of borrowing, as the bank is there to help in this case.
Source: Facebook
The video received 545K views on Facebook, with 4.8K reactions, 200+ comments and 600+ shares. On YouTube, it garnered 112K views in two days.
Watch the video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLEdqxuEkUA
Here are some other trending Friendship Day creatives from top brands –
Can you think of any other unique Friendship Day campaigns? Tell us in the comments below.
