Day: July 6, 2017

Do you recall Uncle Ben, Peter Parker’s uncle, and the father figure in Spider-Man (2002)? Well, if not, we are certain you remember his dialogue — “With great power comes great responsibility”. This oft-quoted line is valid in life as well as in the way social media works today. Presently, social media is one of the most effective digital marketing methods used in businesses. In fact, today, if your business is not on social media, you don’t exist. But then, the power of social media should be used responsibly and also purposefully. In the digital social sphere with the rapid proliferation of social media platforms, let’s admit usage of social media is increasingly getting complex. A new study by Siegel+Gale reported that social networking platforms are becoming too complicated. This, truth be told, is making the job of the digital marketers tough. Despite the fact that it sounds cliché, social media has a lot of power to influence people and their decision. You can directly communicate and engage with your customers, take instant feedback and improve your product and services, increase brand recognition, increase inbound traffic and improve brand loyalty. But then, overuse of social media at times can be detrimental to your business. In simple terms: if overdone, it can have a boomerang impact on your business. If you don’t have a planned social media strategy in place, it can complicate your presence in the online world and may not serve the overall purpose. Santanu Mukherjee, head of Digital Marketing, Indus Net Technologies, admits social media is getting complex. Like most digital marketer, he echoes similar sentiments that “social media is an essential piece in the digital marketing mix today”. He also informs that handling social media is comparatively easier than other digital marketing tools. But he gives a warning too. “We are aware of almost all the social media platforms that can work for our businesses today. We have our presence in most of the social media platforms. However, this is the most confused part. While we feel using social media is simple, we try to overdo it and this is where we go wrong,” he says. Having said that, social media is still, and will for quite a while, remain a dominant tool in the digital marketing mix. Hence, if utilized properly, organizations can continue to reap maximum benefit from it. Mukherjee, who has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing, explains in 3 simple points how to make social media effective and purposeful.   Identify the target audience and the social media platforms that work best for your audience. Establish yourself as a thought leader and built trust Engage your customer and don’t always try to sell   Identify the target audience and the social media platforms that work best for the audience   As indicated by Statista, the number of overall social media users is expected to reach 2.67 billion by 2018. 92% of small businesses admit that social media is imperative for their business. But then again, social media today is filled with noise and wading through this noisy and cluttered world is an uphill task for every digital marketer. If a marketer can rightfully identify the key audience for the business, the job becomes easier. Then he/she can come up with clearly-defined strategies to target the customer behaviour. Mukherjee admits identifying the ideal customer base for the business is the most complicated part of social media. “In social media, you have direct interaction with the audience. So, how you present your brand and business is how you are perceived on the digital medium. Hence, you cannot go beyond the boundary,” he says. But let’s not forget that just because you have access to all the platforms doesn’t mean you will jump on all the platforms. Overuse of social media platforms can jeopardise all the digital marketing efforts. Indus Net Technologies was in charge of the digital branding and sales for Baidyanath, a century-old Indian pharmaceutical firm. Indus Net Technologies studied the target audience and devised an exclusive digital marketing strategy to increase their sales. Baidyanath achieved 253% increase in sales and 20x growth in brand engagement among the target group within a period of three months of engagement, through digital channels like social, content, search and e-commerce marketplaces.   Mukherjee says there are innumerable social media platforms today to promote your brand, products and services. “This makes social media marketing messier. Not all platforms will suit your business purpose. If you have proper digital marketing plans, you can come up with tailor-made content to attract your audience. If you are into B2C branding, then probably Facebook will work better than the other social media platforms,” he says. He goes onto specify that for a B2B section, Twitter and Linkedin play a key role. “After defining the right audience, you need to define the content bucket. If the content is not related to your brand or business, then probably you are misguiding the audiences. This can be catastrophic. In this case, social media is complicated and not serving the purpose,” he says. To know about the most influential brands on Facebook in 2016, click here: goo.gl/LP7HG0   Establish yourself as a thought leader and built trust Another crucial area where social media can come to immense use is establishing your brand or business as a thought leader. In fact, if you can successfully present your brand as a thought leader, it can pave the way for innovative marketing strategies and drive sales too.   If you want your customer to engage with your brand or business online, you need to develop a virtual yet strong and genuine connection with customers. Here, thought leadership can play a significant role. Clients and customers will trust you more, and you can become a useful resource for them. As a thought leader, you can inform your customers and clients the best practices in the industry, showcase your knowledge in a particular subject, offer more customer-centric and