A few days ago, I was interviewed for the Ernst & Young (EY) Social Media Marketing India Trend Study. The report is very insightful if you are looking to explore questions like: "What are the key challenges that digital marketers are facing?" or "How do companies evaluate, strategize & invest in social". Some of my thoughts were also published in the study and I also shared my thoughts on "How bloggers & influencers being leveraged by brands". The key highlights of the report as follows:

Influencers & bloggers are early adopters , they have high online following/reach and always stay ahead of mass for testing new technology/product or services, this is major reason brands have started leveraging them for marketing.

Following are some of the ways, in which brands leverage these influencers:

1. Review of new products, services & offering by offering them early access. (Example: Sending mobile devices way before launch or giving fashion accessories for testing)
2. Outreach using their assets (blogs/Instagram/youtube/twitter/vine) or by sending them regular content (PR) or inviting them over events.(Example: CitiBank did #HappierDiwali & #OMGSale campaign purely using influencers & observed nearly 200% increase in sales)
3. As a content creator for creating content that can be use as marketing for influencing normal audience. (Example: Gionee creating content with bloggers & doing digital media push to amplify it)
4. Brand Evangelists & Guardian: Helps in feedback, research & also acts as beta testers for the future product of a brand & suggest add-on features that can be included in future releases. (Example: all major mobile OEM's, automobile & FnB brands).
5. As ORM (online reputation management) custodians by creating positive sentiments.
6. Brand Ambassadors/Hosts as a face of the company, this helps in creating trust among audience & helps in uplifting the brand image.
7. Brand giveaway hosted on bloggers/influencers platforms(can be blog/Instagram/twitter/youtube or others) to giveaway products.

Today, consumers act like ROBO (Research Online & Buy Offline). Influencers have large loyal audience; they can shape opinion of people and are usually ones whom people look up to, for advice while making big purchasing decisions. An authentic review or feedback of online influencers plays a major role in the purchase behavior of users. Brands are clearly seeing ROI out of this & keen in developing more avenues of native advertising by utilising bloggers.

You can download the complete report published by EY and use it to benchmark your key objectives, campaigns and media plans. It helps you to optimize digital strategies for your brand. Download EY Social Media Marketing India Trend Study

Twitter contests have become an intrinsic element in the complex compound to boost brand engagement today. Big or small alike, every brand looking for digital engagement is skewing or has skewed in the past towards a twitter contest. While some brands do it through their own handles, the rest pick a person with more than 3000 Twitter followers, commonly called the Twel-eb or Twitter Celeb to do it on their behalf. The major aim of these contests is to flood the twitter timelines of users so that brand awareness is achieved without burning a hole in your advertising budget. Usually a grand prize followed by some goodies or vouchers are on offer during these contests and if done right with the correct visual attractions and influencers, Twitter contests generally end up finding a space in the trending column which calls for a pat on the back of the digital marketing team.

Why the need for evaluation?

However, there are a few observations we made while conducting some of these contests which is why we decided to write this post on judging twitter contests effectively:

1. Twitter contests usually appeal to a large set of the audience, therefore it becomes a bit of a pain to decide the right winner due to the sheer volume of participation.
2. While Twitter contests sure bring engagement, not a lot of this engagement is positive engagement as tweeps spam the time lines in order to get the maximum entries.
3. There is always a cry after a Twitter Contest that the winners were stitched or fixed.
4. There is no set of rules by which a contest could be played. Each brand makes its own set of rules so there is usually a lack of transparency in the results.
5. No matter how fairly you conduct the contest, there always will be backlash from those who did not win it. It is a must therefore to ensure that only the fair and deserving candidates win.
6. Most people make a secondary twitter account, which is used only to play such contests, and after winning they end up selling off what they won to gain monetary profits.

Post observing all of the points above, we went to our drawing board to design a mechanism on how to judge a Twitter contest which involves simple question and answer format, the most popular way of doing this, by far. We deviced a set of rules for ourselves and list the parameters, which we would judge the contest on and set it as a goalpost within which we shall play. Our focus at all times was quality engagement and interaction rather than just encouraging those who spam the brand for the sake of numbers. While we were devising our set of rules, we kept the following in mind:

1. The system must be fair to all the users so that everyone has an equal chance to win.
2. Spammers and those who are flooding the TL with mindless tweets must be ignored.
3. Quality content at all times must be encouraged.
4. Only those that follow the instructions correctly should be considered for prizes.

The Drill to select a deserving winner

After a bit of brainstorming with our team and experimenting with a couple of contests, we wrote the rules the down, and this is what we did.   1) We used our in-house Social Media tracking tool, Social ORM to monitor and record all the tweets that came in. We inserted the keyword, which was the mandatory hashtag to record all the tweets. 2) Once the contest was over, we extracted the Social ORM report and the data obviously only contained the tweets that contained the used hashtag. 3) We offset the time, so that only those tweets, which were within the stipulated time of contest, are considered. 4) We ran a duplicity test in the tweet field, and any user found making the same tweet more than thrice was immediately red listed as a spammer. We obviously removed the brand tweets too. 5) After doing this, we converted the whole data to a pivot table. This table had the twitter contest’s user name in the rows while the columns contained, the total number of tweets made, total number of followers, total numbers of people following, Klout score (calculated from klout.com as an influence parameter).   6) Once we had this data in the excel sheet filled, we applied the formula: Total score= No. of tweets *10 + Number of followers+ Number of following+ Klout score*10+ 25*number of tweets with media attachment. 7) Using this comprehensive data we got a unique score for every contestant. Since the score takes all the important parameters into account and is a good balance between those who tweeted a lot and those who tweeted less but have a higher reach. We arranged the score in the descending order and the winners were declared fair and square.

Rating the Twitter Contest for gauging performances

After you have declared the winners and dust of excitement has settled, it is imperative to judge your own team and evaluate the contest. Obviously there is the qualitative versus the quantitative way of looking at things. While the former is subjective and often variable based on the sentiment analysis tool you use, the latter is absolute. Hence we prefer the quantitative approach. There are two metrics to judge the performance quantitatively:

Judging the contest by the growth of Hashtag:

This is a relatively simple exercise and can be done by counting the ratio between the tweets made by the brand versus the mention of the hashtag within the stipulated hours of the contest. The larger the ratio is, the better the contest has been executed. For example, if the brand made 5 tweets with the hashtag #ThisPost and received a mention with 50 entries with #ThisPost, the ratio would read 5:50 or 1:10. A wide ratio indicates a successfully run contest. Whether the hashtag trended or not, is another indication of the overall success of the content.

Judging the contest with an absolute number:

The other way of judging the performance is by evaluating a real number and using that as a matrix or a benchmark to judge your future contest. Again there are a couple of ways of doing this:

1: Evaluating the value of one participant:

  To do this is pretty straight forward: Value of 1 engagement= Value of the giveaway+ Value of the hours of the team involved in planning and executing the contest divided by the total number of unique participants. The value should be low for a good contest. Let’s take an example: Giveaway value= 3* INR 500 worth coupons= INR 1500 Total team members=2, their wages per hour= Rs 300, total hours= 7. Total team investment= 300*7*2= INR 4200 Hence, total investment= Rs 4200+ 1500= INR 5,700. Total unique participants= 10 Value of 1 unique participant= 5700/10 = Rs 570.

2: Evaluating the absolute number of the contest:

  A unitless contest scale could be designed to evaluate your performance. To do this, simply follow the formula: Contest Number= (No. of impressions generated/ 1 Million)+ (Followers gained+ Total tweets received)/1000. You will arrive at a solid number that becomes the evaluating line for your future contests. By using this method, you simplify things and take into account the quality of engagement too by bringing in the factor of impressions.

Key Take Away

As a complete digital consulting firm, we have been the faces behind several successful twitter contests in the past and, we feel we have the right nous and the experience of using the platform to place down markers. Also, since the methods above encompass each and every important sub variable, which contributes towards a higher brand engagement and presence, we feel our methods work down the till for us. Obviously, there are other markers that work and you may well have one that is just as unique. However, the major objective of writing down the post was to argue the importance of having a structure or a clear mechanism when declaring Twitter winners, as well as having a reference line to judge your own performance and how exactly did the contest perform as an activity. Do let us know what your mechanism is whole judging contests on Social Media platforms such as Twitter. You can reach us via E-Mail or our Social Media Networks. >>To know about great Marketing Tools for SMB’s.    

Ever since advent of the age of computing, computers have used for office chores and connecting libraries to each other. Yet, one aspect of these machines has always been a welcome retreat for all of us. Old, young, boys or girls, we have all experienced it.

Welcome to the fun world of gaming! A world where you are no longer bound by your mortal shell. You can be what you want to be. Save a princess, destroy a kingdom, save the world from an apocalypse or act as the best bet of a space faring race of humans to save the galaxy. In this section which will be up every Tuesday, we will be talking about all things and everything gaming. Your favourites, my favourites and the ones which are yet to be launched and yet have the potential to be our favourites.

We will commence with the world of FPS (First Person Shooter) gaming. Here’s my list of the top 5 games you need to play to call yourself a true FPS lover! You can obviously interpret this as my list of five best ever FPS games, so without building any suspense, lets jump into it, perhaps with a gun:

Doom (1993)

One of the very first and influential FPS games to have ever been made! This was the game that defined and laid down the foundation of the FPS genre as it is today. Ask a true FPS lover and he would recall the name for sure. Ask your Dad if he was ever a gaming person and chances are he’d be willing to take you on, even today.

Quake (1996)

Quake has often been called the true successor to the Doom series. Quake was built to carry the legacy forward, with full time 3D rendering and OpenGL support, Quake added multiplayer options and made it easier for people from around the world to connect and play together in a host of different game modes. It made it easier to find and compete against each other on the Internet truly expanding the bases of FPS gaming.

Half-Life Series (1998)

Doom had set the stage for the popularisation of FPS gaming while Quake had proven true to its legacy. Valve Corp. took on itself to re-define it. Enter, the Half-Life series, the game was an instant success and is revered as one of the most inspiring storyline based FPS to this day. We can just wait and wish to see what Half Life 3 would offer. Gabe Newell, we hope you are listening.

Counter-Strike Series (1999)

If you have lived in a hostel or hold an engineering background this series needs no introduction. Chances are, that if you have witnessed the IT revolution in India, you have played this game at least once in your life if not more and ruined semesters after semesters. Or, if you are a grown up yet just cannot resist another round like me, you still play it and take pride in it. Counter Strike 1.6 is widely regarded as the game that gave rise to the world of Professional Gaming in India. Countless parlours still make a large moolah cause the kids want to come in and compete on CS against their friends over LAN.

Call of Duty (2003)

All our previous games had laid the foundation and established FPS as the biggest genre in online gaming. The developers of CoD took it on themselves to give it a fresh and unique take. CoD series is often regarded as the most played RP-FPS (Role Playing-First Person Shooter) selling over a 100 million copies till date.

So there we have it, the 5 FPS games that introduced and defined professional gaming. You must have noticed that in neither of the games we have given away the story of the series, simply because we do not want to spoil it for you in case you haven't played it. So go ahead and give these games a shot on your old PlayStations or PCs.

But now PUBG Mobile is the trending game.

Don't forget to write to us which of the above is your favorite title and also, in case you have a pick that we have not listed above, let us know.

Jawaharlal Nehru famously said, “The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down”. Predicting trends or what is going to happen is like playing with fire, you may burn your hands, but if you get it right even once, it’s like winning a grand jackpot. As 2014 approaches, how about setting atop a voyage and traveling to take a peek into the future? If digital marketing is your cup of everyday tea, join us as we pitch, what would be the trend setters and would set alight the ever changing world of digital marketing.

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#Hashtags will be a new Search Tool

When twitter was launched, it introduced the concept of hashtags where users could simply click on a hashtag and find conversations around the same topic. With twitter covering more and more contemporary topics and becoming a huge source of news, hashtags will be the new search tool. You can search along a hashtag and enter the world of information and conversations around that topic. More and more social networking sites such as Facebook and Google+ have jumped on the hashtag bandwagon and this will only go higher up. The planning and investment in hashtags will be a big trend in 2014 as the hashtag would be your one key to unlock the marketing potential of your device. As hashtags begin to appear in Google Searches, you could be forgiven for calling 2014 the #2014 Year. [divider]

Everyone will focus on #Lifeblogging

We may sit and fear NSA and a thousand other people secretly spying on us, but the big fat reality remains, the internet will live on and people will continue to share precious moments of their life. Microblogging platforms such as Twitter will remain the best places to project your work and to engage with people. Platforms like Pinterest and Google Plus which collect images and are image centric will grow bigger. The likes of Instagram, Buzzfeed will interest people more as they look to derive information in the form of pictures that are informative and context oriented. The collection of images on the internet will grow bigger as largely the services are free and the access to the internet is literally clicks away. More and more smartphones come with Cameras and with wearable tech such as Smartwatches and Google Glasses becoming more and more prominent, the consumer is more likely to share pictures and moment of their life than ever. Apps such as 365project.org are a unique opportunity to connect with the audience and in 2014, be prepared to see more services and application that make use of your personal information to serve you content that is personalised and stitched for you. [divider]

The #Content will Remain Liquid, it will Flow

Content is a bit like music from Beatles, its evergreen, its here to stay, its here to stay forever. As long as the digital world exists, content will be engine to drive it. Nothing is a bigger turn on than Crisp, sharp, engaging and interesting use of words put together. However, in 2014, the focus would be on pushing the content that is visually appealing. We will move towards flatter and cleaner designs. Micro video sites such as Vine and Instagram Video will gain more and more importance as they aim to capture the attention of users and deliver the message within seconds. With data plans still on the expensive side, a user is more likely to click on a Vine content than a full featured 5 minute Youtube video. The blogger industry will remain the focal point as the drivers of opinions and with strategically made relationship programmes, your brand can only profit more. The bloggers are not just content producers but the definition of new world media which is ready to take the fight to the bigger publishers. With the rise of Social media, both branded and unbranded content will equally be important if you want to drive home on successful consumer engagement. [divider]

#Mobile will remain to Captain the Ship

According to the reports, India is the third largest Smart Phone market in the world only behind the likes of China and the United States. There are more than 4 billion mobile phones on the planet and by 2014, it is projected that the Internet usage on mobile will overtake that on desktops. No wonder most web developers are taking that extra bit of care in making their site mobile friendly. And in 2014, this will only grow. With more and more mobile players coming in and the devices becoming a hub of entertainment and knowledge sharing, the opportunity to advertise and push content via mobile will be better than ever. Mobile marketing is well cheaper as compared to buying slots on the TV or even on the web. It is a staggering stat that the open rate of a text message is about 95% while the same of an E-Mail is around 1 to 15%. Therefore with the right mix of mobile web development, mobile landing pages, mobile apps, mobile ads and mobile text messages your brand stands to benefit a lot more in 2014 than ever before. [divider]

E-Commerce and Mobile #Commerce will Continue to Dominate

We live in a world where comfort and ease often superimpose everything else. No wonder the E-Commerce players have been hugely successful. Why travel to a store, when you can sit in the comfort of your chair, with light music playing while you enjoy your favourite lunch and simultaneously with a click on your mobile or tablet order pretty much anything in the world. E-Commerce will continue to thrive in 2014 and things like express delivery or 1 day delivery will continue to see the big players get bigger. Just like in the airline industry, where the Indigoes, Ryan Airs and Air Asia's continue to emerge and play a key role while Emirates, KLMs and Deltas of the world continued to get bigger and bigger, the E-Commerce world will see players like Jabong, Myntra, Shopclues emerge along nicely. Mobile Commerce will flourish given how widely mobile is used. For transactions, transferring the funds between friend easily and even something as small as booking tickets for a movie show, you are more likely to reach out for your smartphone than any other means of technology. Mobile commerce sales reached $4.7 billion in in the second quarter of 2013, up 24 percent percent year-over-year, and the roller coaster will only go up. (stat via:CMO) As we move towards the most digitally advanced year, ever, that 2014 sure would be, the five points above would be worth keeping in mind when you execute a campaign or are looking to be success on the digital platform. Whether we will have any other emerging trend or not, is anybody’s guess. Till that happens though, here’s wishing you and yours a very happy and successful 2014.

Are you having a tough time keeping your audience interested? Often struggling to come up with blog posts that attract the right type of visitors? We all do! Time and again we run out of ideas. How then can one make their blog popular?  There are certain common working methods that one can adopt to make their blog popular. A blog can't become popular overnight, but if you are work smartly and have a knack for learning new things, adapt and learn from your mistakes, your blog can become the rage! Blog design apart, there are several measures that you can take. Read on.

Add your Blog to Blog Communities

Other bloggers and web enthusiasts are constantly checking out these communities for networking and information.

There are many communities you can submit your blog to but it’s better to stick with the ones which are popular and have a decent Google Page Rank. When you come across a blog that you find interesting, do comment and applaud their good work. In the process you are making your self visible in the bloggers community.

Write Tutorials, Guides and How To's Relating to your Blog

One time news and new happenings will just cater to your audience once.

Old news is no news! As a new entrant into the world of blogging, as a blogger you have to amass audience based on tutorials and how to guides that stay forever. The "How To" is a staple pillar concept. It always works!

Create a Facebook Page and Sign up for a Twitter Account 

Without the reach of social media, you can't expect (as a new blogger) to have any reach at all. There are lots of amazing facebook apps that you can use to integrate your blog with facebook and make sharing easy breezy. Some good methods you can use to promote your facebook page is by adding a widget on your blog, adding a popup like button, writing a blog post on it and also including the page details in your newsletter. Facebook is huge and the traffic is legit.

Not just facebook, you must also tweet you posts. People will follow you because they are interested in sharing things with you. When you tweet, they are most likely willing to check it out. Other platforms like Google+, instagram, pintrest, etc can also be included. Fashion, travel, tech, auto blogs should give a lot of attention to YouTube.

Monitor Influencer Social Channels

You can't expect to get a decent blog traffic by writing whatever you like.

You need to first identify the influencers in your industry and monitor their social feeds to know what garners better traffic and what goes viral.

Check Your Top Posts on Facebook

Facebook insights are a powerful tool to monitor your posts. Its the best way to determine the topic of interests of your target audience.

You can monitor how well individual posts are performing based on their overall reach, the number of users who have engaged with the post, the number of people talking about it and the post’s overall virality.

Measure Your Tweet Impact

Tools like SocialORM help you find out the impact of your tweets and which of them had the biggest impact on your audience.

Blog Frequently

Always keep your blog updated and give your audience something new to read about frequently.

Fresh content is one of the keys to a blogs success. Your readers are hungry for information. However, make sure your content is unique because at the end of the day, that is what matters the most.

Give Something to Download for Free

Everybody loves free stuff! I do, you do, we all do! Free Give away's are a great way to make your blog popular and if you can give them something premium, the audience is going to love you for that.

Be a Guest Author on Popular Blogs

Given that you are a newbie, you should never miss the opportunity to get noticed on some of the popular blogs in your niche. One blog post on some of these popular blogs can get you huge amount of traffic. Happy Blogging!