MARKETING MAXIMUS E-MAGAZINE 5

Pink Lemonade's Marketing Communication Monthly VOLUME 1 | ISSUE 5

Reputation Management: Key to Effective Digital Marketing 7 Tips for Successful

Email Marketing Best Practices to Boost Your Business on

Instagram

THE MAXIMUS STORY

Inbound vs Outbound Marketing Where Should You Invest?

An interview with

Sriram Gopalaswamy, Marketing Head-Commercial Segment, Lenovo, India December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 1

In the News: The Latest Industry Bites, Served Fresh

Inbound Marketing: Why Inbound Marketing Isn't Working, and Ways to Fix It

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6 The Maximus Story: Lenovo Inbound Marketing

7 Tips for Successful Email Marketing

Best Practices to Boost Your Business on Instagram

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22 Strategic Ways to Optimize Your Social Media Conversion

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Reputation Management: Key to Effective Digital Marketing

Revolutionizing Marketing with Intelligent Chatbots

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18 Can’t #Delete Facebook?

Here’s What Your Brand Can Do Instead

Tug of War Between SEO and Content Marketing

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What's Inside

Keeping Them Trending: The DPS IGCSE Story

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 3

In the News The Latest Industry Bites, Served Fresh

1. Interactive Advertising Bureau announces new blockchain protocol The new protocol, called PrivacyChain, allows companies to track consenting users’ personal data and make it available to retailers and ad agencies.

2. Visual searches are becoming the hottest e-commerce tech among millennials Google, Pinterest, and eBay are adding visual search tools to open up a new marketing channel and directly tap into a growing, tech-savvy audience.

3. Google's censorfriendly search engine ready for China launch The search engine, ‘Project Dragonfly’ — made specifically for the Chinese market — is to be launched within the next six to nine months.

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4. Bharti Airtel ties up with Flipkart and MakeMyTrip The communication major has made strategic partnerships with several e-commerce companies and is providing customized offers to its subscribers.

5. Walmart, AT&T, and Disney set to launch video streaming services To keep up with changing consumer demands from traditional cable channels to video streaming, they are set to start video streaming services shortly.

6. Google launches cloud storage subscription program in India Google One provides expanded user storage — from 100GB to 30TB — that spans across its products: Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

7. Digital payments platform PhonePe introduces micro-apps The Flipkart-owned digital payments platform has enabled users to avail services for OYO, Abhibus, and Myntra from their PhonePe app.

8. Bank of Baroda (BoB) collaborates with True Software Scandinavia The Indian bank has partnered with the company behind Truecaller to enable digital payments using BHIM Baroda Pay's UPI Service.

9. WhatsApp to display ads in the ‘Status’ section of the app This WhatsApp feature will display ads aimed at helping users understand and interact with businesses using the messaging app.

10. Facebook to set up innovation hubs in India The social media giant is collaborating with co-working spaces in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru to set up hubs to foster innovation for startups.

11. Facebook revamps its Marketing Partner program By integrating smaller agencies and independent consultants with tech companies, the program aims to help advertisers on the platform.

12. Verizon breathes new life into Yahoo Small Business The web-hosting, e-commerce, and marketing platform for small businesses is back in action with new investments from Verizon.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 5

WHERE SHOULD YOU INVEST?

By Anushka Chowdhury

Q

What makes Inbound Marketing beneficial for organizations right now?

Before looking at Inbound and Outbound Marketing, I’d like to discuss an intermediate success step — inbound or outbound lead, as a sales pipeline qualifier.

If you look at it quantifiably, inbound leads deliver a 3–4 times higher closure rate than outbound leads. So, theoretically, Inbound Marketing (IM) is better!

However, the underlying deployment factors make the question harder to answer, something that I will talk about here. I should warn you beforehand that I’m not going to use the widely accepted 'attract-convert-close-delight' framework to describe Inbound Marketing in any of my answers below.

Q

Why should businesses invest in Inbound Marketing as compared to Outbound Marketing?

Typically, in a B2B scenario, it is always prudent to invest in Outbound Marketing (OM) since it is immediate. The target audience is finite and largely measurable,

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An interview with Sriram Gopalaswamy, Marketing Head — Commercial Segment, Lenovo, India and it does not require complex MarTech investments. Sales teams love outbound leads — these are qualified customer opportunities and have the potential to be closed favorably.

Inbound Marketing requires patience and oodles of creativity to attract customers and provide the right kind of engagement at every step of their journey. More importantly, different customer segments could follow different journeys, which need to be mapped out — a complex task in itself. And even great marketers won’t be able to churn out five-star-rated content every time.

In a stable B2B segment, I’d advocate the 70–30 method. Spend 70% of your resources on developing immediate prospects, and invest the rest in building an IM infrastructure and, more importantly, the thinking and executive-level alignments required to make the shift. In case you want to move away from the status quo, and are contemplating an IM vs OM scenario from a fresh perspective, here’s what you can do.

If your brand awareness is significant, you should invest more in OM while pushing the

business to expand on scale of reach — since people know you, you may be present in the consideration set, but missing out because of your reach or ability to communicate better. Remember, your channel partner/salesperson’s ability to project trust and close deals is key here.

IM is 4–5x of that on OM. Now, given the fact that the efficiency is 3–4x, it is a fine line of being able to optimize CPLs (Cost Per Lead).

IM can be optimized for CPLs through the efficiency of media and creative.

Often there is a tussle between both! To optimize media, one could work with media at a strategic level, define common performance indicators, and drive mutual goals to increase productivity of spends.

The alternative is to look at pitting multiple media against each other in a battle for share of spends to essentially bring down costs.

If your brand awareness is low and sales reach is limited, you must invest in IM. Typically, startups fall under this category.

And I can speak from experience about one such startup I recently advised. Great product, great value proposition when communicated to investors and a few alpha customers. But struggled to attract customers who are widely dispersed without a standard method to reach them.

My first piece of advice was to break the customer behavior into habits and then start with cleanly worded advice carefully placed in an online forum they frequent (a familiar surrounding) — the message phrase being quantifiably shocking to elicit clicks, and the content being delightfully engaging to read. Then lead the customers to your web page, where you provide an opportunity to engage with them in a manner that befits their expectations.

To optimize creative is much harder — it includes more insight-led questions that stare at marketers every day. It is about merging customer insights with contemporary topics of interest in a subtle yet persuasive manner. A not-so-great yet I-have-to-usehere example is to try to pitch a Client Security feature by tying it to a Netflix Black Mirror episode!

Another problem marketers face is that not all the best ROI models deliver scale.

Scale and ROI continue to trouble the likes of myself to no end and my primary responsibility is to crack the equation every time. But I do try to overcome the problem by using a mix of IM and OM — OM delivers scalability by uncovering large potential requirements, while IM delivers ROI.

Acknowledge pain point

Lead to solution Establish trust through word of mouth

Offer a trial Throw a challenge to spice things up

Q

How can Inbound Marketing help brands generate higher ROI and offer better results?

Now, there are doubts about the efficiency of IM as a technique. But to come to an ROI discussion, we need to examine costs. I’ve typically noticed that the cost per lead on

Q

According to you, what are the best Inbound Marketing strategies for a successful campaign?

I would recommend the following Inbound Marketing strategies: 1. Content on-site and search: This is the most appealing form of Inbound Marketing, where you seed content on the website and drive traffic to the site using search keywords.

2. Content off-site: This is about sponsoring space on a third-party site and placing content to drive site visits.

3. Personal branding: In a country like India, where we create heroes every day, personal branding on social media can be a very effective tool to generate interest.

4. Contact generation: This involves a lot of creative ideation to find out what could be the best method to prepare a prospect list. A small prospect list is easy. Getting to a larger prospect list can be a tricky

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proposition — and sometimes you can use a content off-site strategy with unrelated, but more clickable, content to generate leads.

Q

6. Mapping social networks and forums: This could be useful in connecting with them through professional social networks like LinkedIn.

How can Inbound Marketing use digital marketing to drive better results?

Digital marketing is an evolving field and I strongly recommend a continuous experimentation methodology to keep abreast of new technologies. Here is what I have experienced while experimenting with many things in general:

1. Keywords are important to own: Include certain specific keywords or phrases that can build an association with your product or solution. It may sound as audacious as ‘Elemental Transformation’ but helps form an association.

2. Form-fills can get boring: Try using smart forms. If you have the volume and resources, try chat or even WhatsApp if you expect traffic on mobile.

3. How much of your actual offering experience can you drive online: Free trials, webinars, and assessment reports based on automated questionnaires.

4. Manage your reputation: Get your customers, partners, and media to talk about you online. Reputation content often has a half-life and loses relevance after six months, typically.

5. Sharper audience tracking: You could have a prospect list — nothing is more delightful than having a potential customer reach out to you digitally before you reach out to them. In which case, you can explore options of letting them know that they are a top priority and hence are entitled to above-normal engagement.

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7. Location-based targeting: A major event is happening and it’s too expensive for you to participate? Try location-based pinpointed targeting.

Q

What’s your go-to Inbound Marketing checklist for greater impact?

I would break down the components of a successful Inbound Marketing campaign in the following manner: 1. Content creation: This is the most difficult thing to start. Force a biweekly Friday deadline to get things moving.

Remember that content can be tweaked over a period of time and, more importantly, re-hashing and re-promoting your old posts is completely acceptable.

Long-form content shows your expertise in the subject and attracts CXOs. One of the easiest and most liked forms of content is resource lists. Your readers should be able to draw a distinct personality from all your content.

2. Defining a next-step engagement: It could be a free trial or download. At the least, put up a quiz so you can attract peoples and collect email IDs for your newsletter!

3. Contact generation through some crazy thinking: Look at some alternate ways of getting contact details of potential customers and building your database.

You could create what I call ‘side content’, which is not related to your business but still targets the same customer base.

Or collaborate with a business that is complementary in offering but targets the same audience as you.

4. Split-second response generation: This is the most overlooked part of demand generation today. In most cases, queries are passed around until someone picks them up, without giving a thought to what kind of enquiries may come on. It makes

sense to think through all possible cases of inbound interest, and prepare appropriate revert mechanisms for the same. A lot of it could be how to ensure staying in touch for six months or more until an opportunity pops up. My recommendation is to have a qualification mechanism in place that can respond to customers ideally within the hour.

Q

contact discovery — so either use digital means like Crunchbase, Linkedin, and InsideView, or go the traditional route like most B2B companies — telecalling.

You’ll then need a platform to register multiple signals from the customer. This platform could be an extension of your CRM or a dedicated marketing automation platform such as Marketo, Eloqua, or Unica.

What are the digital platforms that you usually target that are effective from a business point of view?

Today, most companies have a reliable CRM solution — a great starting point for Inbound Marketing. Google follows the list for intelligent keyword search targeting and remarketing. For Lenovo, I am slowly realizing the potential that LinkedIn offers, and my focus on this platform is gradually growing. I am not so active on Facebook for targeting businesses based purely on my judgement from the last few campaigns I’ve run on this platform.

Q

How much time should a brand invest to quickly generate results?

Q

Which tools or platforms are most handy for effective Inbound Marketing?

When you do start a pilot, it takes at least three months to effectively monitor and calibrate actions to improve results. I typically define early signs within a two-week timeframe and a follow-through every week. Post a three-month pilot, it takes us another quarter to scale up and run a campaign effectively.

You need to apply your industry-specific parameters to know how to interpret signals (classify them as strong or weak) and tweak your platform accordingly over a period of time. For some, an email from the customer can be the strongest indication of willingness to buy. For others, an email is just a query and not a purchase intent.

Q

According to you, which brands have mastered the art of Inbound Marketing, and why?

I think premier educational institutes do some of the best work in Inbound Marketing.

Harvard Business Review, I consider as a stellar example in drawing target audiences across their various educational and industry connect initiatives. Interestingly, they have been at it long before the digital best came into existence. On a more recent note, I think Zendesk is creating a plethora of exciting content at different levels, and Trello is using customer advocacy as a potent tool.

There are three things to look at while implementing IM. You need a platform for

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 9

Top

5 Reasons

Why Inbound Marketing Isn't Working and Ways to Fix It.

By Madhuri Keta So you have fallen in love with the concept of Inbound Marketing and have invested time and resources in making it a part of the marketing mix. You’re serious about Inbound Marketing and are focused on making it work. From creating a company blog and social media accounts to investing in marketing automation software, you have done everything by the rule book.

Initially it was going great — increased site traffic, more blog subscribers, and growing follower-base on social media. Just when you thought it was perfect, things started to change for the worse. Your inbound

growth slowed down — traffic subsided and leads are not what they used to be.

1. You’ve cast the net wide

them. However, where inbound-aligned content is concerned, ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t work. If you’re running those broad-reach campaigns and wondering why there are no results, here is the answer: whether you are a B2B or a B2C marketer, every buyer

Inbound Marketing works on the principle of ‘show and seek’ where businesses canvas the Internet with content that helps prospective clients find 10 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | December 2018

Is Inbound Marketing fetching results at all? A recent Hubspot survey revealed that about 46% of marketers said their Inbound Marketing efforts gave them a higher ROI, while only 12% said outbound did. Clearly, inbound is working for them but not for you.

Here are the reasons why your Inbound Marketing efforts are not getting results and how to fix them.

today expects a personalized buying experience.

They look for information that is tailored to their business needs. The more you meet their requirements and address their queries, the better your chances of winning their trust. Understanding your buyer personas and mapping the buyers’ journeys will help you offer the most informative, relevant, and timely content that addresses your buyers' questions and challenges.

2. You aren’t reaching the decision makers Almost 80% of B2B buyers prefer to do their own research before speaking to a salesperson. A whopping 97% of B2C consumers have a preferred vendor in mind even before they make a purchase.

Furthermore, they rely on various sources for research — social media, peer group, and online reviews.

Decision makers are known to respond well to brands that position themselves as thought-leaders, and are adept at telling interesting stories using informative content such as white papers and expert blog posts.

That said, more often than not, the leads generated through B2B Inbound Marketing are not the final decision makers. It is likely that the decision makers (read C-suite) have delegated the research to a junior employee or intern. If you have been giving too much importance to such inbound leads without fully qualifying them, your Inbound Marketing efforts may be in vain. Reaching the final decision makers or buyers has to be at the center of your content marketing strategy. That leads us to the next reason for poor performance of your inbound — inadequate emphasis on audience segmentation.

3. You’re overlooking the benefits of audience segmentation According to HubSpot’s State of Inbound Report, businesses that focus primarily on Inbound Marketing save more than $14 on acquiring each new customer. The good news is that this cost can be further reduced with content targeted at specific audience segments.

As more and more users conduct research and make purchase decisions online, audience segmentation has become even more pivotal to Inbound Marketing success. Be it highly targeted ad campaigns or personalized web pages for returning visitors, audience segmentation has made it easier to reach out to a specific persona, group, or individual online.

Today, inbound marketers have a wealth of information at their fingertips — they get instant updates when someone visits their site or downloads a piece of content. Marketers can use the information to customize their personas’ buying experience, instead of trying to appease all personas at the same time.

With the help of segmentation, you will be able to achieve the following benefits: • Determine your distinct targets • Tailor your key messaging to resonate with your targets • Meet specific prospect needs that help drive conversions • Build relationships and nurture loyalty by making meaningful and engaging connections throughout the buyer’s journey • Warm leads to potentially accelerate your sales cycle

How to design targeted content for four specific categories of buyers (both B2B and B2C)

Potential customers

Offer highly engaging content and general information in a lighter tone

Product/service experts

Focus on convincing them through well researched info and plenty of data

New customers

Introduce them to your company, offer useful tips and information

Insiders

Use self-promoting content, make them feel like part of the club, and give them the inside scoop

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 11

4. You’re not investing in your website Is your website a static, digital brochure that is filled with ‘what we do’, and ‘why we’re the best’? Have you ever considered revamping your e-commerce portal to suit the latest trends and customer expectations? Your website is your biggest real-estate online and your ability to use it to your advantage will give you a clear edge over others.

Top 10 characteristics of a website for the success of Inbound Marketing: • Easy accessibility, user-friendliness • Compatibility with multiple devices and browsers • Well-structured, formatted, and easy-to-consume content • Fast loading time • Correct display of error messages • Seamless navigation If you’re a new inbound enthusiast and want to catch up with the 'Usain Bolts' of Inbound Marketing, remember that creating or redesigning your website will comprise the first lap of the race. Research recommends taking this simple test to see if your website needs to be improved. Given a choice, will you want to change the way you talk about your business or redo your website? The website gets picked every single time. This data is based on 10,000 hours of working with CEOs and business owners.

To be fair to you, you probably started off with an amazing website. However, as your products or service offerings increase or diversify, you will probably keep adding content to the website, thereby making it complicated and overloaded. In short, your website is what your customers do not enjoy using. It should have a clean and simple UI, with a clear conversion path so your customers finds what they want — quickly and easily. Invest in a good web designer and be open to testing and adjusting colors, layouts, designs, 12 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | December 2018

etc. Experts suggest that you must build it with the assumption that it’s going to be constantly changing.

Find out where you get the maximum traffic from and include clear CTAs on those pages. Utilize the white spaces on your website smartly and include CTAs that stand out and demand attention. Check the success rate of CTAs and make changes to suit ongoing offers and upcoming attractions. Using data to plan your marketing strategy and execution seems like an obvious thing to do, but if your inbound isn’t effective, you’re probably overlooking the obvious.

5. You’re not utilizing data to drive decisions A recent study says that 69% of marketing leaders expected the majority of their decisions to be driven by data by the end of 2018. Not surprisingly, marketing analytics account for 9.2% of the marketing budget in 2017–18 — the largest share of any category. Despite the abundance of data and availability of resources, many Inbound Marketing strategies fail because they are not data-driven.

Even though the data related to the performance of an Inbound Marketing campaign is available on a daily basis, some marketers don’t review it until the campaign is over. If only they had constantly monitored the metrics and data and adjusted their campaign accordingly, they’d have achieved optimal results from the campaign. When managing an inbound program, it is essential that marketers look into metrics on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis and develop what some call 'data rhythms'.

Inbound Marketing analytics help you inspect the content preferences of various consumers at different stages in their buyer journey. Comparing this with conversion data is a good way to plan the placement

of specific kinds of content for specific users. Content marketing is an important part of Inbound Marketing and knowing the right time and the right place to showcase your content is half the battle won. But what good is the placement if your content isn’t great? This brings us to the problem of having non-performing content.

As clichéd as it may sound, content is still the king.

By creating and publishing compelling content that resonates with your audience segment and answers their questions, you’re creating a bond with your consumers. They are more likely to buy from people they trust and even more likely to stay loyal to such businesses.

6. Your content isn’t good enough Hot tip: The content you create must be informative, engaging, and easy to share.

More importantly, it must be so good that people are compelled to share.

Did you know that content marketing costs about 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads? Such is the power of the right content. No wonder almost 4% of marketing budget is spent on content marketing by the most effective marketers. And almost 37% of marketers believe that content-led website is the most effective way to engage customers and increase ROI.

Create a content schedule that includes blog topics, themes, client programs, etc.

Create content in bite-size, shortform or long-form depending on target segment.

Determine the appropriate channel of distribution.

Duly promote each piece of content.

Reach out to influential social media experts and bloggers.

Track conversion metrics and optimize around high-performing content.

Inbound Marketing Done Right The biggest takeaway for marketers from today’s Inbound Marketing scenario is that B2B and B2C are converging. It is essential, even inevitable, for businesses to understand and acknowledge that both B2B and B2C customers expect nothing less than personalized sales experiences. Its tactics rely heavily on three pillars — content marketing, analytics, and websites; and more and more companies are choosing these because of their proven success and relevancy. After all, Inbound Marketing isn't just a fad but the foundation for the growth of a business.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 13

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: KEY TO EFFECTIVE DIGITAL MARKETING

By Shivangi Narain

In this digital age, word of mouth is more important than ever, as consumers have the ability to influence millions of people around the globe. Every business knows the power of good reviews on social media, but the unlucky few are acutely aware of the impact of a bad one. To stay ahead of the game, a digital marketing plan needs to go beyond SEO and SERPs, and venture into the territory of Online Reputation Management (ORM).

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of this as brands interact with their consumer base, molding their brand image with each tweet. Positive experiences lead to positive reviews, which are your greatest weapons when it comes to attracting new customers.

WHAT IS ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT? Most 21st century businesses know the value of a strong social media presence. It is an important part of any digital marketer’s arsenal because it allows your consumer base to talk to you directly and, more importantly, publicly. Unfortunately, the organic nature of this interaction means that anything goes — good or bad — you have no control over it. ORM straddles the line between PR and marketing, helping you manage the masses and drive conversations in a favorable direction.

ORM AND DIGITAL MARKETING

Then what about bad reviews? These days, one misstep results in a brand torn to shreds online.

Reputation management becomes vital in such cases as rumors, stories, and interactions are viewed by millions of people per minute. When something goes wrong, half the world will know about it by lunchtime.

In the event of major public displeasure, a brand can leverage social media to appease the crowd. Crisis management with ORM can take many forms. One way is to moderate search engine results to reflect credible, positive information. Another is to use social media to interact directly with the public. England’s Southern Rails used the latter to great success. The muchmaligned rail line saw a positive social media response after allowing their 15-year-old intern take over their Twitter account. His witty responses helped boost the brand’s image after severe criticisms of disruptions and cancellations by the rail line.

THE TAKEAWAY Even the most digitally savvy business will find that reputation management is a tool that makes or breaks a digital campaign. It can act as a motor, driving you forward, and as a safety net to help you bounce back after a fall. Search engine optimization and social media marketing bring in potential customers, but it’s reputation management that makes them stay.

Setting up social media accounts for your business is easy, but using them to their full potential can be tricky. Without ORM, the best-laid plans could be in vain. It can be used to enhance the impact of digital marketing, shaping the brand’s persona in the eyes of its client base. At the same time, it is a highly valuable tool for crisis management.

If your business has an online presence, reputation management can impact your level of sales. Most customers look for more than price and quality when researching a brand or product. They search for intangible traits — customer care, personal values, and ethical practices. If you use digital platforms to project these qualities well, you are more likely to attract loyal customers. Because the average customer is more likely to choose a brand that has been talked up by their peers. Even something as simple as responding in a helpful and polite manner to a negative comment can position your brand as one that cares for its customers. Twitter provides numerous examples

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 15

Can’t #DeleteFacebook?

Here’s What Your Brand Can Do Instead!

By Shamolie Oberoi

Over the last two months, the term ‘Cambridge’ has found a whole new meaning. Earlier, you most likely associated it with the world-famous university. Cut to the present day, and the association isn’t quite as elite.

In March this year, shocking (or not quite) allegations broke that Facebook had breached its users' privacy. And this wasn’t any small breach — reports suggested that Cambridge Analytica (CA), a data firm hired by Donald Trump’s campaign to create targeted ads during the 2016 election, harvested data from 50 million Facebook users.

To make matters worse, CA executives were caught bragging on camera that they helped rig the presidential election.

Social media erupted, and rightly so. After all, Facebook probably knows more about us than most people do — from political affiliations to favorite restaurants.

Soon enough, the Twitterverse was rife with clamors to #DeleteFacebook. The scandal also saw the social media giant’s value fall by 60 billion dollars, and wiped billions from founder Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth.

But how effective was the #DeleteFacebook campaign after all? At its peak, the hashtag got over 62,000 mentions. Sounds like a big number, but in the larger scheme of things, it really isn’t. Facebook’s average revenue per user is about $6. Let us multiply that with the number of mentions. Even if all 62,000 deleted their accounts, the site would lose $360,000 — loose change for a behemoth like Facebook.

On the other hand, people like Apple’s Steve Wozniack, pop star Cher, and business magnate Elon Musk have deleted their accounts, with the latter also deactivating his Tesla and SpaceX pages. Tech giant Mozilla and Germany’s second-largest bank, Commerzbank, paused their Facebook advertising. Even the iconic American magazine, Playboy, announced that it would be "stepping away" from Facebook. Needless to say, this has cost the social media platform dearly.

But the fact still remains that Facebook’s reach is second to none when it comes to social media. And for this reason, most brands still want (and need) to capitalize on the benefits that the platform offers.

After all, deactivating your Facebook account could mean reduced visibility and, in effect, losing millions of potential customers. So, how do you get around this conundrum?

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The key is to use Facebook wisely — and here’s how: Pink Lemonade 15 min

Users agree to share data with Facebook every time they access any third-party app. Brands usually do this to ensure a smoother user experience, without users having to sign in using a separate login ID. However, each time someone logs into a third-party mobile app via Facebook, a staggering amount of data is transferred to the social media giant — and most users are blissfully unaware. The simplest way to avert breaches is to ensure that your brand clearly defines its use of customer data, and its impact on user experience. Good faith is essential to any brand, especially in this post-Analytica era, where users are bound to be hyper-vigilant about what they share and with whom.

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Pink Lemonade 15 min

While Facebook is sure to survive this scandal, it is indicating a move from being an advertising platform towards providing connectivity between friends and family.

Obviously, this implies that social media marketing efforts on the site will take a hit. Therefore, spread marketing strategies across channels — Google Plus, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube — the options are endless. This multichannel marketing tactic ensures your brand is not crippled by a scandal hitting one platform.

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Pink Lemonade 15 min

The important question in a situation like this is, what happens to deleted data once your brand dissociates from Facebook?

Unfortunately, Facebook is the digital equivalent of the Orwellian Big Brother — it’s always watching. The way forward, then, is to push for privacy regulations beyond just Facebook. Multinational corporations, whether on Facebook or not, have an immense effect on international regulations.

They must use their financial and social capital to push for broader privacy legislations that apply to any enterprise that collects and stores information about users, employees, or clients. One example of this is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA. As of the first quarter of 2018, Facebook had about 2.18 billion members. So, if the website were a country, it would be bigger than the United States of America. In the face of this staggering reach, the one thing we can do is force Facebook to wield its power responsibly — after all, in the words of Uncle Ben, with great power comes great responsibility.

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December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 17

Revolutionizing Marketing With Intelligent Bots

By Divya Swamy

Would you buy an item being sold to you by a bot? Nearly 47% of consumers said they would.

As the economy morphs from analog to digital, it becomes increasingly hard to ignore the various opportunities Artificial Intelligence (AI) brings to marketing. And global brands are promptly jumping onto this bandwagon — the trailblazers being H&M and Sephora, who have already gravitated towards ‘Bot Shops’. Their next-generation shopping apps are driven by bots that initiate conversation with customers and record their preferences and purchasing habits. So, are bots replacing sales representatives? Although the answer to this remains ambiguous, the possibility does not seem very distant.

1.4 billion

people use chatbots

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By 2020, 80% of businesses will adopt chatbots

The marketing landscape is changing dramatically; and we are here to show you how to take the lead with AI.

Revenue from AI expected

$39 billion by 2025 vs $644 million i n 2016 to hit

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 19

MARKETING YOUR CONTENT WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE With newer digital platforms, the pressure to create more and more content is on the rise, which invariably clogs these channels. As a result, consumers suffocate under the burden of notifications and advertisements. In addition, communication through blogs, emails, and advertisements tends to be one-way — there is little engagement or feedback from consumers. This is where chatbots become essential to marketing as they can converse while gathering insights. One such bot is Morph.ai, which performs several marketing functions and also creates a feedback loop.

BUILDING A BRAND WITH YOUR CHATBOT With so much content going unnoticed, chatbots have the potential to pave the way for dialogue.

Natural Language Processing (NLP) helps engage the consumer in a realistic conversation, which helps evoke a feeling of trust. In fact, you can go a step further and program bots to be witty and interesting.

It is essential to understand that creating a bot is not entirely a technical endeavor; it has to be crafted carefully to further the brand’s image. Chatbots can turn into brand mascots if they are able to leave a mark with their intelligence — the most popular example being Apple’s Siri. She is able to hold sensible conversations and even crack jokes when required. When your chatbot is loved by consumers, they will come back to chat with it over and over again. And every time this happens, you have an opportunity to learn something new about them.

BRANDING THROUGH YOUR SMART DEVICE Chatbots are usually integrated within websites or applications, and are programmed to provide assistance. However, 84% of smartphone users actively use only five apps out of the several installed on their phones.

Integrating your bot with a commonly used platform, such as Facebook Messenger, allows your users to interact with your brand without downloading another app. If you plan to offer a standalone bot, consumers prefer one that can multitask. For instance, WeChat in China is not just a messaging and video calling app — it also enables users to book cabs, order food, share documents, and much more. You can program your bot to trigger additional functions when certain keywords are used as commands. So, when your consumer enquires about new offers, make sure your bot is capable of providing relevant information right away.

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SIMPLIFYING CUSTOMER CARE The most widely explored use of chatbots in marketing has been in the area of customer care. As they gather more and more information about users with every interaction, bots are able to function based on crucial insights that are intrinsic to each user. They can even help servicing teams identify buyer behavior or predict it. These insights can then be used to narrow down the targeting of promotions even further.

TARGETING YOUR DEMOGRAPHY WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Chatbots must be equipped with tools of personalization. One of the most interesting prototypes was Insomnobot 3000 — a bot programmed to strike up conversations with insomniacs and keep them company till the wee hours of the morning. This human-like bot was designed to be a friend in need, keeping insomniacs from feeling lonely or bored. Likewise, you can create a chatbot that has character through customizable features. When a bot starts to reply accurately and triggers meaningful functions, it becomes indispensable to the user.

DO YOU REALLY NEED A CHATBOT FOR YOUR MARKETING? Chatbots garner undying loyalty when they provide smart solutions to everyday problems. One such bot, Endurance, is programmed to assist people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It stands to reason that, in order to create a lasting impression, your chatbot must have a purpose, and a larger goal to aspire to. Organizations also need to assess whether they have an organic need for a chatbot before developing one. It is better not to have a chatbot than have one that serves no purpose.

While chatbots no longer seem to belong in a science fiction novel, they are still far from perfect.

For example, at Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory, things took an uncomfortable turn. Bots programmed to gather context by chatting with their human counterparts began to speak their own language without any external input.

Like most things on this planet, chatbot technology needs to evolve too — especially to master context-specific functions. Until then, marketers can leverage the available technology to automate interactions with consumers. For all you know, a bot could be your next brand ambassador.

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Picking the right strategy with email marketing is a tricky job. Just like baking an

apple pie. Everyone has their own recipe based

on what works for them. There is no ‘one size fits all’ formula here. But when done right, it can become an excellent customer acquisition tool, with very high ROI. Mailers give you a unique marketing advantage by allowing you to converse with your customers whenever and wherever.

Tips for Successful

Email Marketing So, here are some dos and don’ts of email marketing that might come in handy.

By Marian D'Souza

1. PLAN THE CONTENT Emails with a word count of

Preheat the oven to 425F

75 to 100

have the highest response rate.

So, aim for bite-sized mailers instead of trying to feed your customer the entire pie at once. a. Keep content crisp and short b. Add a compelling call to action c. Support the text with 1 or 2 images

Mix apples, powdered spices, and sugar in a bowl

2. SEASON IT WITH INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS

48%

of emails are opened on smartphones.

So, think responsive and add interactive elements. Remember, everyone prefers a well-seasoned pie. a. Look beyond conventional layouts b. Ensure easy readability on all devices c. Spice it up with videos, GIFs, and more

3. ASK FOR PERMISSION

90%

Over of the people prefer organizations that ask permission before contacting them.

So, ask your customers to subscribe to your email list and ensure a healthy relationship. Think of it like a pie crust — too thin and the pie crumbles; too thick and it feels doughy. a. Request subscriptions at multiple touch points b. Listen and gauge consumer responses c. Take care not to overdo it 22 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | December 2018

Place the pie crust into the pie plate

4. FINE-TUNE YOUR EMAIL LISTS

Add the apples into the pie plate and cover the crust

80%

of marketers feel that their lead generation efforts are not giving them satisfactory results.

So, check and update your email lists regularly — much like adding the right amount of apples to your crust. a. Check for duplicates b. Identify consumers who have not opened emails c. Retarget and eliminate subscribers that are no longer interested

Carve decorative slits into the pastry

5. ENSURE THE RIGHT IMAGE-TO-TEXT RATIO

64%

of people prefer rich-text emails.

So, keep a healthy balance of images and copy in your email.

Just like your pie, too many slits and it could get dry. a. Reduce the number of images to improve Click Through Rates (CTR) b. Keep the number of images minimal to avoid giving an impression that the mailer is spammy c. Lessen the number of images for smaller file sizes and a better user experience

Place the pie in a preheated oven for 45 minutes

6. BE MOBILE-FRIENDLY By the end of 2018, worldwide mobile email users are expected to total over

2.2 billion.

So test your emails on different screen sizes before sending them out. Similar to preheating the oven, which ensures your pie gets cooked evenly. a. Ensure easy readability on all screens b. Check for functionality of all interactive elements

7. ADD A PERSONAL TOUCH Over

50%

of consumers are likely to switch

brands if a company doesn’t personalize communication.

Serve it hot or with a dollop of ice cream on the side

So, add a personal touch to every email, just like how you serve a pie. Some like it with ice cream, others prefer a scoop of whipped cream.

Well, that’s our recipe for wellbaked emailers.

But feel free to mix things up and serve it how your customers like it.

We’d say, statistics are a good place to start and plan a winning strategy for 2019.

a. Explore AI-based targeting software b. Target according to customer personas c. Keep consumer locations and timezones in mind

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 23

10 STRATEGIES TO BOOST YOUR BRAND'S SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSION

By Varun Vibhakar

What’s the point of a large online following without social media conversions? Find out how your brand can make the most of its following!

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Whether it’s Wendy’s smart-mouthed, super-sassy Twitter throwdowns or BBC’s sharp-but-not-showy Instagram stories, brands are going all out to make themselves heard and seen across the interwebs. And why wouldn’t they? In Wendy’s case alone, brash, in-your-face tweets and replies have boosted their following from 815K to 2.49M on Twitter, 7.7M to 8M on Facebook, and 139K to 730K on Instagram — in just 3 years!

But, what’s the point of all the talk without any walk? A large social media base that doesn’t equate to more sales or subscriptions adds very little value to your business.

What is a good social media conversion rate?

On an average, 2–5% is considered to be a fairly successful conversion rate by most companies. However, this need not be the case.

A great example of this is what Atlas Communications, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency, did for one of their clients — a local property management firm looking to attract residents for their rented apartments. Over a year, Atlas used effective social media campaigns to boost their client’s web traffic to an annual average of 72%. During the same period, their client also got 3,156 leads from channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, averaging more than 250 leads a month!

As the above stats show, when it comes to social media conversions, the sky's the limit!

All you need to do is include a few strategies in your digital campaign that are sure to turn likes into buys.

Which is why having an eye on your social media conversion rate comes in handy. Simply put, social media conversion rate is the percentage of visitors from social media channels, on your website, who complete a desired action. This could be anything from buying a book to taking a loan. This seemingly small metric is great for gauging the effectiveness of your online marketing campaigns and discovering the right tone to talk to your target audience.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 25

01

CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT

Nothing harms conversions more than following a one-size-fits-all approach to content, especially when you’re dealing with engagement through social media. Instead, build a clear content strategy that plays to your strengths and has a voice that your target audience can relate to. A great example of this is the American diner brand — Denny’s — which uses relevant memes such as ‘What Are Those?’ as part of their marketing strategy. Since 2013, this has helped the fast food chain’s sales go up from $1.43M to $1.59M in company-owned stores, and $2.01M to $2.28M in franchisee stores.

02

MAKE MOBILE-FRIENDLY LANDING PAGES Over 80% of social media interaction happens on mobile phones these days, making it crucial for your landing page designs to be mobile-friendly. This could mean anything from simply using screen-size appropriate images to calibrating the landing page for both portrait and landscape modes. The Moto 360 mobile landing page is a great example of how to do this right — it has crisp, to-the-point copy, clean, high-resolution images, and a minimal yet effective call-to-action.

03

KEEP POSTS AND TWEETS SHORT Long-drawn videos and blog posts are a huge turnoff on social media. In order to grab your audience’s attention, make sure your content is crisp, clear, and consistent. In this regard, it’s always best to have a bold and direct headline that attracts your target group and holds their attention. A brand that has been doing this very well is Ikea India, whose Facebook and Instagram posts are concise but still engaging. This is probably why the international furniture giant, which is yet to open a brick-and-mortar store in India, already boasts 14K followers on Instagram, and over 26M on FB.

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04

SPLIT-TEST SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS Finding the tone that speaks straight to your targeted audience can sometimes feel like learning a new language. To make this simpler, you should split test (or A/B test) your social media posts on parameters such as their design style, content tone, posting schedules, and targeting criteria. And while it isn’t possible to test every post indefinitely, you should ideally run it for your initial posts or campaigns till you crack what your audience likes.

05

USE TRENDING HASHTAGS

With Instagram shifting to an interest-networking model, it only makes sense to embed relevant and trending hashtags within your content. This will make your brand visible to people who aren’t following your product page, netting you a larger audience in the long run. Depending on your business, you can use hashtags that are relevant to the industry, such as #boots if you’re a footwear retailer and #ootd (Outfit Of The Day) for your clothing brand. Popular kitsch brand Chumbak does this really well — putting out posts that have a single line of content and a plethora of hashtags for their 18.9K followers on Instagram.

06

ASK FOR ENGAGEMENT

Regardless of the industry, you can always create content that engages your followers and pushes them to interact with you online. A great way to do this is by welcoming their comments or screenshots on your posts, or retweets on your tweets. Here, you can take a leaf out of TV host Jimmy Fallon’s book.

Every week, following the telecast of his show, a new hashtag challenge — such as ‘#MyWeirdNeighbor’ and ‘#DadQuotes’ — is put up across his social media platforms. Challenges like these are a fun way to get your audience to engage with you and, in due course, push them to visit your website.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 27

07

LEVERAGE ‘SOCIAL PROOF’ Just like other animals, we humans too have a herd mentality. You can make this mindset work in your brand’s favor by using the power of ‘social proof’ to increase conversions. Some of the types of social proof you can use online are expert opinions, endorsements from trusted celebs, or user testimonials. A brand that has really been using this to its advantage is Beats by Dr Dre, which routinely features celebrities to keep their 8.8M Facebook followers hooked.

08

INCLUDE FACEBOOK PIXEL Facebook Pixel is a major boon to web developers and business owners. It’s a simple line of code that can be added to your existing script in a jiffy — giving you access to an amazing dashboard that keeps track of your Facebook visitors. By adding Pixel to your website, you can also get quality insights on your website’s traffic, measure cross-device conversion, and focus on people who are most likely to take action. You can also use this product on Instagram and Facebook Messenger. M&M India’s outreach strategy is a wonderful example of Pixel in action.

During the course of the campaign, M&M’s team used Pixel to reduce ad repetition among followers, increasing recall by 10 points in 1.5 months!

09

BUILD BRAND DATABASES TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS In-store databases can be the foundation of your online follower base. Reaching out to such customers on social media, either through personal messages or full-fledged posts, goes a long way in building trust among prospective buyers. For instance, automobile dealerships could make posts featuring their latest customers, thanking them after a deal is closed. This reflects well on the seller, while giving the buyer bragging rights among his family.

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10

EMPLOY MESSENGER BOTS Often, impersonal social media posts and tweets leave your prospective customers asking for more. While these creatives are great for spreading information, they leave several queries and doubts hanging. This is where messenger bots play a key role. By having a bot ready to handle basic queries on your social media channels, you can address any doubts of prospective customers and convert them to paying clients. Disney has done a great job of using messenger bots to drive more engagement on their pages by customizing them to match the tone and style of their popular characters.

Some of them, such as Ms Piggy from ‘The Muppets’ and Doc Brown from ‘Back to the Future’, give visitors the opportunity to chat with their favorite cartoons and see another side of them, first-hand.

Social media gives you and your brand an unparalleled opportunity to attract audiences and convert them into actual sales! However, if you are uncertain about how to implement these strategies, there’s no need to

fret. With several successful social media campaigns under our belt, we are geared up with an arsenal of time-tested strategies that are sure to convert your followers into customers!

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 29

Best Practices to Boost Your Business on INSTAGRAM

By Kavya Khashnobish With over 25 million active business profiles, Instagram has cemented its position as the preferred platform for digital marketing. This social network has grown e xponentially in the recent past and currently has more than 300 million active daily users. But the a udience on Instagram can be fickle, and they’re incredibly sensitive to changes in online trends. This then poses a unique challenge — in a sea of competitors eager to grab attention, how can you m ake your business swim instead of sink?

Here’s our list of the best practices on Instagram to make sure your business isn’t just another drop in the ocean:

Know your consumer inside-out through Instagram Polls Present-day consumers aren’t satisfied with being silent spectators in the retail process. They prefer to participate in deciding what and how companies sell to them. Instagram’s freshest features — Instagram Polls and Emoji Sliders — allow your business to empower consumers to be a part of the process. Want to interact with your audience and know more about their demands? These tools are your quickest ticket to solid market insights.

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Insta Instances

All the biggest players on Instagram have started taking advantage of these features by regularly asking poll questions on their profiles. While Burger King often asks questions about which burger people prefer, Animal Planet puts up mini quizzes and activities to keep people involved.

Maximize the potential of Instagram Stories

Insta Instances

Instagram’s ‘Story’ feature is a boon for businesses looking to leverage the platform and further their brand. For starters, get creative with your use of Instagram Stories.

Host ‘Instagram Takeovers’ through celebrities and influencers to add a more human touch to your Instagram profile. Or just use the 24-hour time window to incentivize loyal followers with exclusive discounts and offers. You can even use the feature to share links through your story with the ‘Swipe Up’ option — thereby increasing the likelihood of a purchase. It’s also an ideal way to give sneak peeks of upcoming product launches to pique the curiosity of your target group. Simply put, the possibilities are endless with this feature.

'Next-level You', executed by established online retailer ASOS, is a fine example of an Instagram Story campaign.

The video campaign was perfectly designed for the medium — featuring fashion-conscious, Internet-savvy, 20-somethings — conveying a strong brand message and engaging their Instagram audience rather than pushing specific products.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 31

Provide demonstrations through Instagram Live One of the biggest concerns consumers have when it comes to online purchases is whether or not the product will be as great as it looks on the screen. This is where Instagram can help reassure them by posting demo videos through its Live feature. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to post live videos and allows you to access a stream of viewer comments in real-time — helping you address their concerns immediately.

Strategize the use of hashtags Even though hashtags have been a core component of social media marketing, the latest update of this humble feature takes it up a notch — Instagram now allows users to follow hashtags. Although you cannot view how many people follow a particular hashtag, it does show you some handy data such as the number of posts under each tag as well as the demographic engaging with it.

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Insta Instances

Nykaa, an online beauty retailer, has utilized Instagram Live to the fullest by conducting product demonstrations and Q&As regularly. This is a key factor in maintaining the brand’s immense popularity and credibility.

Build a community with crowdsourced content Continuously generating interesting content for your Instagram feed can be quite a task. Crowdsourcing is a simple solution to this problem and packs a punch.

In a nutshell, you can source creative User Generated Content (UGC) from diverse online communities. This helps your business in two ways — it infuses your feed with incredible images and also acts as a way of increasing brand awareness among Instagram users. But most of all, it builds brand affinity. Users would be thrilled at having their content tagged as the brand’s, thereby generating a community of loyal followers to surround your brand.

Prioritize experiences over products In today’s world, where buying things is easier than ever, there has been a fundamental shift in consumer mindset — experiences now trump products and services. If you feel the need to give your business an experiential makeover, Instagram is the place to be! Its various features — be it photos, videos, or stories — allow you to successfully build context around your brand. Use these to shift the focus from functional aspects of your product to the potential experiences your product could enable for an effective marketing strategy.

Insta Instances

Lenovo, a trailblazer in the tech space, put this idea into practice with their 2015 crowdsourcing Instagram campaign ‘#IHackedLife’. The campaign asked followers to share videos of life hacks with the hashtag ‘#IHackedLife’ — generating loads of quality content for their feed while simultaneously increasing their brand awareness.

Insta Instances GoPro, makers of “the world’s most versatile camera”, is a paragon of this ideology in practice. By filling their Instagram feed with pictures of breathtaking locations, they’ve built a captivating context around their product, leaving their followers craving that experience.

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 33

The tug of war between

SEO and Content Marketing: Truth or just hearsay?

By Reshma Bhardwaj

If ranking and generating search traffic are your top-of-mind concerns, it’s imperative that content marketing is tightly integrated with your SEO strategy. Although different in approach and structure, these two components of digital marketing are inextricably linked.

When done well, a content marketing-led SEO strategy can improve brand awareness, drive more engagements with your business, and increase your conversions.

Meet Ashley, a chocolatier and the sole proprietor of The Chocolate Tuck Shop located in Uptown Manhattan. Her distinctive chocolates, gourmet cookies, and unique flavor combinations make her the talk of the town. As one of the top chocolatiers in the city, Ashley would want The Chocolate Tuck Shop to rank for luxury chocolate-related keywords. But it isn’t getting the recognition it deserves in Google searches. Ashley is rattled — after all, she has invested considerable time and money building an SEO-friendly website. One that offers all it takes to achieve the desired ranking and search traffic. Then, the million dollar question is: why isn’t her effort paying off?

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FOR STARTERS, ASHLEY SHOULD CONSIDER ADDING A HEALTHY DOSE OF CONTENT MARKETING TO HER SEO STRATEGY Today’s SEO standards are notably different from the generous splashing of substandard, keyword-rich sentences of yesteryear. Irrefutably, keywords are still relevant to ranking well in search engines, but the focus has now moved from the liberal addition of keywords to the creation of meaningful content that covers your products/services and the industry at large.

Over the years, content marketing has gone beyond being a mere buzzword to an industry must-have.

When done well, content marketing can help you build brand awareness and develop relationships with your target consumer and online influencers. And that’s why content marketing is the smartest approach to SEO.

FOES TURNED FRIENDS, AND HOW! For the longest time though, SEO and content marketing were considered to be at loggerheads with each other. Some marketing proponents even claim that content marketing will soon overpower SEO. That’s a bit far-fetched, given that there is a good bit of overlap between these two titans of modern marketing.

Although different in concept and approach — SEO is

constricted and technical, while content marketing is broad and well-rounded — the two converge quite seamlessly. The technical methods of good SEO can help drive your content forward where consumers can easily see it. And well-written content that’s relevant to your brand can help shoot up your SEO results. It’s a match made in heaven!

LET’S DIG DEEPER TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE TWO CONCEPTS COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER LEVERAGE THE POWER OF WORDS TO ADVANCE YOUR REACH When you think of SEO, you think of words, articles, phrases, and keywords. In essence, content marketing is a practical application of SEO in the form of content. SEO is all about ranking high on search indexes, which cannot happen without you creating new, valuable information. And as you create new information, you create opportunities for new rankings and a wider reach, subsequently creating more keywords you can rank for.

RESHAPE KEYWORDS WITH RELEVANT CONTENT

EARN THOSE COVETED BACKLINKS

To drive more traffic to your website, you want to close the gap between your existing content and the search terms associated with your business.

But that doesn’t mean pointlessly adding keywords wherever you can. Search engines often register keyword overuse as spam and may downgrade your page. So instead, focus on developing interesting and engaging content that is easily accessible and delivers relevant information to your audience.

Backlinks — incoming links to a webpage — are perhaps one of the most important aspects of SEO. Engaging, immersive content can build your brand’s visibility and lead to backlinks that increase your site’s authority. In a nutshell, with the right content, you’ll start to see improved rankings and more traffic even before you know it.

Clearly, both SEO and content marketing bring unique elements to the table, and neither can replace the other. So, when you integrate your content marketing plan with your SEO strategy, you’ll see the two drive each other forward — and yield better results in the long term.

TO SWEET ENDINGS AND EVEN SWEETER BEGINNINGS Coming back to Ashley’s visibility and ranking woes: could integrating content marketing in her SEO strategy offer a solution? Maybe. And with low upfront costs, content marketing is certainly worth a try. By creating content that consistently communicates the brand’s promise, Ashley can help her patrons develop expectations for the brand and become loyal to it. And loyal customers talk about their favorite brand — that’s any business owner’s dream come true!

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 35

PL Showcase

1 million new, active mobile social media users are added globally,

2.56 billion global mobile social media users, equaling 34% penetration

every day

Keeping them trending: The DPS IGCSE Story

by Nikita Shroff

200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile each day

More than

96% of small business owners use social media to market their companies

50 million small businesses currently use Facebook Pages to connect with customers

77% of Twitter users report DID YOU KNOW?

36 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | December 2018

feeling more positive towards a brand when their tweets are acknowledged by the brand

From the local chai shop to some of the biggest businesses around the world, the social media marketing bug is taking the corporate world by storm.

And the stats are here to show us why! It’s no surprise then that businesses the world over are slowly but surely getting on board the social media marketing train, and that’s just what Delhi Public School (DPS) approached us for.

What we did

DPS — one of the largest chains of private schools in India and abroad — was looking for a social media marketing strategy for their North and East IGCSE schools in Bangalore. What’s more, these schools are perhaps some of the few to take inspiration from foreign schools to leverage social media for engagement and brand visibility.

To begin at the beginning, we started with a plain ol’ pitch. We researched the school’s target group — parents mostly, and of course the children — and proceeded to conceptualize appropriate design and messaging. These concepts aimed to fulfill four basic criteria: Inform about IGCSE and the Cambridge Curriculum

Highlight the benefits and advantages of the schools and the curriculum

Generate Increase leads and admissions traffic to their respective websites

Keeping this in mind, our team arrived at four unique campaigns — each with its own flavor of communication!

East

NORTH

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 37

Back at DPS IGCSE, our concepts received much appreciation, and we got the green signal to proceed with the digital campaign. We split the social media strategy into two phases: first to inform and the next

What happened Over a span of six months, DPS IGCSE’s social media pages received increased traction, engagement, and most importantly, a dedicated following of students and parents. It is here that their viewers receive regular updates and stay in tune with the schools’ ethos. The results were so encouraging that the schools have now amped up their social media strategies — giving us the go-ahead to add newer campaigns and initiatives on both their channels!

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to drive traffic, which included a variety of different collaterals, including posts (for information and engagement), ads, and videos.

Total No of Posts:

130 Facebook Likes:

Increased from 0 to 4,985 Page Engaged Users:

27,886

Total Reach: 330,295 Instagram Followers:

DPS North DURATION

Increased from 0 to 201

DPS East Total No of Posts:

149

Facebook Likes:

Increased from 0 to 5,361

6 Months

Page Engaged Users:

Total Reach:

35,683

463,545

Instagram Followers:

Increased from 0 to 234

There’s no doubt that social media marketing can take your brand’s visibility up a notch — not to mention generate better ROI, month after month. If your business is looking to join the social media marketing bandwagon, then we’ve got just the strategy for you.

Get in touch with us

+91 80304 12990 or mail us at

reachus@pinklemonade.in and we’ll talk all things social media!

December 2018 | Marketing Maximus Magazine | 39

Marketing Maximus Magazine is an initiative of Pink Lemonade to help professionals stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and techniques.

Pink Lemonade is a creative agency that specializes in visual and written communication across multiple platforms — be it digital, social, or good ol’ print.

Want to give your brand the Pink Lemonade edge and up your marketing quotient? Then write to us at reachus@pinklemonade.in and we will get in touch with you shortly.

Marketing Maximus Magazine is a property of

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