1

Preface
Today the virus of social media is spreading faster than any other epidemic. Almost every
internet savvy has come across the term going viral.
Content going viral resonates so enormously that it catches fire and ends up being the
topic of discussion across the internet.
This book is an attempt to showcase to you the what, how and why of virality. Also find
out how the latest trends and technology has changed the entire perspective of digital
communication. You will also get to know about some of the most common social
networking sites and how they have transformed our world of networking and socialising.

Cheers,
Padmaraj Nashi
Creative Designer

Rajashree Das
Social Media Analyst

Prashant Jain
Social Media Manager

Deep Sherchan
CMO

Dos and Donts for getting

Viral on Social Media
Word-of-mouth to Viral Marketing

Viral Marketing is not a fad. It has been in

the market for more than ages just that
we used to call it word-of-mouth. The
norm behind Word-of-mouth or Viral
marketing is simple Creating peer
recommendations for products.
Marketing and advertising rely on millions
of media channels to in todays world to
spread the message and reach niche
audiences. Out of these countless media

channels, Social Media is marketers cup

of tea for getting viral. The viral nature of
social media outlets like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus,
etc. is the reason why marketers
relentlessly make use of social media for
going viral. Check the statistics to
understand why

Stunning facts about social media marketing

30% of the B2B marketers spend millions of dollars every year for Social Media
Marketing
Over the past few years, 1 million websites are integrated with facebook
77% of consumers shopping online read consumer reviews before purchasing a
product
56% of consumers say that they are more likely to recommend a brand after
becoming a Facebook fan.
34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter
87% trust LinkedIn as a source of information affecting decision making.
81% of U.S online consumers trust information and advice from Pinterest

Getting viral through social media is all

about using the social media channels to
create or increase the awareness and
spread it in the cloud like virus in a
system. A virus that gets submissive by
end of the day is not worth a try. Virus,
be it in the form of a video, flash game,
eBook, image or even text, penetrating
through different channels and staying

alive until it gets noticed by millions is

what businesses need. Bringing such
marketing tactics into action, marketing
strategists
creating
social
media
marketing strategies should chalk out
plans to make the product or service viral
involving less cost.

The Viral Marketing Loop: Getting viral on social media channels is an infinite loop

Viral Marketing Loop

When a user finds an attractive and
innovative marketing component, he/she
shares it in social media network with
friends. When the friends like the
marketing ad, they in turn share it in their
circles, creating an infinite loop and
making it go viral.
When Gangnam Style video, this
decades most viral thing in the market,
was created, neither Psy nor viewers
knew it would go to such heights. This is
a scenario with most marketers. Despite
planning for viral marketing, they end up
with meagre results. Creating a strategy
and praying for it to work is not a real
good way of doing it.

Image courtesy: themusicradar.com

Brand name has done extensive

research to obtain in-depth details from
top brands that have succeeded in viral
marketing. Here we bring you dos and
donts for getting viral on social media

Dos for getting viral on social

media:
1.

3.

Focus on trending events

Check on the hot and trending
topics on social media. Current
events more scope to reaching
more people on all media
channels. Utilize Twitter Trends
and Google Trends to have a
track of the happening things and
create
buzz
using
these
resources. Remember that trends
today need not be the talk of the
town tomorrow. It is usually
Twitter people look up to for upto-date trends. If you want people
to share news and spread your
brand name, you need to be in
line with the hash tags trending
on Twitter. Businesses can side
step
and
post
something
completely irrelevant to their
business, if its going to bag some
buzz.

2.

getting viral is lost. Tap the

emotional aspect of the fans and
followers. Ads that tickle their
senses are the ones which get
most attention and create a
stronger emotional engagement
with the marketing component
and the brand.

Write Unique and Humorous

Content to Trigger Emotions
Content that is unique draws
more audience attention. It is very
important to talk the audience
language rather than the brand in
case of social media. Otherwise,
they are less likely to share
content and the sole purpose of

Use visual content to draw

more audience
Users are likely to engage with
brands that post images than any
other
media.
Use
visuals
whenever possible; visuals like
picture, images, infographics,
videos, graphics and animations
work well on social media
channels. Hire designers to
create original visuals including
quotes,
checklists,
tutorials,
infographics,
videos
and
presentations on SlideShare.

4.

Go decades back and start

storytelling
The clich survival of the fittest
holds good even in social media.
Ages ago, when there was no
digital media, the only tool for
marketers to bag few deals, is
telling a compelling story, which
would be shared with others
through word-of-mouth. The
social media trend today is
nothing less than those old days.
People embrace brands that
share stories on social media.
Stories are easily shareable
which means storytelling can
increase your chances to go viral.

5. Sweepstakes, contests
other promotions

and

Like
any
other
marketing
campaign, running social media
campaigns
pooled
with
sweepstakes, contests is a great
way to reach broader audience
and capture the attention of
consumers in appealing and
interactive marketing formats.
Incentivizing offers in a way that
increase
exposure
to
the
promoters brand are the ones
which win more attention and
spread like wildfire. Check on the
perfect timing to post the
promotion on various social
media channels. Identify top
networks that can aid you with
the promotional campaigns.

Donts for getting viral on

social media:
1. Posting boring which your
audience dont give a dime:
Social media gives businesses to
go light hearted. Dont overwhelm
them with technicalities and
jargons unless required. You can
talk to people on a personal note.
It can go to a level of asking what
your audience is doing for their
vacation. Keep the content fresh
make it sound as if it has a soul.
Dont
blabber
about
your
awesome products and services
every 5 minutes. Remember one
golden thumb rule One
promotional message out of 20
updates. Use humor to market
your products and services.

2. Insulting people and hurting

their feelings just to create a
buzz:
Negative marketing might be a
good marketing strategy, but
remember that talking low can hit
on the brand really bad. Though
there are others on the social
media talking unethical about
others, well it is not a great way
of building a brand. Every
negative activity ends with
negative results.
3. Auto posting same message
on all channels:
Most brands jump into social
media accounts without a proper
time-bound strategy. With an
intention to spread updates on
the channels, they post the same
message across all the channels.
When you dont speak the same
with every person, why post the
same on social media networks.
Craft a proper social media
strategy and create an editorial to
have a crystal clear social media
plan for your brand.
4. Blasting social
posts or tweets

space

with

Most business executives too

have a notion that posting
incessantly on social media
channels will grab attention of the
audience
and
makes
the
campaign go viral. Had it been so
easy, everybody would be
creating chunks of content and
posting all over the social space.
That is not the strategy that
works. So stop blasting your fans

and followers with irrelevant and

unnecessary posts.
5. Lie to win credits

Common sense is that best tool

businesses can rely to understand the
dos and donts for getting viral on social
media.

Social media is a transparent that

leaves no room for lies or bluffing
strategies. Social media is not for
businesses that win handful of
customers by cooking up stories
and fake business cases. While
winning trust has been one of the
main aspects of social media,
creating airy stories, adds no
credits to the brand. Talk factual
or do not talk at all.

Mobile Usage
Landscape
Think about it, by 2015 there will be more number
of mobile internet users than desktop users.
Mobile bandwidth has already surpassed that of
home broadband connections.
With widespread availability and usage of
4G networks and with data moving on to the cloud,
less data storage is required on local devices, allowing
devices to deliver other computing tasks faster and better.

The Essence of
Mobility
Work is not a
place; work is
something you do.

Reasons Why B2B Organizations Are

Going Gaga Over Mobile Apps
While organizations in the B2C space are excited
about engaging with customers via consumer
apps for smartphones, B2B companies are now
gearing up for mobile-based, interruption marketing.
B2B organizations feel that mobile apps are the way
to go because they realize helps in communicating
with customers it also increases brand value
and business productivity.

Improving Communication With

Customers

Mobile usage has changed the communication process

between brands and customers. B2B companies have
realized that the current digital landscape requires
communication to reflect customer needs and content
used in mobile technology needs to be accessible, in
real-time, interactive and consumable. Mobile technology
provides B2B organizations with new ways of interacting

9 out 10 senior executives

use mobile apps to be
informed, stay productive
and get entertained
Based on a Apple study by
eMarketer
70% of executives under
the age of 40 uses
branded B2B apps Ipsos
Mendelsohn Affluent
Survey
Almost 46% of C-Suite
executives in the U.S. and
75% in Europe have at least
one mobile / tablet device.

with their market whether it is through videos, location-based content or rich interactive
media.

Increasing Brand Value and Business Productivity

B2B brands also know that using

mobile technologies is not only
powerful in creating connections with
customers and building brand value;
it is also a great tool that improves
business
productivity.
Mobile
technology helps B2B enterprises
maximize support and value of
products and services offered to their

customers and distribution partners.

It also enables their employees to
productively manage workloads. In
this way, mobile technologies play an
important part in optimizing business
processes as well as building brand
value.

How B2B Brands leverage the power of mobile apps?

Define
Business
Objectives
WHY

Research
Your Target
Market
WHO

Create a
Roadmap
WHAT
Build a
Strategic
Framewor
k HOW

In order to leverage the power of mobile

apps, B2B brands need to define
business
objectives,
assess
their
competition in the market, research the

Assess
Competitio
n in the
Market
WHO
ELSE

needs of your target market, build a

strategic framework and create a
roadmap.

10

1. Define Business Objectives Why?

It is important to identify the underlying growth drivers and market opportunities of your
business and gain a clear definition of business objectives. Some of the useful questions
that will help in knowing where your business is headed include - Is your brand launching
new product lines? Is your company trying to enter a new market? Are you looking to
reposition your brand perception in the market? Are you attempting to target a new
customer segment? By understanding your business objectives it is possible to develop a
mobile strategy round it.

2. Research Your Target Market Who?

B2B brands need to understand their target market, what their needs are and how they
like to interact with your brand in order build mobile marketing solutions. Conduct
research and analysis through social media and indentify relevant keywords to your
brand.

3. Assess Competition in the Market Who Else?

It is useful to know what your competitors are doing in the mobile segment. By knowing
your brand position and presence in the market, it will provide you with areas in which you
need to improve. It will also help in discovering areas unexplored by your competitors in
engaging your market through mobile technology.

4. Build a Strategic Framework - How?

Develop a strategic framework by combining the objectives of your business, your
customer and your market. In this way, it will be easy to define your investment in mobile
strategies and how it can contribute towards business growth.

5. Create a Roadmap What?

With an action plan and strategic framework in place, you can begin building specific
plans to deploy mobile initiatives. Through scoring techniques, you can prioritize those
activities that need to start immediately and those that need future development.

11

6 elements to create Enterprise Apps

Mobile apps have already become an
integral part of personal lives of many
people. This approach to theres an app
for that to get things done, is also
seeping into business lives. Enterprise
apps are now gaining momentum.
Customers today are more informed and
Elements

are specific about what they want. They

expect apps to be intuitive and support
collaboration; it should provide a user
experience that is real-time and enables
seamless flow of data. Salesforce.com
discussed six elements that are essential
while creating enterprise apps.

Does Your App

1.
Social User
Experience

Urge and allow

users to engage
through social
networks in
different ways?

2.

Collaboration

Help in enabling
people
collaborate and
interact in new
ways?

3. Leveraging the
Network

Leverage and
become more
powerful as more
people use it in a
network?

Checklist on the Essentials

Is your app usable instantly usable
without
detailed
installation
process?
Is it fun and addictive? Think
gamification.
Does it create an identity within a
network or community, in order to
be able to influence behavior?
Does your app provide intrinsic
business value by enabling deep
interactions within the enterprise?
Does it allow users to interact in
various ways such as posting,
notifying,
voting,
pinning,
bookmarking,
recommending,
liking, etc?
Is it seamlessly accessible to
employees, partners, customers,
vendors and prospects across the
enterprise?

Does your app become more

diversified as the network is
Is it self-organized, where users do
not need admins to create groups
or connections?
Does your app by default keep
things public but allows users to
make things private?

12

4.

Mobility

Allow accessibility
anytime,
anywhere through
any device?

5. Interoperability

Allow for easy

connectivity to
other apps?

6. Innovation

Transform
communication
and interaction in
your industry?

Does your app allow interaction

and
accessibility
anywhere,
anytime through any device?
Is it designed for all devices and
does it provide the same quality of
experience?
Is your connection reliable and
secure?

Does your app allow for easy

mobility of data and connectivity to
other apps and systems?
Does it have a standard based API
and
built
in
customization
functionality?
Does
it
have
levels
of
accountability,
traceability
and
security,
while
providing
transparency to user as much as
possible?
Is your app designed keeping in
mind
future
technological
developments?
Does it have the capability to be the
first of its kind to be introduced in
the market?

The Way Forward

As penetration of 4G network is going
globally and smart phones are getting
even smarter with better functionalities,
B2B organizations are proactively
adopting them to optimize processes and
boost business growth. The new smart
mobile devices are interactive and
innovative
with
more
powerful
capabilities, robust operating systems,
greater flexibility and crisper display
features.

The definition of mobility is expanding to

wireless devices and with new concepts
such as the Google Glass, interaction
and
communication
has
become
seamless. B2B brands are recognizing
the importance of such technologies in
improving
their
interaction
with
customers, optimizing their internal
processes and workload, and in building
meaningful relationships with customers,
employees, partners, vendors and
prospects.

13

Why Tablets are replacing

Desktops and Laptops?

By 2015, tablet shipments are going to exceed that of both desktops and laptops.
In 2013, tablet shipments have grown by 59% amounting to 229.3 million units and global PC
shipments have dropped by almost 8%.

Source: - IDC Research

Think about it, since the introduction of
the Apple iPad in 2010, in just three years
the sales of consumer tablets has
reached figures similar to that of desktops
and is projected to surpass that of laptop
sales this year. The research firm IDC,
states that with a 13.9 percent decrease
in shipments for the first quarter of this

TABLET FIRST QUARTER

SALES
(Year-on-Year Growth)

year, it has been the worst quarter since

IDC began tracking the PC market
quarterly in 1994.
Heres a snapshot of the year-on-year
growth comparing first quarter sales of
tablets and operating systems:-

OPERATING SYSTEMS FIRST QUARTER

SALES
(Year-on-Year Growth)

282%
Windows
Amazon - Kinde Fire
65.3
%

Asus - Nexus 7
Samsung - Android

Apple

1.8%
3.7%
5.5%
18.0%

Samsung

Source: - IDC Research

One of the primary reasons for increase in tablet sales is reduction in prices. Moreover
there is an increasing trend noticed in the tablet market that revolves around screen sizes.

14

According to IDC, sales of the smaller sized, 8 inched tablets like the iPad mini are
expected to surpass that of larger tablets within two quarters.

TABLET MARKET SHARE WORLDWIDE BY SCREEN SIZE 2011 to 2017

37%
57%
6%

43%

2017
2013

55%

2011
73%
2%

27%

< 8"

8" - 11"

11" +

Reasons Why Tablets Are Preferred:

With
new devices
such
as
smartphones and tablets becoming an
integral part of the board room and the
living room, the big questions today is:
Will tablets replace laptops? Here are
some of the reasons why tablets are the
preferred choice:
1. Portable Tablets compared to
laptops weigh less and are smaller in
size, making it easier to carry and use
for people on the go.
2. User Friendly Tablets are easier to
use and their simple features enable
any kind of user to benefit from it.
3. Touchscreen Functionality With an
easy swipe, touchscreens make it
perfect for different kind of users to

interact and
without the
knowledge.

use new programs

need for in-depth

4. Connectivity Tablets have 4G

connectivity making it easier for users
to connect to a network or the internet
even if they are not in a Wi-Fi zone.
5. Battery Life One of the main pain
points of laptop users is their battery
life which typically lasts 4 to 5 hours,
in comparison to tablets which can
last up to 10 hours on a single charge.
Tablets are evolving. The new models
that come along with advanced quad-core
processors and physical keyboard docks
are bridging the gap between portability
and
power.
Moreover,
with
the

15

widespread use of the cloud, storage

space is no longer a concern. Technology
that could not be used on tablets earlier
are now uploaded onto the cloud and then
delivered to tablets. For instance, cloud
storage services such as Dropbox provide

virtual space to compensate for the

limited space of hard drives on tablets.
OnLive is another example which
provides computing power via the cloud,
required to enable desktop-quality media
and productivity on tablets.

Usage of Tablets - Based on User Type

1. CASUAL USERS
Characteristics

They watch videos on Netflix, Hulu+

or YouTube.
They play games ranging from basic
to advanced versions.
They extensively use social media
channels to.....well socialize!
They like to have an extensive library
of eBooks to read on the go, and still
have enough of battery life to do other
things.

What Tablets Mean to Them

A portable, entertainment device. Casual
users did not find it absolutely necessary
to own a laptop. It may have been gifted
to them by their employers and it mainly
served as an entertainment source. For
them, portable devices like the tablet
which allows them to be entertained on
the go, will most definitely replace a
laptop or desktop.

create reports, develop graphs and

run
equations
to
complete
assignments.
They like to be connected via social
media most of the time.
They also like to occasionally watch
television episodes or movies.
Some of them do spend much of their
time gaming.

What Tablets Mean to Them

Today for students, new technology
devices have become a quintessential
piece
of
their
wardrobe.
While
smartphones have replaced laptops,
tablets on the other hand are gaining
momentum, especially with the drop in
prices.
While
new
touchscreen
functionality on tablets have made it
easier to use, the storage space required
to store class notes, course material and
assignments sway students to still prefer
laptops over devices like tablets.

3. CORPORATE USERS
2. STUDENTS

Characteristics

Characteristics

They typically like to take notes,

They are two types of corporate

users, business travelers and deskJockeys.

16

Some of them strategize, some write

content, develop code, and create
graphics or crunch numbers.
They usually own a mobile device, a
laptop and a desktop computer.
They require rich-featured programs,
connectivity, power capacity and
storage space to support their
business activities.

What Tablets Mean to Them

Devices such as tablets are not yet there,
to replace desktops and laptops for
corporate users. They need devices that
can smoothly run rich-featured programs
such as spread sheets, word processors,
or video and photo editing software. While
tablets are getting there by providing
advanced photo and video editing tools,
there are many features that corporate
users need that they find lacking in
tablets, and therefore are not yet inclined
to replace their laptops of desktops
entirely.
4. FREELANCERS

physical keyboard, connectivity and

power source, tablets seems to be the go
to device to enable them to work on the
go, without the need for a laptop or
desktop.

The Way Forward

While users are juggling with carrying
around a smart phone, tablet and
notebook, they are looking for one-stop
solutions. Tom Kilroy, Executive Vice
President of Intel stated that the 2-in-1
computers such as Lenovo Yoga will be
the future. 2-in-1 computers are laptops
and tablets combined.
While new mobile devices and tablets
seem to be taking over the consumer
market, business users on the other hand
have not migrated entirely and prefer to
keep their laptops or desktops as stand
by.
There is a growing trend of
enterprise-wide
tablet
adoption.
Organizations are widely using tablets
along with a suitable suite of apps and
with data hosted on the cloud,
accessibility is seamless across devices.

Characteristics

They need to be equipped with

flexibility and mobility to work it out.
Based on their line of work, devices
like tablets could work for them. For
instance, it is convenient for freelance
writers to use tablets given that they
have alternate energy source and
internet connectivity.

What Tablets Mean to Them

Tablets especially for freelance writers,
web designers and developers have
become a preferred device. Paired with a

Organizations are benefiting by handing

out tablets instead of laptops to
employees. Firstly, they have more
control over data as it is hosted on
remotely. Mangers are able to monitor
usage of resources and with control to
access to data, theft and misuse can be
prevented. One of the primary benefits of
using tablets enterprise-wide is cost
saving. It is easier to control costs when a
software program has to be installed only
once and various hardware systems are
allowed to use it. The evolution of tablet
versions and new app development,
organizations can easily connect them to
their servers with minimal customization.

17

Pinterest Reasons for its

exponential growth
Pinterest is the third most popular social network Experian
Pinterest hit 10 million unique US visitors, faster than any other site in the history of
web TechCrunch
The exponential growth of Pinterest has been talk of the town for quite a long time, since it
was tagged as the next big thing in the social media space.

Pinterest is Unique!
When Ben Silbermann started Pinterest, the only aim was to encourage users to collect and
share images they find on the web. While there are many social media network channels
which allows users to share content they like and get connected to friends, family and
relatives on the web, Pinterest is unique allowing users to share visuals.

Source: Internet Marketing Inc

18

Basics about Pinterest

Pin:
When a Pinterest user uploads a photo or a video,
other users can Pin it using the button. Every photo or
video can be pinned and they are linked back to the
original source that has uploaded it.

Board:
A board is where users can
organize their pins based on
genres. Boards can be made
public or private based on their
priority.

Follow:
A feature similar to
Twitter, when a user
follows another, their
pins shows up on the
followers home feed.
User can follow any
number of users.

19

The Secret Recipe of Pinterest

Why people love Pinterest? Easy,

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann says Marketing

Visual & Creative
is the secret behind Pinterests exponential growth
Why people stick to Pinterest?
and not Engineering. Pinterest growth accounts to
Curate, Share & Inspire
the basic marketing tactics. It has nothing to do with
algorithms or engineering. When Pinterest was
Why people pin? Fun, Beauty &
launched, it could not get more than 3000 users in
Motivation
three months. When
What is a good pin? Personality,
Ben Silbermann spoke to the investors, most
Beauty & Inspiration
of them had concerns with the tool and
suggested him to make a few corrections
that might change the tools fate. But Ben knew it
was not about re-engineering the tool, it was about distributing and promoting the tool.
Pinterest created a strategy to get connected to people through meet-ups and clicked funny
pictures and posted them. They had various bloggers, active users on social media
channels to work with Pinterest. With a tag line Pin it Forward Pinterest has created a viral
buzz and created a mark.
Now Pinterest has reached 25 million members across the globe.

Pinterest The marketers

way!
Though Pinterest stands as the third
biggest social media network after
Facebook and Twitter, not many
marketers are utilizing it the way needs to
be. Pinterest has started of a portal to
share i.e. pin images focused around
businesses like fashion, hospitality,
photography, wedding and beauty. Over
the period of three years, it has grown to
one of the top referral platforms with great
potential to drive traffic to the websites.
Despite so many advantages, there are
many marketers who say I dont
understand Pinterest. For marketers like
that, here are few reasons why you need
to follow Pinterest.

Reasons why marketers

should be on Pinterest:
1. Pinterest reduces the sales lifecycle time:
Pinterest is the only social media
networking site that reduces the sales
cycle by cutting down on the steps
between discovery and conversion.
Especially when we are talking about
B2C i.e. Business to Consumer
marketing, it helps in converting deals
faster. The price of the product is
available on the picture; the consumer
likes it they buy it. It is just a one-step
go. No other social media network
offers such conversions.

20

2. Pinterest Drives traffic to websites:

Pinterest is the only site in the recent
history that managed to get 10 million
unique views. If you are a company
aiming fuel youre marketing with
relevant traffic to your website,
Pinterest is your piece of cake.
Pinterest is one great site that
increases gives back links to the
website which gets in more traffic and
corresponding SEO ranking. Though
Facebook, Twitter and other social
media networks preceded it, Pinterest
was the best social media tool that
drove traffic is a great way.

3. Engagement is insanely crazy:

Engagement
happening
through
Pinterest is insanely too high.
Facebook and Twitter have the

metrics to show engagement; but

when compared with the Pinterest
numbers, the social media networks
are nowhere near its engagement
levels. The reason for this might be
due to the wide array of users who are
not usually bothered about the
numbers. All they want is to share
information and they do it just to meet
the purpose. Anything that does not
involve too much of salesy content will
be liked by people.
4. Know what your customers like:
Pinterest is all about interests. Based
on the pins or the boards that
customers or prospects like and
follow, the interests could be easily
gauged. There are many consumers
that have found companies they
would buy from and businesses that
they could partner with on Pinterest.

What Marketers can do on Pinterest?

Pinterest gives marketers a new set of
marketing opportunities. As now you
know what the reasons are for you are on
Pinterest, here are few reasons for you
that explain what you can do on Pinterest.
1. Share
visual
Pinterest:

content

on

As we all know, Pinterest is a

visual social media network site
where you can share visual
content. Businesses are bagging
customers with the help if elicit
emotional images. When it is
business to business companies,

they can share images of

products, visuals relating to blog
articles, resources like white
paper,
cheat
sheets
etc.,
Infographics and Instructographics
are two great content types that
are widely used on Pinterest. Data
charts, ebook cover photos,
photos of your customers, your
events happening, sometimes
even
personal
photos
that
customers can relate to are a
great content media.
2. Incorporate Pinterest button on
Website:

21

Ensure to include a Pinterest

button on your website. This helps
people reaching out to your pin
boards. When they reach the
boards, they need to see
information relevant to your
website. So ensure that content on
your social media network and the
website is in line.
3. Stand out
Leader:

as

an

Industry

Through your pins, share thought

leadership information that makes
you stand out in the crowd and
makes you stand as a leader in
your market. Have themed pin
boards that speak your language.
4. Start a video Gallery:
After images, videos are the next
big thing in the content marketing

funnel.
Utilize
Pinterest
to
showcase videos you have
created. Create a special gallery
for the videos and share them on
Pinterest. You can feature videos
of events, speakers, conferences,
etc. that build credibility.
5. Use #Hashtag to be found:
Like
Twitter,
Google+
and
Facebook now, Pinterest also
allows hashtags. Make use of
hashtags to tag pins and make the
pins search friendly.
Pinterest is not about showing off
products or services. It is about
showcasing them in such a way that your
target audience like it and go for it. Dig
out ways to understand how to attract
your target audience based on their
lifestyle,
preferences
and
buying
behaviours.

22

Rise of the visual content

machines Instagram

Pictures speak a thousand

words.
Instagram, a photo sharing
iPhone application was build with
a similar idea. Known as Burbn
in its beta phase, the check-in app
could also add photos. What was
interesting was the fact that apart
from photo sharing the app saw
very little engagement.

Hence they tried building Just Photos

another prototype where only photos could be shared with friends and family. But at the end
it was not launched because applications like Hipstamatic, a photography company which
also provided IncrediBooth and SwankoLab for iPhone and Snap magazine already existed.
But what still did not exist was a photo sharing app with a social functionality.
This led to the ideation of Instagram. Instagram allowed the user to click images using
their mobile phone and share them instantly with the world. There were three fundamental
things that were kept in mind while developing this application. They focused on:
1. Creating beautiful photos
2. Allowing users to share them on multiple social networks
3. Making the entire process quick
We focused on three we werent trying to reinvent the world of photography. We focused on these
three humble problems. And thats what turned Instagram from yet another network tackling photos,
into a network people used.
- Foundation 16: Kevin Systrom

The journey after the big launch

Instagram was launched on 6th Oct,
2010. The application was launched

exclusively as an iPhone application with

the release of iphone4 which gave them

23

the perfect platform providing a high

quality camera displaying high resolution
images which can be edited and shared
with friends and family instantly.
Within its first 24 hours of launch over
25,000 users logged in and by week 3 the
numbers grew to 300,000 and then into
the tens of millions. The launch was a
success and the main reason for its
heighten demand was the founder Mr.

Kevin, who had in his interview with

Internet Television Network Revision 3 in
January explained about his product and
created a hype in media. Kevin also let
highly influential people like bloggers and
contacts like Mr. Dorsey of Twitter use the
test version of the application before the
official launch. Mr. Dorsey used the
application to upload all his images on
twitter and in just a matter of time, the
word spread through his followers.

Battles fought on their way

Instagram also fought its own battles.
First, due to the increasing demand they
had to shift to Amazons rent a server
service over night to avoid any technical
glitches and slow down or capacity
constraint. Next, it was seen that Mr.
Kevin and Mr. Krieger had to carry their
Mac Books Airs and wireless cards
everywhere they went to get online
anytime for trouble shooting technical
glitches which happened a lot with
shooting influx of traffic.

Recently it came under the line of fire for

introducing a revised version of private
policy and terms of service. According to
the modified policy any image uploaded
can be used by Instagram or Facebook
for advertisement based on its likeness.
All images on Instagram are considered
as commodities. This saw an outrage of
protest from users and thousands of
complaints poured in on twitter. Following
which Instagram reacted by a tweet:

Then Instagram posted a blog entry

clarifying various aspects of their privacy
policy and promised that they would
modify their language making their
message clearer. However they did not

promise to make any substantial changes

in the policy.
Read
the
complete
blog
here:
http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank
-you-and-were-listening

24

Gaining Popularity
So what about Instagram actually caught
users curiosity and liking? Is the fact that
the application allowed users to tweak the
images with its strikingly unconventional
borders and filters which made the
images more striking adding a nostalgic
glow? Or was it the speed and ease with
which one could upload and share their
photos? While it is yet to be discovered,
its known that one of the few things that
worked strongly in favour of Instagram
was that soon celebrities joined the
league.
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez were
the only two celebrities who had 1 million
followers before the android version of
Instagram was released. The app gained
popularity only after the release of android
version and its acquisition by Facebook.
The android version of the application
was released by April 2012. This move
got them a whooping one million people
signing up for them in just 24 hours. The
success did not go unnoticed, investors
lined up but Mr. Kevin was not interested
in selling it. They maintained a small
highly qualified team of 11 which included
many Stanford graduates.
The decision of not selling Instagram
changed when Mr. Kevin met Mark
Zuckerberg. The deal was closed in just
48 hours which also speculated that Mark
Zuckerberg was threatened by the
Instagrams growth. Also, Instagram
acquisition was a perfect solution to
strengthen Facebookss foothold in
mobile
application
space.
Mack
Zuckerberg considered this as an
important milestone for Facebooks

growth in future. The deal was finalized

for a $1 billion cash-and-stock deal.
Following these two events, the big guns
on Instagram saw a spike in number of
followers. Until now it had seen only 27
million downloads but now it saw 50
million
downloads
and
excluding
Instagrams accounts many more celebs
received over 1 billion followers. Today
the top 5 spots are occupied by Justin
Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez,
Taylor Swift and Kendalln Jenner.
Looking at brands, MTV, Starbucks,
Eonline, Victorias Secret and Burberry
take the top 5 spots.
In recent times, it has been gaining
special
popularity
amongst
sports
enthusiasts as a number of them kick
start their campaign and share their
story/experiences post event through
images. It has also been seen that smart
phone users login and spending more
time on Instagram than Twitter. The trend
has been consistent since August.
So while visual social media is still in its
infancy stage, the unbeatable factor of
Instagram success is its mobile aspect.
Like pinterest, Instagram is one of the
platforms benefiting from it. Instagram
being one of Facebooks biggest
investments makes it even more
interesting to watch what their next move
would be and how will Facebook use
Instagram and make it into a money plant.
So stay tuned, as the battle for Facebook
and Instagram to continue to remain as a
market leader has just begun!

25

Rise of Visual Content

Machines- YouTube
In todays competitive digital space
brands are required to create creative
content that generates conversations.
This explains why we see a meteoric rise
in info-graphics and brands designing
social specific content.
The increase in number of images,
videos, photographs, live streaming, user
generated content and info-graphic is the
proof to the fact that social media
marketing is moving to a different
direction all together.
Whether you are an accountancy firm or a
manufacturing firm it is very important
these days that you figure out a way to
integrate visual content in your marketing
mix as some of the stats prove that online
imagery is powerful in capturing
customers imagination.

spend 40% more time watching

videos on the internet than
females. (Sources: Nielsen)

3) Traffic grows by 12% faster by

using
infographics
(Source:AnsonAlex)
4) Over 72 hours of videos are
uploaded
each
minute
on
YouTube.com and 700 YouTube
videos are shared on Twitter every
minute. (Source: YouTube)

5 reasons to believe that

visual content is the future:
1) Facebooks Timeline also means
brand pages ought to be more
visually appealing than before.
(Source: Simplify360 Report)

5) 85% of viewers are more likely to

purchase a product after watching
a product video. (Source: Internet
Retailer)

2) 85% of the US internet audience

watches videos online. The 25-34
age group watches the most
online videos, and adult males

26

Powerful visuals are known to hold audiences attention for longer period of time. It is also
known that visual content encourages engagement between brands with customers.
Implying that in future brands will prefer visual content as more visual content equals more
engagement which means more conversations and sales.

YouTube

From left to right: Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim (Image Courtesy: Wikinews)

Founded in 2005 by three PayPal

employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen,
and Jawed Karim YouTube has changed
the
media
landscape.
Globally
Youtube.com is the largest video
destination and the most visited website
overall.
Over the years, YouTube has seen some
phenomenal success. Today it has
become a repository of videos on all
topics imaginable. Whether its breaking
news, a case study or a how-to video, the
first spot to stop by is Youtube. The
website is a one-stop-resource of videos
and footages which are shared by on-theground citizen journalists; hence they are
generally the non-edited version.
The diversity of videos available is one of
the main reasons for YouTubes success;
there is always something available for
everyone. It is increasingly becoming a
platform where people search for news

and how-tos on any topic. According to a

Pew Research Centre Report the most
searched for terms on YouTube were
related to news.
On this platform both citizens and
professionals contribute alike. It has been
a collaborative effort from citizens,
organizations and professionals for
content generation and distribution.
However, promising this may look but
content distribution still has its own
issues. Though they follow a stringent
sharing and privacy guideline, not
everyone adhere to them. We see content
posted without clear attribution, without
copyright permissions and without
declaration of the source altogether
creating opportunities for information
falsification and distribution of pirated
content.
In 2006, YouTube presented a set of

27

agreements to media companies in a

humble attempt to escape the threat of
copyright infringement lawsuits. On Oct
9th, YouTube was acquired by Google for
US$1.65 billion in stock. It was
announced that YouTube will continue to
operate independently with its cofounders and 67 employees within the
company.
Since then YouTube has grown leaps and
bounds. They have successfully been
able to attract many online marketers and
social media enthusiasts to think out the
box and run their video campaigns. They
have been able to provide innovative
means and ideas of utilizing the platform
and connecting with audiences by mass.
Today user experience is been splashed
by video content as it offers to provide
information and entertain at the same
time. This trend is only growing as many
brands invest heavily in video content.
Consumer product brands such as Nike,
Red Bull, Old Spice, and Puma etc. have
been some of the most creative and
innovative brands to have published one
campaign after another and attracted
millions of followers and take video
marketing to the next level.

Post its acquisition, Google has tried and

kept YouTube an independent function.
However, we did see some integration in
Google News and YouTube. In 2009
Google added a local news video channel
to its stories aggregation allowing readers
to watch related YouTube channels and
clips alongside its news.
During this time competition has been
high. There are many high-quality video
platforms today available with competitive
features or specialized markets. Some of
them such as Vimeo, Flickr have been
there since the start but have failed to
gain popularity as Youtube. Some of the
platforms such as Blip.tv, Veoh, Viddler,
Dailymotion and Yrog are specialized
platform that offer features such as
unlimited upload capacity, a smart UI
make it easy and relatively quick to load
huge files; some of the features that
YouTube fails to provide.

In March 2013, YouTube hits one billion users per month stat, making it the best video
sharing platform. They announce their success by a few comparative measures:
Our monthly viewership is equivalent to roughly ten super bowl audiences and if YouTube
was a country, they would be the largest in the world after China and India.
- YouTubes official blog

This is what makes YouTube one of those

not to be missed marketing tool today.
With the increase in number of visual
content haring networks what would really

be exciting to see is youtubes way

forward.
With its efforts such as revenue sharing

28

scheme with the newswire Reuters, giving

it a rich source of raw video footage and
now introducing a pilot project of paid
channels, it stands tall as the only
platform that provides multiple ways on
growing your audience, brand awareness
and ad revenue through content
collaboration.

approached a small group of channel

producers and asked them to submit
applications to create a channel that
users would have to pay to access. They
are considering charging anywhere
between US $1-$5 per month even for
content libraries, live events, self-help and
financial shows.

In its latest attempt, it tries and lures

viewers,
advertisers
and
content
producers by diverting their marketing
investments
from
traditional
TV
promotional to YouTube channels. They
believe that viewers will be willing to pay
to access certain content and so they

What will be exciting to see is whether

YouTube and its partners are able to
create such content that a user would be
willing to pay for?

Reference:
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/youtube_news
http://youtube-global.blogspot.ca/2013/03/onebillionstrong.html

29

Why People Love

SlideShare?
SlideShare: The Quiet Giant of Content Marketing
Forbes

Content was always considered the King of marketing. When Content Marketing has been
the next big thing in the market, SlideShare quite evidently bagged it too early. Before
anybody else could step into the market, SlideShare had taken the leap and made a mark.
SlideShare is now the worlds largest community for sharing content in the form of
presentations, PDFs, videos and even webinars. The community brings in about 60 million
visitors and 130 million page views every month. It is rated as the number one content
portal spreading information, feeding blogs, and social media channels like Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn.
Though there have been many other tools which came later into the market, SlideShare
stood out in the crowd as the only portal that gives business solutions that marketers need
from such content sharing portals. SlideShare is the friendliest tool to businesses that helps
marketers create brand awareness, track visitors and generate leads. These happen to be
the three main reasons why people love SlideShare. However, there are other benefits too.

Business benefits that make people love SlideShare

Create brand awareness with the help of unique content

Know if the content is working or not with the help of reports
Generate niche and qualified business leads
Get better ranking on search engines especially Google, Yahoo and Bing
Drive traffic to the website, blog or social media channels through presentations
Increase the number of followers on social media
Grow email subscriber base

*SlideShare gets the highest and most qualified B2B traffic when compared
to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

30

Here are the stats from ComScore that proves the point.

Audience Chart
99
130
Work in Small Business

108
156
162

82
85
C-Level

94
144
199

89

YouTube
166

Small Business owner

Twitter

96

Facebook
139

LinkedIn
518

SlideShare

91
146
Micro Business owner

93
99
594

90
164
Business owner

95
147
507
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

31

SlideShare had made efforts to become a

B2B portal helping businesses and
especially with the business benefits it
offers. Forbes said it right when they
called SlideShare a Content Marketing
giant. Now, lets sneak into the key
features of SlideShare. With SlideShare
you can

Share unique presentations with

millions of viewers in the
community
Upload
professional
and
educational documents and share
publicly or personally
Conduct research with the help of
resources already available in the
portal
Get insights for your presentation
from millions of presentations
existing in the portal.
Create a professional network with

other businesses or marketers on

board
Utilize SlideShare widgets on
blogs and websites
Make your content go viral and
gain high search rankings
Create SlideCasts to spruce up
your
webinars,
lecturers,
slideshows, etc.
Collect leads for business through
lead generation service
Marketing
professionals
are
relying on SlideShare as a visual
marketing channel to reach
prospects and customers easy
and fast. SlideShare has become
a mandate for every visual
marketing campaign to generate
niche leads. Here are tips that can
turn your presentations into a lead
generation machine.

Tips for Best Utilization of SlideShare:

Prove that you are an expert:

When you are talking something to
your audience, make sure you
choose topics in which you excel
factually. Remember that most
audience absorb visual elements
faster than text. Cut down on the
lengthy paragraphs, talk to the
point
and
show
visuals
everywhere
possible.
Most
importantly, you need to talk the
language of the audience. If you
are not giving them what they are
looking for, it is as bad as not
doing it at all. Use your expertise
to pull new prospects by giving
solutions to their problems.
Title is the face of your
presentation: Like any other

marketing component, title or

headline is the element, based on
which your audience decide
whether to go ahead and read or
to leave it there. Audience spare
not more than three seconds to
take a decision. Grab the
opportunity by making it easy to
read along with simple, neat and
alluring design. Get them with the
headline and make them click
through the presentation.

Make the presentation SEO

friendly: Optimizing your content
for the search engines is as
important as making it readerfriendly. Make it a practice to
include most popular keywords in
the title and also in each slide. Win

32

the search engine ranking by

focusing on meta description and
meta tags for the presentation.
Ask viewers to share the
presentation. The number of
shares increases the inbound
links.

presentation for SlideShare. Do

not have same content; try to
represent the content in a visually
appealing way to attract more
attention.

Spread presentations through

other marketing channels

Getting reports on number of

views and downloads is one of the
best features on SlideShare.
Businesses can utilize this option
to understand whats working and
whats not for the brand. Track
down to the referring sites,
keywords and audience to get indepth details. Based on these
metrics, you can decide on whats
next.

Presentations on SlideShare can

be embedded on different social
media and marketing channels. It
is easy to engage audience
through presentations on blog,
facebook, twitter, etc. Sharing
becomes easier and content sees
more light.

Do not start right away Have a

Plan
Creating a presentation right away
picking some random topic is very
easy and anybody can do it. If you
want qualified leads and results
from SlideShare efforts, you need
to create a strategy involving
social media, blogs and other
marketing channels you rely on.
Before you get started, have an
editorial calendar and work out
based on it for enhanced results.
Once you have the plan, publish it
on SlideShare and drive shares
through social media.

Repurpose your content

Most businesses have marketing
collaterals or
resources on
websites. Not many people utilize
it to the fullest. If you already have
a white paper with lots of content,
why not convert it into a visual

Track reports to understand

where you stand

Titbits for Creating SlideShare

Presentations
.
1. Make it easy to run through
2. Chop information into consumable
bites
3. Incorporate unique and aesthetic
images
4. Use minimal text
5. Include clickable calls-to-action
6. Avoid too many animations
7. Upload presentation as a PDF

Trigger them to Fill the Form

Businesses
are
utilizing
SlideShare as a lead generation
tool. You can get the information
of the person who is interested in
your
products
or
services.
Chances are that people landing
on SlideShare are audience
searching for niche content. Once
you get the details, you can follow

33

up immediately and drive through sales.

Top brands using SlideShare:

Have you been thinking that you are an
industry that cannot take advantage of
SlideShare? Well, you might want to think
about it again. Because, here are five
companies from the Fortune 100 list
belonging to different industry verticals
using SlideShare for various business
purposes.

SalesForce
SalesForce uses SlideShare as a
tool to share new updates about
their software of share latest
presentations, infographics and
eBooks.

SAS
SAS, the business leader in
business
analytics
shares
presentations on SlideShare which

NetApp
NetApp, one of the data
management
solutions
companies, uses SlideShare to
talk about their new products and
give insights helpful to customers.

Cisco Systems
Cisco has joined hands with
SlideShare to share research
presentations,
documents,
insightful
information
and
discussions. Cisco has been using
the community to get a greater
reach and also share valuable
information which they cannot
otherwise.

educate
their
prospects
of
customers about products and
services.

Zappos
Zappos
with
the
help
of
SlideShare, creates a personal
connect with their customers.

SlideShare has been and will continue to

be an advantage for both social and
search purposes. It gives businesses an
intellectual edge over search engines and
tactically build networks on social media
channels. It is the easiest channel to
upload and share content on different
marketing channels. Nevertheless, it is a
great lead generation tool that shortens
the sales cycle of businesses with its
qualified leads. With its intelligent ability to
integrate with marketing automation tools,
the sales and marketing alignment get
easier giving scope for more return on
marketing investment.

What else would a business want, qualified leads pushed directly into the marketing
automation tool and pour in astounding results? Thats what SlideShare gives that make it
so loveable.

34

Twitter handles
which a social
media enthusiast
should follow!
Are you new to social media? Do you
want to make a living out of crafting and
reading tweets? Are you a marketer who
wants to explore the social media world?
If your answer to any of the above
questions is Yes, then you should start
following the 8 twitter handles mentioned

below to get your daily dose of whats hot

in social media.
These twitter accounts will give you a
hang of best practices in the social media
industry and if you read what they tweet
thoroughly then in some while youd be
ready to try your luck in this ever
changing industry.

@NeilSchaffer
43108 Following, 69233 Followers
Focuses on Social Media Strategies, emerging trends
and tech. journalism!
USP: Very interactive!

@kimgarst
141818 Following, 159762 Followers
Shares captivating stories and tips and tricks to build an
engaged community!

USP: Featured in Forbes list of Top 10 Social Media

Influencers.

35

@socialmedia2day (Social Media Blog)

464 Following, 187,972 Followers
Covers every single movement in social media world, and
shares best and worst socmed practices from experts
USP: Conducts super engaging chats #smtlive and
#socialshakeup

@memeburn
2 26 Following, 11405 Followers
From startups to social media, they cover it all and that too
with much finesse
USP: Very insightful posts and bookmark worthy stuff.

@TheSocialCMO
34764 Following, 32503 Followers
A tweetsourcing platform where all the marketing heads of
social organizations sit together and discuss
USP: Conducts a very engaging #MMchat, must attend for
every social media junkie.

36

@AskAaronLee
127685 Following, 462,836 Followers
His tweets focus on community management, branding and
content marketing
USP: Very spontaneous and interactive, maintains a very
interesting blog, AskAaronLee

@Steveology
71617 Following, 102,918 Followers
Focuses on lead generation, customer retention and content
marketing
USP: Featured in Forbes list of Top 50 Social Media influencers

@SocialMediaKara
19,951 Following, 21,548 Followers
Offers a good information feed on social media news, useful
for those who are new to social media.
USP: Thoughtfully constructed Content Stream, focusing on
trending topics in social media.

37

Common Patterns Amongst them!

They are most likely to use text

blogs for making their opinions
count to their audience.

They love to engage with others

rather than RT others tweets.

They use relevant hash tags only

when it is required.

They craft tweets so perfectly that it

becomes almost impossible to go
away without clicking the link.

Always remain updated in terms of

their content.

38

Excellent Non-Brand Facebook Pages

when it comes to engagement
Facebook has become the one-stop-shop for
all community managers looking at creating a
global online community of followers and
potential customers in todays virtual world. As
more and more businesses are adapting to
the changing consumer behaviour and
customer
engagement
habits,
social
networking website has become key to
developing a successful marketing strategy.
So it does not matter how big or small your
business is; going online is the next way
forward. While you can find many branded

pages that have successfully build a huge fan

following on most of the available social
networks, lets look as some of the less known
pages on Facebook. Focusing on how they
have successfully built a community and also
engage with them without spending a penny
on Facebook ads or marketing it through other
channels.
We choose the following pages for
discussion because of their high rate of
reader-engagement ratio. We believe
that they are excellent examples for
niche social media marketing.

1. I Fucking Love Science (Category: Science Website)

This page tops our list with over 5 million likes and 3 million
people talking about it. The page has attracted large number of
conversations by sharing interesting facts in science from all
around the world.
Launched in March 10, 2012 the page has seen a
whooping number of likes and comments in just one year. Elise
Andrew, the page moderator is an employee at LabX Media
Group, which owns LabWrench and publishes Lab Manager
Magazine and The Scientist.
Elise started the page with the objective of sharing
information which is less known and presented in an interesting
and a fun way to people in her words the lighter side of science.
The description about the page states as follows:
We're here for the science - the funny side of science. Quotes, jokes, memes and anything your
admin finds awesome and strange. If you take yourself seriously, you're on the wrong page.
We're dedicated to bringing the amazing world of science straight to your newsfeed in an amusing
and accessible way.
Tell us what makes you say "wow!"

39

As the brief says it all, the page posts

are light-hearted, entertaining and enjoyable
by all science lovers. The theme of the page
has consistently been followed and the
stories are shared through images combined
with a question, poll or a story that people
would love to read, share and also comment.
Some the best practices followed such as
posting regularly, keeping it interesting and
encouraging reader views and comments
has made this page one of the favourites
amongst both the youth and older generation
alike.

Elise has been able to attract over 5

million fans in just one year by sharing
interesting facts and non-factual information
through images and each post has received
at least 500 comments. An incredibly high
rate
of
audience conversation and
engagement for a non branded page even
when compared to branded pages.
Elise also started a sister page called
Science Is Awesome which has also seen a
huge fan following with 326,458 likes and
232,388 people talking about it.

Link to the pages

I Fucking Love Science: https://www.facebook.com/IFeakingLoveScience
Science is Awesome: https://www.facebook.com/ScienceIsSeriouslyAwesome

40

2. Garbage Bin (Category: Artist)

The page owner Faisal Mohd. depicts a witty yet

silly, amusing yet a relatable character. The page
posts are funny, entertaining and most importantly
engaging.
Launched in August 2011, the page has seen
358,941 likes and 65,528 people talking about it in two
years.
Faisal Mohd. is the creative hand behind the
scenes whose comic strips have become an instant
hit. The comic strips are written in colloquial language
(Hindi) and that adds to its own charm and
uniqueness. Anybody who understands the language
and is born in India can relate to the depicted
incidences that are humoured about in the comic strip.
Kaam na Dhanda....Bekaar Bandaa...!! ^_^

The character is created with great

care and detail to portray a happy-golucky character and the comic strip
illustrates incidents occurring in his day
to day life to which any middle class
Indian can relate to.
It is this creative content that attracts
the huge number of likes and comments.
Faisal keeps his interactions with fans up
close and personal and responds to
each one of them promptly. One of the
best practices that have played a vital
role in helping Faisal gain popularity.
It is seen that his fans have been
demanding an increase in frequency of posts
regularly, which goes to show how well
perceived the page is. This also opens up an
excellent opportunity for Faisal to take his
passion and creativity to the next level.
Responding promptly as always, Faisal
takes advantage of the situation and
announces his own website which would carry
more content, more gags and will also have
an online store for their official merchandise.

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An excellent example of how one can build a business after making it big on social media.

Links to the page: https://www.facebook.com/garbagebin?fref=ts

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3. Delhi Metro confessions (Category: Community)

Public forums have given people a voice. With more and more
customers coming forward to comment and share their
experiences online, social media forums have provided an
excellent feedback channel to all brands.

Delhi metro confessions page is yet another excellent example for

the same. Started in March 9, 2013, the page allows confessions
and complaints from anyone who wants to share and the sender
is kept anonymous. This page has over 105,526 likes and 75,928
people talking about it. Daily commuters share their experiences
and encounters during their journey through Delhi Metro here.

The page directs you to a Google form where you can write and submit your confession/complaint
and the admin reposts the same on his/her discursion.

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Maintaining complete anonymity of submission, the page follows strict sharing policy to ensure
no unrelated and obscene comments are posted on the page.
The admin himself stays behind the curtains allowing the page to be completely driven by the
community. Making it simple for him to create and review content and also maintain some basic
social media hygiene.

Links to the page: https://www.facebook.com/delhimetroconfessions?fref=ts

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4. Rajnikant Vs CID Jokes (Category: Just for Fun)

Ankit Mor and Shahid Javed created this page on 10 Oct

2010, to share best SMS jokes. Starting with Rajnikant and CID
jokes the page soon saw many a fans like and comment on it.
Who does not like to read and share some light humour.
The content shared was the key in building a strong community
on Facebook. With over 1.3 million likes and 910,631 talking
about it, the page shows a high rate of engagement ratio.

While Ankit and Shahid started by sharing only Rajnikanth

and CID jokes that were a hit in the year 2010. By 2011 they
moved on to sharing other jokes and funny posts (images
and text posts alike) to increase the frequency of the posts
and reader engagement.

A simple page yet a popular one among readers.

So what is that catches readers attention here?
Well like the page and find it out yourself ;)

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Page Link: https://www.facebook.com/RajnikantVsCIDJokes

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5. Bohot bhukh lagi hai yaar subah se kuch nahi khaya (Category:
Community)

Yet another excellent example of user generated content.

With over 1 million likes and over 766,127 people talking

about it, this page has been able to achieve a high readerengagement ratio through its witty, funny and amusing shared
gags. The page moderator Pritesh Rajput encourages users to
share jokes and content.

The page is solely aimed at building a community of

likeminded people. With images, videos, gags and links being
shared by admin and readers about anything and everything
from Bollywood, food, cricket and general news.

What is worth noting on this page is that how Pritesh (the moderator) slips in a couple of posts
with a pure sales motive, communicating it in a very creative and an innovative style.

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Pritesh tries and push the sales of t-shirts from Wear Your Opinion (www.WYO.in), Say it Loud
(www.sayitloud.in) and Bewakoof.com (of-course these Tees have some good, witty
captions!)

Page Link: https://www.facebook.com/bhukha.prit?fref=ts

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6. 9gag.com (Category: App Page)

So here is a non brand page which describes itself as a global community
of people aimed at sharing happiness.
Created on July 2008, this page attempts to bring people together and
lets them share anything they find interesting. The page encourages user
generated content and gives get real responses from people all over the
world.
By 2012 they reached a mark of 4 million likes by fans and also launched
themselves on Instagram. The content has gone viral since then and
within just one more year that is by 2013 they have seen an increase of
over one million fan likes on Facebook and 500,000 followers on
Instagram. This page has an extremely high rate of engagement ratio with
an average of over 25,000 likes on each post and 2,077,581 people
talking about it.

One of the first things that come to notice is that the content shared by the admin is original
and all the gags pictorially represented are 9gag.com branded. Yet another marketing tactic
adapted to build brand awareness through your community building and engagement efforts.

Page Link: https://www.facebook.com/9gag

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Summarizing some key takeaways:

1. Keep it fun, amusing and
entertaining.
2. Integrate your online presence.
Take advantage of your strong
social network to improve your
website traffic.
3. Do not try and sell directly. Be
creative, funny while you try and
promote your sponsor/self products
on the page. Refer to how Pritesh
Rajput, moderator of Bohot bhukh
lagi hai yaar subah se kuch nahi
khaya Facebook page uses this
very tactfully.
4. Be original in the content you share.
Ensure you tag every image or
owned content with your brand (like
how 9gag.com does it!) so as to
multiply your brand reach when
fans share your content on other
social networks.
5. Develop and maintain social media
hygiene. Create some ground rules
or a social media sharing policy so
that fans and followers are aware of
what NOT to share. Bohot bhukh
lagi hai yaar subah se kuch nahi

khaya Facebook page gives a good

example for the same:
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY:
This is your Fan Page and we
would love it if you contributed to it,
be it through a wall post, video, link
or photo. That being said, we want
this to be a safe and fun
environment for all users to get
together. With that in mind, we
thought a mini "house rules" would
be appropriate.
Feel free to disagree with us and
other fans, but please do so in a
respectful manner. We will not
tolerate abuse or harassment (no
personal attacks or statements
about sexual orientation, religion,
heritage, etc.), no spamming, and
no uploading of inappropriate
content (including the promotion or
distribution of content that is illegal,
harmful, abusive, hateful, racially,
religiously or ethnically offensive,
obscene, threatening, bullying,
vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory,
infringing, invasive of personal
privacy or publicity rights) on this
Page.
To Sum it up: Just Be Cool.

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List of metrics to track

on Facebook, Twitter
and Social Buzz
Digital Media is full of metrics and
insights, sometimes a bit more to digest for
a digital marketer. Hence it is important to
identify the one that matters and implement
them in your daily or weekly reporting
structure.
But before you create the reporting
structure, you need to have a social media
plan and its goal listed. If a metric do not tie
to a goal, then it is useless. For example
its not necessary to measure the size of
your community or re-shares, if your goal is
to increase web traffic. Rather it is
important to find out how many people your
content is reaching and how many of them
clicked on it.
There are basically 2 types of metrics:
1. Vanity Metrics
2. Actionable Metrics

Vanity metric is a kind of metric,

advertisers to recreate the ad.

Every social network has its own sets of
actionable and vanity metrics. As a brand it
is important to priorities between them and
set out to create the best reporting
structure. Below are the lists of metrics,
which you are measure and calculate for
each of the social network.

Facebook Page
Public:

Likes: Number of people who have liked

the page.

which boosts your brands ego, for example

the number of Fans, Followers, ReTweets
and Likes. Most businesses have a
tendency to circle around vanity metrics
and feel good about it, even when they do
not directly tie with the goals of a business.

People talking about: Number of people

who are generating stories about the page
by liking the page, commenting on posts,
sharing the posts or sharing the page itself.

On the other hand, Actionable Metric is

a business centric metric that demands
some immediate actions to be taken. For
example, if the CTR of your banner Ads are
low, it demands immediate action by the

Comments on Post: Number of comments

made on the post made by the Facebook
Page.

Likes on Post: Number of likes on the post

made by the Facebook Page.

Shares of Post: Number of shares made

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on the post made by the Facebook Page.

Post on Wall of the page: Number of post

people have made on the Facebook Page
wall.
Number of Post made: Number of post
made by Facebook Page in given time
period.
Sentiment of comments: Sentiment
breakdown of comments made on a post.

Private

Number of views of the Post: Number of

people who saw the post.
Number of clicks on the link of the Post:
Number of clicks received by the link on the
Post.
Page
Impressions:
Number
of
impressions received by the Facebook
Page.
Page Consumption: Number of people
who clicked on the content posted by the
Facebook Page without generating any
new stories. This means people clicking on
photos, links, videos and others.
Number of negative feedback: Number of
people hiding the post made by the
Facebook Page or marking it spam.

Derived

The metric can be further divided with

respect to Post types: Photos, Links,
Updates, Videos and Q&A.

Community Metrics
The measurement can be daily, weekly or
monthly. This measures the quality of your
community members.

% Fan Engagement: Number of

Unique People talking about divided
by Total number of Fans.

Post Metrics
The measurement can be daily, weekly or
monthly. This measures the quality of the
post made by the Facebook Page.

Engagement Metrics
The measurement can be daily, weekly or
monthly. This measures the activity
strength of your community members.

Number of Comments per Post:

Divide the total number of
comments on the posts by the
number of Posts for a given time
period.
Number of likes per Post: Divide
the total number of likes on the
posts by the number of Posts for a
given time period.
Number of Shares per Post:
Divide the total number of shares
on the posts by the number of Posts
for a given time period.
Time to respond: Average time to
respond to any query on Facebook.

% Post
Engagement
Rate:
Number of unique people liking,
commenting and sharing the posts
divided by the Number of unique
people who saw the post.
% Post Click Through Rate:
Number of unique people clicking
on the links in the Post by the

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Number of unique people who saw

the post.

Twitter
Public

Followers: Number of people following

your Twitter profile.
Following: Number of people your Twitter
profile is following.

Tweets: Number of Tweets made by your

Twitter profile.

the number of Posts for a given

time period.
Number of Mentions per Post:
Divide the total number of Mentions
on the posts by the number of Posts
for a given time period.
Number of Favorite per Post:
Divide the total number of Favorite
on the posts by the number of Posts
for a given time period.
Time to respond: Average time to
respond to any query on Twitter.

The metric can be further divided with

respect to Post types: Photos, Links,
Updates, Videos and Q&A.

ReTweets made: Number of ReTweets

done by your Twitter profile.
ReTweets received: Number of ReTweets
received by your Twitter profile.

Community Metrics

Mentions received: Number of replies

received by your Twitter profile

The measurement can be daily, weekly or

monthly. This measures the quality of your
community members.

Mentions sent: Number of replies or

responses sent by your Twitter profile.
Favorites: Number of Tweets people have
favorited from your Twitter profile.
Lists: Number of List counts. List is a
curated groups of Twitter profile created by
people on Twitter.

Derived

% Follower Engagement: Number of

Unique People Engaging with your Twitter
profile divided by Total number of
Followers.

Post Metrics
The measurement can be daily, weekly or
monthly. This measures the quality of the
post made by the Facebook Page.

Engagement Metrics
The measurement can be daily, weekly or
monthly. This measures the activity
strength of your community members.

Number of RT per Post: Divide the

total number of RT on the posts by

% Post
Engagement
Rate:
Number of unique people engaging
with the posts divided by the
Number of Followers times Number
of Posts times
% Post Click Through Rate:
Number of unique people clicking
on the links in the Post by the
Number of Followers times Number
of Posts times

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Social Media Buzz

Social Media Buzz is the conversation
around particular keywords which can be a
branded keywords or general industry
keywords.
Public
Total Buzz: Total number of mentions
across the social web. (Facebook, Twitter,
Google Plus, Blogs, Discussion Form and
so on)
Positive Mentions:
positive mentions.

Total

number

of

Negative Mentions: Total number of

negative mentions.
Neutral Mentions: Total number of neutral
mentions.
Active Time: Peak day and time when the
buzz was at peak.

Rate of change of Mentions: Change in

the volume of conversation with respect to
time.
Influence Score: Weighted value of buzz
across each channel. (Buzz is the volume
of conversations)
Opinion Score: Ranked score based on
positive sentiment buzz for the Brand.
Prominence Score: Ranked buzz score
based in comparison with the industry
standard.
Buzz Score: Aggregate of Influence,
Opinion and Prominence Score.
List
Influencers: List of profiles who are
influencing the overall buzz.
Trending Topics: List of key topics that
was talked most during the time period.

Unique Audience: Number of Unique

people mentioning involved in the
conversations.

Key Negative Keywords: List of key

topics, which are generating negative buzz.

Channel Affinity: Distribution of buzz

across different platforms.

Key Positive Keywords: List of key topics,

which are generating positive buzz.

Regional Distribution:
distribution of buzz.

Region

Demographic Distribution: Age

Gender wise distribution of audience.

wise

and

Derived
Average Mentions per Day: Total
mentions divided by the time periods in
day.

All the above metrics listed are some of the

fundamental metric, which a business must
be focusing on. Beside these, there can be
many derivatives out of above topics.
Furthermore these are dynamic variables
and in coming times as the social network
change the variables and their relevance
also changes.

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