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First Look: Digital Leadership Summit Edition Mumbai

Posted on by Ayesha Rafeeq
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The number of people online today in India is greater than it ever was before. Currently, there are around 450 million internet users in the country and this number is likely to increase to 650 million by 2021. But what is more significant than just these numbers is that a majority of these Internet users will be coming, not from the big metros, but from the smaller towns and villages of India. Along with a shift in audiences, there has also been a change in the way audiences access the Internet and what they do on it.

In the first edition of our Digital Leadership Summit, we discussed how measuring ROI is one of the biggest challenges for digital and content marketing. For a brand to capture the next billion Internet users in India, finding a way to adapt to the new market is essential – which is exactly what we will be addressed at the 2nd edition of the Digital Leadership Summit by Social Beat. In this edition, marketers and brands can get a closer look at the biggest challenges and upcoming trends in the digital space from the reigning experts in the field. As a sneak-peek, let’s take a look at the three factors that have emerged as indispensable in a brand’s digital marketing strategy: video, voice and vernacular.

Video

In 2016, Nicola Mendelsohn, VP of Facebook’s operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa predicted that in 5 years, Facebook’s newsfeed would comprise of videos alone. At the time, this claim sounded far-fetched. However, going by recent trends, video content will soon become the most important type of content created for the Internet. Each day, around 100 million hours of video content are consumed on Facebook alone. When Indians aren’t watching videos on Facebook, they’re watching them on YouTube. As per YouTube Brandcast 2018, the world’s second largest search engine currently has around 225 million active monthly users in India, with this number set to increase to 500 million by 2020. A majority of these users watch videos to help make purchase decisions. Clearly, the fastest way for brands to capture the attention of their target audience will be to make engaging, easily understandable videos to tell brand stories. Check out our case study on how Cholamandalam Finance harnessed the power of videos and vernacular content to widen their reach.

Voice

At the Google for India summit in 2017, the growing importance of voice search in India became even more evident. The Google year in search report also mentions, around 28 percent of all Google searches in India are through voice. Even more significant was the fact that a majority of these voice searches were conducted in vernacular languages. Hindi voice queries are growing by around 400 percent year on year. India is also witnessing the increased usage of personal assistants such as Siri, Alexa and Google Home.  The advent of voice search points towards a fundamental re-thinking of tried and tested SEO strategies. Since voice search results only pick up the most relevant result (usually the featured snippet), digital marketers will need to optimise their content to ensure it is voice-ready.

Vernacular

Two of the biggest developments in India’s digital story in recent years have been the steep drop in smartphone prices and the availability of affordable high-speed internet, catalysed by the Jio network. Both of these factors have led to the growth of internet audiences from tier 2 and 3 cities and towns in India. For marketers, it is attracting these audiences and not the urban population that will prove crucial. A study found that around 70 percent of Indians trust regional content online more than English language content. If brands want to engage with the next billion internet users in India, the way forward is vernacular content. Currently, Tamil is the most used regional language online with 42 percent, while Hindi follows closely with 32 per cent. To tap into this huge potential, a strong, comprehensive strategy with end-to-end messaging in regional content is indispensable. Read our case study on how a multilingual approach generated 90% growth in leads for further insights.

Apart from these indispensible marketing strategies, the session will also throw light on how artificial intelligence will change the way marketers work. The newer emerging trends around AI, chatbots and machine learning, have proved to be a game-changer in digital marketing, working wonders for brands across all sectors. Immersive experiences like virtual tours of an apartment even before a site visit have added much-needed value to the content being consumed by potential buyers. Automation and machine learning have also pushed smaller brands to adapt programmatic advertising.

Does your marketing strategy tick the three V’s and marketing automation? Find out how your brand can gear up for the future at the 2nd edition of the Digital Leadership Summit by Social Beat. Our first Digital Leadership Summit covered the rise of digital marketing in India, but the digital landscape has changed drastically since then. Register now to get the latest industry insights from some of the biggest names in the field!

Custom intent audiences for YouTube targeting

Posted on by Ayesha Rafeeq
Reading Time: 3 minutes

A lot of brands are making the shift from traditional advertising to YouTube ads and there is no surprise why. Marketers have always opted for YouTube ads for top-of-the-funnel objectives like brand awareness and recognition. But, with YouTube introducing custom intent audiences for better targeting, you can now reach potential consumers who are on the verge of making a decision. Let’s find out how.

How can you benefit from custom intent audiences?

Unlike in-market audiences, custom intent audiences help marketers tailor-make their target group as per the video they are promoting or the services they are providing. Since the targeting is much more concise, they provide a higher return on investment. In fact, according to Google, this approach was built keeping performance advertising in mind, proving to be all the more effective in your marketing strategy. Additionally, you can create your target group with the help of high purchase intent keywords to drive more relevant traffic to your video.

For example, let’s consider your brand is one of the leading providers of shock-proof wires and cables. You are planning to promote your recent ad that introduces a new line of waterproof and shockproof cables to the market. Through traditional in-market audience targeting options, you can reach a generic set of audiences that cover industries, factories and other B2B organisations who are closest to your target group. But with custom intent audiences, you have the option of targeting on a deeper level with high intent keywords. You can reach the users who are specifically looking for your brand and your competitor’s, along with specific keywords of the type of product offered in the video.

How to create a custom intent audience?

Creating a custom intent audience is your best bet when it is hard to find an in-market audience that is relevant to your video content. Go to the audience targeting window and scroll down. You will find a “New custom intent audience” option right below the in-market audience targeting options. Once you click on it, you can tailor-make your audience on the basis of high-performing keywords that align with the services offered in the video.

Apart from providing a deeper level of targeting, custom intent audiences also help brands target users who have keyed in similar queries on Google search. Additionally, once you select a few purchase intent keywords, you can also choose from other recommended keywords that are suggested based on your targeting.

Tips to get the most out of your custom intent audience

  • For more accurate targeting, make sure you include at least 50 high intent keywords in your audience.
  • Also, since the keywords are most likely to provide a broad match, the overall reach of your content will be wider than expected.
  • Make sure you add user intent as one of the targeting options to generate higher views and better engagement metrics. You can also target the users who have visited related URLs or those for a deeper reach.
  • Another effective way to enhance your targeting is by filtering your viewers based on life events and other content consumption patterns.
  • It is a good idea to keep the content of your video in mind while selecting high intent keywords. The closer the keyword is to the message delivered in the video, the better the accuracy of the targeting.

In a nutshell, it is safe to say that a custom intent audience will give you a much more control on targeting while running ads on YouTube. Whether you are a real estate giant, a leading FMCG brand, or a top financial organisation, it is time you leverage the power of custom intent audiences to expand your reach.

For more tips on how to rank your videos, read our in-depth article: YouTube SEO Tips: The Secret Sauce to Ranking Your Videos in 2019.

Social Beat wins Silver for Brigade Group at the Big Bang Awards 2018

Posted on by Nandita Raman
Reading Time: 2 minutes

At Social Beat, being imaginative and innovative is part of our DNA. We work hard to reach our client’s goals and exceed their expectations. So it’s always a wonderful feeling when accolades come our way! The recently concluded Big Bang Awards 2018 by The Advertising Club, Bangalore was a celebration of India’s digital advertising talent.

Social Beat wins Silver at the Big Bang Awards 2018

Social Beat won Silver for the Digital Award in the Real Estate Category. We were recognised for our stellar work for Brigade Group – the leading player in India’s real estate industry.

Awards like this prove why real estate brands need to shift from print to digital.

Our award-winning campaign for Brigade Group

Established in 1986, the Brigade Group has a pan-India presence with a diverse portfolio that covers both commercial and residential properties. Apart from property development, Brigade’s repertoire also includes property management services, hospitality and education.

Brigade approached us with a simple objective – build user-generated content and create a buzz around Brigade’s social media handles. Keeping this in mind, we came up with a photo contest idea. While the campaign was centred on audience interaction, it reaped a two-fold benefit – the pictures sent in would promote Brigade and thus increase visibility, as well as encourage people to follow the company across social media platforms.

#PhotoContest Campaign

One of Brigade’s top priorities before the start of any campaign is to be as unique as possible, and the Photo Contest campaign did just that. Brigade’s audience was able to actively engage with them. Each participant had to send a maximum of 5 images, of which at least two had to feature Brigade properties. Participants also needed to add specified hashtags to their posts and follow them on social media platforms. This helped Brigade gain visibility and increased their social media followers.

Reach and results

To help spread word about the campaign, we created a small video that held all the details. The results achieved were staggering. In fact, this campaign also won Silver for the Best Social Media Brands under the Real Estate category at Social Samosa’s digital marketing awards.

There were over 15,000 views and engagement of more than 30,000 people, with more than 3000 clicks.

We received over 500 entries in response to the campaign. The majority of our audience was between the ages of 18 to 24.

This one-of-a-kind approach to creating engaging real estate marketing strategies is what sets Brigade apart from their competitors.

This award is further proof of Social Beat’s commitment to pushing the boundaries and delivering only the best in digital marketing for our clients.

You can also read our Complete Guide To Digital Marketing For Real Estate for more insights.

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