WhatsApp as a Blog Promotion Strategy

The success of any blog is determined by the number of people it reaches. For any blogger, the next step after generating a good content is to deploy various strategies that will help him/her to reach the target audience. As a blogger myself, I researched various strategies that increase visits on a blog. Most of these strategies focus on sharing through social media. Currently WhatsApp is one of the chat service applications used by a lot of people. We see a lot of content being delivered in various forms by individuals, or in groups. I thought of exploring WhatsApp as a medium to promote the blog on http://pharmaknowledge.in/. This site was created in the last week of Sep 2015 with a primary focus on the pharmaceutical industry. 4 blogs were posted on this site, since its inception and the traffic was coming in at a slow rate. For the fifth blog we added WhatsApp as a plug-in on the wordpress site along with other promotion strategies. (You can have a look at the Traffic sources in the screenshot below). Let us now look at my experience with this strategy.  

The fifth blog on this site was published on 15 Nov 2015. The graph is a clear depiction of the number of sessions,  which were recorded on 15 & 16 Nov 2015. There was definitely a good increase in the number of visitors to the blog. The traffic source report showed 313 sessions from WhatsApp, which is definitely much higher than any other Social media. 

 

The data presented is for the initial couple of days. Incidentally, the site also saw a rise in the number of subscribers. This small little experiment sets precedence to further explore Whats app as a good promotion strategy. Of course, it goes without saying that is definitely needs to be coupled with other strategies.  

I will be happy to read your feedback and experience, if any on WhatsApp. Also, if you have further promotional ideas for  http://pharmaknowledge.in/, please feel free to share. 

A Big Thank You to All

Hi All, 

What a sight to see on an auspicious day!

 I am happy to share with you all that my blog has reached 1000 page views today.



I would like to thank each one of you for making this a success. I am sure you will like the coming blogs too.



Keep the support coming.

Cheers,

Vinay

5 Key Points to Consider before enrolling for a Digital Marketing Course

Digital Marketing is emerging as a potential career option, primarily because a lot of companies are preferring to have a digital presence. In one of my earlier blogs, I have highlighted the kind of growth opportunities in this field, and the limited availability of trained resources. Various Institutes have cleverly identified this gap and are providing training to upskill interested professionals. In the last one year or so you would have come across numerous training institutes that have mushroomed in your locality, offering courses in Digital Marketing. I went through a similar experience, read about a course in an advertisement in social media and went ahead and enrolled myself. After joining the course I realized, had I consulted someone within the industry or had a done quick comparison with other institutes around, I would have made a better choice. To help you make the right choice, I thought of highlighting some aspects which one should consider before enrolling into any course. So this blog is for all the budding Digital Marketers who are still exploring a suitable options to learn about the field. 5 key points that one may consider are as below: 

1. Get as much information as possible about the Institute: This is an extremely important step. Seek answers to some of the below questions:

• Since how long is this institute offering the course?
• What affiliations or certifications are they talking about? Can you get a copy of the certificate to understand more about the same.
• What about the opportunities to work on Live Projects?
• The placement track record. If possible, try to find someone who has completed a course from the institute. This person can give you real time feedback. Finding someone should not be a difficult task in today’s digital world. You can communicate on various social forums on social media to get more information.

2. Research the Syllabus: One should go through the entire syllabus to understand the topics which are covered. It is important, as some of the institutes advertise saying Digital marketing program, however when you actually see the syllabus, it touches only on certain areas. Hence it’s important to completely check the syllabus, and understand what is applicable in the current market. One of the things to do is to look for current job openings and the kind of skill set that companies are looking for to hire someone. This will help you understand if the institute is covering the current scenario.

3. Faculty from the industry: As a student, one can definitely enquire about the faculty on the panel of the Institute. This will help you to understand the industry experience, which in turn will help you in your longer goal. Once should also check if there will be other industry experts visiting besides the regular faculty to give you more insight. You will also be able to build contacts and hopefully approach them for jobs once you complete the course.

4. Inclusion of Live Projects: One should ensure that there is enough live practice available during the course. Learning theory is different, and when you actually do it yourself it is quite different. Hence hands-on experience is a must. As a prospective student, you should get as much details as possible about the various platforms on which there will be live trainings and opportunities to complete a project. If possible you should get this in black and white, to avoid any unpleasant situation later.

5. What after the completion of the course: This I would say is the most important part. This is as good as post sales service that we encounter after buying a product. Once you are done with the course, is it that only certification will be provided; or the institute will have continuous learning sessions scheduled and invite you. Also, will they help in getting you placed. No institute can definitely guarantee you a placement, even if they do; one need to take it with a pinch of salt. However the efforts that the institute takes after the completion of the course, will tell you more about the institution. I have seen that some of the institutes, invite their students to attend various current topics on Digital Marketing; while for some it’s the end once the certificate is issued. There is absolutely no communication with the students. 

So, for all the new entrants planning to enroll themselves for a course in Digital Marketing, do consider the above points, which will help you take an informed decision. I am sure there will be other points too, but from my personal experience I think these are the most important ones. Do share your thoughts here.

Why Blogs?

“Blogging” as a word hardly requires any introduction in today's Digital Marketing age. We are a part of the world where almost everyone is promoting something, including their own self. One of the simplest platform to promote is using “blogs”. I am sure there will be a question in your mind - WHY BLOGS?  Simply because everyone would like to get heard, and with internet as a medium along with the kind of reach it has, average people like you and me are able to reach the target audience globally with little trouble. Apart from text, one can also have Vlogs (Videos embedded on blogs) with video marketing getting viral these days. The other variant is Photologs, which comprises of pictures. Hence you can find in blogosphere that many of us are writers, readers, reviewers and followers. Blogs as a platform provides a two-way conversation opportunity wherein you can directly communicate with the target audience.

Let’s look at some examples: 

• Consider someone trying out a new cuisine without any know how about the preparation. You have various food blogs to your rescue, one can read the recipe and also see the video demonstrating the preparation.
• A new smartphone is out and you need to understand about the features and what it means to you before buying. Simply check the tech blogs and you will find reviews and recommendations.
• People visit Travelogues before finalizing their vacation plans. This gives them a good prelude to the place; helps them chalk our their travel schedule, and avoid any unpleasant surprise during the travel.

In general, blogs play an important role in the decision making process. You name any product or service, you can find review blogs for most of them. Search engines play a vital role in presenting this information to the audience.

In the time to come, blogging will become even more powerful with more people and businesses recognizing the power of bloggers as online influencers. Anyone can start a blog thanks to the simple (and often free) tools which are readily available online. Reaching the targeted audience is no big deal when you understand the nuances associated with the same.

So, Blogging is the best prescription if your mantra is to keep your target audience engaged and connected.

5 Fastest Growing Digital Marketing Companies in India

Marketing has always been, and will remain the fulcrum for all businesses to expand their foot prints. Thanks to technological advances in the last few years, there has been a big change in the way marketing activities are conducted. Most businesses have an online presence, thereby highlighting the importance of Digital Marketing.

In the current scenario no company can afford to ignore the importance of Digital Marketing while formulating their marketing strategies. We are experiencing cut throat competition, and hence it is important for a company to make its brand’s presence felt to its consumers. In order to create a niche for your brand, you need to have the right kind of digital marketing company as your partner, which will allow you to maximize its advantage. Also this partner should be able to provide end to end solutions. In this blog we will review 5 fastest growing digital marketing companies in India which can support a brand with its marketing activities.

TO THE NEW Digital:

TO THE NEW Digital is a premium digital services company that combines the power of technology, analytics, marketing and content for digital transformation. It has a team of over 600 people which includes technology evangelists, social media experts, content specialists and creative mavericks who have transformed businesses of more than 300 companies spread across 30 countries worldwide. TO THE NEW Digital is also a strategic partner of many global companies including Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Youtube, DataStax and MongoDB. As a brand, one would definitely like to be associated with this company to run their marketing program. Its reputed clientele is testimony to the fact that they are one of the best in the business at present.

Accenture Digital:

Accenture Digital offers complete, integrated digital business and technology services - digital marketing, analytics, and mobility - to deliver tangible results for both the real and virtual worlds.​ Accenture Digital works with many industry leading clients in sectors like retail, banking, consumer products, telecom and pharmaceuticals.

SapientNitro

Sapient Nitro’s USP is Storyscaping, which is a story that connects the brand with the consumers. Sapient Nitro builds effective creative solutions that span a diverse range of digital platforms including web, mobile, Tablet, print, broadcast and outdoor. They are specialised in producing all forms of digital content including Copy, Videos, Banner and display ads, Emails, Microsite/websites, Social Campaigns and interactive games.

IBM Digital 

IBM Customer Experience Suite delivers rich, engaging and personalized web experiences through multiple channels. This customer experience management software integrates social and mobile technologies with content and analytics to helps you anticipate customer needs and build brand loyalty.

IBM Customer Experience Suite helps organizations provide their customers with a consistently engaging, personalized and relevant digital experience across multiple channels and touchpoints. It provides rich, integrated capabilities for managing web and digital content, real-time social communications, robust customer and commerce self-service capabilities, business analytics and mobile device delivery.

BC Web Wise

BC Web Wise is a full-service digital advertising agency. The digital solutions provided by the company range from website development to online marketing that includes social media and search marketing, as well as media planning and buying. They also serve digital solutions on the mobile and tablet platforms, besides outdoor digital installations based on web-based technologies. BCWW has served over 450 clients in a wide range of businesses including Media, Finance, Consumer Products, Telecom, Automobiles and Entertainment.

While this list is clearly not an exhaustive one for Digital Marketing companies, it definitely highlights some key players in the race. While each company is a brand in itself, each tries to outdo the other with innovative strategies. This eventually presents customers with varied options to choose from and gives their brand that “much required visibility” in the market place. 

Understanding Google Search Engine

Thanks a lot for your wonderful response to my previous blog “An attempt to explore the Digital World”. It was heartening to see the number of views and comments. The offline feedback was also very encouraging. So here is the second post which talks about Google as a search engine. 

A re-iteration that the information here will be of very basic nature.Keeping this in mind, let's try to answer some very basic questions - How does a lay man understand the result page which is displayed? How does this help Digital Marketers to promote their product, and what is in it for Google? 

Google has become an integral part of our lives. It has become a genie for us, who fulfills all our wishes. Any information we need; the first thing we turn towards is the Google search engine and type in our query. To our surprise most of the times the search results are apt. Have we ever wondered how does this search engine give the desired output. Well, this is possible because of a complex algorithm in the back end which helps to generate search results. This algorithm decides on the results that are shown to the end users, and has multiple steps involved to decide the page rank too. This algorithm is not that easy to understand even by the experienced in the field. However one thing that is easy to understand is how this benefits the digital marketers, and in turn Google.

Let’s take an example to understand this further. When I enter Digital Marketing as the search term, I get the following result page:

So if you see the above screenshot, the result page can be divided into two types:

1. One where you can see “Ad” mentioned, and highlighted in the red box; also called as inorganic search results.
2. While the other in the center is more general in nature and related to the search term (in this case “Digital Marketing”). This is also called as Organic search results.

The area highlighted in red is the place where google places ads depending on your search term. In this case as my search term was Digital Marketing, the ads displayed are related to the same. So this is the area eyed by Digital Marketers to place ads for their products. As one can see in this example, most of the ads feature the courses offered by various institutes related to Digital Marketing. If I go and click on any of these ads, the company placing the same will be charged an amount. Hence it has a monetary significance for Google. Google earns revenue from these advertisements. These ads are placed by using Google Adwords. So next time when you click on any of these ads, it means Google has earned an amount based on the action you performed. Imagine the revenue that you have generated for Google so far J

I hope you found this simple concept interesting. In the next post I will talk a little more about Google Adwords and how it works.

An attempt to explore the Digital World

This first blog of mine is more about my induction into “Digital Marketing”. It all started with some reviews which I read about regarding the potential of this field in India. I remember reading in one of the newspapers about the possibility of 1.5 Lakh Jobs which will be created in next two years & India’s emergence as a digital outsourcing hub for services like online advertising, social media and website design etc. So definitely a huge demand; but the downside is the availability of trained people to handle the same. So with some background of Sales, marketing and Advertisement, I thought of taking a deep dive to understand it in detail. While I was reading about all this and thinking of a way to get started, I came across an ad in one of the social media platforms (so see the benefit of Digital Marketing) from an institution claiming to prepare you as a digital marketer in few months. The ad made me feel as if I was waiting for it to come. I had a discussion with few of my friends and guides, and decided to go for it. Thus the journey in exploring the Digital World began. It was a great experience attending the classes and meeting new friends, some of whom were already professionals in this field. The first thing that struck me was that Google was much more than just a search engine, with so much happening in the background. Next few months were really productive with lots of learnings and discussions. Lessons learnt during the classes and further reading provided a lot of insight into way the industry works. I did not take long to understand that there is so much to explore. I began to understand how one of the day to day activities which we perform on search engines and social platforms dictates the marketing strategies for various products, services & organizations, which as a lay person, probably I would have never understood.
 Exploring this field further and being in touch with the latest updates has become a regular thing now. This has also become a new topic of discussion with friends around. During one such discussion, I was suggested to start a blog for starters in Digital Marketing, or say Digital Maketing for new comers. The idea was good so thought of validating it further from you all. I am planning to write few articles which will detail out Digital Marketing and the components involved, like Google Adwords, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing and many more.
 So friends let me know if this sounds exciting to understand more about Digital Marketing. This will be definitely very basic knowledge of how this field operates. Based on the response from you all, I will plan for my next article. I am sure I will also be able to share some of the practical experience which I will get as a digital marketer in coming posts. Signing off for now and waiting to hear from you all.