Content marketing is the practice of creating and sharing useful online content like blog posts, YouTube reels, vlog, guides, and videos to attract and engage customers. Traditional advertising has been overtaken by social media which has allowed news and information from across the web to be accessed in real time. Many people tune into social media first to find out what’s going on and what’s trending. Access to this large built-in audience data, whose usage is frequent, is a gift to organizations. However, since listeners can organize their own feeds by following specific accounts and then are served more with more content of their choice which is done with help of algorithms is a boon to buyers and organizations. Companies can’t expect their target audience to find them, instead they need to generate efforts like paid amplification, influencer marketing and employee advocacy to help their content get seen and their messages get heard by target audiences.

Since the last decade, traditional television advertising has significantly lost its sponsorship to a high production value in content marketing. That evolution has seen even bigger disruption as the television, radio and press advertising that once reigned the advertising world.

Content marketing has been ruling ad world by increasing organic visibility. It drives more traffic to the digital content created by the company and boosts brand’s awareness and visibility. The company must create content that matches their target audience’s needs. CarryMinati is the most popular and the biggest YouTuber in India. CarryMinati, also known as Ajey Nagar, is a comedian from India who makes videos about playing games, rapping, and has a lot of fans on YouTube. Indian consumers prefer comedy genre of content, and it takes the top spot, while VIPs and celebrities are at the other end of the ranking. Lifestyle brand Arctic Fox famous for its backpack bags has announced YouTube content creator Carry Minati aka Ajay Nagar.

As of November 2023, cricketer Virat Kohli is the most followed Indian celebrity on social media, with approximately 375 million followers. He was also the most valued celebrity in the country, with a brand value of over 227 million U.S. dollars. That’s the reason he is brand ambassador for most products: brands like Blue Tribe, Rage Coffee, Philips, and Audi. Virat endorses Myntra, Puma, Philips, and more, aiding companies to enhance brand visibility and market appeal.

Content marketing generates more conversions. It turns more traffic into leads and sales by providing useful and engaging content that attracts the target audience and makes them feel comfortable doing business with a brand.  Because it differs from other marketing methods in which it doesn’t interrup or annoy the customer’s time with sales pitches. Instead, it seeks to provide them with valuable information that solves their problems and answers their questions. It is a strategic approach to attract, engage, and delight target audience with valuable and relevant information.

Coca-Cola. Content is central to Coca-Cola’s messages in all its promotional campaigns. The brand thrives on modern problems faced by a worldwide audience. The 70/20/10 rule used by Coca-Cola classifies content into low, medium, and high risk, helping the brand to allocate time and resources accordingly. Low-risk content comprises 70% of the total content created as it has minimal risks, is less controversial, and does not take much time to produce. Cola-Cola. With approximately 1.1 million visitors a month, is seen maximum on social media. Coca-Cola’s digital magazine Journey has been wildly successful at creating audience-focused globally.

Traditional media includes all outlets that lasted before the internet, such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and billboards. Before online advertising, companies typically allocated most of their marketing budgets to traditional media with the goal to increase their brand awareness and attract new customers. Even today, many businesses continue to rely on traditional media for their marketing and advertising campaigns, which can be very effective if their target consumers regularly engage with these forms of media.

LinkedIn the social media platform is one of the most successful content marketers out there today. By encouraging its members to publish original and well-researched, longform content, the platform has created countless educational and promotional opportunities for brands looking to get their names known. Its library of content created specifically for digital marketers has braced full of insightful industry advice and expert tips in the form of eBooks, presentations, and webcasts.

Even, Amul adopts a comprehensive marketing approach, characterized by its iconic mascot Amul Girl campaigns and consistent content marketing efforts, which resonate with its audience. Another important aspect of Amul’s marketing strategy focuses on its diverse product portfolio. The brand has developed a witty formula to connect with its customers. Amul uses comic strips, fun elements, and powerful taglines to pitch their industry presence as a voice for many social issues. They use their brand for current issues awareness. Amul uses the technique of moment marketing by creating content on trending things happening now.

Some famous content marketing agencies in India are Elatre creative marketing agency, SEO Discovery, MMG Technologies, Content Spotlight, which are famous for digital Strategy, website development, search engine optimization etc.

Zomato multinational food aggregator and food delivery company knows how to bring out the hidden “foodie” in all of us. Zomato is so clever with its content marketing skills that it knows just how to grab mind shares of the people. Zomato has a good understanding of its target market. The brand understands what motivates people to utilize its services and it never fails to excite them.  Zomato’s content marketing strategy revolves around providing value-rich content that resonates with its audience. Through blog posts, articles, videos, and infographics, Zomato offers a treasure trove of food-related insights, trends, recommendations, and culinary inspirations. So many cloud kitchens, street food vendors and restaurants have gained fame and fortune because of Zomato.

Content marketing helps to build relationships, foster loyalty that leads to repeat purchases and word-of-mouth recommendations.

GE hits the mark when it comes to publishing original and provocative content. From Pulitzer-prize winning photographers to Forbes journalists, GE has recruited top-notch talent to create high-quality content that gets picked up not only by industry experts, but audiences in general and even the media.

Today organizations cannot survive without email marketing, social media marketing, SEO, public relation, pay-per-click, marketing funnel, digital marketing. One thing for sure, marketing today is impossible without great content.

As we face off the biggest pandemic in today’s modern memory, which is literally doctored and engineered in China, the fact is millions of lives are lost and life world is facing a chaos and disruption. Global economy is gone for a toss as never before. This pandemic is above all human crisis that calls for camaraderie. It has taught the world many lessons and one such lesson is about business ethics which starts with ethical communication.   

The importance of ethical communications has never been clearer. Much of the debate around media ethics in recent years has focused on far-reaching questions why business is important. The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed ethical considerations back to the basics. Concerns about governmental transparency and corporate responsibility have become a fresh urgency. The implications are more immediate and those working in the media, now more than ever, have a responsibility for their role in shaping public debate.

As businesses go about their work, managers must continue to ask themselves whether it is their responsibility to communicate as they are. 

Businesses have a challenge on their hands. In an atmosphere of financial uncertainty, they have difficult decisions, first to make and then to communicate. They will have to consider both internal and external stakeholders. They must address concerns about safety and hygiene. They must clarify what they are doing in terms of business continuation and protocol. Before they get into the nitty-gritty of messaging, outreach and marketing spend, they must consider the ethical dimension of what they do.

With the global coronavirus outburst, business world is now grappling with ethical communication demanded by their consumers. The big brands of world are increasingly being tested for their moral backbone. Alert and observant consumers are refusing to support companies who are not honest in keeping their promises and are turning a blind eye to the complaints of customers. The Covid 19 pandemic has harnessed the power of social media like never before; customers are able to hold organizations directly and evidently accountable.

Prior to the pandemic, a paradigm shift towards digitization of the economy was already underway. The current scenario has accelerated the paradigm, as evidenced by the marked shift in spending towards digital businesses. As customers are already facing autonomy due to the virus, no longer they are willing to allow brands stay silent. They have a platform and a stronger network to discuss their issues.

The major principles governing communications, the correct and incorrect aspects of the same, the moral and immoral dimensions relevant to the communication are called ethics of communication. In other words, communication ethics is the notion that human beings are governed by morals which essentially affects communication. Simply any kind of moral good present in communication of any form is generally termed as communication ethics. It is important that whatever we communicate should be guided by certain ethical principles.

Amazon has been a crowned winner during the Covid crisis because its sales have soared due to the shutting of bricks-and-mortar shops and malls. It’s also interesting to note that its share price has risen by more than a third in the past few months. And, yet Amazon has been bitterly criticized although the most serious accusations are made against it the US and France rather than the UK. In France all Amazon warehouses were temporarily closed after a huge row about worker safety. In the US Amazon experienced lot of workers quitting due to over warehouse safety and conditions. Many of its workers pledged to stay home in protest because Amazon has failed to provide face masks, and has refused to pay sick leave (the US is one of the few wealthy countries in which companies are not required to), is not allowing workers proper time to wash their hands, and that too many people are working at once to allow for proper social distancing. The fight intensified after Amazon fired four workers who had publicly criticized safety measures. In progressive countries such as Us, UK and France customers gauge the behavior of companies. 

Even in India in a survey conducted by EY Earnest & Young presents response in favor of ethical communication. For example, at the onset of COVID-19 in India, an MNC promised its employees that the organization would retain all its employees during the hardship period but later started firing endless numbers of employees’ right from the lowest to the topmost rung of the ladder. This is a clear breach of trust and faith, no one who is still with the organization will ever trust the employer come what may. Any organization which breaches trust of any of its stakeholders, finds it difficult to get back the trust. Another survey conducted by Deloitte reports that employees do not need a perfect company but just want transparency and truthfulness more than anything else.

Ethical communication always helps organization in admitting openly that they fell short of their goals, they have committed some mistakes, which in long run lead to huge improvements and positive changes for the future which help to garner support from all stakeholders.

It is so important to acknowledge that clients cannot be cheated in the present problematic times; it is better to inform them the truth only. One of the news items in Miami News Times reported that a popular cruise line recently misled its guests about COVID-19 by having sales staff tell them the only thing they needed to worry about for their upcoming cruise was bringing enough sunscreen. The cruise line ignored the pandemic and the associated safety measures which the clients are worried about. Most of the customers who had booked for the cruise did not appreciate the irresponsible behavior of the cruise liner staff, and they decided to drop out of the cruise. Their response is a perfect example of what not to do during such difficult times. This response caused a media storm that generated negative press for the cruise line.

In acknowledging the current times, organizations can establish and build trust and confidence with others that can have a long-lasting impact. Avoiding the truth is bad practice for any business and providing relevant updates won’t cause a panic. When the state of the world returns to normal, individuals will remember how businesses responded to the pandemic and during this time of need.

The pandemic that has taken over our daily lives, businesses and society at large are forcing us to rethink how we react during times of crisis. Practicing empathy in statements, newsletters, social media announcements and other avenues of communication can help establish rapport with customers. It shows that businesses care. However, having empathy goes beyond a written statement.  It must be practiced in action. While many businesses choose to address COVID-19 solely online, on social media or with e-newsletters, it has been observed that organizations that pitch clients for stories on how to stay afloat throughout this pandemic, are appreciated the most. For instance, offering a client spokesperson for TV news segments to provide expert insight or resourceful information on what they are doing to stay in business can set an example for similar companies.

Conclusion: In a sea of statements, social media announcements and email newsletters, making presence felt is difficult. This is where sincere and realistic communication matters.

We are living in an era of social media. From morning to night, most of the people are glued to their smartphones checking Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube everywhere at home, office, while travelling, in public transports and roads anywhere. With the increase of addiction of Internet, social media is emerging as the best mode of communication. With over 460 million internet users, India is the second largest online market, ranked only behind China. By 2021, there will be about 635.8 million internet users in India. The widespread use of social networking in India has been on the rise especially among the new generation youths.

In 2008 and 2012, the world witnessed Obama’s winning strategies using social media.  Not only was Obama the first African American to be elected president, but he was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy. In 2008, American voters were sent out voting reminders on Twitter and interacting with people on Facebook was a big deal. Following his footsteps, in 2014, the BJP straight dived head strong into social media conversations. Their constant activities were aimed towards spreading awareness and having a direct connection with the voters. On a daily basis, various competing hash-tags like #NaMoInUdhampur, #KejriwalInVaranasi made debut.  Politics is a favourite topic for discussions among the young and old. The hash-tags are famous on Twitter and Twitter users get pulled into it.

Already, we are witnessing blitz of anti and pro political campaigns on our smartphones for the 2019 general elections. Advertising experts and industry leaders are betting on the overall expenditure of the campaigns worth Rs. 5,000 crore. The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party is already spending quite a bit on advancing ‘Brand Modi’ in terms of achievements of his  government in the last four years, all campaigns undertaken by the BJP and its several ministries and departments have revolved around NaMo. The main opposition Congress is also likely to spend close to Rs 1,500-2,000 crore on mass media and other Rs. 400-500 crore on digital campaign.

We cannot ignore a fact that politics and media share a complex synergistic relationship; media, politics and elections are knotted together and social media platforms have become the essential ground for the discussion of political narratives.

Recently when the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP met, there was one session which had a lot of outside states turn up. It was held in Meerut and attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Home Minister Rajnath Singh amongst others. The social media session was attended by BJP President Amit Shah. The message is clear:  if social media was the X-factor in 2014 polls, the 2019 it will be their main focus. It seems BJP plans to have a social media coordinator for every single booth in the election. Let’s consider each booth has approximately 2,000 voters which mean that the BJP social media team across the country would run into approximately four and half lakh social media coordinators.

As per the Election Commission records India has 81.5 crore voters, among them exist BJP volunteers and workers who are trained in social media. They all are armed with a Smartphone. What a fantastic strategy.  The 2019 election is few months away and already few lakhs volunteers are working. But, the BJP is looking for many more as they need to penetrate their campaigns in interiors parts of India which is too vast. BJP is on organizing spree of meetings to boost their social media campaigns. After the strategy of page pramukh worked well in Gujarat (one worker to be in charge of each page list of voters) it is decided to have two pramukhs for each page. Since every page has a front and a back.

However, globally some election experts have raised alarm against recent elections in some countries where social media campaigns influenced the election proceedings to such an extent that the democratic process came under threat. There is an alarming worry that outside interests can work to undermine the democratic process in a subtle and sneaky way. In April 2017, Facebook admitted that its platform had been exploited by governments seeking to manipulate public opinion in other countries during the presidential elections in the US and France. Facebook pledged to clamp down on such operations.

Many countries in the world are running election campaigns on social media. Look at the recent example – in the closely-fought election in Malaysia, former Prime Minister Najib Razak who is dogged by corruption allegations was ousted and arrested, and the election results were revoked. Courtiers such as Singapore and Philippines are actively proposing legislation on fake news, while Germany introduced a new law that compels social media networks to remove hate speech. Indonesia has launched a new cyber security agency as part of its efforts to deal with online religious fanaticism, online hate speech, nip terrorist groups and fake news on social media.

It has become big task for the Election Commission of India; they have set a panel to scrutinize the growing use of social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. The panel has recommended processes to deal with violations. The nation has seen a rise in religious and ethnic tensions in recent times; few people are killed due to rumours spread on social media about child kidnappings, rapes and cow smuggling. Fake news and paid news are matters of concern and misuse on social media. The Election Commission of India is tightening rules and regulations to plug loopholes in the forthcoming general election.

According to some recent studies conducted on fake profile on Facebook and other social media platforms, lying about oneself on Facebook is an observable fact. From beginning people have been tweaking their personal details every way from making their lives seem more interesting to out-and-out posting things that totally misrepresent the truth or creating other identities for a variety of reasons. This behaviour is prevalent and every day thousands of fake profiles are uploaded on Facebook. A Consumer Reports investigation in 2012 found that 25 percent of Facebook users lie about their profiles for different reasons, some which are very persuasive. People go to any extent while lying about their age, sex, location or birthdates in order to protect their identities. This process has been termed as catfishing. Sometimes a cacatfish’s sole purpose is to engage in a fantasy. Sometimes, however, the catfish’si intent is to defraud a victim, seek revenge or commit identity theft. The basic idea of catfishing is to get friendly with vulnerable young adults on Facebook.

A “catfish” is someone who pretends to be someone else online. This person completely assumes a fake identity and goes the extra mile to make their victim believe that they are exactly who they say they are. It tends to happen a lot in online dating sites.

Few of my students who are married for two–three years keep posting romantic pictures with their spouses and I feel good for them. But, shockingly a student who was ‘’happily married’’ as per her facebook status called me the other day to inform that she has filed papers of divorcee. By the time I sleeked clarification she started crying on the phone saying that it was just a white lie to show the world that she is happily married….

Another friend of mine on her wedding anniversary wished her husband “happy wedding anniversary to my janoo” she even put pictures of the presents she bought for him. But the same friend just few days prior to her post was complaining about her husband and even declared that she was planning to separate with him. Facebook and social media has made life topsy-turvy. It’s difficult to believe people; from partying, travelling, entertainment, learning, pursuing hobbies…you name the event, and most of it is fake,

There was a time when people dint like to share their personal life details with world, but these days people feel sad if their personal life details are not read on Fcebook and if they don’t get likes for their posts.  I think Facebook is a conceited place where the best, the funniest, the most charming aspects of our lives are publicized; we don’t publicize the same boring, routine, shitty things of our life. So, the next time you get envied or jealous by a Facebook friend’s bragging about his or her splendid and eventful life, remember this fact that he/she is probably exaggerating it for social media brazenly to grab attention from others.

Facebook has become an obsession with most people; we want to know what others are doing in their lives. Facebook has made us nosier and it is platform for gossip about others and our Facebook friends are too happy to share their illusive, imaginative lives with us. Facebook has widened our friend circle far and wide; whereas realistically I am sure that most of us be knowing a handful of them whom we can call and share our details of life. Others are just for the name sake.

I see some of people around me very busy updating their statuses and constantly updating what’s happening and what’s not happening in their lives…. so Facebook has the power to make us feel so bad about our ‘dull’, not a very happening life and to get over our remorse,  we are compelled to write about how wonderful our lives are. Can we blame Mr. Zuckerberg for this foolishness of ours? No, we only have ourselves to blame and it would be better if  we take little time to realise that Facebook is definitely not a platform to blow our trumpet, to give vague unrealistic status and it does say that we must brazenly keep lying about ourselves.  For me, Facebook is a short story book about false people, their lives in which each one tries to show how great his/her life is than others. It is hard to keep a balance of mind on Facebook if you compare your life to your friend’s.

Life is made up of little moments: some good, some not so good, some boring, some fabulous, we can’t run away from realities and we need to embrace them without feeling the need to write a status about it. What’s the use if we start writing status “in bad need of help,” “feeling low,” “feeling lonely” how many of the so called friends will rush to help? Our so called friendship with thousands on friends on Facebook is in fact a fantasy. The key message is to live your life, focus on your present reality, and ignore the extravaganza of social media. Trust me; you’ll be much happier!

It is a fact that most people don’t love their work; they still go to work because it gives them their bread and butter. They crib, they detest many aspects of their job; their boss, their colleagues, the work atmosphere and lack of perks. On the other hand, many like their job – while some tolerate it, but a small segment of people whom we can count in a minority find their work very interesting also it supports their lifestyle. They look forward to going to work each day, and they brim with positivity. We become truly successful and contented with our work when we are given chance to apply our strengths and passions optimally, aren’t we?

Does that mean these happy people have the perfect fit? Why do they enjoy what they do? Why are they passionate about their work? And if you look at their job profiles, someone is doing data entry, someone is writing books of accounts, someone is noting inward-outward entries, someone is doing research, someone is each day out doing salesman’s job, someone is receiving people at the entrance, someone is stitching clothes, someone is cooking for guests day in and day out, someone is tiding the garden. Is there a perfect job and a perfect organization? No. I think, it is critical to distinguish between the job and the way you do it. This is important because every job has characteristics that can be loved and disliked. There are many aspects of the job which you’ll find unpleasant. But, if you chose, you will be able to get through them with a smile on your face.

So if you think your boss doesn’t appreciate you, you are underpaid, your company isn’t ideal, you overworked, your peers aren’t decently educated etc, remember they aren’t the key evaluators in your life. You are the key evaluator of your life. Do your job well for your satisfaction, even if you don’t like your specific work, or the work environment you are in, you can love the way you do it.

Do pat your back at least once a day, may be at the end of every day. Chances are, you may discover, as you focus on doing it better, that some of the irritations of your job become more rewarding, or at least less lousy. Years back, when I had to travel on my scooter selling diagnostic products to doctors, and later when I changed job still travelling on my scooter selling courier services to corporate, I eventually grew to like sales, because it gave me a glimpse of buyer behavior, it gave me a chance to improve my communication, it automatically boosted my confidence after each successful sale. I had to put my best foot forward for each sales call. Today, when I look back at my sales career spanning over 20 years, let me tell you, I feel fortunate for I created a job which I loved doing. And, since past fifteen years I am working as a Professor of Marketing, I enjoy my work all the more, because I have practical experience of selling and marketing. I can easily explain the cliché concepts. I would have not been successful as a teacher without my previous work experiences.

No matter what kind of job, engagement or career you are into, there are bound to be times when you are just not loving it or enjoying it. Maybe, you are just experiencing a creative dry spell, hence nothing feels exciting. But things still need to get done. Does quitting solve your problem? Do you want to switch to a totally different career and start over? I think you need to give yourself some time, talk to few experienced people, and take the call. These are a few of your options, certainly. But maybe not the best ones.

Friends, you can find satisfaction in your work. Doing so is very valuable to your life in many ways, including greatly increasing your earnings, increasing your learning curve and gratification of some of your career objectives. Many times we are afraid of being stuck in the same job for life. Don’t worry. I have seen individuals who highlight the positive and rewarding aspects of their job, don’t stay in unpleasant jobs that long. They get promoted or use their positive record to get a more fulfilling job. Another factor of life is we need to love life to fully benefit from it. But which parts of our lives generate that fervor varies from person to person.  Someone who is passionate about his/her job may be having problems in his/her family life or must be having some other problems in personal life. It depends other than your job, what is your passion in life? Do you love to learn, or teach, or write? Are you passionate about cooking, sports, buying cars, branded clothes, watches, do you enjoy watching first day first show of movies? Do you have a wonderful friends, a lover, or a family that you admire? If so, you need to be congratulated for discovering some of life’s great turn-ons for you!!

Remember, if you are happy in life, you will enjoy doing your job. You need to balance your work and life both. This is not hard to do. Commit to enjoying life regularly, celebrate small, small achievements of yours, play some games, buy gifts for your family, your friends, visit florist, greeting cards shop, listen to the radio, watch some nice television programs, add colors to your regular monotonous life. Don’t get entangled in a job that makes you miserable and find all your joys elsewhere. But remember, while you are searching for that perfect job, enjoy the way you are doing your present one, and keep celebrating and expanding all the other joys of life that surround you.

Focus on the bright spots in your life. Start finding a way of working that suits your natural strengths and energy. When you are working in a role that places demands on your natural strengths and you are working on things that give you energy, it feels great. After all, the lines between working life and personal life become blur because a job is as much about personal fulfillment and growth, as much as your paycheck.

Every day we are showered with umpteen advertisements; they are in newspapers, on billboards, hoardings, banners, websites, newspaper insertions and TV. Whether we like them are not – we are exposed to about hundreds of them on a daily basis. Majority of the time, we ignore them because we are used to tune them out.  Today’s consumers need a lot of flexibility, independence and ease while consuming any content. They don’t like to be dictated in what, when, where and how they should consume any content. Advertisers are facing a big time challenge to understand the consumer’s mindset on when, how and where they spend their time, and adjust the advertising patterns accordingly.

Among the topnotch media vehicles TV ads historically were and still are the advertising platform of choice for brands seeking to maximize their reach; in past the next choice was print media and outdoor platforms. But today, internet advertising has already overtaken and left other media vehicles behind. As per the latest trends TV ads are complimented by internet ads and this is getting the advertisers required results. Advertisers today are using internet as a platform to accelerate user engagement. Leading advertisers are stitching together offline and online consumer experience while they are creating persuasive, inventive and interactive internet experiences.

Advertisers cannot ignore some of the glaring facts while designing strategies for ad campaigns.

Mobile has become the center of marketing: From cell phones to smart phones, tablets to wearable gadgets, the progression of mobile cannot be ignored. It has become one of the prime features which influence the advertising and marketing world. As the focus is shifting from the TV screen to smaller screen, and the fact that mobile is considered a personalized gadget for each individual, brands will be able to strike up a more personalized relationship with their customers by using the influence of the power of mobile.

Customers are looking for stronger ties with brands: Already, customers are seeking more commitment from brands. They seek transparency and ethical behavior from the brands. This trend will persist as customers are becoming more demanding in their expectation of transparency. They will buy and be loyal to brands which offer ‘what they promise’ – the ones that create real value. This simply means that brands which will not make their customer dealings transparent will doom automatically.

Good content will always be welcomed: Good and evocative advertising content has been, is and always be appreciated by viewers.  Predominantly visual content will rule the perch in the online marketing world. Quite often we come across an advertisement that’s so clever, you instantly stop and appreciate it. Advertisers need to evolve into various forms at times some may disrupt the conventional marketing models. But, they need to adapt to ever changing market changes because the speed at which a brand can create amazing content will play a part in their success. Last year in the tax season, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance created the Tax Monster, a character that personified the much-hated taxes to build awareness for its Fortune Gain and Future Gain schemes. During a three-month campaign, the insurance brand sought to debunk common tax issues and talk about how insurance is great to save tax. The brand chose a content-driven strategy where fans were fed with information in a fun, interactive manner, using which they had to defeat the tax monster. The ad was appreciated by masses.

User generated content helps brand recall: The smart marketers have realized the power of user-generated content. The customer’s feedback and their opinions will surpass branded content as brands begin to surrender control of their own brands’ marketing to their customers. Customers interact with each other online through their reviews, experiences, comments on social media, blogs, and discussions. If the brand is appreciated, impact will be positive. However strong the advertiser’s content is, the co-creation between brands and consumers call the shorts. This has indeed become a popular trend.

Social media has become an integral part of the promotion. Its impact has grown stronger and hence most marketers have adopted a transition effort to social channels.

Brands will survive because their loyalists:  Today, in the management of marketing, the future of the brand depends solely in what customers are talking about a brand. The customers’ responses and feelings toward the brand will dictate future campaigns. Fundamentally, if the customers are happy, they will gladly wear the marketer’s hat and do what is needed to bring their favorite brand in focus.

Marketers need to understand that they cannot rely solely on demographic parameters; for example depending solely on the millennial; a product which is targeted solely at “youth” segment is bought and consumed by older generations too.

Personalized data and accurate analytical tools will help marketing efforts: Marketers will have to rely on customer’s personalized data and focus on relationship building. The data collection will need to be rightly captured and measured scientifically. Many ideas are hypothesized, but few are practical. The need of the hour is better analytical tools to help marketers determine the success of their campaigns.

The Oreo biscuit by Nabisco, an American company created a social and digital campaign for their brand by teaming up with ad agency 360i of 100 days in 2012. The campaign was creative and whimsical visualizations of “America’s favorite cookie” from June 25th until October 2nd. Each day, Oreo shared an image of a cookie portraying thinkable and unthinkable events of the day capturing important milestones or current events.

Using milestones is in general a great way of creating engagement, both through location specific celebrations and worldwide events. In India Amul is famous for it. Such campaigns click because a large number of people can easily relate to it.  Oreo’s 100 days campaign engaged  fans with the “Daily Twist” campaign as people became curious and wanted to see what comes next? The campaign was driven on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbir and Pinterest.

Some events are of course more predictable than others, such as the Olympics, Labour Day and the beginning of new school year, but most of the celebrated events were surprising, such as Talk like a pirate day, Elvis Week and the Mars Rover landing. Even though some of the cookie designs were obviously planned ahead, you could sense that the Oreo design team monitored trending topics and enhanced current events, such as the premiere of Batman “The Dark Knight Rises” and the release of the iPhone5 ensuring that the content was always relevant and timely.

The campaign finale took place at Times Square with the last “Daily Twist” cookie design created in real-time in a pop-up agency, based on ideas from consumers suggested through social media or from people showing up on Times Square for the finale.

So, today’s advertising trend is that the brand needs ‘two-way conversation’ wherein the consumers participate in the advertising campaigns. Previously it used to be ‘one way’ in which a brand dominates the conversation or outputs information without really engaging the consumers. Two-way conversation is a strategy that a brand uses to radiate a human quality, showing and practicing that they care about what consumers have to say. Instead of broadcasting, they’re engaging.

This is an era of social media. From morning to night everyone is glued to the mobile phone checking Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, You tube everywhere at home, office, traveling, on public transports and roads anywhere. With the increase of addiction of Internet, social media is emerging as the best mode of communication. Popular social media vehicles include Facebook and Twitter and WhatsApp. India has 118 million active social media accounts. Of this the more operated social media accounts is by the tech savvy youth. So it seems that the more influenced by the social media is today’s younger generation. Social media is used differently by different people for different purposes. One of the wide usages is by the politicians who harness the power of social media for achieving their political agenda. It is not an overstatement to say that social media is playing colossal role in political games.

What keeps people so engaged on the social media is rumors, false alarms, gossip and snoops.  It just takes few seconds to click the share button with others; but how do you know what you are reading and sharing is true? Today people get so swayed by the posts they receive that majority of them share posts without least checking. By doing so, they deceive themselves and others.  Its miserable, hoax items such as celebrity deaths, chain mails which previously used to be sent from emails, is now a hot item on social media because it spreads faster. Items such as election results, falsities about social network such WhatsApp will be charged, so and so or Facebook will not charged etc, scandals, and social experiments are the ones making rounds on social media.

Some false alarms lead to serious realities; as in September this year, in Uttar Pradesh a rumor took life of a person called “Akhlaq” in Greater Noida’s Bisada village. The 58-year-old handyman was attacked by a lynch mob that set upon his residence after rumors that a cow had been slaughtered there and the family had beef in the house.

This photo did the rounds on social media a few years ago, and the people in the snapshot clicking photographs made it seem more authentic. However, this image is nothing but a product of Photoshop as the two extra heads were copy pasted. This news made terrible rounds on social media saying “king cobra with three faces found on national highway” The people in the frame were clicking photos of a regular king cobra. This is height of stupid rumors.

This story broke on Whatsapp and Twitter with the Delhi Police apparently warning consumers from drinking Pepsi or Frooti as the blood of one of the factory workers who was HIV positive had accidentally mixed with a certain batch of the drink. The message claimed that the story was reported by NDTV as well. But both Delhi Police and NDTV denied those reports. In fact, HIV cannot even spread via ‘infected’ food.

Yo-Yo Honey Singh was one of the victims of the celebrity death hoax with a photo of the rapper lying in a hospital bed doing the rounds. But the photo was from his music video ‘Bring Me Back’ and a message was soon sent out from his Twitter handle that Yo Yo was safe and sound. Similarly despite what you may have read, Jeff Goldblum, Natalie Portman, George Clooney, Britney Spears, Harrison Ford and Rick Astley are alive. Some pervert minds enjoy spreading false news about other’s deaths. God alone knows, what enjoyment they get by doing so.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. The centre does not take policy positions. One of the Pew research study in December 2012 established that nearly 45% of the Indian web users connect on social media to discuss politics. People particularly youth are staying updated with the news through social media. By the exposure to the abundant information every day, the youth are getting more engaged in politics. They are debating, expressing their views on politics through social media. Many of the politicians are staying close to people through social media.

Young minds are vulnerable. They get captivated towards new things and happenings around them. Earlier the political discussions were limited to middle aged and old people but now youth is also involved in political discussions and social media is a platform for all the youth to share and express their views.

Rumors don’t spare even Gods; due to heavy insistent rainfalls in November this year, the Tirumala Tirupati shrine in the interests of safety of pilgrims had diverted the vehicular traffic through link road near the second ghat road. The management of the shrine kept 24 hours vigilance on the traffic, engineers and forest officials worked day and night in regulating the traffic without a mark of incident. In spite of smooth management, rumors were spread that the shrine is closed; devotees cannot take darshan of the Lord. The Joint Executive Officer of TTD, Tirumala, Sri KS Sreenivasa Raju strongly denied the rumors spread on social media about the closure of Tirumala shrine following rain havoc, which he termed as “baseless”. This shrine has never been closed for a single day and will never be closed ever.

The situation is calling attention to the changing state of the news media: as information online moves faster and comes from more sources, it’s more difficult to verify what’s true and what may be shockingly false and people get influenced so easily. Social media has given rise to spin doctors. A spin doctor is a person (often a political aide) responsible for ensuring that others interpret an event from a particular point of view. It also means a person who publicizes favorable interpretations of words and actions of public figures especially a politician.

Research shows that people who gossip the most have very high levels of anxiety. They are generally are not popular because they cannot be trusted. They are mentally sick. All said and done, I would say that social media has given rise to nothing but rumor madness.

Every Sunday I see many of my friends and relatives pulling the newspapers to open the astrology page to read their weekly predictions. Sometimes, even I do the same thing.  What changes every week, what do we expect to change so often? What’s that we all want from our lives? And does astrology give explanation for every few months for everything improper in our life?  Some planets will always retrograde and some will prograde. While one astrologer lists what to do, the other one just says the opposite. When one says travel, someone else says stay back home. When one says ‘’invest’’ the other says ‘’don’t invest for now’’.

And who does not visit astrologers/soothsayers? From the Prime Ministers, Presidents of nations, to the working class of people each one visits or sees soothsayers with a hope in heart that someday things will change for good. Astrology is full of fiction, intuition, nostalgic longing and archetype-driven poetry. It is a rich engine for psychic exploration. It gives us a hope, a dream, a vision, an intuition, an insight, something to look forward to…. It has the magic. Between the two extremes of life – yes and no, it provides thin gruel for our monotony and boring life. It helps people’s imaginary longings related to economic, emotional and social consequences.

Human beings are very reactive by nature. It’s a sad puzzle; some believe in an invisible deity responsible for the planet’s well-being, for our well-being. People have faith in the unknown. And hence we see astrology mushrooming all over. We pick out trends that fit our narrative. A Vedic astrologer might help you pick the ‘best date’ for your wedding, but if the marriage breaks up into a divorce, well, that too becomes part of the ‘plan.’

People want to know their future because they believe that they have greater things set for them. They don’t want to be stuck in their present, where they believe that nothing amazing is happening to them. They dream big, and realize that someday they will be able to do something stunning, without even realizing that they have the present, in which they don’t realize that that “something big” was the future that they were dreaming about in the past.

Astrology’s premise is that the planetary movements influence the moments in time. Since we’re part of the story of the Universe, our moment of birth recorded on the celestial clock is meaningful. The planets continue to move, engaging with the fixed in time energies of our birth chart. People cannot take in the mystery of things, they are also eager to unfold all the solutions the earth has to unravel.

Why do people believe in astrology? The answer to the question lies very much in the same realm as why people believe in just about any superstition. Astrology offers a number of things which many people find very desirable: information and assurance about the future, a way to be absolved of their current situation and future decisions, and a way to feel connected to the entire cosmos.

Astrology is an absurd tool of self-discovery, no matter how far you decide to take it. At first, the pieces of the puzzle may not seem to fit. But if you stick with it, at a certain point it “clicks” and the orchestrations of the cosmic dance make sense. Astrology shares this with many other beliefs which tend to be categorized as “New Age,” for example the idea that nothing in life is truly coincidental. On this view of life, everything which happens to us, even the smallest or seemingly most insignificant event, happens for some particular reason. Astrology then claims to provide at least some of the answers as to why they happen, and perhaps even a way to predict them in advance. In this way, astrology purports to help people understand their lives and the world around them – and who doesn’t want that?

In a sense, astrology does work. The way it is practiced today, it can work quite well. After all, most of those who visit an astrologer end up feeling satisfied and feeling that they have benefited. What this really means is not that astrology has accurately predicted the person’s future, but rather it means that visiting an astrologer or having a horoscope cast can be a fulfilling and personally satisfying experience.

If you take astrology as a truthful means of prediction, then you will be dissatisfied. If you use it as a useful motivation to your own thoughts and insights it’s ok to some extent. If you depend too much on it, for taking those important decisions in life, its vagueness may lead you nowhere.

We all are experiencing a detached, aloof and colder society around us. Each one is busy with his/her Smartphone in hand busy on Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and Skype. The fact is most of these Facebook friends remain just people from the past, or some newer acquaintances.
It is very difficult to keep mobile phones away. We care damn for people in close relationships like those in a home, marriage, class rooms and social functions because there is always temptation to sneak or overhear something on the phone, we want to gather news about somebody, or gossip. The best part is on social media nobody is interested in others, the relationship with others in a group is as cold as fridge water, it is just that you feel that you have association with so many people, which I call un-attached, distant relationship.

So many couples discover that the spouse is cheating, is having multiple relations so the social media gave rise to infidelity. It is as though we hold our blood relationships at a distance. Our relationships have in true sense become dysfunctional. We are dry with no emotions left. We have become withdrawn from people around us because we constantly check for messages even when engaged in a fruitful discussion. Even when we are at dining table, eating food we tend to look at messages. Sounds crazy, but this is reality.

Visit any home in the city on the weekend and see what is happening. People just don’t talk to each other anymore. Husband will be watching soccer and constantly checking his phone for Whatsapp messages. Wife will perhaps be in the kitchen cooking, but busy at the same time looking at her phone. People are getting terribly self absorbed, emotionally unavailable, inaccessible, unresponsive, and indifferent. We see a society lacking in empathy and compassion.

Some people think aloofness makes them appear cool, smarter and more attractive. They feel they are independent people, self-made people; hence they like to stay away or avoid any drama that seems unnecessary. What we call drama, is not a drama each time. It’s just that we don’t respect emotions of others. When we see an accident, when we see somebody getting beaten up, as bystanders we are not powerless to help, instead we chose to remain aloof, detached, sadly we are taught to let go, not get involved. Social apathy has become routine. And, I am sure, when we need people to come to our rescue, even we might experience aloofness from others.

Our children observe us and they too learn, among other things, that emotions are dangerous since they cannot be predicted. Each emotion has different consequence; each emotion cannot give comfort, security and kind feeling. Parents are busier, engrossed in their own world. Children are left on their own; their love towards parents, siblings, friends in early age can be shattered and replaced by ones of fear, despair, and irrelevance. One solution available to a child in such a situation is to distance himself from his emotions. If we look at the child’s conflict at the deepest level, I believe the central component is the gap between his caregiver’s profession of love towards him and the child’s secret, usually unspoken belief that his caregiver does not love him.

Let us not forget that social engagement is considered as an important element contributing towards successful ageing. There is undeniable evidence that involvement with societal activities has positive outcomes for people in older age. Studies have found that people who are socially active enjoy good mental health, better physical health, fewer depressive symptoms, higher cognitive function and improved personal well-being, https://medfitnetwork.org/public/xanax-alprazolam-details/. There is also evidence to suggest that detachment from societal activity has negative consequences on life outcomes. Social detachment has been shown to be associated with higher rates of depression and mortality.

In today’s complex marketing world, defining digital marketing is a bit difficult. On the contrary I will put it like this – in today’s complex digital marketing era defining marketing strategies is no longer a simple job.  Digital marketing is the promotion of products and services using one or more forms of electronic media. Thus, digital marketing is promotion of brands on electronic media. It is different than traditional marketing which involves the use of channels and methods that enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t.

Digital marketers help in promoting and building awareness, providing research to prospects, and driving qualified prospects to conversions. Their job is not all that easy because there are too many newer platforms emerging and each one comes with its complexities. It involves huge volume of data and streaming process of the data which contains diversified buyers, diversified marketers and a range of marketing channels. Sending the right message to the right buyer at the right time is a big responsibility. And let’s not forget the customer has exposure to more than data he can chew.

Digital media is so invasive that consumers have access to information any time and any place they want it. It is therefore a tricky thing to use segmenting, targeting and positioning. The marketers cannot promote only what they want their customers to know. Digital media is an ever-growing resource of entertainment, news, shopping and social interaction, and consumers are now exposed not just to what the company wants to say about their brand, but what the media, rivals, friends, family, peers, etc., are saying as well. And they are more likely to believe them than the marketer. People want brands they can trust, companies that they know of, communications that are personalized and relevant and which is offered in tailored formats to their needs and preferences.

Using digital marketing without a strategic approach is still customary. Many of the companies use digital media in a good way by using email or social media marketing on their own. But larger organizations need better governance and strategies while using social media; smaller companies can manage on their own.

The larger companies need creation of digital plans in two stages. Initially a separate digital marketing plan needs to be created. This is useful to get conformity and buy-ins by showing the opportunities and problems and map out a path through setting goals and specific strategies for digital including how they would incorporate digital marketing into other business activities. At a later stage, digital becomes integrated into the firm’s marketing strategy which is a core activity – a usual business process that does not warrant separate planning, except for the strategy.

Some companies which use digital marketing very well are:

Nike: This Company used a major sporting event to surround their social media campaign. They skipped the high profile athletes of the 2012 Olympics and instead featured the average Olympic athletes. Nike gained 166,718 Facebook fans during the London Olympics. Nike has been able to evolve its global presence through the careful selection of international sponsorships such as its previous long-standing relationship with Manchester United.  Although sponsorship spending could be fairly unpredictable demand costs surged due to triggers like championships and tournaments. Nike has used such events to capture the attention of a global audience.

Similarly, Heinz primarily, uses Facebook to launch new products, like their 5-bean blend. They created a game where the person answered a series of questions, which was like a personality test. The results were given in types of beans. Personalized beans were sent to five winners every hour. If you shared the app with ten people, you received a goodiieeie bag. Coupons were also offered.

Digital marketers examine things like what is being viewed, how often and for how long, sales conversions, what content works and doesn’t work, etc. While the Internet is, perhaps, the channel most closely associated with digital marketing, others include wireless text messaging, mobile instant messaging, mobile apps, podcasts, electronic billboards, digital television and radio channels, etc.

The thumb rule in digital marketing is that it’s not enough to for a company to just know their customers; they must know them better than anybody else so that they can communicate with them where, when and how they are most amenable to their messages. To have the customer’s profile and what they like and dislike the marketers need a consolidated view of customer preferences and expectations across all channels. These channels are web, social media, mobile, direct mail, point of sale, online sellers etc. Marketers can use this information to create and anticipate constant, coordinated customer experiences that will move customers along in the buying cycle. The deeper the insight into customer behaviour and preferences, the more likely the marketers can engage them in lucrative interactions. It requires hand’s on experience of buyer behaviour.

While keeping its overarching branding consistent, McDonald’s practices ‘glocal’ marketing efforts. It used digital marketing to know the local taste.  McDonald’s brings a local flavour, literally, to different countries with region-specific menu items. In 2003, McDonald’s introduced the McArabia, a flatbread sandwich, to its restaurants in the Middle East. It uses digital marketing to the fullest of its worth. And, Domino’s is not far behind either. It used digital marketing to reach out to customers in China where dairy wasn’t a big part of their diet until lately. Domino’s changed just its toppings to suit the taste buds of Chinese.

Leave aside the business community; the Governments of many nations have started using the digital marketing. Their work isn’t just about delivering a public service. Increasingly, government leaders are determined on giving citizens a more personalized and customer-focused experience. In India, the present Government’s digital experience can meet, and even anticipate, the needs of citizens. The present NaMo government relies on digital tools and strategies that are flexible enough to adapt with rapidly evolving technology. By taking a customer service focus to the work, agencies are building customized services, emphasizing efficiency, engagement and security. A digital-customer facing experience is now built-in to many of the outward-facing services of government. The idea of putting the customer first can really help agencies stand out in the digital sphere.

Same is the case with hospitals, entertainment businesses, services such as electricity; income tax, water supply, municipal corporations, banking etc are slowly adopting digital marketing to woo their clientele. Good for the customers!

Though digital marketing and its associated channels are important exclusion of traditional channels does not work. Also, digital marketing comes with certain challenges:

• Explosion of digital channels: Consumers use multiple digital channels and a variety of devices that use different set of rules, specifications and interfaces and they interact with those devices in different ways and for different purposes. Hence marketers need to be alert and vigilant in keeping up with customer’s choices.
• Digital marketing intensifies competition: Digital channels are relatively cheap, compared with traditional media, making them within reach of practically every business of every size. As a result, it has intensified competition in all business spheres. It is difficult to capture consumers’ attention.
• Exploding data volumes: Consumers leave behind a huge trail of data in digital channels. Hence it’s extremely difficult to lay hands on all that data, as well as to find the right data within exploding data volumes that can help marketers make the right decisions.

Lastly, if your company is going to thrive in the digital marketplace, it will be as a data-driven organization.