What do you want from social media?

No matter who is creating content on social media, every one does it with an agenda.

Without an agenda, no one would do it and no one would have any meaning or motivation to carry on.

In such a scenario, if you haven’t figured it out yet, or if you don’t have a clear pathway for your future, you must ask yourself what is it that you want from social media?

And not just social media in general, but when you market yourself or your brand, what is the outcome that you’re expecting?

Having a clear outcome decides the path that you’ve to take, the journey that you’ve set yourself on.

Usually, what you want from social media boils down to these 5 scenarios,

– sales
In a scenario of sales, you’ve approached the platform (any) with a single mindset of selling your product or your service.

With everything that you post, the agenda is one, to sell to your target audience.

This type of approach is effective for some, but short-lived because the audience wants to get some sort of value, something meaningful, informative or entertaining, but something that connects them with you.

– influence
Where influence can also be clubbed with sales and/or popularity, the reason I see influence as a separate category because the power of influence is enormous, and not everyone with influence needs to be popular.

Nonetheless, your influence can make or break someone’s product or service, where mostly the influence is seen over positive experiences, a negative experience could hurt someone as well.

– attention
Isn’t attention a part of all the other scenarios as well, it’s a part and parcel of all of them, right?

There is a category of people who use this attention towards a cause or a movement, making people aware of them and/or driving people towards that change.

That approach on social media is a unique one and not seen on a mass scale. However, the aspect of attention is usually combined with one or two more scenarios and thus approaching the platforms with that intent.

– popularity/ fame
Intent is an essential factor along with your approach and for some is to become popular and famous.

That popularity may lead to sales and influence, but the initial intent is popularity and fame, to have a following, to gather an audience for your name.

– impact
Impact, can also be approached as purpose, drives change.

In this scenario, what you want from social media, is to impact people, make people aware and/or drive change. This impact can be for any sector, and in the due process of it can be combined with another scenario, but the macro goal is to create impact in the society.

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You should choose the one that you know is truly right for you, and be clear with your agenda right from the start.

Adding to that, you also can have a mixture of things that you want, and not just end up choosing one. Different individuals, different needs and wants.

However, you must be clear in your mind, so you can then communicate with authenticity and honesty with your audience.

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The Digital Push

If the push towards digital wasn’t huge already, the current crisis has certainly made it so.

Why digital? That answer is easy, because it provides the ease of access, you can connect with anyone and everyone, with the location becoming irrelevant.

For an individual or brand to reach the next level, to flourish, they have to take a step towards becoming digital, towards connecting with their audience. (this most certainly applies to our MSMEs)

Right from team communications, to live streaming, to building a community, to selling a product or service, all the essentials of building a company has pushed towards digital.

Whenever something saves time and money and makes it easier for you to do something, there is no second thought whether that would be the future or not.

And digital is that. If you haven’t already or if you’re second-guessing or stuck with something, you need to overcome that and start now.

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Why I am terrible at marketing?

When you look at the current marketing environment, you’ll notice a few commonalities that remain the same for all brands.

Being in the marketing sector for 5+ years now, whether it’s through strategizing or executing for brands, noticing the change in trends or platforms, all of it has taught me a thing or two.

I took all of it under account, when I thought of simultaneously working on my personal brand as well. Share my point of view, my perspective, and my journey whilst bringing awareness around those things.

Having done that for a while now, I ended up realizing how am I so terrible at marketing, especially when it comes to my own brand.

Thinking about all of this, I jot down a few pointers that will help me explain this further

– Instead of baiting you into funnels,

I end up asking for your permission every time.

– Instead of packaging it into courses and ebooks,

I end up giving it all away for free.

– Instead of sounding like an expert,

I end up experimenting all on myself first before sharing it ahead.

– Instead of making it all about me,

I end up focusing on providing value to you first.

– Instead of focusing on likes and followers,

I end up focusing on the long-term vision ot changing your life (or at least making you aware of it)

Should you even follow me after reading all of this?

I’ll leave that up to you.

Fin.

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Marketing Setbacks

When it comes to running a business, especially when its small or medium-sized, one knows about how many problems occur frequently.

As an entrepreneur, one must constantly put out fires, keep the business in check, and at the same time, focus on its sales and growth in order to keep the business running and simultaneously improve it as well.

When it comes to its growth and improvement, apart from the obvious focus on your product and/or service and customer relations, the other important factor is your advertising and marketing.

That area of your business which lets you share your story, which lets you connect with your customers, which helps you grow your business and reach to more and more people.

For some, it’s really really effective and for some, they still take their time to figure out the right approach for their business.

Here’s where the problem lies though.

Businesses get affected by their setbacks, we agree on that, be it of any kind.

However, as soon as there’s a setback in a business, the first thing that gets affected is advertising/ marketing.

That’s where the costs are saved, that’s the area where the immediate action is taken unless things get resolved.

What one doesn’t understand is, a decision of such kind hurts them even more than they realize.

The one area which you stop at such a moment which could’ve helped in solving your issue actually derails the business even more.

If you look at data, you’ll notice how sales fall as an impact of this decision. Footfalls decrease. Customer engagement becomes less gradually.

Without constant marketing, word’s not going out about a business. Their updates. Their improvements.

Such a marketing setback, which was a hasty and an impatient one, in actuality setbacks the business.

When one truly understands its importance, how effective it is, the powerful tool it is, then they are able to scale their business, then they are able to solve their issues, then they are able to double down on it and use it to their advantage.

It’s only when one doesn’t, when their business gets affected, in order to “cut costs”.

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Making Marketing complicated

Why do we complicate marketing?

Why do we have to complicate the process of connecting the brands and the individuals with other individuals?

Why do we have to complicate the process of building a relationship?

Even though the process generates results, even though its been going on since years and years now, as a marketer, seeing how the consumers are manipulated into the brand’s funnels shocks me.

By offering free e-books/ courses, hugely discounted material just for a day, and such similar marketing gimmicks, is being used to manipulate people into their funnels makes me think how low can someone get just to get their numbers high.

With the kind of social media and digital access that is currently available, it’s also the permission economy where you need the permission of the consumer to sell them anything.

The permission to make them your community member.

The permission to make them your newsletter subscriber.

Marketing gimmicks work, they generate results, they generate the numbers and thus it is continued for such a long time.

However, until when does it work with every individual consumer?

Consumers are smarter than before, they might enter the first or the second step of the funnel, but are they reaching the end nowadays?

That’s the question that should be asked.

Marketing has become so complicated that something as simple as, “Would you like to buy this?” isn’t even seen anymore.

Asking whether you’d be interested in a newsletter isn’t even asked anymore. You somehow always get that mail one day, because you were a part of the funnel sometime back.

There’s no permission anymore, especially at a time when it should be asked.

Marketing has become complicated, and as a community, we have made it so.

But, it’s also our responsibility to transfer the power back to the consumers, let them be the judge of it, let them have their permission back.

—x—

P. S. Here’s me asking for your permission –

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, ‘The Weekly Zazz‘ here – where I combine thought, emotion and information on mindset, marketing, entrepreneurship, pop-culture and more.

—x—

I have a daily podcast too, Mindset Marketing Movies – an RTH24 podcast – daily digestible episodes on mindset, marketing and movies.

You can listen to it at –
Spotify|| Apple Podcasts || Breaker|| JioSaavn || PocketCasts || Google Podcasts

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If you wish to get this daily blogs on your mail, please subscribe here – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

Likes are a Vanity Metric

It’s 2020 and either for themselves or for their brands, people are still hunting for likes.

In a constantly evolving world, where creators are on the lookout for what works and what doesn’t, ‘social media likes’ are clearly not the way to decide the outcome of that.

They are a vanity metric which is still used to check the success of a particular creative.

Whereas we need to move beyond that and focus on what attracts the audience’s attention, what makes them comment, what makes them share something, what makes them save something.

A creative needs to be really valuable for someone to save them for later viewing. For someone to share it with others. Those are metrics to measure against. That creates a long-term bond with the brand which then continues with other avenues.

Which direction are you aligning towards? Likes or Shares and Saves?

3 Questions to ask yourself before you post anything!

Whenever anyone is wanting to create content for any social media platform, one of the questions that arise in their mind is, ‘Will this post work?’
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There’s a constant worry around this question and sometimes it stops people from posting what they truly want to share. In a constant dilemma of engagement, what gets affected is the content.

To solve that issue in the easiest manner I could think of, here are 3 questions you should ask yourself before you post anything –

1. Is this genuine to me or am I posting just for the sake of it?

2. Does this provide value to my audience?

3. Would I consume this if it came on my feed?

Simple questions to which if you could answer truthfully, you’ll find out that any and all types of content is post-worthy and there are no selection criteria to it.

One Year of Blogging! #365Blogs

I have been writing blogs on a daily basis for a year now and this is blog no. 365!

Do you know what it means?

Today, I complete One Year of Blogging, having never missed a day!

Whilst writing, I’ve come across some really interesting ideas/ thoughts which I’m sure, if not for blogging, couldn’t have been penned down the way it happened now.

Which brings me to the highlight of today’s blog post, because providing value on a daily basis is the base of why I do what I do.

If, after one year of every day blogging, I had to sum up my learning from it, it’d be the following –

1. Daily blogging has widened my thought process in a way, that I’m able to concentrate on my thoughts better than before and write more freely on a topic that I think is important to talk about.
2. Talking about writing freely, one of the most important learning was my writing process. To be honest, I wasn’t good at the writing stuff, the grammar, the vocabulary, the punctuation, the sentence formation – there’s a lot to think about when it comes to writing.
   However, writing on a daily basis has opened it up for me and now, I’m more confident about it than ever before.
3. All of this has also allowed my creative channels to open up – try to think more creatively while writing, how can a certain topic be said in a different manner so it brings more value than, if said directly.
4. Also, having kept a scheduled time to post before, and without failing to post on a daily basis, it has also allowed me to develop a creative discipline within me which doesn’t have the space for “creative blocks” or “mental blocks”, because at the end of the day, I know what I have to share and I cannot back out of it.
5. Lastly, it brings so much value to the people, the way they respond after reading something – it’s extremely joyful to know that your writing has made a difference to someone’s life.

Blogging is fun and no matter how many trends or platforms change and evolve, text as a medium of communication will never change and something like blogging is here to stay!

Thank you to everyone who take the time out to read these blogs, either on a regular basis, or even a particular one, once in a blue moon, when it seems imteresting to them. I’m ever grateful to all of you.

Keep reading, keep enjoying!

Your feedback is always valuable.

Cannot wait for blog no. 3600 in 10 years!

Daily Sales, but not your Content!

As companies, everyone focuses on their sales on a day-to-day basis.

Of course, or else how will they run their business.

However, when it comes to selling their products and services, as consumers, people are now tired of the same old sales tactics and the same old selling that happens online.

Times are changing, Trends are changing, People’s consumption habits are changing!

Now, you need to have a different approach when it comes to approaching people online and it can’t be a once-in-a-while campaign about selling your product/service.

Now, the objective is to connect with your audience first, build a connection with them, provide valuable content for them to consume and once they feel they connect with the brand, they’ll buy the product themselves.

How do you reach that scenario though?

Well, in easy words, as you focus on your daily sales, start focusing on daily content creation as well.

A whole lot of brands on social media, with the objective of sell-only, have an irregular activity on their profiles, thus ignoring the potential of the platforms and the ability to build a relationship with the audience.

How can you, as a brand, proceed?

Have a brand strategy in hand, as to how you want to approach the platform, the audience, How do you want them to perceive your brand.

Then, create content accordingly.

But, Daily.

Multiple times a day.

That provides value to your audience.

It takes time, however, with different strategies and different execution styles, all being run simultaneously, your brand can have the growth and results you desire via the social media platforms.

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Are you thinking of building your brand on social media?

Connect with us at zazzmediaindia@gmail.com or check out the company profile on Instagram @zazzmedia

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If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, and if you do find my content interesting, it’d mean the world to me – if you subscribed.

Here’s the link – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

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I’m pretty active on Twitter – documenting my thoughts there – let’s connect – @rth_24

Of course, the current culture is Instagram – let’s not forget to connect there too – @rth24

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Lastly, I’m not the one to usually give call to actions – but – if you got value from this, it’d mean a lot if you would share it! That would really make my day – thanks!

Social Media is more than Followers and Likes

As an advertising agency, or a brand, or an influencer, with every platform, everyone tends to focus on the followers and likes to measure their engagement. However, when it comes to reaching out to more people, social media is more vital than that.

With the tools available within the platform and externally too, there are insights which show impressions and people reached and profile visits, which shows the impact you’re making with your content.

The number of views and impressions should matter more because, from the long-term perspective of brand-building, these same people will see your content again and again, and eventually attract to it, if they’re your target audience.

Thus, initially, one’s focus should be on reaching out to more people, simultaneously creating genuine content which holds value to them, eventually building a community for your brand.

Platforms’ Effectiveness

With the number of social media platforms available, which platform should your brand focus on?

Each of these platforms have a role to play, each have a specific type of audience, and they will perceive your brand differently.

In such a scenario, an in-depth study of the brand is needed to know which platform is useful for them and which is not.

Often, the sole focus goes only on Facebook and Instagram or sometimes, solely Instagram.

However, pertaining to the type of brand, there are times when a Pinterest or Snapchat or TikTok or even LinkedIn could turn out to be more impactful in terms of reaching out to your preferred audience.

Sometimes you need to be active on all the platforms available.

Every platform has a different exposure for your brand, and one should know how to turn it around and make it work for your brand.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

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Would you like to build your brand on social media?

Reach out to us at zazzmediaindia@gmail.com

—x—

If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, and if you do find my content interesting, it’d mean the world to me – if you subscribed.

Here’s the link – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

—x—

I’m pretty active on Twitter – documenting my thoughts there – let’s connect – @rth_24

Of course, the current culture is Instagram – let’s not forget to connect there too – @rth24

—x—

Lastly, I’m not the one to usually give call to actions – but – if you have received some value from this, it’d mean a lot if you would share it ahead too! That would really make my day – thanks!

It cannot be done in one creative.

Have you heard this before?

“I want to explain my brand through this one fancy creative.”

“Do one infomercial post about the brand so people know who we are.”

“We are introducing a new product and we have to make one video about it.”

And more such examples.

But the bottom line is, the game of social media doesn’t work that way.

Keeping the algorithms of these various platforms in mind, and not to forget the attention span of the audience – considering the various amount of content they consume in one go…

It’s extremely difficult to focus on just one campaign, or one creative, or one video in particular that could make your case.

To be fair, there are a few that hit the mark but that’s because the brand is already built and people know it.

For everyone else, that one creative, even if it is a successful one, in terms of numbers, one cannot rely solely on it to get the true results.

True results is mainly getting the brand name out there, selling a product or a service, converting the audience basically.

Back to the topic of one creative, that’s not how one should approach it in the first place.

You have to think of it in macro terms. You have to think of the brand first, think of how the audience will perceive it and then plan accordingly.

Think if you’d be the consumer, and how you’d like to be told about this certain information. Are you focusing on this one-off thing or do you want to make it a long-term connection?

In terms of the latter, you have to know your target audience, know your product, provide value to them in terms of that, slowly and steadily, build your brand whilst the consumer themselves want to follow your content or buy your product or service in their own time.

Thinking of the macro, you have built your brand, built a community and also, sold your product or service.

The bottom line being, you cannot approach this entire process with one creative or one campaign being the only thing that would work for the brand.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

—x—

Want to build your brand on social media?

Hit us up at zazzmediaindia@gmail.com

—x—

If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, and if you do find my content interesting, it’d mean the world to me – if you subscribed.

Here’s the link – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

—x—

I’m pretty active on Twitter – documenting my thoughts there – let’s connect – @rth_24

Of course, the current culture is Instagram – let’s not forget to connect there too – @rth24

—x—

Lastly, I’m not the one to usually give call to actions – but – if you got value from this, it’d mean a lot if you would share it! That would really make my day – thanks!

Quality is Subjective

Quality is Subjective!

Who decides whether your post/design/caption/campaign is up to the mark or not?

Certainly, not the creator.

What is good for you, might not be for the one consuming it and vice versa.

At the same time, gone are the days when you could work on one creative only, try to make it perfect and pray that it works for the brand.

Now, there’s not one perfect thing anymore.

Quality is surely not dismissed here, however, the quantity is increased – so you can create more, in order to experiment more, in order to reach more people and cater to their individual interests.

Billboards v Social Media

What’s a better choice, billboards or social media?

Well, both have their advantages and disadvantages.

If we twist that statement to what provides you with better impact, then in that case, marketing on social media gives you a lot more opportunities.

• Instead of depending on one creative to work, you can work on hundreds of more creatives which can be run in that same span of time.
• You can create different types of contextual creatives for your target audience.
• Since you have the tools to speak with your audience, there is more transparency and clarity here.
• The social media platforms are free.
• Not to forget, you can reach to a lot more people than what you would spend on a billboard.

Knowing this, you can decide for yourself with what works and what doesn’t, what provides more opportunities and what’s more expensive.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

—x—

If you haven’t subscribed to this blog yet, and if you do find my content interesting, it’d mean the world to me – if you subscribed.

Here’s the link – https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

—x—

I’m pretty active on Twitter – documenting my thoughts there – let’s connect – @rth_24

Of course, the current culture is Instagram – let’s not forget to connect there too – @rth24

—x—

Lastly, I’m not the one to usually give call to actions – but – if you got value from this, it’d mean a lot if you would share it! That would really make my day – thanks!

The base of Personal Branding!

When it comes to building a personal brand, everyone worries about the content to be created, pictures to be clicked and the selling that needs to be done, but trust is an important factor which is often overlooked.

The trust layed down by the audience towards you, trusting with what you say.

Whilst building your brand, one shouldn’t forget the foundation that it is built on, i.e. trust – everything starts from there and everything done thereafter, should be done with that trust in mind.

Once the audience loses that trust, irrespective of what you bring to the table, the essence is already lost.

What’s ‘perfect’ in marketing?

Are you looking for the perfect creative? The perfect caption? The perfect marketing campaign?

What if it doesn’t work out though?

That’s the thing about ‘perfection’. Its only perfect for you, but might not be for the audience. Or rather, it could be perfect for some of the people, but not for others.

Instead of looking for one perfect trick in the bag, the better option is to do more for all, so in that case, one could work for some and another for the rest.

That also helps to experiment more and understand your audience better, not to forget, also broadening the horizons of your brand.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Quantity > Quality?

Whenever there has been a talk about quantity, the question also shifts to whether the quality would be affected because of that?

Here’s the scenario which explains that in the best way possible –

Would you rather focus on one creative, put all your efforts into it and it gives you 30% of the expected results?

OR

Would you create 50 content pieces which might give you 80% of the expected results, and at the same time, keep your audience constantly connected with you?

More quantity doesn’t mean comprising on quality, they go hand-in-hand. It only allows you to create more/ experiment more and get you more results in the process.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Would you consume your own content?

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #29 – Would you consume your own content? •Millions and millions of content pieces are created and consumed every day on the social media platforms.

People ask,
what type of content should they create,
what type of content would get them more engagement,
what would get them more attention?

The answer’s quite simple. The one you would have consumed yourself.

If you don’t find your own content worthy of consuming, or don’t find any value in it, then how would others.

This is the reason why you should create something that you love, something that you’re passionate about – because – then you’re able to speak/write with that energy and share those vibes with your audience as well.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

The Perfect Post – Does it exist?

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #21 – The Perfect Post •

Would you create the perfect post or would you not post at all?

Technically, neither is a tangible option in today’s world.

There is no such thing as perfection – there’s no right way to create the perfect post. Secondly, the audience decides whether they align with your message or not. So you can only experiment with what works for your brand or not.

What’s the other option? To not post at all? With the platforms available at the tip of our fingers and the access to the people at scale, it doesn’t make sense why one wouldn’t create content and try to reach out to their audience!

The only way left is to create content, as much as possible, find out what works and try creating more of that, whilst simultaneously experimenting with new stuff as well so there’s some feeling of mystery for the audience as well.

What are you waiting for?
#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

What’s Stopping You from Posting

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #18 – What’s Stopping You •

What’s stopping you from posting?

It’s the time to start working on your brand – start posting content – what you are passionate about / what interests you – then what’s stopping you?

• People’s Opinions

People are going to judge you irrespective of your presence online, the face-to-face and behind-the-back judgements never stop, so why not post because of such people.

• Competition

Your fellow colleagues had a headstart and are performing better on social media – better how – social media metrics!
Your motive is to post for the audience you want to build, the numbers don’t matter. Plus if your content is valuable, then people will listen to you no matter how many other people they are following.

• Impatience

Impatience towards getting more likes, more followers, reaching to a lot more people. During the start, people get hesitant with a few followers or not growing fast enough. Good content and patience for the long-term is the answer.

• Comfort Zone

Mainly, people are in a comfort zone – the comfort of consuming over producing, the comfort of not taking the time out to create content, the comfort of who cares is on people’s minds.

At the end, what’s stopping you is yourself. If you want to build your Brand, if you want to build your community, if you want to share your word with people, you cannot let anything hinder that progress.

Start Now! #TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

The Cost of Entry is Zero

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #17 – The Cost of Entry is Zero •

The number of social media platforms is endless and at this point in time, there is no way to focus on just one. To be present online, you have to present on at least more than one platform to garner attention towards your brand.

However, as we all know. Facebook’s organic reach has gone down over the last few months/ years, and next in line is Instagram. Soon, the platform’s organic reach will go down and it already is showing the indications.

When that happens, people will start complaining and ranting about social media platforms and raise questions about Instagram being one of the platforms who will make you promote ads and earn money.

Although, if you think about it, the answer is right there. Even if that happens, the cost of entry to this or any of the past or future platforms is still zero. The platform is free to use. It may become a bit difficult but still free.

When the cost of entry is zero, you cannot really dismiss a platform where you can reach out to hundreds and millions of people and build your community. Plus, you cannot complain about it either. There’s no alternative solution where you get to reach out to people and create content for them – so when you have it in front of you, why not take advantage of it.

Come to think of it now, you cannot really dismiss Facebook either, right?

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Instagram Likes are disappearing!

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #16 – Instagram Likes are disappearing •

You may, or may not, know this about Instagram’s move to disappear likes from your posts and the testing is already happening in a few countries.

Basically, any one who sees your post will now engage it on the basis of how it connects with her and not on the basis of likes count – which won’t be visible to her in the first place.

How does that help you?

Well, a number of people have put “likes” on a pedestal and create content which garners more likes and not what they want to post, or what interests them.

Now that the “likes count” would be out of the picture, one can freely create content out of their own interests and passion and now have the ability to provide an audience who might have not interacted before, but still find that content interesting.

Of course, at first, Instagram would get a lot of hate, when this feature rolls globally, but give it time and people would find its advantages.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Don’t forget your audience!

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #14 – Engage with your Audience •

People are always on the lookout to identify new ways to get more followers, but fail to engage with their current followers.

Reply to each and every content that you receive – make sure that you interact with your audience.

Apart from replying to comments you receive, make it a point to engage with your audience as much as possible – ask them questions, polls, do a quiz, do a giveaway, any and all sorts of things which can keep your audience active with your content.

Your current audience gives way to your future followers as well, their interaction builds the path for the future followers to realize whether they should follow your account or not.

Engage – that’s the key. #TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Experiment

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #13 – Experiment •

There is no proven method or a fixed solution when it comes to digital marketing!

It’s all about experimenting!

What works for Brand A might not work for Brand B, be it the type of content, the topics covered, the value provided, the creativity – everything is different for every brand!

You, as a brand, as a marketer, need to experiment and find out what your brand is about, and what works for you, then do that.

The answer is Experimentation – try, fail, try again and succeed.

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Need of the Hour

In this ever-growing market, the need of the hour is “Creating Value, not Content”.
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With every brand striving to have a huge social media presence, and engagements up for sale, brands are diverging from the most important aspect: Value to the end consumer.
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Brands must remember the golden rule of digital marketing: “Don’t oversell it/ Don’t glorify it.”
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#NeedOfTheHour #ZazzYourBrand

Zazz Media’s Mission

Unless people don’t love the brands already, they usually don’t follow them on social media.

Even then, they’re under a constant hammering of promotional announcements and the brands’ sales funnels.

So, what is our mission?

We want to change the way people perceive brands on social media, and everywhere else too, on a macro basis.

At the same time, we also want to create valuable content for the brands, which ultimately brings that change for the consumers.

That’s the change Zazz Media is trying to bring. #OurMission

Earn the Right to Promote

“Provide good content and you’ll earn the right to promote your product.” – Guy Kawasaki

Sure, a brand can promote their products directly and even get good sales, but how long would that last and how much would you end up spending?

More importantly, how many people are going to remember the brand in the long-term?

When you build your Brand, when you provide good, valuable content to your audience, you connect with them, you build a relationship with them.

The consumer feels this connection, feels an affiliation to the brand and now wants to buy from them.

Now, in the future, when you promote your new collections to this same consumer, they will accept it and even buy with open arms, because you earned your right to promote your products.

Six Pack Abs in a Week

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #10 – Six Pack Abs in a Week •What would your response be, if someone tells you, that you can have six-pack abs within a week?

Do you think that’s possible?

It takes patience and persistence at the gym, along with professional guidance to get to that level.

There are no shortcuts.

Now the same logic is applied to social media marketing as well.

Brands expect the results to appear within a week – create, promote and convert.

However it’s not that simple, the process requires patience and persistence, along with some professional guidance (an agency) plus a good budget to get good results.

Good results = Brand Recognition, which ultimately will result into the the customer buying your product/ service willingly. That’s a long-term relationship.

//A suggestion to our fellow social media marketers/ agencies to not create a facade in front of the clients, be up-front with them and guide them about the process and how it works.Selling shortcut-visions won’t be an advantage for any of the parties involved, especially in the long-term!

#TipsOnHowToZazzYourBrand

Customer in Control

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #9 – Customer in Control •

The advertising industry has changed!

Earlier, the products, the services, the brands were in charge – selling to the customers – selling them an idea, a vision thay they need this.

Now,the customer is in control!

The customer knows what she/ he want, what their needs are, what their tastes are, it’s no longer about buying anything that you see.

Its about buying what you like, what you relate with, what appeals to you.

Now, in this process, the customer is making the decision of choosing the brand, rather than the other way round.

What can a brand do?

Instead of selling, where the customer won’t pay any heed to, the brands can focus on building a relationship with them, providing them value, connecting with them – and ultimately, the customer would feel so bonded with the brand…

Guess, where are they going to buy from?

Link in Bio

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #7 – Link In Bio •

Link in Bio is a permission asset and one of the best tools Instagram could have.

Other than sponsoring your post or the Swipe Ups in your Stories, you cannot add external links to your Instagram posts.

With the amount of content being posted on a daily basis, and the CTAs on the post (especially with the links on the other social media platforms) is never-ending.

Instagram allows the consumer their permission to visit the creator’s profile and click the link for more information, i.e. only if they want to.

With this, now the brands have to create enormous amount of value for their audience, for them to like what they’re consuming and visit the link if they’d like to access more information or buy any product or service.

This is a win-win situation for the consumers. #PermissionAsset

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk (Book Review)

Let me start by saying that the concept of the book, the thought process is so fantastic, how marketing has been resonated with boxing and how the boxing terms resonate here is mind blowing!

This and the awesome content inside describes the Marketing brilliance, i.e. Gary Vaynerchuk.

With the major platforms covered and how as a brand, you should focus on providing value to the audience and create native content as per the platform you’re posting on. What is also covered is a deep dive into brands’ social media accounts, the content we can learn from and also the content that shouldn’t have been done at all.

Let’s also point to the fact, how aesthetically beautiful the book is, with the hardcover, the fonts, the colours, the gloss print – it just added so much value to the content of the book.

If you’re into marketing or social media, or if you’re running a brand, you should give this book and Crushing It a read for sure, some excellent marketing insights.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is recommended.

Not Everyone understands Social Media

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #6 – Not Everyone understands Social Media •

For the past couple of years, a great number of brands, agencies and digital marketers have entered the social media scene.

Either someone trying to establish their brand online or trying to help others to do so.

The problem is, not everyone understands social media.

It is merely limited to posting a bunch of pictures, using hashtags and promoting content.

However, is it just that?

Or rather, is this much enough?

Building your brand is also about providing value to your audience, forming a connection with them, making them feel that you’re beyond a brand.

And that’s not it.

Social Media is a blend of storytelling, writing, marketing, clicking pictures and videos, curating, designing, analyzing and reporting.

Those who can accomplish all for a brand or if a brand checks all those points, then they are on the right path to understanding social media on a macro.

(On a Micro level, there’s still a lot more to know and understand)

Social Media is Mandatory

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #5 – Social Media is Mandatory •

With TVCs, radio commercials, billboards and more, the social media platforms have been the only place where you can target to your audience specifically.

You can provide value and create content as per their interests!

Also, you can even have conversations with them, understand what they want from you, as a brand and what more can be done.

Social Media is the only place where you can directly convert your customers to a sale.

Do any other platforms give you these advantages?

In today’s day and age, with everyone being smartphone-savvy, being on social media is mandatory for every brand out there. Especially for the millennials and the gen-z, if you aren’t on social, then you might not even exist.

The choice is yours. Be active, create content and reach out to your audience!

Authenticity Error 404

• Tips on how to Zazz your Brand #3 – Authenticity Error 404 •

In this era of social media, when it’s the best time to create and share value with the people, there are also people who are flexing on social, to create a mirage of a different version of their lives, than in reality.

Fronting on these platforms and with a few quick shortcuts, the audiences build up.

Now, it creates an issue because one, none of it is true and second, there’s no way you can keep up with it for a long period of time. You’re only fooling yourself whilst thinking you’re winning on social media.

What’s the answer?

Authenticity is the key. Be self-aware of who you are and with the opportunities available, build your base on these platforms with one goal in mind, providing real value to your audience.

Let your audience follow and understand the real ‘you’.

//We have started a series on ” Tips on how to Zazz your Brand” on our page @zazzmedia which will guide you on how to brand yourself or your company’s profile on social media.

Tips on How to Zazz your Brand! – A new series

With Zazz Media, as a modern communications agency, our focus is to change the way people perceive brands on social media.

Apart from sharing articles on topics that support that focus, we are also starting a series where we would be sharing Tips on how to Zazz your Brand.

What do we mean by Zazz your Brand?

Add an element of uniqueness and awesomeness to your brand and connect with your audience by providing value to them.

To Zazz a brand, the process is long and a number of things to take care of.

Whilst the process takes time, and specific attention needs to be given to each brand, on how they should build themselves,

these Tips are the baseline of how one should take care of their brand and how these tips can help them grow online and offline.

—–x—–

You can follow our account on Instagram @zazzmedia or on LinkedIn where we’ll be sharing these Tips.

Feedback is appreciated.

The audience decides, not you.

We can plan.

We can strategise.

We can pick the one out of seven that might work.

We might ensure it reaches to a lot of people.

What we forget is that the audience decides what works, not you.

You can only try.

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Often, especially on the social media platforms, you start posting content what you think will get more likes.

You decide not to post something because your audience won’t appreciate what you’re posting.

All this is pre-defined.

All in your minds.

—–x—–

Let the audience decide what they want to hear from you.

You should focus on sharing what you love.

Not just in one specific genre.

But in everything you love to talk about.

What you’re passionate about.

Let the audience decide.

Every Creative has a Thought behind it.

Don’t judge a design by its simplicity is a designer’s equivalent to “don’t judge a book by its cover”.

Either the creative becomes too simple or too complex, however, what we have forgotten is empathy for the creator.

Whether it be a billboard, or a TVC, or a social media creative, as a consumer, you tend to remember the brand that’s posting it or as the brand, you see the conversions that’s happening.

However, the creator, has to look at the quantity and always come up with something different, and at the same time, keep it connected with the brand.

One creative may look “simple”, when 100s are done together then they’re not.

Every creator may have heard this before, “kuch accha, kuch alag, thoda hatke, wow factor hona chahiye.” And to motivate you further, they add “budget nahi hai, budget kam hai, exposure milega, we will promote your work.”

So the question arises, what does the creator go through, in this process?
• Constant Ask for Discounts
There’s a constant notion in the market that all the creator needs to do is get a few pictures together, add some text to it, and the logo and voila! So, why not reduce your price, just for this one creative?

• Friendship On The Line
Another common scenario is the constant ask for “Could you do a creative for my page and add a few simple lines, it would help me a lot.” Since they are your friend, and them not understanding the process, you feel compelled to do so and after 10-15 edits, all you can think is, “At least next time he/she will have a better understanding of what happens in this process.”

• Long hours behind a Computer
What you see, when you follow a brand, is a creative that’s either liked or shared, and scrolled through within a matter of seconds.
What you don’t see, is the hours of discussions and trial and error behind every Creative, that the chosen one made it to your screen.

These long hours are followed by severe backaches, headaches, constant “discussions” with the client and no personal life of their own.

No, don’t feel sorry for them or tell them that it’s their job, just be a little empathetic when you deal with them or when you see their creative online or offline.

//A quick message for the clients:
– Constantly delivering creatives takes efforts, so be as detailed as possible with your briefs and realistic with your timelines.
– Be quick to respond in case of changes and most importantly, value their work.
– A great creative will take your company to another level, especially if you’re growing through social media and by underpaying/ bickering with your creators you’re demotivating them to put in the work that they usually would.

To the creators, we’re with you. ❤️

#HusnulShaikhxRTH24

Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk (Review)

Whether you belong to the field of marketing or not…

Whether you have the knowledge or not…

In this time and age, you have the thought of having an online presence for your company or for yourself on the internet.

You want to create a brand and let the consumers connect with it and thus take it forward from there.

If you have any of these thoughts on your mind, then this book is for you.

It covers everything, from how you should proceed on the social media platforms and the other available platforms which one should keep in mind, what to do and a lot of examples of people succeeding with these platforms.

Reading this book gives you a complete perspective of building a brand on the internet and especially, when it’s written by the one and only, Gary Vaynerchuk, you know the book excels in every way.

This book has to be in every person’s list of books to read.

#vaynernation

People say Facebook and Snapchat are over! (in India)

This is a global opinion, moreover said in India, that Instagram is the culture (which it is), but Facebook and Snapchat are over.

Is it true?

The millennials and the Gen-Z seem to say that they are Instagram-active only.

So, as digital marketers, should we not focus on the other platforms?

Let’s take a look at the statistics.

Keeping Facebook in mind, the platform, and not considering Instagram and WhatsApp (which technically are a part of the same company), there are over 300 million Facebook users in India alone, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size.

To put this into context, if India’s Facebook audience were a country then it would be ranked fifth in terms of the largest population worldwide.

The stats say that the Facebook Indian audience would reach over 400 million in the next 3 years.

Said that, should we not consider Facebook while building a brand.

So, now that we have established that, what about Snapchat?

As of April 2019, we have 12 million Snapchat users in India.

We have influencers, digital creators, brands, consumers – all a part of these 12 million users in India.

Instagram may be the current culture amongst the Millennials and the Gen-Z, however, we can’t seem to ignore the other platforms at all, especially with these numbers.

Do you think Facebook and Snapchat are over? #QOTD

(Statistics Source : Statista)

Let the content speak for itself!

People worry about the content they are posting.

Even before the first post, people are worried if the audience will like what they’re posting, whether it’d get enough likes and whether the conversion will happen or not.

What design will appeal to the audience, how long should the caption be and what kind of pictures to click.

—–x—–

No one can pre-define what will work and what will not.

Once you start posting, your content will automatically speak for itself.

How the audience responds to it.

If not, then why not.

Once you post enough, then you know what works and what doesn’t, and you start implementing changes from thereon.

—–x—–

People doubt themselves, their capability and their skills and let other people’s opinions define their steps for them.

I’ve had conversations where people had current trends and opinions of people who themselves aren’t active on social media decided their future steps towards branding themselves on social media.

—–x—–

Let the content speak for itself.

763 followers.

What would you rather prefer?

763 followers or 18,000 followers?

The sight of 18,000 followers is appealing, right?

Let me take it to a deeper level.

What if I told you, that you’re posting content about art and 760 out of the 763 followers are art enthusiasts who are likely to engage with you, probably buy whatever you’re selling and possibly collaborate with you for something new.

At the same time, speaking of the 18,000 followers, only 262 are interested in art and 9,732 aren’t interested at all, would you care for this audience?

That is what the social media platforms are about.

The numbers are hyped up, but when you look at the reality, you understand how the game works.

Let me ask you again, what would you rather have – 763 followers or 18,000 followers?

People are scared to post.

Scenario A// What if I post this picture and I don’t get enough likes on it?

Scenario B// What if people judge me if I post that? *deleting post*

Scenario C// *Writing caption*

This doesn’t bode well in comparison to other people’s captions.

*Writing caption the 30th time*

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People are afraid to open up on social media.

They pre-judge themselves based on what other people *might* think of them.

Authenticity is going down and more than that, people are backing out of posting anything on social media!

Even though it could have been super meaningful.

It might have changed someone’s life trajectory or more importantly, their own life’s.

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What should happen?

People should open up and simply say what’s on their mind.

And target the audience that the content is for.

Instead of targeting everyone and worrying about their opinions.

This is Marketing by Seth Godin (Review)

If you don’t know who Seth Godin is, I’d suggest you Google him and find out – the guy is a legend, so insightful and brilliant, be it his books, his keynote or his podcasts, he always stuns you with his knowledge on the subject of marketing.

This is one of the best books in this category, with so much information that it’ll definitely give you a new outlook on Marketing!

What Marketing is supposed to be, How marketers should approach the market, the pointers you should keep in mind, this book covers it all.

More importantly, the book also gives you an insight of looking at the market, if you’re a consumer.

In this age of marketing, where ads are being thrown on us with selling products and services, and hardly anyone taking care of the consumers, it is important to notice which brand do you align yourself with.

The values that the brand is providing, how do the other consumers align themselves with the brand, and is there any synergy or not.

This book is everything and I’d absolutely recommend it to be in your top 10 books to read list.

Listening to the Right People!

With the internet in its current form, everyone has a voice, some use it positively, to impact people, some people use it to sell something, some people use it negatively, to bring others down!

Earlier, in the initial social media days, or even before that, this wasn’t the case!

When a person saw a billboard or a visual/audio show or an ad, the platform was trusted enough to trust the information too.

With social media and the uprise of people on it, there are too many voices out there!

When you seek information on the internet, you need to be self-aware of who you are, what do you seek and listen to the right person.

On a number of occasions, people are in a hurry and conclude their hunt for the information, with the first person they find and base their opinions according to a single person’s point of view too.

If you’re listening to someone, be sure of the experience they have and what their intentions are.

If you’re buying something, ensure of the brand and their approach. (especially if it’s an online service)

The key is to listen to the right people.

Six Takeaways while building your Brand on Social Media

Social Media is filled with brands selling products and services and consumers receiving hundred of ads everyday, in a confused state of mind. Why? Because, these people aren’t brand loyalists and on top of that, may have never heard of those brands too.

So, what’s the right way for the brands to proceed?
Focus on building brand and providing value on the digital platforms. From a long-term perspective, the audience will connect to the brand and thus, their products and services too.

Here are six takeaways to keep in mind while building your brand on social media –

A. Maintaining the Brand Tone is crucial
Every brand needs a consistent tone over all their platforms, online and offline. The design, the colour, the fonts and the overall appearance constitute the brand tone.

Whether it’s your website, your offline marketing creatives or your social media profiles, you need to maintain your tone at all places. It helps to increase the recognition of your brand to your audience.

In regards to social media, the moment your audience sees your content while scrolling through, they should immediately recognize who has posted it, just by looking at it.

To reach that level, you need brand consistency, and you need to focus on providing value and creating content from a long term perspective.

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B. Providing Value is Key
Every brand wants to build an online community for themselves; who engage with their content and in the end, become their customers too.

Often, a brand focuses on selling their product/ service first before providing any value to them. The content plays a crucial role while building your community.

If the consumer benefits from your content, especially on a long-term basis, they start interacting constantly and consider themselves a part of the brand.

Thus, the primary focus should be on providing value.

Value, Value and Value, then comes the Ask.

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C. Keep Your Message Perfectly Clear
While creating your social media profiles, either for your personal brand or your professional brand, your message should be clear.

Anyone visiting your profile wants to know the ‘WHY’. Why should they follow you, how would they benefit from following you?

This message especially applies to everyone creating a personal brand. Keep your base simple, stick to it and ensure you’re authentic about your content.

Keeping your Bio, your Posts, your Story Highlights as clear as possible; it helps the audience understand the message you’re trying to send.

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D. Focus on the Tools that you have
With the number of social media platforms available, Facebook/ Instagram/ Twitter/ Pinterest/ Snapchat/ LinkedIn/ TikTok/ Medium/ Quora, where you can engage with your customers and attract attention.

Every brand requires an in-depth study, how can they differentiate their content for those platforms.

Your brand could perform the best on TikTok and vice-versa on LinkedIn, you never know. Simultaneously, both could be a vital part of your brand.

It would be best if you focused on every tool available in the market. Any of them could work wonders for you; your main focus should be reaching out to your target audience on every platform.

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E. Social Media is more than Followers + Likes
As an advertising agency, or a brand, or an influencer, with every platform, everyone tends to focus on the followers and likes to measure their engagement. However, when it comes to reaching out to more people, social media is more vital than that.

With the tools available within the platform and externally too, there are insights which show impressions and people reached and profile visits, which shows the impact you’re making with your content.

The number of views and impressions should matter more because, from the long-term perspective of brand-building, these same people will see your content again and again, and eventually attract to it, if they’re your target audience.

Thus, initially, one’s focus should be on reaching out to more people, simultaneously creating genuine content which holds value to them, eventually building a community for your brand.

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F. Community Engagement is Necessary
As an individual or a brand, it’s always about more followers and likes, that everyone tends to forget the people who have already connected to them.

Community Engagement is the #1 step to connect with and grow your audience. Connect with people in your comments!

A meaningful reply to a genuine comment, or at most, a ❤️ says that you appreciate and acknowledge what they’re saying.

Every engagement builds further to this same person sharing your content, or connecting you with someone else who might be beneficial to your brand, as a potential customer.

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Our mission with Zazz Media is to change the way people perceive brands on the digital platforms

We offer social media consultations, where we plan, strategise and create a social media plan for you, whether it’s for your professional brand or your personal brand.

It is a long, intricate, detailed map covering the brands’ footprints on every social media platform required for them, and how to execute at each of them.

Along with these plans, we also guide the client with tips such as these, which would help them from a long-term perspective.

Every brand needs to set their tone.

Every brand needs a consistent tone over all their platforms, online and offline. In regards to the online sector, your website or your app or your digital presence over all the social media platforms, need to stay consistent with the set tone.
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‘How would you like your audience to perceive your brand, depends on its tone!’
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Often, the agencies tend to mix up the tone which sends an irrelevant message to the audience. For example, while handling your social media profiles, agencies create different types of content, time and again, which does not follow the tone of your brand. Due to this inconsistency, even the audience fails to understand your brand, which will probably affect your image and even your offline sales.
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‘Inconsistent brand tone gives out an unaesthetic look, in return, affecting your image and sales.’
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So what should you do – 
SET THE TONE AND MAINTAIN IT.
A. Minor details make the most difference. 
B. Work with the right agency.
C. Communicate with your designing team and ensure they understand what your brand is about.

Growing your brand to the next level!

To grow your brand to the next level, you need to advertise. To reach your target audience, you need to invest a decent sum of money in your advertising and marketing budget.
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“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.”
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To put it simply, if your brand is new to the market or if you’re planning to launch a new segment/product, you need to reach a specific set of people to get your sales going. If you don’t spend enough, you won’t reach to sufficient people and the results won’t make a difference.
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“Your agency would advise you and suggest you, but at the end, it’s up to you whether you want to reach the next level or not.”
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A detailed example would be as such if your revenue is between 10 lacs INR and 20 lacs INR on a monthly basis, does it do justice to the fact that you spend only 20,000 INR to increase your sales. #SpendMoreEarnMore

The process of planting a tree.

A brand’s social media development is like planting a tree!
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For it to give you the results you want, you must spend months and months and years of proper planning, implementation and execution for it to reach its true level. You wouldn’t expect to plant the seeds and let it grow into a tree in less than a year, correct? Managing social media is similar to that situation! Even with an adequate promotional budget, you need to first set your goals.
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Building an online brand requires much more than spending on ads.
Firstly, you must ensure that you have a proper brand design and language which will make it easier for the audience to relate to your content.
Secondly, you must provide relevant content and differentiate them as per the social media platforms you’re using. For that, you must have a proper plan and schedule beforehand and know what you’re seeking to achieve.
Thirdly, focus on the community you’re building. This community is going to be important in the creation of your brand’s online identity.
Ultimately, we could break the complete process into three small steps, but these powerful measures take time to build. Once you understand them, then it’s your arena. Your sales will start soaring high!
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Be patient and ensure you as a brand are playing an essential role in keeping the digital presence active.

Building your Personal Brand in 2019!

In the previous articles, ‘Why now is the right time to build your Personal Brand’ (Click here to read it) — the focus was on the importance of Personal Branding in 2019 — its what and why. In another article, titled ‘You’re being Googled’ (Click here to read it) — various situations in different types of careers have been pointed out when either we or someone else Googles us, and how you can be at the forefront of those situations.

Here’s a quick take on how relevant a personal brand can be — 
In this smartphone era, with everyone’s attention on their screens and most of that time spent on social media platforms, it’s also The Age of the Individual. Every photographer, every writer, every poet, every gamer, every entrepreneur and people from other different professions now have the platform to create their brand.

Why Now?
With people’s attention towards their smartphone and the majority of the people spending hours every day on social media platforms, it is easier than before to make an impression on these platforms.

With a prior focus on its relevance, the attention now shifts to the creation of one. An individual might know their story, their journey, the value they would like to provide to their audience, their message and their goals — all of the essential factors when it comes to building a personal brand.

However, the majority of them are stuck in the ‘How’ of it. How to create one? Where to start? Can one do it individually or do they need to hire someone to strategize it for them? Or do they need someone to manage the entire thing for them? For many, that is an option, without a choice — because they have a lot on their shoulders, in terms of day-to-day, but this is equally important too.

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In this article, we shift our focus on to a few significant pointers that anyone (wanting to create their brand now or in the future) should know!

Let me also add, my agency Zazz Media focuses on building brands on social media. In 2019, the limelight has been on personal branding — where we help plan, strategize and create a blueprint for the end-user, specifically for them — showcasing the type of content buckets to focus on, how to tackle every social media platform differently, where the focus needs to be and how to grow an audience for the long-term.

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At a macro level, here is where you should focus — 
A. Know your ‘Why’
– Why do you want to build a personal brand for yourself? What are your intentions?
– If you have a pre-defined ‘Why’, it will become more manageable for you or your content creator to define a path of ‘What’ and ‘How’ for you — in simple terms, your approach to social media.
– Often people know what they do, and they’re able to translate it into their content. Although, some posts might do well, at a macro level, the audience and you, yourself would be confused with the purpose behind this content.
– Set pre-defined goals and plan the content accordingly — you wouldn’t want to deceive your audience in the long-term.

B. Create a Brand around yourself
– Once you’ve defined your ‘Why’, the next important step is to create a brand around yourself.
– Create a brand tone and a brand message, which in turn increases your brand recognition among your audience, from a long-term point of view. [It takes at least 5–7 impressions for a person to remember your brand.]
– Preferably create a logo/customized name/signature/brand colours which set you apart as an individual.

C. Value for the End-User
– You can perceive this as a physics formula if you would like to, but these are the steps to remember. 
Your intent + your message + brand + value for the end-user = Results.
– What are you selling? What is the audience getting out of your content? There is a lot of noise on the internet and people are consuming a lot of content, what sets you apart, is the value you provide to them.
– The end-user gets to decide if the content provided, is valuable to him/her or not and whether they should stick with you for the long-term.

D. Double-down on your Strengths
– There are many different forms you can approach your content and reach out to your audience — Written, Audio and Video, to sum it up as three major categories.
– You get to decide what you’re good at and then double-down on your strengths.
– If you’re good at writing content, then focus more on articles, blogs and captions. If you’re good at video, then create as many videos as possible around your topics and double-down on the visual content. If you feel you’re good at speaking, but not comfortable in front of the camera, then podcasting is the way to go for you.
– Of course, if you’re an all-round person, then the best move is to triple-down on all the content forms together. You get to reach your target audience in all ways possible — some may be video/ audio enthusiasts, some may like to read — your focus should be preferably on all of them.

E. Worrying about the metrics won’t do you any good
– People creating content, especially for social media platforms, tend to focus on the short-term. How many likes does the picture have? How many followers do I have? How many views am I getting? These are the metrics which decide whether the creative/ campaign is successful or not, whether the audience is reacting to their content positively or not.
– Always have the focus on the long-term, focus on the brand. It takes a while to build a brand, and the results shall appear. Focus on building relationships with every person who has decided to follow you — and they shall convert.
– Whether your content is valuable enough, for your audience to share and comment and save, should be the focus. Those metrics say a lot about the type of content you’re posting — whether it has a positive impact or not.
– There are other impactful metrics to take care of — how to connect to your audience of a highly engaged post — whether your audience is interested or not. However, the above pointers are to be viewed from a macro perspective, which keeps you in check.

F. Talk to them
– Often, people focus only on creating content and the “generic metrics of likes and followers” and make their future decisions based on that.
– They forget to engage with people who have left a comment on their posts, forget to reply to those who have DM’d them, don’t focus on engaging content which increases the probability of someone dropping a comment.
– Talk to your audience regularly. What do they want from you? Are they getting value from you? What more can you do for them?

G. Enjoy the process
– The process of creating content, building an audience, building a brand is a long one. The point is to enjoy the process.
– If it is a forceful one or one focused on results for yourself only, then it is one of short-term, where neither of the parties nor you nor your audience will enjoy what you’re producing or what they’re consuming.
– These are also times when people aren’t patient enough, focusing on short-term results, fall prey to techniques of buying likes/ comments, buying followers or participating in engagement pods, so they get “quick results”.

H. Be Authentic
– Said that the most important is for the last. Be Authentic, always.
– If you create a “front” on social media, create a version you’re not in reality, you might win now — with the type of content you post. But, one thing is for sure, you definitely cannot do it forever. You’ll not be able to keep up with it.
– Always be authentic to yourself, to the people you reach out to, to the content you create — it should all be about the real “you”.
– Your audience can read you in a moment, even if you don’t realize it. “Fool them now, but you cannot fool them forever”.

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Everyone is so focused on the creation of content, what the audience will react to, what are they interested in, what will bring them more likes — no one focuses on reality.

Social Media is just a medium to reach out to the interested people, the same way you would approach someone at a networking event, the same way you would contact someone for a sales call.

Summarising the entire article on “How to build your Personal Brand in 2019?”, this is it — Your intent + your message + brand + value for the end-user = Results.

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Reach out to us at zazzmediaindia@gmail.com, and we can help you out for the future.

Is Digital Marketing for everyone?

Digital Marketing is the current hot trend that everyone is shifting to, even those who have no idea about the process of digital marketing!

The current mindset is such that, digital marketing is only about handling the brands’ social media profiles and posting pictures on it.

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I’d like to start with clarifying that, one, social media marketing is a part of digital marketing and not vice versa.

Digital Marketing includes all services through which one’s marketing can be done using the internet.

The services range from SEO, SMM, Paid Promotions, Email Marketing, Banner Ads and so much more. The list is endless.

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Even when it comes to social media marketing, handling a brand’s social media is beyond posting pictures on Instagram.

Saturated market or not, the true digital marketers are those who understand the process behind this. Those who understand what message the brand needs to send, that goes beyond getting a certain number of likes on their picture. (Let’s also include the fact that these ‘likes’ have become a success metric for so many out there, because either they aren’t aware of the real metrics that need to be studied or no one is telling the brand owners that they’re paying the wrong people for the wrong process)

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In my opinion, I’d say that instead of jumping the gun on social media and becoming a “digital marketer”, what should be done is, to study the field first, understand the know-how and probably work for someone first, so you know most of the things beforehand and you get an experience of it.

Why now is the right time to build a Personal Brand?

Have you ever Googled yourself? Were you satisfied with the results? Here’s why now is the right time to build your Personal Brand! (Please visit the link mentioned below)
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Do share your feedback on the article and let me know if you have any questions! Thanks!

View at Medium.com

Handling your social media on your own?

A brand’s social media development is like planting a tree! It’s not a day’s worth of your time and neither is it a month’s worth of your time. For it to give you the results you need, you need to spend months and months and years of proper planning, implementation and execution for it to reach its true level.
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This is where social media agencies come into the picture! There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the management of your pages across the social media platforms. Agencies charge what they charge because of the strategies they create and the planning and efforts behind every online campaign.
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Now the question is, whether you (as the brand owner) have the time or the expertise to maintain your presence digitally whilst you take care of your sales/ customers on an offline basis or whether you should give that responsibility to someone who would take that entire workload off you and do it professionally for your brand! Ultimately, the decision is yours.

P.S. I own a social media agency @zazzmedia – let me know if I can provide any value to you in this sector.

Are you enjoying the blog?

Did you know, this blog has been going on for almost two months now. 🙂

I wanted to make sure that you’re enjoying my blogs just as much as I like to write them for you.

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I’m sure there must be a handful of people among your social circle who are interested in the topics I write about, Mindset, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

Help me connect with them? Here’s how…

You can find the social media buttons below, so you could share it ahead – Facebook/ Twitter/ LinkedIn and Whatsapp too.

And the best part – they can stay updated just like you do, over the email. Here’s the link if you’d like to share –
https://bit.ly/2FedEeV

I know how scarce time can be, so thank you for your continuous support! And if you ever have any questions, just hit me up on my Instagram @rth24

Client’s Way or the Correct Way?

Time and again, every agency or every freelancer has come across a project where the client has taken over their project mid-way and made changes of their own!
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This, of course, is in no way wrong! But there are times when that one change could damage the entire campaign or ruin the creative… And at that very moment, you have to take the call – The Client’s Way or the Correct Way?
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What we mean by the ‘Correct Way’ is this, guide the client and help them understand the pros and cons of their decision, and at the same time, make them understand why your point is valid too. Because, this is why you were hired in the first place, to do the best work which would help grow their brand.

If you aren’t using social media, you’re not in the game!

People avoid creating websites and significantly more who have yet to establish their brand’s profile on the available social media platforms.

Nowadays, with almost everyone having a smartphone, the tendency of people paying attention to a billboard or a brochure/ pamphlet has gone way down! The way to attract people to your brand/ product/ service is through the digital options out there.

It’s an era of the smartphone! If your brand isn’t digital, then you won’t stay relevant soon.

Every brand needs to stay active on social media, provide content on an everyday basis and connect with their audience as much as possible. On a macro level, this will work out perfectly for your brand. Here’s why?

• You would have an online fan-following, who will also be your future customers. 
• They will in-turn share the valuable content with their network, thus reaching out to more people for you. 
• This would also increase the company’s revenue on a macro level, just by investing a percentage of that revenue on the marketing budget.

Forget the ‘ask’ initially and try focusing on building your audience first. Just focus on providing value!

If you aren’t using social media to your advantage, simply put, you’re losing out. It applies to your personal brand as well as your corporate brand. It is quite surprising to see that some brands are still hesitant to be on social media, even in this day and age.

After a few years, the next big thing would take over, and the era of social media might decline! Who would want to take that risk? Now is the ideal time, to jump in, and make its best use, as much as possible.

Go digital or go irrelevant!