Unilever Ambitious About Asian Market, Adopts Social Media

Looking at the rate at which social media is growing amongst small businesses across the world, corporate giants are making sure not to be left behind in experimenting the latest marketing medium. We’ve already seen companies like Ford, General Motors, Coca Cola, Southwest Airlines, etc. embrace social media and using it effectively to create a strong online presence. Now, its time for FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies to set the gear high and ride its benefits! According to Advertising Age, FMCG mogul Unilever is all set to whirl the social media wand in the Asian market.

Apparently, Asia is the biggest market for the FMCG companies to market their products, with demand escalating from fast-developing nations like China and India. Being aware of the growing competition, Unilever has decided to promote three of its popular brands, Pond’s, Lux and Comfort through social media. The aim is to target specific regions and engage users via certain social media platforms like blogs, video-sharing sites, etc.

Social Media Expands Horizon for Travel and Hotel Companies

There’s an explosion of social media sites that are ready to assist the travel and hospitality industry reach out to both, their existing as well as potential customers. As users increasingly use forums, review sites and social networking sites to share their experience, seek answers to their queries and assist others in need, the popularity of these social media platforms is certainly on the rise.

While Facebook and Twitter are still the favourites for most of the travel and hotel companies, other niche sites like WAYN, LonelyPlanet, Virtual Tourist, etc. are making their presence felt as well. They are soon becoming an online destination for users to share their travel pictures, likes and dislikes, views and knowledge about a particular place, etc.

Royal Challengers Bangalore Gear Up for Social Media Promotion

Though social media promotions are common in countries like the US and the UK, emerging economies like India too are accelerating into the new world of marketing. Not only businesses and the entertainment industry, but also the sports industry has started taking social media seriously – particularly Cricket, which is considered as a “religion” in India by many.

The Indian Premier League (IPL), a Twenty20 version of cricket, has earned tremendous popularity in India and several other cricketing nations. The format, which currently includes eight franchises in form of teams, comprises of professional players from different International cricket teams to compete for the tournament. Though these teams invest huge amount of money in offline promotions, some have turned up to online media since the last year after realizing its potential in connecting with the Cricket fans.

How Search Engines are Relevant to Social Media Success

Social media is being given a lot of importance in the modern business world. Marketers from across the world are slowly becoming aware of the benefits of social media, thereby investing considerable amount of money and time to use it for marketing purposes. However, in the wake of this, most of them seem to be forgetting the significance of search engines.

Several platforms such as social networking, social bookmarking, video and photo sharing sharing, discussion forums, blogs and microblogs together form social media.

Fans Pay Tribute To Michael Jackson Through Social Media

In what can be termed as one of the greatest shocks of all time, Michael Jackson (popularly known as the ‘King of Pop’) passed away leaving behind millions of fans mourning over his death. The legend, who stepped into the music industry at a tender age of 11, went on to become probably the greatest ever pop-star in the world. His albums ‘Thriller’, ‘Bad’ and ‘Dangerous’ are considered as the world’s best-selling records even today.

The news of Michael Jackson’s death spread like fire in the social media world as well. Popular site Wikipedia was updated immediately with entire details, millions of Twitter users ‘tweeted’ all through the day to share their feelings and love, and users flocked over YouTube to post comments on his music videos. Also, you will find separate pages on Facebook, with thousands of fans paying tribute to their favourite star, making it the biggest tribute ever on Facebook.

Caution: Start Blogging Before Its Too Late

The concept of blogging emerged several years back. Earlier, people were skeptical about its benefits or maybe lethargic to write posts and considered it as a waste of time. Web 2.0 was at its incubation stage and writing articles was more on a personal level basis, which means existence was largely in form of personal blogs. However, since the past few years, blogging has proved its potential and gained a strategic position in the social media world. They are now considered as an efficient tool to create a strong brand both individually and commercially.

Blogs that have been established long back are at an advantage today. The reason why I say so is because

Using Social Media as an Extension of Traditional Advertising

The success of a brand depends a lot on how well people familiarize with it. An average consumer comes across hundreds of advertisements each day through television, radio, hoardings, newspapers and magazines, internet, text messages, etc. However, the ones that appeal his needs, interests, imagination, thinking, behavior, and/or lifestyle tend to win over others when it comes to brand recall. At the end of the day, an individual remembers only few advertisements out of the major chunk that he comes across on that particular day.

There are several businesses that consider social media as an expense rather than an investment. Conventional firms often stick to the traditional advertising vehicles and are reluctant to use social media tools, which is not a desirable move today. No doubt traditional mediums are important, but the growing significance of social media just cannot be ignored.

Twitter – Broadcast Yourself?

After reading this title, you are probably wondering that YouTube shed off its tagline and passed it on to Twitter, aren’t you? However, this is not the case. YouTube, the media-sharing site, is the most popular broadcasting mediums in the social media world today. But the rapidly growing micro-blogging site Twitter can also be an example of a broadcasting medium for people who use it in that way, instead of using it as a social networking site.

The population at Twitter can be segregated into different categories:

Online Video Rules Other Social Media Platforms in the US

Traditional broadcasting in the US has some serious competition from online video, as per a recent data released by the Global Web Index. With more than 70% of US online users watching video clips on the Web, it is now the fastest growing media platform in history, ahead of other popular social media activities like blogging and social networking. The data, which is compiled by Lightspeed Research for social media research consultancy Trendstream, has been released from the Global Web Index ahead of the full report, which includes 16 countries in total.

The findings of the research are very interesting and provide useful insights as to how social media, and especially online video, is transforming the lives of US Web users.

Ibibo – Much More Than a Social Network

At a time when majority of the upcoming social networking sites are focusing on a niche segment or industry, ibibo is one fearless player that is gaining tremendous attention in the Indian market space by offering multiple social media services. The site, which is well-known to provide platform for budding artists and talents, is an excellent example of a complete social media package.

Following are the different social media services at ibibo: