Wednesday 27 March 2013

Essentials of Social Media Marketing Strategy - Part 2

In my recent blog I discussed about guest & micro blogging, discussions, commenting, polls, chat, rating and reviews for brands. Today I am discussion some more activities that are the necessary part of social media marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing Services

Resource Manager

Like your brand identity, different resources of your brands which customer may look for, should be at centralised location on your website, brand page or in a directory. You should share, edit and store brochures and multimedia of all types in one central location. This way you can offer an easy navigation for product resources to your audience as well as yourself.

User Profiles

As a representative of your brand, your profile should be very rich in information as well as creative appeal to audience. In next step, you should search for other profiles that share mutual interests and send a respectful request to become a friend of yours and follower of your brand. Member Directory Management is the part of this process in which we should search for individuals on social networks and add them to friend list after viewing their profiles (if profiles match what we are looking for and what we are offering).

Private Messaging

On occasion of festival session, events, birthdays or anniversary of your followers don’t forget to send warm wishes via private messages to them within your profile. For this you have to prepare in advance and include such celebrations in your friend list.

Take advantage of a special skill of your team members that assists social media operations to gain new businesses and employ with previous ones.

To create a buzz over the internet among your audience following techniques we can follow:

• Creative Social Profile Setup

• Video Channel Account Setup

• Channel and Profile Management

• Audience and Fan Outreach

• Creative Applications

• Content and Video Sharing

• Blog Outreach with Guest and Micro blogging

• ORM- Online Reputation Management

• Real-time Tracking of Social Mentions and Sentiment

• Creative Design and Setup for Official Blog

• Smooth Process to Approve Content of Guest Bloggers

Social Media Marketing involves online exchanges and relationship in many forms. The social media networking give a wide array of opportunities through which to you can set up a perfect image of your brand among your targeted audience. Every brand should have presence on the following top social media platforms:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Google+

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

To make decision to design campaign and targeted traffic, all these accounts should be integrated with Google Analytics to review performance report of each individual platform.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Essentials of Social Media Marketing Strategy-Part 1

PR Agencies offer social media marketing services that allow promotion of brands in creative ways to flare up and encourage conversations. Every brand should improve promotions from idea to operation for social media marketing, publicity and audience outreach. SEO or PR Agencies should realize the power of social media and how to convey creative and everlasting message that results in conversions may be sign up or sale.

Social Media Marketing Services


Social media platform has changed the way of communication with audience from one way communication to two way communications. Information circulation, customer conduct, individual and commercial transparency have all transformed. Here are some of the ways to implement social media marketing are:

Blogs

Blog are the best way to express your thoughts and feeling in the content format and share it with your followers and others. It has been seen that audience are spending more times to read blogs of individuals before making any decision to shop or bookings. So blogging plays very important role in PR of your brands or business. Allow followers to publish articles, blogs and post comments about their experience with products, this called guest blogging. Sharing on social networking sites and participation is micro blogging.

Discussions

Discussions about your brand name or product on forums and other social sites spreads the social mentions and viability. People involve in this kind of discussion are the real brand ambassador for your product and with mouth publicity as well as online they promote your product free of cost.

Commenting

Recently P&G introduces the FMOT and Google ZMOT models of consumer behavior while making decisions for purchase, conclude that most of audience take part in reading reviews and comments before making any decision. So, it is very important to invite individuals to post and review comments associated to your product.

Polls

Create polls on social media websites and official site will build interest and engagement of user with the brand. Polls may be multiple choice questions, allow followers to vote and view results. Higher number of votes in favour of your brand can build trust of consumers toward brand and increase the conversion rate.

Live and Event Chat

Most of the social media websites allow creating events and live chat session with your followers. So try to take advantage of this facility and support real-time private or group chats, or organise a live (like hangouts of G+), weakened chat around a highlighted guest or event.

Ratings and Reviews

Ratings are very impressive way to engage and build trust of consumers toward your brand, so allow followers to rate and review products or services.

Your social media marketing Strategy should include everything what i discussed above. Next time i will discussed some more activities of social media marketing.

To be continue……

Friday 22 March 2013

Benefits of B2B Ecommerce Portal

With Ecommerce at peak in India, lot many time we still have doubt about ecommerce website offering for B2B products. But on the other side, there are B2B Small Enterprises which are selling their products online on 3rd party portal. It is very important to understand that ecommerce in India is growing incessantly. India's e-commerce market was worth about $2.5 billion in 2009, it went up to $6.3 billion in 2011 and to $14 billion in 2012. Even the spiraling inflation and slower economic growth could not dampen the sheen and frenzied online shopping fun.

B2B Ecommerce Portal

What about its benefits for B2B Companies?

B2B ecommerce website design is not like polishing and making up the existing website and start getting business with Google AdWords. You cannot sell gold in a polythene packet and similarly selling a deodorant in a carved gold plated box. I am not raising any point here in context to packaging of product; it’s about serving the end user online with precise ratio of product information and graphic on your Online Point of sales.

For any B2B Product, you can convince the customer by educating about the features and plus points in comparison to other products in market. It is the due research and planning which is a key for success of any B2B ecommerce portal. There are portals selling packaging products, motor pumps, Gear Boxes, Gen-Sets, office furniture’s and lot many other B2B Products. In fact, we have every damn thing available for Bulk purchase on B2B portals like Alibaba, IndiaMart where merchant sell and process payment through portal itself (The rating are given to seller merchant as trusted vendor which ensures you will get your order at your doorstep and you can make huge transactions.

Features for B2B Ecommerce portal:-

1. Information Dissemination: For online selling B2B products, you must confer end user with liberty to access detailed information about the product.

2. Online Chat Help: There are many chat components to do Voice and text chat with real time users on Website. With this you can take down all queries and motivate them to buy online.

3. Guarantee and Certified products selling: It better to start with certified products to sell them online. It’s better to come up with less product inventory but to sell, whatever you are selling, with guarantee.

4. Customer Testimonials: The customer who trusts you will be first source of income on online medium. So, to enhance and build trust with poll of prospective customers, you must share customers’ testimonials.

5. Take feedback and Understand Preferences: Customer is the best source of learning to improvise. So, it’s better to learn directly from customer by asking their preference and understanding the factors the influenced their decision to buy and deterrents for online purchase.

References:-

"Online shopping touched new heights in India in 2012". Hindustan Times. 31 December 2012

www.binarysemantics.com

Sunday 17 March 2013

Need for Smartphone-Optimized Website Development

There is an impressive resurgence in smartphone usage in past few years and user mobile search queries & internet usage is also growing incessantly. According to study on Google search queries, the Mobile Search Queries grew 5X in past 2 years.

Mobile Search Queries Stat

It is Necessary to have mobile optimized website:-

a. To provide best viewing and navigation experience of website on Smartphones and Tablet Devices.

b. To develop an optimized site which also rank in Google Mobile Search Results

GOOGLE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OPTIMIZED MOBILE WEBSITE



Google supports smartphone-optimized sites in three configurations:-

1. Responsive Website Design: Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device. This is Google's recommended configuration.

2. Dynamic Serving Approach (Different HTML): Sites that dynamically serve all devices on the same set of URLs, but each URL serves different HTML (and CSS) depending on whether the user agent is a desktop or a mobile device.

3. The Parallel Mobile Site Approach: Sites that have separate mobile and desktop URLs.

Responsive Website Design

PROS AND CONS OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES



a. RESPONSIVE WEBSITE DESIGN

 

Pros

Cons

Single URL for both versions, no duplication

Possible redesign need

Easier and Cheaper to maintain

Less differentiation of mobile content

Popularity consolidation

Lower mobile focused user experience

No Need for Re-direction

 

 

 b. DYNAMIC SERVING

Pros

Cons

1 URL for both versions, no duplication

Complexity of technical implementation

Capacity to differentiate mobile content

Higher cost of Maintenance

Popularity consolidation

Better mobile user experience

 

c. PARALLEL WEBSITE


Pros

Cons
Easier Implementation
Content Duplication Risk
Capacity to differentiate mobile content
Higher cost of Maintenance
Better mobile user experience
Split of Link Popularity

Tuesday 12 March 2013

How to select right Service Provider for Software Application Development (part - 2)

In continuation to the article: “How to select right Service Provider for Web Application Development!!” we have come up with few check points for you to make a right choice.

IT BPO Revenue Chart

What you should check for the Service Provider?

1. Past Experience in Custom Application: If you are going for custom application development, there is probability that the vendor might not have done such project but you may check-in credentials of the vendor and experience in custom application development for other domains.

2. Understand Process and Methodology: As a Business enterprise, you should research about IT Process, SDLC yourself. It will help you to understand the perspective of Service Provider, How they do things?

Please understand “A little knowledge is more dangerous” , you should read on Google to build understanding about the subject rather teaching anyone who is master in his own field.

3. Documentation for Every Phase of Project: for a small project, you can get cozy but in big project implementation, you cannot take risk with Uncertainties. Clear out all the points, deadlines, project deliverables, delivery time, and milestone well in advance before starting up with engagement.

4. If Possible, clarify and pay visit to Service Provider facility: Everything is getting online today and so is the communication most of the time. But still, if you sense any negligence and deviance from said SOW, you must clarify things in personal and if possible, visiting the facility can help you in understanding precise status of proceedings.

Check out How much Service Provider is involved in Project?

After you have decided to engage the service provider, you can keep a watch on its activities of every phase of project. Please ensure the following basic phases of Software Project Lifecycle:-

RESEARCHING

Before going for any software development you need a research. The word “research” indicates to know about few things. Checkout what Service Provider is researching keeping in mind the current requirements and demands of the users. A good Service Provider will do research and planning before beginning with the project. It also includes preparation of all the documents.

DESIGNING

After the completion of research stage, the designing of the software’s comes into the picture. In the designing stage, clarify the plan of the software. You may understand and ask for credentials of team involved.

CODING

After completing the designing work, the next task is the actual coding that implements the design of the software. Generally, code is a text written in a computer programming language. A powerful and bug free code can help you get robust application with minimum downtime, minimum probability of crashing.

TESTING

It is a very important stage of SDLC and a good Service provider always do proper before project delivery. It is good to engage service provider who work in adherence to defined Quality Policy or the International Standards defined.

Refrences:- http://www.binarysemantics.com/services.html

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-04/software-services/36131306_1_infosys-executive-global-economy-infosys-science-foundation

http://www.nasscom.org/indian-itbpo-industry

http://articles.pubarticles.com/things-to-remember-while-software-development-1299069163,83558.html

Wednesday 6 March 2013

How to select right Service Provider for Software Application Development

There is no doubt in saying India as a Hub for IT and Software Development with over $100 billion aggregate revenue achieved in FY 2012.

Key Highlights IT Services in India:-

• IT-BPO industry-aggregate revenues cross the USD 100 billion mark

• Within the global sourcing industry, India witnessed increase in its market share from 51 per cent in 2009, to 58 per cent in 2011

• Software and services revenues (excluding Hardware), comprising nearly 87 per cent of the total industry revenues, witnessed growth of approx. 15% over FY2011

• As a proportion of national GDP, the sector revenues have grown from 1.2 per cent in FY1998 to an estimated 7.5 per cent in FY2012

IT BPO Revenue Chart

(Source: Nasscom: Indian It-BPO Industry) – IT Services India

Indian Companies have been credible in Software Project Delivery and more than that have done critical projects that have helped in harnessing the advantage of IT and Software Applications for Business enhancement and Operational efficiency. It has not been easy for client all the time, lot many time Business Enterprise have to face many challenges while engaging Software Development Service Provider.

Existing Diaspora: Client V/S Service Provider

Custom Application Development is in itself a challenge for Business Enterprise and Services Provider both. The reason for the same is anonymous uncertainties that persist due to:-

a. Ambiguous Statement of Objective

b. Difference in opinion of multiple stakeholders involved

c. Statement of Work (SOW)

It is been observed, especially in Custom Application Development projects, improper documentation in any phase of Project Life Cycle (Planning, Preparation, Designing, Development, testing, Delivery) can cause serious conflicts producing mismatch between the Expected and Actual outcome.

You may witness following challenges:

1. Accurate alignment of IT Systems and Applications into existing processes.

2. Aligning Application functionality and features as per business needs.

3. Speedy and flexible IT strategy for existing Business need.

4. Conflict resolution and inclusive maintenance with non disruptive processes.

5. Concerted involvement to enduring IT Strategy formulation.

As a Business Enterprise, which have to spend money for business enhancement, would never like dangling in such situation.

Big Question: What could you do to avoid such situation ?

“Big thing are developed with Small Packages” As a Business enterprise, you got to have a checklist before selecting ISVs for Custom project development, be it a mobile application development, software application development or web application development.

What you should do at your end ?

1. Write down your objective of implementing an IT System ?

2. What are your expectations from it ?

3. Never Hesitate to speak out and clarify things been conveyed to Service Provider.

4. Calculate the ROI for IT Investment. Is it really goanna bring operational efficiency ?

To be continued……