The Social Media audience

Organic reach online has become a bane to many Digital marketers. Staying up to date with Google’s algorythm changes is rapidly becoming a full-time job. Even more important is getting your brand’s message to our fans’ News Feeds (especially if it happens without paying for it)

This trend becomes even more visible in sectors like the retail sector, where a brand’s social media presence is not only about building a brand through its engagement, but more importantly about driving customers to purchase their products.

A lot of Social Media channels are changing today. Take Facebook for example. According to eMarketer, the age group that will show the biggest increase in the share of Facebook users in the coming year is 65+ year-olds.

However, the other age groups are set to remain more or less, as is. A key point to note here is that the biggest slice of the Facebook pie is with the 25 – 35 year-olds. These people really want to see retailer promotions in their social news feeds, particularly on Facebook.

This is good news for marketers as it is the 25+ age group who have the money and are willing to spend the most money online. It’s also good news for retailers as the same age group is the one most likely to make a purchase via a promotion on a Facebook page.

The Millennial generation

For a lot of people who have been using Facebook, it is losing its appeal as they move on to other channels which are not populated by their parents and elders. A vast majority of these young adults still have a Facebook account, but they are less likely to use it because of privacy issues.

So then, where are the Millennials?

Noticeably, this age group has an increasingly strong presence on Twitter. A survey conducted online, revealed that the 18 – 25 year-olds want to hear about retail promotions and offers but prefer reading about them in their Twitter feeds.

This is also backed up by research which found out that as many as 85% of this generation follow a brand or company on Twitter to get a coupon or discount.

However, interestingly, it also shows that the same segment doesn’t have big spenders on Facebook.

It is also found that 29% of consumers follow their favorite retailers on social channels mainly because their updates are interesting, whereas, 33% of them follow only brands only for offers.

This is a compelling evidence for a healthy approach to content marketing where consumers pick up interesting content but also are on the look for offers and promotions. Retail can hence, flourish online, especially with the younger demographics.

Discount’s drive Sales

One interesting finding is that there is a major chunk of consumers who purchase only when a discount or offer is available.

This is very important information for Marketing and Brand Managers to consider while working on their social media strategies.

Grab the opportunity!

Social media channels are undoubtedly crucial in creating engagements, but they also increasingly drive sales. India is moving ahead with the times and hence online activities like promotions, offers and discounts have an impact on the behavioral changes being bought about in consumer’s pattern of buying.

It is the smart retailers and digital marketers who will be able to reap the benefits of this growing digitally savvy economy.

A connect between Religion and Marketing?

A connect between Religion and Marketing? This is something I have realized. I used to talk about this to friends that Religion is one of the best examples of the worth of Marketing. I would request you to keep your personal beliefs aside and think analytically about what I am saying for a minute.

People are influentially made to believe in a particular story and also follow a group or sect of a certain kind and thought without any real proof. What comes to them is marketing.

What makes me feel so? Religion I would say is like a DNA, which is passed on to us. This is embedded in us at young age by our parents. If we look at it from a marketing point of view, we can derive a lot of commonalities between religion and businesses. To cite an example, religion gives us both tangible and intangible benefits. A community which is tangible and intangible benefits like a promise of afterlife? Here we are given both a monetary and a time cost benefit.

The first thing that marketing teaches you is the use of Jargons. Religious leaders wrap their story in messaging and jargon that feels perfect and legitimate to most followers.

We can also connect it with a simple thing like logos. Religions have logos. It gives you an identity. That’s what marketing managers strive to do each day. Give a brand its identity. Religion successfully rallies people all over the world to publicly brand themselves as a part of a particular sect, subscribe to them and work with a different emotion, the feeling, without any compensation, as word of mouth marketers. This is done to attract new members to their religion which then can be seen as a brand of their choice. This I feel, is one of the main motives of marketing.

We celebrate so many festivals. Especially in a county like India, we seem to have more festivals than weekends. People devote their time, make purchases and give assets to their religion of choice. People gather at their religion’s physical location with frequency - All of these are basic marketing fundas.

Almost all the various religions in the world have packaged a compelling story which has been improved and edited for generations. What comes to us could be refined and meant for better consumption. It’s after all, all about packaging and presenting to make your offering look the best. Wars, fights, communal disrupt are seen solely due to change and to keep the religion relevant. This is done by updating and changing its messages, its look (appearance) and in the manner it spreads.

A simple thing like other viewpoints, outlooks and even science is told to be wrong. This is because questioning the truth has been overshadowed by design.
I know I have picked up a subject that not many will agree with. It is a ‘taboo’ subject but that’s exactly the reason why I chose to write about it and not shy away from it. It can be discussed more in the context of marketing though. We are in an internet-savvy world, where we have the power to talk; we can talk to so many people about what we feel. Discuss things! Discuss this! Would like people to analyze what is happening around each one of us. This needs to happen before we infuse any creativity or emotion with our ideas.

Science has already proven so many of our religious beliefs, wrong or illogical. These were previously widespread, until someone dared to question it. I would argue my point that the internet is accelerating this and being a part of the world of marketing and as marketers we need to understand how and why ideas spread throughout society: especially those that later end up get disrupted.