toto`s

The digital ecosystem is HUGE. We keep hearing or reading terms right from social media, email marketing, mobile marketing, display ads, videos, content marketing, search, online reputation management, seo, ppc and online brand building to name a few. Everyone wants to be in digital, but a lot of newbies don't know or understand what do they want to do. So here is a quick summary of what getting into digital means. There are a lot of images, charts and notes on digital marketing ecosystem. The simplest one being POE - Paid, Owned and Earned. Paid covers advertising, Owned covers assets built by the brand / person to showcase skills, services, achievements, information, etc.  Earned covers what people, critics, customers or any other entity writes or discusses about the brand or person. Now, to ensure these three work, there are a million tools, technologies, agencies, apps, ad networks, publishing houses, thought leaders and people who work tirelessly trying to put ...

Brands are built by efforts of many stakeholders. Stakeholders are primarily the Company owners, Product teams – R&D; Marketing units - brand team, media agencies, creative team, vendors; Service – customer care, feedback, test marketers; Supply chain - wholesalers, distributors, retailers and most importantly the decision makers across the chain. Brands develop their personalities over years of service, delivering exceptional products / services and assuring the same level of quality across time, geographies and even generations. In the entire mix, the Media Agency has a special importance, significance and role. They not only bring their experience on the table, their analysis & expertise helps reach out to the right audience, at the right time, at the right place, by increasing the efficiency of every dollar spent. In a market that has its dominant spenders, we also see some niche products and services making their mark without spending. They rely on public r...

A Social Media User, in general, would be happy to share content, network with like minded people, and grow. A Social Media Enthusiast will try to be in as many networking sites as possible, share his content (most of the time the same content). A Social Media Newbie would try to analyze his/her scores, activity, and would always be on the lookout to improve scores. The most common example being  Klout  ,  HowSociable ,  Social Mention , and the like. A Social Media Expert will never analyze his score or check his online reputation. It is majorly done by those who think they are experts/specialists, but aren't. On Twitter, there are so many ways to increase followers, or post tweets with #hashtags to increase participation and improve scores, that there are thousands of users with 10,000+ followers, and come across as Experts. They automatically come across as credible, real specialists. But the reality is far from truth. They are Re-tweeters and content amplifiers,...

Social Media: Videos on YouTube, Updates on Twitter, Sharing on Facebook, Networking on LinkedIn, Trying out Google+, Publishing on Blogger/Wordpress, Checking in through Foursquare, Chatting on Skype, Building Fan Pages, Spreading Brand Messages, and Interacting every bit of our time through the Digital Media.  Where is the real Life, our tangible world, family members, the neighbours, our friends, the sweetheart staying next to the locality, the food across the street, the parties by colleagues, birthday celebration of little niece, and funeral of an Old man. Are we too busy exploring this medium that we don't really have a Real Social Life? Most of our needs are fulfilled by social media. Chatting with friends, keeping in touch with family, friends, relatives, classmates, old acquaintances, and the rest of the world. Then why bother about the Real Social Life? We see products in a store, we can hold them, feel them, smell them, and taste them. But when we shop online, we can buy...

Newbies in the world of Social Media face so many challenges, ranging from creating quality content, understanding of tools, analysis of market, identification of target segments, access to reliable data, networking with experts, idea generation, increasing relevant/organic follower base, and building a credible online presence. Though the online space is relatively new, there are thousands of Social Media Experts, Specialists already! A newbie gets confused as to who really is an expert, and who is posing to be one. If we consider the follower ratio, then we are certain to end up at the wrong expert. Startups, freelancers, and small enterprises thrive on the follower optimization scheme. They charge some cents per follower, and by investing a few hundred dollars, these good-for-nothing individuals get a better presence. Billion articles, million Websites, thousands of specialists/experts, and just a handful of real Champions in the online space, there has to be some way out to find o...