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 ...

Social Media  is proving to be the most powerful substitute to  Market Research ! Brands, Individuals, Analysts, Researchers, and Products are taking the Social Media Route for insights. B2B companies, who may not benefit a lot with their Social Media Presense, are also venturing on the Web, creating properties that support their existence. Take for example the  PAL  property created by Suzlon in India. Its about Pure Air Lovers Society, where Suzlon will plant 1 tree for every member who joins this cause! Globally, there any hundreds of MNCs that have started such campaigns that works toward social good. There are a few initiatives started by students, youth, and organizations to spread awareness of a Safer, Sustainable Planet! Companies can benefit in many ways: Their goodwill increases, they start understanding the audience sentiments, they can spread awareness of a few causes, and in turn, get an idea of what the people want. In short, its a nice way to ...

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...

Social Media is broad, wide, deep, and mostly free. You don't need friends to be a part of social media, you can make them here in this virtual world. You don't need ID Proof, SSN, Credit Card, or any other means of verification to be a part of Social Media, Networks. All you need is TIME, Login Username, Password, and a Valid E-Mail ID. Being a teenager, I started browsing the Net with Yahoo! The only way to go online was through the Internet Explorer. The only place to log in or use the Net was the Internet Cafe (Cyber Cafe). A Mobile Phone would just send SMS, make calls, and charge me for Incoming calls too. The best thing I could do with a Mobile Phone was Play Snake! An e-mail ID like Gmail was available only through an Invite. Today, I can have 5 e-mail IDs.  Yahoo !,  Gmai l,  Rediff ,  MSN , and more. Each has a different purpose. One would be for making Personal Profiles, one for professional use, one is for fake profiles, one is for subscribing to various ...

Social Media Landscape is broad. Sharing, Discussions, Networking, Media, Blogging, Microbligging, Livestream, Livecast, Virtual World, Gaming, Multiplayer games, Music, Video, Podcast, Review, Social Bookmarking, and Wiki. This is just a list of the beginning of social media. What started as e-mails, groups, and messenger, has now widened its scope, reach, depth, richness, interactivity, and quality.  The most challenging aspect of Social Media today is the way participation needs to be moderated, and a promotion of better quality content. On Websites like  Twitter  the trends keep changing in a very unexpected way, and there is no sense, pattern, or predictability behind them. E.g Osama Bin Laden was killed, and we witnessed about 12.4Million Tweets an hour! Lady Gaga, Eminem have such an amazing fan following on Social Media, that other celebrities are clueless about the reasons behind such madness. The participation of users never portrays a pattern on Social media, ...

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...