Explorer of Experiences

Take a look at this Instagram post. A smiling Priyanka Chopra is photographed in her home kitchen preparing a drink with a can of Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer . It's made very clear it's a paid partnership thanks to the social media platform allowing influencers to disclose they're publishing sponsored content. With the actress's ginormous 54.2 million following, this particular post received 921k likes and 3.9k comments. That's a 1.69% engagement rate based on this commonly used formula >>  Engagement Rate = (Likes + Comments) / Followers x 100. Now, that's not surprising for a celebrity with a huge following. There are many articles indicating that people with a mega following greater than a million can see engagement rates between 0.7% - 1.7%.  But scroll through the comments (as far as your patience lets you browse through the thousands of comments), and you will notice that most of the comments (if not all) are random, with fans expressing the...

Not just brands, but employees too should be mindful of how they communicate in times of a global crisis Posting mindfully in times of a global crisis The onus is on each of us, not just personally, but professionally too, to exercise sensitivity while posting on social media in a time when businesses and individuals globally are experiencing the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not just brands, but employees’ own social media platforms are having increasing impact and reach. Now more than ever, consumers are closely watching how brands are communicating to their consumers, clients and vendors across various platforms. Thus, as employees and advocates of the brands we work for, the microscope is on us as well. After all, it does not take time for an inappropriate personal post to go, for the lack of a better word, viral.   How we engage with the community online and offline during this unprecedented situation will be extremely critical. Our social media behavior now...

In this age of social media, no matter what the industry, it is in the business’ interest to have digital presence. Just maintaining presence for the sake of it is one thing, but doing a great job of it is another. Few other aviation brands are doing as good a job on social media as KLM is. Just browse through the airline’s global Facebook page . You don’t need to be a frequent flyer with the airline or a travel enthusiast or a plane spotter to enjoy their page. You simply and inevitably will enjoy it. And what is remarkable is that the brand’s social content has such a universal reach and appeal. Let us see what they are doing well and more importantly, differently. 1)       Beautiful imagery You would think seeing images of the blue KLM plane daily on Facebook would be boring. After all, the aircrafts look alike and the colours are the same. So what’s new? Well, they share some really magnificent pictures of their fleet fr...

There's a first time for everything! Last month, I was interviewed by Social Samosa . I'm very excited to share this on my blog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE INTERVIEW We interviewed,  Hanisha Lalwani  – Assistant Manager, Marketing & Communications who handles the social media vertical internally at Courtyard by Marriott Pune City Centre. She highlights how Courtyard better understands its customers & fosters brand loyalty through fresh content. She also throws light upon how customer queries & grievances are effectively addressed at the earliest. What role does social media play in your marketing communications?  How important is it for a premier business brand like yours to be in the social space? The emphasis on social media and the role it plays in our integrated marketing communications plan has become more pronounced, especially over the last year. Having a digital...

I wrote this article as a Guest Contributor for Social Samosa . Here is the link to the published write up:  http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/09/interns-social-media/ The call to be on social media should be made consciously by a company. The  herd mentality  syndrome should not apply here. Some companies, depending on their line of business or the expertise and funds at disposal, need not feel the hurry to jump on the digital bandwagon. The company’s senior leadership team should be convinced of the need to create digital assets; they should profess commitment to social media – they should be in for the long haul. Identify The next significant step of action is to identify social media champions within the company. Social media is normally entrusted in the safe hands of a company’s marketing team. This is crucial to ensure that social media strategy is on equity with the brand. However, not just marketing, but other functions (operations and finance for instance...

Over the past few years, in an effort to 'delight' flyers, flight operators have been trying really hard to do that little extra. When brands, college students and even jail inmates ( see this ) were participating in flash mobs on ground, we saw such impromptu flash performances 30,000ft above the ground as well; case in point the Finnair flight attendants who did a Bollywood dance number to commemorate India's Republic Day - and this exercise garnered a lot of exposure and reach on digital media.  So this Holi, SpiceJet got inspired and decided to lead the pack domestically and be the first to have a dance by their crew . Unfortunately though, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation came down hard on them, issuing SpiceJet a show-cause notice . I, for one, agree with this move and below is why: - The only moves the flight attendants should be making are the ones demonstrating safety instructions before take off. That's all.  - Brands are constantly on the...

(This post was written by me and published on my Facebook page when I created my Twitter handle back in May 2010 . I like a million others was curious as a cat to discover Twitterverse. With this poem, I quite like how what I had in my mind  translated into words . Enjoy reading and if you will, follow me on @HanishaLalwani.) *Tweet! Tweet!* Who is it?  A little blue bird, 'Twitter' is what you call it!   I'm spreading my wings and flying with it...  For those out of it, are sadly missing out on it!  Once I'm on it there's no fighting it,  He's on it, she's on it, even it's on it...  And if you're not yet on it,  Then you must be quite a twit!  Celebs tweet randomness on it,  Crazy fans are lovin’ every bit of it...  The media is spying all over it,  Tharoor and Modi fell in a soup ‘cause of it!  Corporates are spending millions on it,  Students and teachers are debating ...