Social Media Marketing Ideas from the West

Hi, its my first blog post on the very first day of my trip to USA. Actually I have been here twice before but I never thought of writing down my daily experience into a blog post. This interesting idea struck when I was packing my bags and thought that how am I going to share pictures with friends on facebook while am travelling. This thought concluded in deciding that not only pictures but I would also "Live Share" my thoughts and experiences with all!
Yesterday I just went to a small outlet near by to strech my legs. Outlets included the famous brand names like Macy's, J C Penny, Old Navy, Aeropostale, Hollister, etc whose product we now get in India too.. (they are made in India originally ;-) ) As I was walking by the stores, I noticed an interesting marketing idea for shops and outlets.
Traditionally, we see store names above the stores at each shops. Now they also imprint with various graphics and designs on the front doors and glass to attract customers. On occassions like Diwali, Holi and Navratri we see drawings of diya and dandiya on store front glasses. Its aesthetically attractive and inviting. And so this marketing stuff works well in India.
With the upcoming industry of social media marketing businesses have entered into the social media world to attract online viewers and customers. Now, we know that cross marketing always works best everywhere. Letting know people that "We are on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, etc" is most important because your customers need to know where are you located online and offline both, so that they can reach out to you everywhere in every possible ways. So for this businesses need to imprint social presence on the outside store maketing materials. Printing social networking sites logos, QR codes, etc will definitely bring you lot of loyal customers.
I noticed this small but very effective social media marketing idea at each store imprinted right outside the store's front glass. They are letting their customers and walking-by visitors know that they are actively present on social media platforms. They are there to serve you better. Just take a look at the picture I took at some of the stores for better understanding. Isnt this amazing?
What you think? Let me know your thoughts too..
Thanks for reading. Lot more yet to come, as I will be blogging throughout my trip, jotting down amazing things ! :-)    

Ph.D. in Social Media

 I often come across a question - How can one do a Ph.D. is Social Media? That is so Awesome.. Can you tell me how to go for it? And that's when I feel so good about my decision to have chosen this awesome area of study (that I am even passionate about). 

2 and half years back when I had selected this topic, some people even asked me - Is that even possible? What do you have to do in it? Do you use Facebook everyday and talk to people? I was so amazed by all these questions. Well, I think today many of them would have understood and doing Ph.D. in social media is not just to surf Facebook whole day. It is so much wider than what people think it is. 

Well, talking about my research, I am studying the "Influence of Social Media: A Study of Consumers of Gujarat" (Gujarat is a State in India). It is so interesting journey till now, that I am enjoying every part of it. The most amazing part of the research is the Literature Review. I have collected many influential papers and research studies that have taught me a lot about the topic in detail with statistical proofs. 

As I said, each moment is enjoyable in this journey, I have thoroughly worked hard and prepared the survey questionnaire myself (obviously with the help from research guide and other professors too). At the time of Pilot testing, amazing feedback were received from pilot sample respondents. It encouraged me to go further in the study. 

Social Media is a so wide that it can be integrated into any kind of discipline and a new study can be done. You know what is the reason behind it? People are the new media - That's what Social Media means. And any research study involves studying people, their behaviour, attitudes, emotions, reactions, usage, etc.. Social Media is a medium where people connect. The place where people interacts, becomes the area of the study. 

Well, this year in 2013, I will be getting my Doctoral Degree, after which I will be sharing the results section. :)

Till then, you are most welcome to drop in by mails, or let's connect on social profiles and explore the ways to utilize this amazingly awesome social world. :)

Happy Socializing :)

12 Most Important Twitter Tools for Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, it becomes essential to capture traffic coming from inside Twitter.com because it is cost free. We all know the basics of twitter and how to use it. But how effectively are you putting this tool for capturing your market and creating a circle of customer engagement. 

Twitter is a network which shares information in small pieces. And so there are various other tools to monitor your Twitter account. I have compiled a short list of 12 most important tools, that every entrepreneur should consider using at least some of them for monitoring and managing conversations on Twitter. 

1. Twileshare - Upload and share files on Twitter with your clients, customers, employees, and other important contacts instantly. This makes your work instant and on-the-go easy. 
2. Vizify TweetSheet - Your Twitter activity is displayed as an instant infographic. It displays your information in an easy and attractive way, forcing anyone to go through your content.
3. TweetMyJobs - Great job matches via Twitter (and mobile). It is a great tool for HR managers of your firm, reducing recruiting costs at large.
4. Twups - Twitter aggregator. Popular topics are clubbed all in one place so that you can monitor the topics relevant to your business and track it who is discussing them. You can also work on your online keyword strategy for your website.
5. TwitterFeed - Feed your blog to Twitter. One of the most important tools. Reduce your tweet burden by just creating a tweeterfeed account and sync it with your blog or other blogs of your interest.
6. Nearby Tweets - Find and watch tweets from local users. This will enable you to see who are tweet about you in the nearby area and you can reach up to them for off – line conversations.
7. TweetLevel - An influence measurement tool from Edelman. This tool measures your brand influence and will give you a score. How influential are you among your competitors and customers.
8. Tweet Scan - Twitter and micro blog search. Search and capture relevant people, groups, topics, locations, etc.
9. Twitalyzer - Serious analytics for social relationships. It is an interesting tool, some what similar to Google Analytics, helps you to see how many followers are online on real time, who retweets your message, what people are talking about you, followers and following statistics etc.
10. TwitBlock - With TwitBlock, find out how many followers are spam and you can trash them, so that they do not clutter your account and you can get better statistics about your followers.
11. Splitweet - It is a most useful twitter tool if your firm has more than one brand to manage on twitter. Splitweet is Management + brand monitoring for multiple Twitter accounts tool helping you manage all your brands at one place.
12. BirdHerd - Twitter made easy for groups and teams. BirdHerd helps communication among your team mates and group conversations. It’s like your own small community inside twitter, which helps you carry out important meetings, conversations, quick polling among team mates and much more. 

Hope this list is useful. I would love to hear your reviews. 

-KP.