Talk | How to build your brand in the digital age?

0:03 So the topic for today, and this one was a very deliberate topic because all of us today are struggling with so many different social media that you actually think, how am I supposed to manage this? And a lot of. I see a lot of small businesses in. In the crowd today. And I think it's very important to understand that with so many different social mediums, how does one strike a balance? So I'm going to ask that to Harshil.

0:29 Right, Harshil. How does the scope of digital in today's times where everybody is looking to create a social presence either for their business or for a social profile? Because today we're all just networking in a sense. So how does one go about building their profiles and businesses across different platforms?

0:53 It may not be as necessary to be strong everywhere. It's important to identify what's important for you and thereby choose your. Choose the wins that you want to. You want to create. And I think that's honestly the first part of deciding, you know, or being successful, not trying to be successful at everything because you've got limited resources, and then really pursuing your key medium, which matters to your business wholeheartedly.

1:19 Rohina, you've obviously built a whole business and an Instagram following, which is. Which is unheard of organically. Right. How did that whole process happen and how did you go about creating it? So I think the main thing is that people should relate to you. I think button and ask. And how much time do you spend creating it?

1:41 Oh, my God, don't even ask.

1:42 My husband's right here and he'll. He's rolling his eyes as we speak. He's creating that right now. He just said that? Yeah. So basically, like, I try and push out like four posts a day, but yeah, it does take a lot of my time. You don't want to know how many hours. But did it happen all organically? Was it a conscious effort that I wanted to build only on Instagram or I want to build only on Facebook?

2:07 So I think Instagram, firstly, it was, I would say till the chronological feed was there, it was really organic in terms of. And really visual. So it's a great medium for just people, you know, who just like to scroll and not read too much. And I think that's most of us, really. We don't really have time to sit down and read every single day. So it's like a visual newspaper. So I think that just worked in terms of relatable.

2:33 Like I said, like, people just like to see what you're up to if they're interested in the interior space they just like to wake up, know what's, you know, happening in as the latest trends and it's, it just kind of happens from there because there are not many people also doing it right now. So with the amount of video and on demand content that we're consuming, how competitive is it getting for platforms to attract digital creators?

2:58 Yeah, so it actually depends on the theme of your content because so if it's entertainment content, there's a lot of platforms, but where it's individual creators, there are very few platforms that at least in the video space where any creator can go and start creating videos with no entry barriers, with no gatekeepers. It's like today someone can decide and start their YouTube channel and actually start presenting their views through a vlog or they can review things, they can create any kind of content.

3:33 So being that open, at least for us at YouTube, gives us an edge in a way because a lot of creators are very happy because they don't have to reach a certain level before they can actually be on a platform like that. Just like Facebook, you can start instantly Instagram, so all of these, you can just start doing whatever you feel like. So I think it's given a lot of freedom to creators. It's given a lot of, it's built by confidence because you don't have to be the best, you just need to be able to express yourself.

4:09 And I think the new platforms enable that for all creators.

4:13 How has corporate communications and digital, how has PR and communications changed in the digital space in the last four, five years?

4:21 So the most important, most exciting part of being in communications is that it's very dynamic, it's evolving every day. Right? So yes, I mean it's evolved a lot in the last 10 years and today digital has a huge role to play. I spend like 80% of my time just doing digital PR. So digital PR at Godredge we define it as earned social media. There used to be a time when we used to speak to journalists and it was of course you co create content with the journalists.

4:50 But what comes out is a one way conversation. Right. Today with digital pr I get the opportunity to talk to my audience directly, to connect with them, to have a dialogue. And what's best is that the digital media, the medium really gives me the opportunity to build relationships and I think that's what's required today. Content and relationships. Right, because that's going to take you far and that's going to build a reputation which is going to be really strong and is going to stay with

5:17 you, everybody sitting here is a content creator. Everybody sitting here is an influencer. And I think also the sort of the speak of digital or the culture of digital is that you can listen and you can respond and it's not as, you know, as bureaucratic in the sense that if I write to you, then I need to have a press release and I need to write to you in a certain way. It could just be a direct message.

5:41 And I think that's the other thing that successful brands that really grow are able to collaborate with. A lot of people rub off on each other. I think that's what a lot of what you do here also. And I think that's really one of the key successes of trying to put yourself out there on the map.

5:58 I think the other big important part is that it's a two way process of communication, right? So unless until some time ago where brands were just throwing out information and all content creators were throwing out information, today you can respond to something that you like, don't like. You actually can be heard, I think. So the voice part of it is, in my opinion a big, big change that has actually come about.

6:19 So like what you said, Mansi, it is about shared purpose today. So before you would go out, it was not a two way process. People would just consume it. Today they are creating it with you. There's a shared purpose. So if you're posting something on your platform and your audience is listening to you, they are reacting to it. And every conversation you're learning something new and you're evolving further. Even for a brand, how do brands

6:44 build more engagement on their platforms? That's like a constant question.

6:48 So I think Rohina already answered a little bit of that. But I think if you just simplify it and break it down, we all like looking at beautiful things, we all like reading good words. And if there's something that emotionally touches you, either makes you laugh, either makes you cry, then that is what works. I mean, people are instinctively attracted to that kind of stuff. So either it's got to look good, either it's got to say, hey, you know, that I really resonate with that and if I share that, then my friends will feel like it's something that says a little bit about me that I can't really say or it's, or it's really touching or it's emotional.

7:28 So I think, I think really, I mean, it's a very generic answer.

7:30 I know, but I'm expecting a much better answer from you.

7:34 Sorry.

7:36 Yeah. So at least in I Mean, I'm sure it's the same for all platforms, but on video also, of course, you need to have good production values. But more than that, I think it's the authenticity of the creator. Whoever's on screen screen, the audience needs to feel like, yes, this is real, so you may not have the best production values, but if they can connect with you. So if you're a mommy blogger and people feel this is genuine, so when a brand comes to you and asks you to review that, the audience believes what that reviewer says, because the reviewer has always been very authentic, always expressing what they really want.

8:15 So I think authenticity amongst creators, like, it could be on any topic, but if you come across as someone who's real and whatever you're expressing is what you really believe in, I think that's something brands may not get when they go to someone else who may be a brand ambassador otherwise, like in traditional media, but in all of these new platforms, I think that is what connects because the audience believes these creators.

8:41 So authenticity, I think if you think of things like aesthetics, you know, simple investments in a few things, like, I think if, if you, if you're building an Instagram profile and you're investing in a couple of lights, I think that goes a long way in. You're really making your pictures look that much more sharper. Or if, you know, there's things like small props, those are things that really accentuate what you say. And again, it really depends on the business.

9:07 But if it's, you know, like if it's a clothing business or it's a jewelry business, or it's a business that's very aesthetically focused, then I think the right kind of investments in small things like, you know, like the right kind of camera, like the right kind of lights, and these may not be super expensive. It's just doing these kind of things that actually drive more people and perhaps get people attracted to you, I think.

9:30 So how should brands be evaluating their ROIs and every dollar spent and every minute invested?

9:37 I think one way to measure it is how much more are people willing to pay for you if you're a niche service because of the ability that you're looking to create. So I think that's one way to put a value to it. So let's say if I was investing as a digital agency, if I was investing a lot of time in building my presence online and clients, instead of paying me 2 lakhs, started to pay me 4 lakh, then that's a clear way for me to measure roi.

10:06 If You're a brand where per piece you're a more skilled volume based business. Then I think the one way to measure ROIs, I think the reach is the obvious one. I think it's difficult in the digital space not to get confused between impressions and reach. So the actual number of people that you've hit, I think that's the most important thing to measure and the percentage of that who are engaging with you. So if you've got a 10% of your reach, people who are engaging with you, then you're doing something right.

10:37 If you've got only 1% of the people who you're reaching engaging with you, then possibly you're not, you know, you're not resonating. You may be hitting the right people, but you may not be resonating.

10:49 So I would suggest two different approaches on YouTube. So if you're a very big brand with a lot of advertising budget, then yes, paid promotions of your content helps because to get that level of results, like to get a good roi, you would end up spending that much. But if you are a small creator, like say yourself, the way you have built Kidstop Press, you started off small and you're doing it very slowly but steadily and you're reaching more and more people.

11:18 And by being present on multiple platforms, I think the crux is to course have great content. Secondly is leverage your social media presence to reach as many people as possible. Because with video, what happens is if you have a really small channel with very few videos and you start promoting that a, you'll be ending up investing a lot of money, but you have very limited content. So initially to get that kind of ROI won't be possible.

11:47 So once you reach a certain level, once you've reached your critical mass and then you want to expand your audience, yes, it's worth it. But initially organic should be your focus, at least on video. That same money I would rather suggest you invest in content, on getting better, say equipment. If you, if you have a studio set up, maybe get better lights, get a better camera, have a team that will help you get create more content.

12:13 And only once you have established a presence you have of fan following, then you can invest and reach a even wider audience by using paid promotion. So for video, definitely focus should be on organic growth and invest your money in content.

12:31 Guys.

12:31 So we're gonna have this last question for each one of you guys. What's that one thing that's, that's gonna be a game changer in the digital space for 2017. So I think now that it's not going chronological, especially I can only talk about Instagram. So basically I think that user engagement, so you really need to kind of tighten up your captions and make them count because they're just that two seconds that people have to read.

13:03 And I think you really kind of need to do that because of just the way social media is changing.

13:11 So what we really betting on this year is a lot of augmented reality and virtual reality. I think, like, like Rohina said, right. Engagement. And, and I think this is the best way of engaging with, with your audience. So, yeah, AR and VR is what you're betting on.

13:28 For me, I think this game changer could be. How, how easily can you resonate with people and get people to talk about what you care about or what, what you're selling or what you're writing about? I think that's going to be the game changer. How can you convince more and more people to link back to you, to refer you, to, you know, to mention you? I think that's, that's going to be the game changer because if, because everyone's got significant reach and if everyone's talking about you, then that's how your business is going to grow.

14:02 Yeah. So I agree with what all of them have said.

14:05 I think universal consensus is it's going to be engagement all the way.

14:09 Yeah. And especially with video, because you need to grab your audience's attention immediately because people don't have the patience. There are too many platforms, too many media. Even in social media, there's so much going on. So you have to grab their attention in the first few seconds of your video. Earlier, people used to invest in making long videos, a lot of long format, but now it's the first few seconds. So engage them in those first few seconds.

14:37 Be authentic, and I think that should do it for you.

14:41 Thank you so much for joining us today and really looking forward to 2017 and more engagement. Thanks so much, guys.

14:51 Thank you.