Social Media Marketing

Hi everyone if you can remember the websites that we saw before the year 2004(web1.0) was not much interactive therefore there was no any social media marketing system existed during that era. But after 2003 with the development of web 2.0 technology social media marketing came in to the limelight. Basically social media marketing build upon the two way interaction between content builders and content users of World Wide Web. Now social media marketing plays a vital role out of all other online promotional activities of an organization.

Social media marketing define as “the marketing effort of securing a place for your brand, in the online conversations taking place on social media web, and hence increasing the ‘likability’ of your brand.”

Here the fact that we should remember well is social media marketing is not about pushing your ads on social networks or deleting negative comments about your brand. Because in social media marketing you should always attempt get all feedbacks from your customers (this process should not be one way interaction). Getting all types of feedbacks will be more valuable when you developing the further social media marketing campaigns.

Social media planning frame work.

There are five major steps you have to follow in social media panning frame works

Listen- Observe the all online conversations related to your brand and understand your current position you can monitor this through Google search, customers forums, blog search and social media networks searches.

Analyze- Social media brand health check

Set Goals- Set objectives based on the results of social media brand health check.

Engage- Crating an action plan to achieve your SM objectives (create brand centric   conversations and improve social likability)

Amplify- get the support of paid advertising campaigns and timely promotions to amplify your social media marketing effect.

If I go to explain this frame work in detail it will take lot of time. Therefore I’ll explain only the SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND HEALTH CHECK which can be considered as most vital part of this frame work.

SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND HEALTH CHECK

Social media brand health check use to analyze the current situation of your brand in social media marketing compared to your competitors. I chose Etislat as my brand and Dialog as my competitor brand which are leading telecommunication service providers in the country.  Following criteria, Scale we can use for this analysis.

The criteria use for SMBHC

    Reach – Number of people that you reached via your social media profiles

    Quality of audience – relevancy of reached target group

    Engagement – to what extent the people engage with your brand through the social media

    Share of voice - How often do people talk about your brand in social media.

    Sentiment – how was the conversations happened trough online related to your brand. How many   positive and negative comments were there?

Scale

0 - Totally Dissatisfied

1 - Somewhat Dissatisfied

2 - Neutral

3 - Somewhat Satisfied

4 - Very Satisfied

The results of my SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND HEALTH CHECK on Etisalat as follows     

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Based on above analysis we can see that dialog has 43% more facebook fans compared to Etisalat. In Twitter dialoglk followers count approximately 5 times bigger than the EtislatSL followers count. So Etisalt should be improve their status on facebook and twitter by taking necessary actions. However in YouTube Etisalt has more channel views than Dialog. This may be due to Etisalat’s recently developed interactive video campaign on YouTube (Ada kale kollo kello). Both brans are available on LInkedln , myspace and google+ But they are very unlikely to involve actively in social media marketing on those social networks. Etislat has 89.2 % of local fans on facebook. But dialog has only 65.8% it indicates that Etisalt maintaining good target audience through facebook. Number of people who are talking about Etisalt and Dialog on facebook as a percentage of total facebook fans 2.94 %, 0.45 % respectively. So Etisalt leads in that aspect. We can see 19 links out of 20 links which are relevant to the Etisalt on Google blog search. That figure for dialog was 16/20. Number of @ mentions for EtisaltSL on Twitter during last 48 hours was 3 and dialog had only one @ mention on twitter within last 48 hours. It suggest that Etislat somewhat popular among the Sri Lankan twitter users as well as Etisalt recently implemented a Twitt-up campagins for local audience. % of 'Negative Sentiments' in brand mentions is not indicate big difference between two brands both the brands close to 3%.

BaSed oN above results Etisalt gained 52.77 overall score. So we can conclude that Etisalat is a comparatively a successful brand on Social Media. However, there can be few areas (E.g.:-facebook and twitter fan count) where they can strengthen their presence.

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Pay per Click Advertising

 Hi everyone here I come with my 4th blog post. And it’s about PPC (Pay per Click Advertising). In my previous blog post I have already discussed Search engine optimization (SEO).Before moving on to the PPC advertising campaign I would like to emphasize the major difference between SEO & PPC. If you are using SEO you have to put great effort in order to display your website among top web rankings. But with PPC you can get considerable amount of traffic to your website within a short time. Below I discussed how launch a PPC advertising campaign. Here, I will develop this PPC advertising campaign to Promote Abans Company’s LED TVs to the Sri Lankan market.

As we did in SEO, When we develop a PPC advertising campaign our first step should be carry out a Keyword Research in order to identify the most appropriate keywords that target audience use. The following link can be used to do the keyword research.  https://adwords.google.com/                                      (To use this tool it’s better to sign in with your g-mail account otherwise you may have to feel the captcha box).After you log in to the keyword research tool you will be able to find the keywords for you product. After you finish the search there is an option to save your searching results as an excel file. Following I show you the summarized results of my keyword research.

Now you know the most appropriate keywords to develop the PPC advertising campaign. Then   to launch the PPC advertising campaign you have to log on to Google adwords .

Then click the campaign   tab. (If you are log in for the first time click the tab called “create your first   campaign). After that you have give a name for your advertising campaign.  At this stage you can change the   settings like daily budget, locations, etc. as you want.

After completing the settings you will be directed to the crate stage of the ad. At this stage you must give a eye catching and attractive statements to the headlines and the description lines.  Then you can add the keywords to the campaign that you have already identified during the keyword research. Exact keyword matching enhances the probability of displaying your PPC in search results below you can see the demonstration of my one.

After completing these stages (including the billing stage) your ad will appear on Google. Here another advantage is you have to pay only for the clicks on your ad when the daily budget limit is exceeded it automatically disappears so, you can have a good cost control over your campaign. As well as you will be able to generate more traffic to your website very quickly.   Hope you will get a basic understanding about PPC advertising from this blog post.

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Introduction to Search engine Optimization

Hi everyone this is my 3^rd blog post. Here I would like to give you a brief introduction to Search engine optimization (Especially about the facts that we should know about the SEO as marketers)

We all search on the web using search engines like google, bing ,yahoo,etc. after you search some word on google  you can see searching results on your browser. These results can be divided into two areas. The area  on the top and right side of your browser shows web links with highlighted background is known as ppc (pay per click) in order to place your company website in this PPC area you have to pay for the search engine.  And other white larger area with searching results, known as organic area. SEO deals with this organic area.  If you want to place your company’s web links in this organic area you don’t want pay for the search engine but you have to implement organic optimization (SEO) this is not an easy task. So if you want to place your company’s web links among top ranks in search engine you have to practice proper SEO tactics. (Key successes factors). Following image shows ORGANIC area and PPC area of a google searching result.

In order to place your web links among top ranked web searching results (in the organic area) you have to practice few strategies which are known as key successes factors for SEO.

Enhance the website crawlability

Simply the crawlers are automated programs which come from the search engines to your website to capture your website and make it appear on web search engine results. Because of that your web site should be accessible for crawlers. Crawlers detect new web pages changes and updates of these pages in order to bring them to the google (web search engine) index. Following steps are essential to ensure crawlability. *Make sure that all web links and web navigational system visible to the search engines. *Avoid dynamic URLs (use strong, flat and direct URLs)*submit XML and HTML sitemaps to the search engine using webmaster tools (Google webmaster tools).

Keyword Research

Keyword research is important for understand web searching words used by real customers. To find appropriate keywords for a given product you can use   “google adwords” facility. It shows Competition, global searches and local monthly searches for a given specific keyword. If you want to optimize your website through the Keyword Research you need to maintain webpages for most critical keywords for your product or service. As an example if you are maintaining a mobile phone selling website especially for Sri Lankan market,  it’s better to developed webpages under “Nokia” , “Samsung” , “mobile phones prices in Sri  Lanka” like categories Based on keyword research results.

Website structure and keyword mapping

It’s better to maintain separate pages for major keywords that you identified through the keyword research. Each targeted keyword needs its own page. Then each webpage will optimize for its own keyword. Then webpages need to be categorized. As an example for mobile phone selling website in Sri Lanka (especially target local consumers), Ideal site structure and keyword mapping would be applicable

Home page: Targets highly competitive local keywords like “mobile phones in Sri Lanka”

Category pages: comparatively less competitive keywords like “Samsung phones” ,” SonyEricson”  , etc

Content pages: locally less competitive keywords like “Samsung galaxy”, “Nokia Lumia” (single fully detailed web page for each mobile phone)  

Content building and Formatting

Your website should have significant content to build authority among other web sites. Content building can be done through by creating blogs, category/product descriptions rich in key terms, adding integrated YouTube channel, and adding customers’ reviews to the website. It’s important to create and maintain unique content for your website.   

 Use of images and videos

 In your web site it’s better to use viral videos to and ALT tags for each image because viral videos and ALT tags boost the optimization of your web by adding those to the search engine index. Because if you use ALT tags those are easily readable to the crawlers so crawlers add these images that link to your web site to the search engine results. And there is a high probability for an image with ALT tag to appear in top results of an Image search. Viral videos also optimize your web page by spreading over the internet.

Domain properties and URLs

Use an appropriate domain name for your web site is very effective. (Exact Match Domains). Eg :-Cellularlanka.com . As well as URLs belongs to your webpage should be meaningful and should contain appropriate keywords.

Special thanks goes to Mr suranga Priyashantha  who gave us the SEM knowledge

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Usability analysis of SLT website

Hi everybody. Here I’m going to present you the results of usability test of Sri Lanka Telecom official website (www.slt.lk). You all know that SLT is the leading organization in Sri Lankan telecommunication industry. This website developed by Affno web solutions.

Accessibility

Site loading time

Total website loading time is 8.30 seconds.it consist 1.2mb data. This loading time is averagely good compared to the amount of data available

Adequate text to background contrast

Text to background contrast is in an adequate level.

Font size, spacing is easy to read

Font sizes are varies BasEd On importance of the text or a paragraph. However font sizes are good enough to read.

Flash/ add ons are used sparingly

There is a flash slideshow placed in on top of the home page.it shows SLT brands and innovations in an attractive manner. And there is an option available for download macromedia flash player plugin.

Images have appropriate ATL tags

ATL tags are available only for the home page images

Site has a not found/ 404 page

No customize page is  available  

Identity

Company logo is prominently placed

SLT company logo is prominently placed top of the left hand corner. But the logo is not much highlighted.

Tagline

There is a tagline below the logo which indicates there core brand message. “one country one voice”

Home page is digestible in 5 seconds

After the first login home page digestible less than 5 seconds. but for the initial login it will take 7 seconds.

Clear path to company information

There is a tab called “About SLT” which describes essential information about the company. It clearly located top of the left hand corner.

 Clear path to contact information

They have separate contact information like telephone numbers and e-mail under every single web page dedicated for their separate products and services.

Navigation

Main navigation is easily identifiable

There is an excellent main navigation with search box, appropriate tabs and links.

Navigation labels are clear and concise

Navigation labels like FOR HOME, FOR BUSINESS give clear idea for the users to find required information very quickly.

Numbers of buttons/links are reasonable

All the buttons and appear on the web site reasonable. All these links and buttons are providing path for the essential information. 

Company logo is linked to the home page

Yes it linked to the homepage.

Links are consistent and easy to identify

Links In home page very clear and identifiable.(Annual report, SLT News high lights ,  links to the social networks ,etc ). There is a option called quick links which allows user to accesses the desired information very quickly.

Site search is easy to access

Site search is available on the home page with more advanced searching features. Search box is located at middle off the left hand corner.

Content

Major headings are clear and descriptive

Each tab and link appear on the home page represent a heading.(eg :- for business, for home , tele shop,etc). Those are highlighted and placed in the appropriate eye catching areas. By looking at this headings user can get a clear & descriptive idea.

Critical content is above the “fold”

Critical information placed as a row near the logo. And other critical information like “About SLT” , “Subsidiaries”  located apex of the website.

Styles and colors are consistent

Main colors are blue and white. They use blue & black fonts in the white background. These color combinations facilitate to improve user visibility. Home page colors are matching with the colors of other pages on the website.

Emphasis is used sparingly

Headings are emphasized by using tabs and bold blue color. More essential links placed in the apex of the website. However some crucial information likes “mega line” , “PEO TV” “broadband” located bottom of the homage as hyperlinked images to grab the attention of the user.

Ads and popups are unobtrusive

They advertise their own brands using flash slideshow and hyperlinked images but no other popups or annoying advertisements are appearing on the website.

Main copy is concise and explanatory

Home page is very clear and understandable. Appropriate links and tabs are placed in a good order. So users are able to get well understanding and the path to required information within few seconds.

URLs are meaningful and user-friendly

www.slt.lk  is the URL of this site. Users can easily remember this URL and it contains the company’s own name.

HTML page titles are explanatory

HTML page title sates:"welcome to SLT"  this can gives clear idea to the html reader about the organization.

My idea is overall usability of the website is excellent. But better to reduce the data amount in the homepage in order to quick accesses. 

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Globalized Sri Lankan Consumer

Globalized Sri Lankan Consumer

Every Sri Lankan consumer experiencing globalization regardless of where they live (it doesn’t matter whether urban or rural).Because after the imposing of open economy in Sri Lanka many multinational companies arrived to the country & many global brands were flown to the Lankan economy. Many global brands are available in the Sri Lankan market. From automobile industry to FMCG goods we can see global brands more than the local brands. So it’s clear that every Sri Lankan consumer is a globalized consumer to a certain extent. When transforming an ordinary consumer to a globalized consumer technology plays a vital role. Internet is the key feature of that technology which opens door for Sri Lankan consumer to globalized consumer society. I would like to discuss few examples below, which indicates the behavior of Sri Lankan globalized consumer.

According to the Alexa web rankings, in Sri Lanka Amazon.com and ebay.com which are considered as global auctions or virtual markets holds 11^th and 12^th positions respectively while local auction website called ikman.lk holds 9^th place. bAsed oN tHat we can realize the growing tendency of Sri Lankans to find and buy goods through the internet as globalized consumers. Now many Sri Lankans before make a purchase decision find information about the product or service via internet (e.g. :- before buying a mobile phone check prices and features). Some automobile traders in Sri Lanka now offer their customers, facilities to order vehicles from the Japanese auctions through the internet and even to customize it as they want. Web 2.0 provides platform for users to become more interactive & knowledgeable. There are some blogs maintained by Sri Lankans containing tutorials about how to use internet auctions and to learn secure payment methods like PayPal. There is a thread on Elakiri.com called “ebay gadgets” this thread is daily updating about the goods that people received from ebay. They share their ebay experience with others by using this thread. That shows the encouragement of Sri Lankan globalized consumers. (Especially youth people).As well as some educational institutes in Sri Lanka provide distance learning lecture facilities(live lectures conducting at foreign universities) for students through the Internet. This can be treated as a consumption of a globalized service. In the previous year many international artistes arrived in Sri Lanka because Lankan music fans now requesting entertainments which comply with international standards. This shows Sri Lankan consumer is globalized even in their entertainment preferences.

But as a globalized consumer benefits and opportunities experienced by an urban consumer different from a rural consumer. This means Majority of Urban & semi urban consumers enjoying far more superior benefits & opportunities more than the rural consumers as globalized consumers. Major reason for this difference is Technology that they use. Urban & semi urban people have more updated technology to reach global markets and for improve their knowledge as global consumers. They are enjoying benefits of high speed internet connections, smart phones, tab pcs & such devices to accesses global markets while majority of the rural people get awareness on global brands via TV or newspapers.

Now Sri Lanka having wider globalized consumer society due to following reasons. High speed internet connections (eg: 4.5g, LTE), Easy online payment methods (eg:sampath web card) , Global advertising & promotional campaigns(eg:red bull events) , Satellite TV services , development of country’s infrastructure. There are some advantages that consumers can gain from this globalization, this improve consumers overall living standards but the negative side is this will encourage consumers to buy unwanted goods and forex problems to the country. Finally in more practical sense, majority of the Lankans prefer to buy global brands more than the local brands. So above facts prove that how Sri Lankan consumers are globalized.

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