101

CONTENT
MARKETING
TIPS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A HAND BOOK BY

Sorav Jain

INDI A SINGAPORE M A L AY S I A
 Notion Press

Old No. 38, New No. 6

McNichols Road, Chetpet
Chennai - 600 031

First Published by Notion Press 2020

Copyright © Sorav Jain 2020
All Rights Reserved.

ISBN 978-1-64951-678-7

This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the
material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the
author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any
liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by
errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from
negligence, accident, or any other cause.

While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission,
this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding
that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be
liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or
omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to
be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work.
For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable
only to replace the defective copy by another copy of this work
then available.
I dedicate this collection of handy Social Media
Marketing tips to you, the reader and my subscribers
across all platforms. It takes a lot of effort to be a Social
Media Marketer who dares to think creatively all the
time and spreads the love across multiple brands you
handle. I truly appreciate you.

I also dedicate this book to my son, Sahel and my

amazing team at echoVME.

I am blessed to have them in my life.

 Preface

Content is the soul of social media; it’s the essence

which drives us to a platform every single day. Many
brands fail to understand the importance of content
marketing. This book ‘101 Content Marketing Tips on
Social Media’ emphasizes ideas, tricks and steps that
have come out of experience and religiously practicing
content marketing, and it will help you think and
re-think.

5
 Acknowledgements

My sincere gratitude to our clients who have given us the

opportunity to create content and the creative freedom
to execute innovative ideas and strategies. Thank you!

I want to thank team echoVME for helping me compile

the book, the design head, Pradeep Kumar, for his artistic
inputs and Jofia Joseph for editing and proofreading
this book. Thank you, Nikhil Pradeep, for driving me,
coordinating the process and ensuring that the book
showed up in the market.

7
101 Handy Content
Marketing Tips on
Social Media
 Fig 1.  Example of a well written Instagram bio.

WINK, a high-end salon and one of our clients, uses

their Instagram bio to highlight features such as:

a. Being a unisex salon.

b. Their focus on styling.
c. The brains behind WINK.
d. Their call-to-action.

This clearly defines why someone coming to their page

should follow them and what is to be expected.

10
 #Tip 1

Ask yourself this before you start. Why should

someone follow you or your brand on social
media? Define the purpose.

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 Fig 2.  Examples of creative posts.

The above examples excellently show how to use a

creative concept to communicate your message subtly.
In the above creatives, McDonald’s uses their products
to deliver the message in an innovative manner. Both
the creatives talk about McDonald’s staying open at
night. They have very little text. What is in focus is the
visuals. The play of light balances the message and
product promotion beautifully.

12
 #Tip 2

Creativity inspires people on social media.

It helps you define your class. Don’t compromise
on great designs and videos.

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 Fig 3.  Example of highlighting the product.

JCS is an elite jewellery store for whom we handle

digital marketing. The above JCS jewellery post is a
great example of how professional product photography
brings out the beauty of the necklace. For any brand,
visuals are a great way to showcase their products. So
if you think your product is the best, then show exactly
that to the audience.

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 #Tip 3

You sell what you show! So, show things in

style. Invest in great product photography and
videography. Quality visuals help you stay
distinguished.

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 Fig 4.  Example of indirectly communicating
the message with less text.

This creative by SPR Highliving, one of our premium

real estate clients, shows that it is the tallest building
in Chennai, without mentioning the same. Minimalism
is the best way to go. Apart from the 80–20 rule,
fewer words and more creativity connect well with the
audience.

16
 #Tip 4

Visuals matter more than text. Don’t use too

much content on your images, unless it’s an
infographic. Facebook works on 20% text
rule – which means 80% of the creative should
be graphic and 20% text.

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 Fig 5.  Focus on quality posts, not quantity.

These two posts of Lynk, one of the leading goods

transporters in India and one of our clients, were
posted nineteen days apart and yet stand out due to
their innovative concepts. Both effectively communicate
the message while integrating the brand. The images
don’t directly tell you what the brand does, but they let
the concept, imagery and text do the talking. What one
needs is quality content, not quantity. Create two posts
that can do the work of four.

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 #Tip 5

Gone are the days when 60 posts a month

mattered on Facebook. Today, it is all about a
few amazing posts and how you sell them.

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 Fig 6.  Example of ad campaigns that performed well.

Invest in campaigns that show great potential. Don’t

hesitate to re-run the ads that fetch you good results.

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 #Tip 6

Social media is free; social media marketing is

not! So, if you are not investing, you are losing
your audience.

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 Fig 7.1.  Example of Fig 7.2.  Example of
original content. curated content.

For my personal brand Sorav Jain, I take a mixed

approach where I use both created and curated content.
Fig 7.1 is an example of original content (in this case,
a tip from experience) and Fig 7.2 is an example of
content curated by researching on the new updates in
the industry. You can try and come up with a unique
hashtag to share your industry knowledge and curate
content for it.

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 #Tip 7

If you can’t be a thought leader or a content

creator, can you be a content curator? Share
interesting industry insights that are relevant to
your business domain.

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Fig 8.  A screenshot from the Sabyasachi product creation video.

The Sabyasachi video is an example of a post that

shows the audience what goes into the creation of the
product. It humanises the brand and builds credibility.
The above screenshot is from a video which shows the
making of The Royal Bengal Mangalsutra. It gives the
audience a chance to sneak a peek into the idea or the
concept behind the piece.

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 #Tip 8

Information sells faster than promotions! Keep

your audience informed about the making of
your product, the story behind the concept and
choice of your product. This sells faster.

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 Fig 9.  Resharing traditional media coverage
on digital channels.

When Chennai Times published an article on Digital

Scholar, I immediately scanned the traditional media
coverage and posted it on the Digital Scholar Instagram
page. I did so because resharing the same would
widen the exposure of the article to include all those
who follow the page. It also allows boosting it to a new
audience.

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 #Tip 9

Traditional media coverage about your business

has limitations. Its geography is defined.
Maximize its reach by sharing the footage or by
scanning the newspaper/magazine coverage
on social media. It builds credibility.

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 Fig 10.  Weekly content bucket example.

This is a weekly content bucket created for my Instagram

posts. Creating a content bucket ensures that the
audience comes back for more on the respective days.
For every brand we handle, we first define a Monday
to Sunday content journey for them. Can you define
yours? Do share with me on Instagram by tagging me
@SoravJain

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 #Tip 10

Don’t just create a page and dump your content.

Define the purpose of your page, define your
audience, define their key pain points and
create a content bucket before you get started.

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Fig 11.  Example of announcing your online presence through an
offline event.

Success Gyan, one of India’s largest and leading

seminar organizers, is our client. We ensure that the
event emcee announces our social media presence
and incentivizes the process by offering our new page
followers a free audiobook. We also make sure that
there are enough touchpoints to display hashtags and
the handles.

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 #Tip 11

Cross-channel promotion is always cool. Use

traditional ways to announce your presence
on social media or promote your campaign’s
hashtags and use social media as a contest
entry point.

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 Fig 12.  Example: Investing in growing your follower count.

For the salon WINK, we encouraged people to follow

the brand by offering hairstyle makeover as an incentive.
Many brands run contests that drive people to check out
the channel and follow the brand to win giveaways.

For my personal brand, I invested in an Instagram Story

ad that generally says ‘Hey guys, I am Sorav Jain. If you
want to learn digital marketing, swipe up and check
out my content, and if you love my work, follow me’ –
This video advertisement has got me more than 50,000
followers at the cost of Rs. 3 per follow!

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 #Tip 12

Don’t hesitate to invest in growing your follower

count. Promoting your presence on social
media is as essential as creating it.

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 Fig 13.  A comparison between the reach and engagement of
Facebook and Instagram.

Here is a comparison study! I have 87K+ followers

on Facebook and 150K+ followers on Instagram. The
organic reach on Instagram is about 30 to 40%, and
on Facebook, about 3 to 5%. My post on Facebook got
111 likes and my post on Instagram – 841 likes.

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 #Tip 13

Opportunities lie in things that you don’t

see. Facebook’s organic reach is dead, but
Instagram’s organic reach is booming.

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Fig 14.1  Example: Informative Fig 14.2  Example: Topical and
content. inspiring content.

The first example is from my personal brand, Sorav

Jain, where I make it a point to share the latest updates.
(This falls under the information category and is helpful
for the audience.) The second example is from my
digital marketing agency echoVME’s page, where we
created a social awareness post before the election
day encouraging people to vote. (This falls under the
inspirational and topical category.)

36
 #Tip 14

Helpful, inspiring, entertaining, topical and

informative/promotional content are the
five key pillars of your content strategy. Find
the right blend of various styles of content in
accordance with your brand’s objectives.

37
 Fig 15.  Example: A short video featuring 5 tips on increasing
Instagram Story Views.

The above video talks about 5 tips to increase Story

views. This short duration video allows the viewer to
gain knowledge without spending too much time on it.
The points mentioned are quick, easy to understand and
with examples. Greeting the audience and referring to
the topic at both the beginning and end helps package
the video neatly.

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 #Tip 15

Videos that are small are people’s favourite

choice on social media. So create quick videos
in the following template:

“Hi, my name is ____________, I am a ___________. In

this video I am going to share with you a golden tip on
_____________________, and the tip is ______________
__________________. I hope you liked my tip, do share
your thoughts in the comment section below.”

If you are planning short videos for a brand, you can

make videos that showcase different prototypes of the
products in just one minute.

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 Fig 16.  Example: A post series that created buzz before the
special day.

For Levista, a premium Indian brand of coffee produced

by SLN Coffee and also our client, we created the buzz
before Women’s Day through a series of posts that spelt
Women’s Day. Each image had text that was relevant
to and complimented both women and coffee. The base
template was kept constant with slight variations in the
steam illustrations of women.

40
 #Tip 16

Content that has a short shelf life needs to be

promoted in advance — for example, festive
wishes. If you wish on the day of the special
occasion, you are already a part of the clutter,
and the content dies the very next day.

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 Fig 17.  Example: A long-haul post content.

Welona, Chennai’s best hair, skin and slimming clinic

and one of our clients created this Instagram video post
where an expert gives genuine answers to frequently
asked questions. Since these are common questions,
and this is an information-based post, it will stay relevant
for a longer duration. One should aim to create similar
content in terms of usability and relevancy.

42
 #Tip 17

When it comes to content, there are short-haul

and long-haul posts. Short-haul posts are the
ones that die soon, for example, an offer or a
festive wish. A long-haul one can survive on
the internet for long. Invest in long-haul posts,
content that can stay on the internet for an
extended period. For example, your summer
collection can stay for the entire summer; your
tips also can float for long on the internet.

43
 Fig 18.  A screenshot of the custom audience option.

For my personal brand Sorav Jain, I have customised my

audience to include everyone who has engaged with
my page. Majority of the people who have engaged
with my page would be people who have an interest in
digital marketing and hence have a higher chance of
consuming my content.

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 #Tip 18

Stop hitting the boost post button randomly.

Many people promote their posts on Facebook.
If you don’t target your audience wisely,
only a random audience will like your posts.
Instead, define your niche audience and use
the Facebook Ads platform to make your
content reach the right people through post
engagement objectives. Make your posts reach
custom audiences as they are the ones who
need timely reminders of your creativity and
content.

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Fig 19.  A screenshot of choosing a custom audience for a video.

This video post was boosted to the right set of audience

to generate a high amount of traffic.

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 #Tip 19

Upload a video about your brand and sell that

through the Facebook video view campaign
and later create a custom audience out of it.
If it’s a long video (more than 3 minutes), then
choose 50% video viewers as your audience
and promote all your posts to this audience.
If it’s a short video, then make 75% of video
content viewers as your audience.

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 Fig 20.  Example: A number-based series post.

Numbers attract the audience and hence in the above

post for my personal brand, I have mentioned ‘Top 9’.
Instead of presenting information as one large chunk,
making it into pointers makes it easier for the audience
to consume it. Also, instead of saying ‘Top 9 SEO Trends
This Year’, I used ‘2020’ as that makes for a much more
precise and concise title.

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 #Tip 20

Number based series always work! 10 cool

hairstyles for 2020, 5 new things in digital,
etc. When you make a number based series,
you see major traction and shares.

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 Fig 21.  Example: Using catchy top and bottom
strips for the video.

In the above, as well as most of my video posts, I

use top and bottom strips. This gives the audience an
insight into what the video is about and hooks them
on to watch the video. Here you can see that the top
strip points out the pain point of the audience and the
bottom strip offers the solution. This would awaken the
viewer’s curiosity to know more about the post. These
types of top and bottom strips boost the performance of
the video, 2X. You can do the same using InShot.

50
 #Tip 21

When you are making videos, ensure that you

add a title to the video in the format of top and
bottom strips. Most of the videos that go viral
on the internet have top and bottom strips.

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 Fig 22.  Example: A video using subtitles to communicate to a
larger audience.

Rajiv Talreja is an entrepreneur, India’s Leading Business

Coach and the author of the International Bestseller –
“Lead or Bleed”. In the above example, Rajiv Talreja
has placed subtitles throughout the video along with top
and bottom strips to attract the audience. This means
that moving from a private space to a public space
won’t result in closing the video. Viewers can choose
to switch off the audio and view the video as per their
comfort.

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 #Tip 22

Videos with subtitles help more people watch

them and increase traction. It relaxes the
limitation of language. The subtitles help people
watch videos when they are out in public or their
office without having to increase the volume of
the video. Subtitles are also essential to market
in urban segments, especially when you create
vernacular content.

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Fig 23.  Example: A content thread exclusive to Sorav Jain page,
Cartoon Wednesdays.

An interesting segment that we do once a week is

Cartoon Wednesdays. These creations depict a slice
from the daily life of a digital marketer, among other
relevant topics. The relatability and humour factor keeps
bringing back the crowd.

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 #Tip 23

Create and promote one masterpiece that is

solely yours, so that people can come back to
your page. Why do you go to Domino’s pizza
page? To check out their offers, right? Many
people come to my page to check out the new
things in digital and tools of the week. Why
should they go to yours? #Askyourself.

55
 Fig 24.1.  Example: Image of a Fig 24.2.  Example: A
happy customer shared by the WINK tagged image of a happy
salon. customer who shared his pic
on Instagram.

These images feature the happy customers of WINK

Salon, one of our clients. In the first image, we feature
a satisfied customer. If we tag them, it is more likely that
they would share the post or comment on the same,
creating a real experience for your audience. The
second image was shared by one of WINK’s customers
on their profile. Keeping track of customers who have
tagged us and sharing it in the brand’s Stories or
responding to it also leaves a lasting impression in the
minds of the audience.

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 #Tip 24

Client testimonials win trust and increase

credibility. Request your happy clients to talk
about you on social media. Create moments
of delight, like a selfie booth at your store, and
you will see them talking about you and tagging
you. Also, train your employees to click photos
of the most important moments inside your
store. So that there is real-time content and an
opportunity is never missed.

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 Fig 25.1.  Example: Featuring celebrity customer, Rakul Preet
Singh on social media.

Fig 25.2.  Example: Featuring celebrity customer, Madhavan on

social media.

Cool customer testimonials from a celebrity can pump

up your social presence and bring a huge social media
engagement opportunity for the brand. These pictures
can be later used for promotional campaigns as well.

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 #Tip 25

Create an element of business gossip: Stories

are a great way to engage your audience.
When you talk about a celebrity visiting your
store or a popular personality using your
services or products, it creates an online buzz
around the event. If people are not sharing
testimonials about you, ask them if you can
share about their visit on your page.

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Fig 26.  Examples of distinguishing one’s brand by having unique
and defined branding elements.

Fig 26 is the Instagram feed of Dunzo, a company that

provides delivery services. They primarily use the brand
colours green and dark blue on the majority of their
posts. This distinguishes their posts from the clutter, and
the look of the brand gets ingrained on the customer’s
mind. Another key feature of their posts is the wordplay
of text as well as the use of vernacular slang and popular
movie references.

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 #Tip 26

Your branding element becomes a part of your

story. Choice of colours, fonts, placement of the
logo, border, caricature, etc. – can you keep
these unique to your brand?

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 Fig 27.  Example: Using WhatsApp Stories help your customers
get in touch with you.

You can add and share your offers or interesting

creatives to your WatsApp Stories so that the customers
who have your number saved can view them and text
you back. Fig 27 is a recreation of the WhatsApp
screen-space and shows where you can add your post.

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 #Tip 27

If you are a small business owner, ask your

customer to save your number to avail a
significant discount from you or a free gift. This
gives you the scope to make a highly targeted
audience watch your WhatsApp Stories.

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 Fig 28.  Example: Using vernacular slang in a post.

In the above creative for Dunzo, they have used text

in Hindi to connect with their audience. Dunzo offers
services in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Pune,
Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad, the majority of
which can understand Hindi and hence it is a wise
choice to use the same.

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 #Tip 28

Don’t underestimate the power of regional

languages. People connect faster in India
when you communicate in the language they
prefer. Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali,
etc. Create content in vernacular languages to
strike an emotional chord. In fact, if you can
test one piece of content in different languages
and promote it accordingly, you will be able to
see which language gives you the best results.

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 Fig 29.  Examples of the weekly offer day posts.

Domino’s has efficiently used their social media feed to

drive engagement and footfall by allocating Tuesday as
a day that offers coupon codes and discounts. The above
posts encourage users to visit the Domino’s website,
enter the relevant coupon code and place a personal
pick up order at a discounted rate. This automatically
leaves an impression in the minds of the audience that
Tuesday means Domino’s has something to offer, and
this in turn keeps them coming back on Tuesdays.

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 #Tip 29

Create an offer day, let people know that on

that particular day, every week, you post an
exciting offer. This creates weekly excitement
and brings people to your channel.

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 Fig 30.1.  An overall look at the high visibility and engagement
rates of Messenger Chatbot.

Fig 30.2.  One of the Messenger broadcast messages sent by

WINK and its engagement metrics.

This is the ManyChat dashboard of WINK Salon.

Although the organic reach of Facebook has reduced
considerably, Messenger chatbots have higher visibility
and engagement rates. Your business can also gain
revenue by leveraging Messenger chatbots. Fig 30.1 is
an overview of WINK’s broadcasts and its read rates.
Fig 30.2 is the relevant metrics of a broadcast sent
around new year.
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 #Tip 30

Invest in ManyChat.com or MobileMonkey.com

– A Messenger chatbot that will help you
increase your Facebook Messenger subscriber
base. Facebook Messenger has a high open-
rate. So when you post some great content on
your page, let people know through Messenger.

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 Fig 31.  Example: An easy way to generate engagement is
through Instagram Poll.

ChuChu TV is a popular kids edutainment content

creator that caters to a global audience. In the above
example, we conducted a poll for our client, ChuChu
TV. Conducting the poll helped us interact with parents
and understand their views on children and sports. This
also helped the parents feel closer to the larger ChuChu
TV family and not just the brand as they can see the
results once they cast their vote.

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 #Tip 31

One of the best ways to get responses from

your audience is to reduce the effort it takes
to engage, i.e. conduct polls. Polls fetch good
engagement on Facebook pages, Instagram
Stories and Twitter, as one does not have to
take much effort to engage. Also, you can re-
publish the results of polls and use that as one
more element of engagement.

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 Fig 32.  Example of a tweet re-purposed as an Instagram post.

In the above tweet, which was also repurposed as

an Instagram post, I have shared pointers as to how
to grow as an influencer. The use of emoticons helps
deliver the pointers in a visually catchy manner. Good
content can be reposted on other platforms to draw in
traction.

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 #Tip 32

There is no point tweeting frequently if you

don’t have a good number of followers.
Instead, focus on limited tweets with images
and tag ten relevant influencers. Let this tweet
be informative and not promotional. Later take
a screenshot of the tweet and make it in the
size of an Instagram post and publish it on
other platforms, you are more likely to see
good engagement.

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 Fig 33.  Two examples of Twitter Listening.

Whether you know it or not, conversations about

your brand or your competitors happen all over
social media. The wise thing to do is take up social
listening and leverage this opportunity to join in the
conversation. In the first example, our client, WINK
Salon, took a location-specific approach to be a part
of the conversation casually. In the second example,
the Twitter user was talking about the best fondue in
Alwarpet, and we joined in the conversation by directing
the conversation to the excellent pampering offered by
WINK in Alwarpet. In both these cases, social listening
was enabled for conversations happening about
Alwarpet experiences.

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 #Tip 33

Twitter is more about listening and less about

broadcasting. So listen to relevant keywords.
Listening can be brand-based, product-based,
problem-based and industry-based. Pitch your
products in the conversations that you drive.

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 Fig 34.  Example: Native advertising on Hotstar.

Bru is a coffee product of Hindustan Unilever Limited

(HUL). They often use native advertising to reach their
audience. The above image is an example of a native ad
placed on Hotstar as it is the most preferred streaming
platform in India. Ads like this don’t disrupt the viewing
experience but subtly draw the viewer’s attention.

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 #Tip 34

Native Advertising: Your Audience is not only

on social media but also on other OTT platforms
like Netflix, MX player, Hotstar, etc. It is highly
beneficial to understand your demographic
and place the ads on such platforms.

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 Fig 35.1.  Example: OnePlus Fig 35.2.  Example: YES Bank
IPL campaign. IPL campaign.

In both the above examples, the brands ask the user to

perform some actions in order to win free tickets to the
IPL. In the first example, OnePlus asked the viewer to
play Bowl Out on Facebook App and share a screenshot
to stand a chance to win. In the second example, YES
Bank aims to highlight its role as an official partner
of the IPL as well as create engagement. The contest
encourages people to enter the contest by liking their
page. The contest required people to post a picture with
YES Bank merchandise and a quirky caption.

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 #Tip 35

Connecting your brand to the sports season in

a relevant manner can create a huge impact.
For example, Cricket is always a mood booster
for the Indian community! During the season of
IPL, World cup, etc. create campaigns around
it or offer IPL tickets in giveaway contests and
you shall see some magic. It’s okay to use IPL
colours in your designs to be in sync with the
season.

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Fig 36.  Examples of connecting your brand to popular TV Shows.

Urban Tree, one of the distinguished builders in Chennai

and our client, uses a lot of trending movies, songs or
series references which helps them connect well with
their audience. In the first example, the Game of Thrones
reference is used. This was a time when everyone was
engrossed in the season 8 frenzy of Game of Thrones
and a post concerning the same was apt. The throne
made out of keys combined both real estate and GOT.
In the second example, we use a famous song phrase
from the series F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for international cat day.
By asking them to comment the next line of the song,
we converted this post to an engagement opportunity
as well.

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 #Tip 36

Bollywood/Hollywood tadka never goes out of

fashion. If you are running short of ideas, you
can think of adding the flavours of movies or
popular series in your campaign. For example,
changing Bollywood movie names with the
name of your products or altering the dialogues
to make it relevant to your industry.

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 Fig 37.  Examples of sharing behind
the scenes of an organization.

These are a couple of posts from echoVME’s (the digital

marketing agency that I run) Instagram page. We share
several behind the scenes posts in the feed and Stories
to share our journey with our audience.

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 #Tip 37

Showcasing behind the scenes is an interesting

way to engage your audience. While you
focus on making creative posts, also showcase
your work culture, about your employees, fun
at work and festival celebrations at your office.
To humanize a brand, behind the scenes is a
must.

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 Fig 38.1  Ramco Systems shares a picture from their event
Creative Crackathon.

Fig 38.2  Microsoft shares a picture of the event MicrosoftAI

Awards 2.0.

Brand storytelling on social media increases brand

awareness and draws in new followers. Storytelling
enables customers to be a part of your experiences
and remember your company. In the first example,
Ramco Systems shares peek into when the brand head
addressed everyone for the event Creative Crackathon.
In the second example, Microsoft shares a picture of the
winners of their event MicrosoftAI Awards 2.0.

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 #Tip 38

Activate storytelling about your brand, the

events you participate in, the places you
sponsor, the meets you speak at, the expos
where your stalls are, etc.; this keeps the
momentum going. Most B2B brands adapt to
storytelling at conferences.

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 Fig 39.  Example: Employee Advocacy.

Employee advocacy involves the promotion of the

company through its employees. One can ask one’s
employees to actively share the happenings in the
organisation on social media as a way to promote the
company. Ramco Systems also encourages their staff
to share their version of life at Ramco on their personal
profiles. The above example shows an employee sharing
a picture of an event aimed at encouraging the staff to
unwind. It shows the caring side of the organisation
and sheds a positive light on the brand.

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 #Tip 39

Activate employee advocacy with the

management team of your company for your
LinkedIn Company pages. When senior
employees of your company update, they
attract other industry veterans, and their likes
create more traction.

87
 Fig 40.1.  Example: A brand Fig 40.2.  Example: A cricket
AI filter. season oriented AI filter.

For our educational venture, we created an AI filter

with the brand name, Digital Scholar, as a face paint
graphic (Fig 40.1). It’s something our students find fun
as well as something they can share on their social
media. This subtly helps spread the word. Fig 40.2 is
another example of AI filter engagement perfect for the
cricket season.

88
 #Tip 40

Augmented Reality Filters are a fun way

to engage your audience. People engage
quickly due to the ecosystem that platforms like
Snapchat/Instagram have built. You can have
games or filters developed that react to facial
gestures. People love such engagement and
remember your brand.

89
 Fig 41.  Examples of Core Management of companies sharing
company activities on LinkedIn.

The first example is from Ramco Systems, one of our

clients. The shared image shows their senior employees
speaking at an event, and they have used appropriate
hashtags as well. In the second image, Satya Nadella,
CEO of Microsoft, talks about their company initiative to
be carbon free by 2030. He highlights the company’s
social responsibility initiative through this post. The top
management people of every organisation should use
their social media to put a face on the company and
make it more human.

90
 #Tip 41

Leadership quotes, industry tips and thought

leadership ideas from your core management
team are excellent ways to run engagement
for a B2B domain on the company’s LinkedIn
channel.

91
 Fig 42.  Examples of brands talking about current events.

When P.V. Sindhu created history by winning a gold

medal at the BWF World Championships, for our client
Urban Tree, we created a post to congratulate her. We
made the post attractive by using badminton elements
while still staying true to Urban Tree’s branding colours.
Amul is a brand well known for combining their product
with current events. The above example covers President
Trump’s visit to India with a playful twist on words, an
attractive illustration and apt product placement. The
above examples are sports-centric and resonate with
the emotions of the people.

92
 #Tip 42

Current affairs are a great way to make your

brand nationally or globally participative. If
you are the first one to offer your thoughts,
there is a higher chance of your content going
viral.

93
Fig 43.  Examples of JCS Special day posts with brand connect.

JCS is a premium jewellery brand that I have been

closely working with, and every single time we make
a special day post we try to showcase jewellery or use
an element of gold or diamond. As you can see in the
above image, the wording connects with the respective
festival as well as jewellery. The colours used are the
ones that are associated with splendour and royalty,
and the central illustration highlights gold or gems.

94
 #Tip 43

Special days are a must-have for your

communication, but it won’t make any sense
if you don’t connect it to your brand. Make a
list of special days every month and select the
ones on which your brand can create relevant
content.

95
 Fig 44.  Examples of Norwood short-haul contests.

Norwood, one of our clients, is an electrical component

manufacturing brand that conducts contests that have
short shelf lives. The first image is a screenshot of the
Gif that asks the viewer to take a screenshot when
the center bulb is lit. You can conduct contests just for
engagement or connect them to festivals/special days,
like the second example. For Republic Day, we held a
short contest asking the audience which of the three
bulbs would reach the flag first. Here we seamlessly
integrated our product to the symbol of our nation, the
flag, and looped in the audience to participate.

96
 #Tip 44

Run at least one contest a month as that drives

a lot of excitement. Running contests that have
a shorter shelf life is a lot better than running
contests that run for weeks or months. So, think
of quick contests that start in the morning and
end by the evening. This would be a quick way
to make people interact with your brand.

97
 Fig 45.  Examples of brands going Live.

I prefer to go Live from my Instagram page at least once

a week. It doesn’t hurt even if I have to do it daily.
Going Live is a great way to connect with your audience
and provide solutions. I plan my Live sessions and keep
my audience informed when I plan to go Live. The first
image is from when I went Live from my office, just a
quick pan around my workspace gives a real-time view
into the space and ambience of echoVME. The second
image is from when Aditya Birla Group Live-streamed
the TedxGateway 2020 so that their followers don’t
miss out on this inspiring event.

98
 #Tip 45

Going Live frequently makes your brand more

authentic. Plan a Live session on Facebook or
Instagram and market it well, and you shall see
the audience interacting with you more than
usual. Even if there is a limited audience, it is
still a good number.

99
 Fig 46.  Examples of ChuChu TV contests stating a 20$ prize.

Chuchu TV, one of our clients, conducts several contests

that guarantee 20$ vouchers to the winners; this is a
great way to gain traction. Who wouldn’t want a 20$
Amazon voucher?

100
 #Tip 46

Quality of your prize will determine the quantity

of entries. When you run your contest, talk about
what you are offering as a giveaway! Instead
of just saying ‘a gift hamper’ state exactly what
would be giving away.

101
 Fig 47.  Examples of ‘Tag a person’ posts.

For The Raintree, one of the leading luxury business

hotels in Chennai, we created a contest around
Women’s Day asking people to tag the chilli of their
gang. For the illustration, we modified chillies to look
like the lips of a woman. The ‘tag post’ is a fun way to
engage people as they mostly relate with the caption
or the character/situation mentioned in the post. For
Levista, a premium coffee brand, we used personified
coffee mug graphics to represent couples as well as
the ‘happy single person’ and asked the viewers to tag
their happy single friends.

102
 #Tip 47

Any ‘tag in the comments section’ campaign

is a great way to pull a lot of engagement.
For example, tag your friend who loves to stay
updated on social media or tag your friend
who is aspiring to become a digital marketer;
make it relevant to your brand.

103
 Fig 48.  Examples of driving follower count through
tangible incentives.

For WINK, one of the leading salons, we use videos

of celebrities who have visited the salon and use them
extensively to grow our followers on Instagram. The cost
of each follow comes between Rs. 3 to Rs. 10. Also, we
try to run contests that ask people to follow the brand
to win gifts/vouchers. We did this for Levista coffee as
well, and the results were mind-blowing.

104
 #Tip 48

Set number goals: Aim at achieving a certain

number of followers every month. This inspires
clients, and this encourages managers. Even
if it requires some investment, make it. When
your numbers are growing, your team stays
motivated. Also, it’s crucial to grow followers on
platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. Both the
platforms have amazing traction and organic
reach these days. Without growing followers,
if you are posting content, you are only talking
to yourself. So don’t make that mistake.

105
 Fig 49.  Examples of engagement posts that ask
the viewers to comment.

ChuChu TV, one of the world’s most popular kid’s

YouTube channels that we manage often encourages
users to comment on their Instagram posts by asking
them fill in the blank or other type questions about their
children. This is very authentic and kindles an emotional
decision to respond. Usually, such posts garner
thousands of responses. The visuals are always in sync
with the brand objectives. Since it is a brand related to
kids, we often use the characters who frequently appear
in the ChuChu TV videos and bright colours as well.

106
 #Tip 49

‘Fill in the blank’ is the easiest way you can drive

a lot of entries for your contests. Remember,
when you make your audience do a lot of work
to participate, they will lose interest. Give them
easy ways to participate in the contests. Fill
in the blanks, spot the error, tag your friend
below, identify differences, simple quizzes,
etc. are easy ways to drive entries. Ensure you
make your audience spend less time.

107
 Fig 50.  Example: A GIF based contest.

This is a GIF-based contest run by ChuChu TV, one

of our clients. People have to take a screenshot when
the ice cream reaches the hand of the character. This
post garnered a lot of attention among the audience. It
received 53 comments and 16 shares.

108
 #Tip 50

Innovation is essential for contests. GIF based

contests have always created excitement. For
example, take a screenshot of the product in
a certain manner or take a screenshot of your
product while it is moving. This goes well if
your target audience is the youth, and they
know how to use their gadgets right.

109
 Fig 51.  Example: A Sweepstake contest.

SLAM Lifestyle and Fitness Studio, a division of Paulsons

Beauty and Fashion Private Limited and also our client
created a contest asking people to unscramble 5 words
and win a prize. A winner was chosen at random from
the participants. This generated not only engagement
but also helped us spread the word.

110
 #Tip 51

If you want to push an easy contest that drives

massive entries, then Sweepstake contests are
the best way to do so! Ask people to post a
comment to enter a lucky draw, and you will
see a lot of comments pouring. Ensure you ask
them to comment on a word that is related to
your brand.

111
 Fig 52.  Examples of using cartoons unique to one’s brand.

This is a caricature of me that is used everywhere, from

cartoons to my blogs. And with its help, I have started a
series on my Instagram called #LifeOfADigitalMarketer.
This brings a good amount of engagement across all
the platforms as it shows the daily struggles and joys of
a digital marketer with a touch of humour. When using
a cartoon for your brand, ensure that it relates to your
domain and your brand.

112
 #Tip 52

What’s your unique quotient? Cartoons or

comic style posts never go out of fashion. We
have always loved cartoons and comics from
our early days and seeing them on social
media is a delight. If you are consistent in
posting cartoons, you can win more followers.
Cartoons/Comics are one of the best ways to
bring people back to your page. Let there be a
caricature that is exclusively yours.

113
 Fig 53.  Examples of meme-based based posts
that link to the brand.

I have used quite a few meme style cartoons, and the

response has been amazing. It is easily understandable,
and people connect with it really well. For echoVME,
we create memes relating to digital marketing agency
life. The other example shows what happens when
people are expected to work on a holiday, in this case
Mahashivratri. A WhatsApp group concept is used to
communicate the message as most companies create
WhatsApp groups for better communication. It’s a
simple and effective post.

114
 #Tip 53

Memes: In a survey which I did, I found that

almost 78% of the youth like to consume memes.
So, try showcasing your industry problems in
the format of memes, by conveying the funny
side of situations.

115
 Fig 54.1.  Example: A series post on LinkedIn.

Fig 54.2.  Example: A series post on Instagram.

When you have a lot of information, one way to

convey it is using blogs; another smart move is to use
Instagram series option to deliver the same in a concise
and digestible form. I regularly use the Instagram series
to cover the latest updates or as in case of Fig 54.2
provide tips. Fig 54.1 shows another series post I
posted on LinkedIn. The thing to note is that all images
should have a consistent tone of voice as well as look
and feel. The title card should precisely convey what the
images that follow are about.

116
 #Tip 54

Series posts are an effective way to keep a blog

alive in an image format. I generally share a lot
of series based tips that get finished in 9 scrolls.
This can be uploaded as PDF on LinkedIn and
as a series post on Instagram and Facebook.

117
 Fig 55.1.  Example: Instagram Stories Fig 55.2.  Example:
about an offer. Instagram Stories about
a Live session guest.

The above Story for one of our clients, WINK, was

done to generate curiosity about the Keratin offer as
well as create engagement. Mentioning that there is
an offer without giving away the details leaves people
wondering what the offer is and hence they would
check out the following Stories to find out. In the second
example, we created anticipation by mentioning that a
Live session by Jammy Fernando was coming up and
inviting haircare questions from the audience created
engagement.

118
 #Tip 55

Did you know people consume Instagram

Stories by choice? They opt to watch Stories,
so every view of your Story matters. Stories
only last for 24 hours, so we should strive for
and put up innovative content as a part of daily
brand communication. Define your Story type;
you can be the brand which delivers regular
offers or has a unique way of wishing your
audience good morning or an interesting poll
or the one who posts about your products for
people to ask questions around it.

119
 Fig 56.  Example: Making posts look good by using graphic
design applications.

I use apps like Canva to quickly edit stuff on the go. It

helps me save time when I want something to be done
on the spot. They offer various attractive layouts, fonts,
photo editing, customisable templates and much more. 

120
 #Tip 56

Posting content is fine, but what boosts the

essence of your content is creativity. If you
don’t have a dedicated team for design, you
can present your content in an aesthetically
appealing way by downloading and using
apps like Canva, Wordswag, Typorama – they
will make your content more visually appealing.

121
 Fig 57.  Example: A video shot on my phone and
edited via InShot.

Your content is what matters and there is no perfect time

like now. I make quick videos on digital marketing tips
and tricks from the comfort of my car by only using my
phone.

122
 #Tip 57

Do not wait to invest in expensive camera

equipment to get your video content done. If
you can’t spend on a DSLR cam, buy a tripod
for your mobile phone and switch to 4K or HD
recording mode, shoot a video and use apps
like InShot for video editing, text overlays, pace
setting, trimming and more.

123
 Fig 58.  The QUIK interface screenshot.

QUIK helps me make promotional videos and campaign

videos while on the move. It offers multiple templates
with interesting transitions and effects. Choose what you
like and adjust the font and filters to fit your style. You
can also add music and create a smooth and catchy
video.

124
 #Tip 58

Have you clicked some good pictures of your

product or any recent event at your workplace
using your mobile? Do you want to present it
creatively? Then QUIK is a mobile app that can
come to your rescue. Download the app and
upload your pictures to make a quick video
using QUIK.

125
 Fig 59.  Example: A post showing social proof.

This is one of the recurring themes for WINK salon,

where we share before and after images of WINK’s
happy customers once they have their services done.
On Instagram, we posted them keeping in mind an
overall grid, complete with a message. The fillers in the
middle increased the aesthetic appeal of the grid by
giving a break to the images posted. The fillers also
helped in conveying the message that it was WINK’s
Transformation Week.

126
 #Tip 59

Social proof is very crucial in your social media

journey. Showing your work is evidence of your
capability and ensures that people understand
what sets you apart from the competition. A
‘before and after’ is always a moment of truth
in the social media domain. If you are into
bridal makeup, hair salon, bridal attire, etc. –
try to show your customer’s before and after
picture, and this works, especially when you
tag your customers. Do request them to re-post
the update.

127
 Fig 60.  Example: An engagement post asking the audience to
guess the price.

For an engagement post for JCS, we asked people to

guess the price of a jewellery piece in our collection. This
post not only highlighted the product but encouraged
people to spend a moment to analyse it. It drove in a
good amount of comments and shares. If you want, you
can turn this into a contest as well.

128
 #Tip 60

Post a photo of your product and ask people to

guess the price in order to win the same and
you will see a lot of engagement happening.

129
 Fig 61.  Example: An engagement post asking the audience to
guess the celebrity.

This was one of those instances where a celebrity had

visited WINK salon for a haircut and we hosted a
contest revolving around it. We blurred out the face just
enough so that people don’t instantly recognise, but left
just enough for people not to be completely blank. You
can take other approaches for the same, e.g. using only
half the face or creating an illustrative outline, etc.

130
 #Tip 61

Blur a photo of a celebrity who has visited

your store or a photo of your product and ask
people to guess who/what it is, and you shall
see some interesting engagement.

131
Fig 62.1.  Example: Offline Ad Fig 62.2.  Example: Online ad
without brand logo. with brand logo.

This was an ad that was promoted in the local newspaper

and on social media as well. It helped leverage the
reach of both offline and online mediums. When
someone sees the ad in the newspaper (Fig 62.1), they
would be curious as to why there is no mention of the
brand name. On seeing the same image on Facebook
(Fig 62.2) again, one would definitely check out the
landing page and hence remember the brand name.
As you can see, the ad raises curiosity offline and leads
people online for the big reveal.

132
 #Tip 62

The importance of offline and online integration:

Although digital has better reach and is the
crowd puller, we have seen that when we
combine both traditional and digital, it boosts
the result by a large margin. This is because on
seeing the ad offline and later again online,
people remember it and connect to it more.

133
 Fig 63.1.  Example: A post Fig 63.2.  Example: The result
offering free demo class. of the post in Fig 63.1

When I started my digital marketing training institute,

Digital Scholar, we had the challenge to fill 70+ seats
within two months. In this Freemium strategy, we invited
people for a free demo class and sold them the full
course. It worked like a charm for us. Fig 63.1 is a post
offering a free demo class and Fig 63.2 was the end
result, a successful demo class.

134
 #Tip 63

Offer a Freemium and a Premium to drive more

conversions. When you call people for a free
dental health check-up vs. selling your dental
services, the former will have a larger impact
than the latter. So, use the power of ‘Free’ to
attract more people on social media, and once
people visit your store, upsell to them.

135
 Fig 64.1.  JCS event Facebook page.

Fig 64.2.  WINK’s Kids Carnival promotion post.

Fig 64.1 was an exclusive event organized by JCS,

where we invited people from the audience who
engaged with us the most with a special offer. It saw a
good amount of footfalls. This event was a great way to
pull in people for a cause and also showcase the range
of jewellery at JCS. Likewise, for WINK (Fig 64.2),
we created a carnival for kids on Children’s Day by
giving both mothers and kids a reason to visit the salon.

136
 #Tip 64

Organize exclusive events and pull in the

crowd using social media. Today’s audience
needs to be pampered and provided with
enough reasons to visit your store. These events
can be virtual webinars or a special show in
your store. The event acts as a magnet for the
audience. Activate advertisements to drive
walk-ins for your events. It drives engagement,
both online and offline. Based on relevancy to
the audience, host a children’s day special,
dance day special, yoga day special, etc. – to
attract the audience.

137
 Fig 65.  Example: A series post introducing the speakers at the
Smart CEO Startup50 Conference.

The Smart CEO Startup50 Conference & Awards is

a recognised summit that acknowledges and awards
50 of India’s most promising start-ups, and is also our
client. For the promotion of the event, Startup 50, one
of the best performing posts was about the speakers’
introduction. This adds credibility to your brand by
taking their reach into account. When creating the post
ensure that the pictures of the concerned person are
used along with the mention of relevant credentials. If
the person is a recurring guest at your event, you can
use an image of the person speaking at your last event.

138
 #Tip 65

While selling conferences and events, create

exclusive posts about speakers and make a
collage of all the speakers, add a title: “Key
speakers at the Digital Marketing Conference
2018” and make it reach people. Speakers are
the biggest crowd pullers. You can even make a
post on the 20 speakers at the respective event
and target them to your desired audience.

139
 Fig 66.  Example: A countdown post.

Toca Boca is Chennai’s largest kids carnival hosted by

RCC Platinum and also our client. For Toca Boca, we
promoted the last five days extensively. Countdown posts
were created to create urgency. The communication was
simple, ‘X days to go’. The thought of missing out an
opportunity led to increased registrations. We created
colourful videos with a glimpse of children participating
in the events. The last few days saw a surge in the number
of participants registering. The sense of urgency is a
significant factor that drives people to make decisions.

140
 #Tip 66

Creating a sense of urgency is very effective

and important in content marketing. An event
in India generally sells the most in the last
five days, regardless of early bird offers that
you create. So do not forget to create teasers
which say 5 days to go, 4 days to go, and
more. Create captivating videos for these and
target the custom audience exclusively so that
it creates a sense of urgency.

141
 Fig 67.  An example of a post showing the sales progress.

DAC is a reputed real estate developer in Chennai

and also our client. The above image shares the DAC
home sales progress achieved in 3 days. Not only
did we mention the relevant numbers but also shared
images of happy customers. Knowing the results of
your campaigns, seeing others take advantage of the
offers and the product being well-received encourages
the audience to rethink and take action. The number of
houses you have sold, the seats that have been booked,
any milestones that have been achieved, etc. anything
can be used to create a sense of urgency.

142
 #Tip 67

Regularly updating your audience about your

product/event success such as 20 seats sold,
5 seats left, 100+ homes sold in 3 months,
1000+ people participating, etc. are great
ways to remind, recall and urge them to act.

143
 Fig 68.  Examples of catchy YouTube thumbnails.

I frequently create YouTube videos for the purpose of

knowledge sharing. To ensure that the video reaches
the maximum audience, I make sure that my thumbnails
are catchy and clearly communicate the topic. In the
first example, along with the topic, I have also used
my image because my followers identify with me, and
it increases the credibility of the video. I have also
mentioned the views the video has gotten over time to
indicate that it has been well received. In the second
example, the number is highlighted along with the topic
to indicate that it would be a quick, to the point video
that is easy to learn.

144
 #Tip 68

YouTube Thumbnail is one of the most crucial

elements that attract the audience to engage.
According to the YouTube Creator Academy,
90% of the best performing video productions
on YouTube have a custom thumbnail. Since it
is a visual platform, your thumbnail is the first
thing that people notice and what makes them
want to click. Hence, make it count.

145
 Fig 69.  Unfold App overview.

Stories stay on the page for just 24 hours, so you don’t

need to exhaust your time and resources on design.
Unfold will help you make quick and easy videos on
the go.

146
 #Tip 69

Unfold App is a great tool for clubbing

Instagram Stories. If you have recorded two to
four videos and you want to put that in a single
15 seconds Story, you can create that using
Unfold.

147
 Fig 70.  echoVME’s WhatsApp For Business profile.

In WhatsApp for Business, you can mention all your

products and services under the catalogue feature and
share the services with all who message you. You don’t
have to personally copy-paste each product/service
every time someone messages you because all will be
available in the catalogue that you create. You can add
a relevant image and description. You can manage
multiple products and give a link where people can
purchase the products/services.

148
 #Tip 70

Don’t underestimate the power of WhatsApp For

Business. Try to create your product catalogue.
This makes it easy for you to circulate your
products on WhatsApp and communicate with
your customers. When your customers message
you, it’s easy for them to see your profile and
the product catalogue.

149
 Fig 71.  Example: Predefined answers
set in WhatsApp For Business.

One of the most significant advantages that WhatsApp

brings to the table is its ability to personalize every
message. This way, clients/customers get answers to
their queries instantly and hence feel more connected,
and valued by the brand. This eliminates the need to
copy-paste or draft new responses every time. The
automation saves you time and effort while keeping
your customers happy.

150
 #Tip 71

On WhatsApp for Business, you can create

predefined answers for frequently asked
questions. Identify the common questions that
your audience has and write the relevant
answers for the same. Both Instagram and
WhatsApp for Business facilitate this option.
This also prevents any gap in communication,
as all the basic questions are covered by you.

151
 Fig 72.  Ask me anything feature of Instagram.

Every few weeks, I do an ‘Ask me Anything’ session

on my Instagram Story, this drives a good amount of
engagement, and I get a chance to acknowledge my
followers by answering their questions.

152
 #Tip 72

‘Ask Me Anything’ is the new cool that makes

your brand reliable. So make a post or use the
Instagram Question feature to allow people to
ask you questions. Give them an opportunity to
think of a question about your brand. You will
win the hearts of the people you respond to.

153
 Fig 73.  Example: Engagement post asking
audience to form new words.

The above example was used for my personal

brand, Sorav Jain, and has seen a good amount of
engagement. I asked people to form words from the
letters of the words ‘Digital Marketing’. This post was
aimed at creating engagement, and the word I chose
was related to my field of expertise. While people
engaged, it would also subtly help them associate my
brand name with digital marketing. When choosing
to do this template, one should always choose words
related to the brand.

154
 #Tip 73

Word Building: Give your brand’s name and

ask people to come up with as many words as
they can with it. For example, if I invite you to
use “Sorav Jain” and create as many words as
possible, you will start breaking the letters to
make different combinations of words. It’s fun,
and the audience takes a moment to think of
your brand.

155
 Fig 74.  Example: ‘Unscramble the word’ engagement post.

The above example was used for my personal brand,

Sorav Jain. This is yet another example of a contest
that can pull a decent amount of likes and comments.
Choose a word related to your brand or the services
you offer, jumble them up and ask your audience to
solve it. Fig 74 uses my caricature to lend a familiar
touch to the post as people have started identifying with
the cartoon.

156
 #Tip 74

Your audience enjoys solving puzzles. Make a

list of words relevant to your brand or industry,
jumble them up and leave it to the audience to
solve it.

157
 Fig 75.  Examples of sharing your growth on social media.

I have made it a point to thank and post about each

milestone I cross, be it the number of followers, or
any award or any other achievement worth sharing.
Thanking your followers for joining the brand family
and being a part of the journey is a thoughtful gesture
that your followers appreciate. When sharing your
milestones, make sure you use your branding colours
and highlight the main achievement separately, in this
case, 50k followers.

158
 #Tip 75

Showcasing your brand’s achievements,

big or small, is a great way to connect with
your audience personally. Posts talking about
Facebook page likes/Instagram followers/
YouTube subscribers, a recent acquisition, or
an important event in your company can be
uploaded. Sharing such information is always
seen as a good move.

159
 Fig 76.  Example: Integrating online and offline marketing.

We tried this contest with one of our real estate clients,

Urban Tree, where the followers were encouraged to
spot hoardings around the city and post them. We got a
good engagement for the same. This is an effective way
to integrate offline and online marketing. In such posts
ensure that the consumers are easily able to understand
what is expected of them. You can use an image or text
to communicate the same. Also, highlight the prize so
that more people are compelled to participate.

160
 #Tip 76

When you run traditional campaigns, such

as putting up hoardings in a prime location,
publishing newspaper ads, promoting radio
jingles or TV ads – ask people on social media
– ‘Did you spot our ad’ and ask them to capture
and share a picture with you to get featured or
to win the contest.

161
Fig 77.  Example: A post to route people to the ChuChu TV video.

For ChuChu TV, one of our clients, we route the audience

to the videos through our posts by asking questions and
prompting them to come back and leave the answer
as a comment. This not only promotes engagement but
also encourages the audience to watch our videos. This
can be done regularly as entertainment content or as a
contest to drive in more engagement.

162
 #Tip 77

Ask your audience a question and give them

the video link to watch or the article link to read
as a reference to get the answer to the question
asked.

163
 Fig 78.  Examples of posts featuring statistics.

Information is always a crowd puller. Combine it

with attractive creatives that organise the information
in the shortest and most absorbable format, i.e. an
infographic. The infographics I use on my blogs also
help route traffic through Google images, where these
infographics appear. People search through Google
Images and spend time on the infographics on your
blog, which also supports in ranking your blog higher.

164
 #Tip 78

Statistics and facts in the format of infographics

never go out of fashion across all social
networking sites. So, keep them alive and post
interesting facts/statistics on a regular basis.

165
 Fig 79.1  Example: A survey to understand my audience better.

Fig 79.2.  Example: A blog featuring the results of a poll

I conducted on the most preferred social networking site.

Leverage your follower base to gather information on

the changing trends and habits of your consumers.
Creating a survey not only helps you gather the
information that can be repurposed but also enables
you to understand your audience better. Fig 79.1 is a
survey I took to understand how my readers felt about
my weekly emailer #NewThingsInDigital and other
associated services. Fig 79.2 is a blog I published as
a result of a survey conducted on the most preferred
social networking site. The people who participate in
the online survey will be interested in seeing the results
and reading up on it.

166
 #Tip 79

Conduct a Survey: Use social media to get

answers and later publish the response in
the format of an infographic. People who
participated in the survey will definitely check
for results to validate their thoughts.

167
 Fig 80.  Example: A comparison post.

For my brand, Sorav Jain, I took up the trending

#10YearsChallenge. The series post featured things
that changed in the last decade. People love talking
about and pondering over change, whether social or
technological. In the above post, I have compared
how influencer marketing has changed in the last ten
years. Such posts do not need a lot of text. They need
strong graphics that convey the intended meaning.
When following such trends always make it a point to
link it to your brand. Like in the above post, I adapted
#10YearsChallenge to digital marketing.

168
 #Tip 80

Comparison posts in a series format receive

a lot of appreciation. For example, life before
and life now, festive celebrations before and
festive celebrations now, marketing before
and marketing now, etc. – keep comparisons
relevant to your vertical.

169
 Fig 81.  Example: A poll conducted to know
what people want to see.

The above is an example of the brand involving the

audience in deciding the content. It is an opportunity
to create engagement, a chance to alert your followers
that a Live session is coming up and also giving your
followers the content they want. These polls help you
create content as per your followers’ request and
hence, the chances of the campaign failing reduce
considerably.

170
 #Tip 81

Before you go Live, conduct a poll to know

what your audience wants to see in the session.
Acknowledge their response in the Live session
by showing them what they want to see; this
will help you create a connect directly. You
can also conduct a poll on what they would
like to receive as a takeaway before hosting a
contest. A gift hamper or a discount voucher?
It’s time to make combined decisions with your
audience.

171
 Fig 82.  Sorav Jain Podcast on Anchor.

Along with my other social media platforms, I regularly

podcast as well. My podcast approach is slightly
different as they require a bit more personal way of
talking, and since there are no visual aspects that can
help me convey information, I explain all points in detail
on audio. One of the advantages that podcasts have
over videos is that they can be accessed while driving,
gymming, or doing any regular chores. These also help
build trust and brand recognition.

172
 #Tip 82

Too hesitant to record a video? How about

just audio? Use ‘Anchor – Make Your Own
Podcast’ a mobile app where you can record
your audio, upload it, add a background score
(if required) and you can promote the link
across social media channels. To make this
easier, have a script ready before you record.

173
 Fig 83.  A post that taps into nostalgia.

Many brands showcase old pictures of products they

had produced in the past to remind the audience of
the progress they have made. Nostalgia can also be
used in the format of ‘then and now’ i.e. comparing two
different time frames, or using products that existed only
during a specific span of time that solely a particular
generation can recognise, e.g. videotapes, cassettes,
etc., and then connecting them to your brand.

174
 #Tip 83

Nostalgia always works! Take your audience

down the memory lane. Share pictures from the
past. Your oldest office, your first commercial
ad, your first product prototype, how your
company won the first client, etc. can be shared.

175
 Fig 84.  Example: Spot the difference challenge.

People love spot-the-difference challenges as they are

tricky, easy and can be solved by kids and adults
alike, a perfect recipe for our client, ChuChu TV. In
the above image, we have shown two images which
appear identical but have small variations. This contest
is addictive as even if we don’t actively participate, we
automatically start looking for differences. This format
has seen good engagement. Offering a prize boosts
the engagement and serves as an excellent incentive to
comment.

176
 #Tip 84

Identify the differences: Post two pictures of

a scenario, one being slightly different than
the other, let people compare and identify the
differences between the two scenarios. Let the
scenario be relevant to your product/business/
office set up.

177
 Fig 85.  DAC video showcasing Tambaram.

For the 13th Anniversary of DAC Promoters, one of our

real estate clients, we created a video that showcased
the various aspects of life in Tambaram, covering the
markets, the station as well as the quiet side of the
location. The video was aimed at showing Tambaram
as the place that many people love to settle in Chennai.

178
 #Tip 85

Play the local flute: If you are a local brand,

you could also be the one to talk about local
trends. Add the flavour of your city to strike
the right chord with people. I see some brands
give regular industry updates about the things
happening in their city.

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 Fig 86.  Example: A selfie contest.

For WINK, our salon client, we created a contest

for ‘No Shave November’. People were asked to
send in their bearded selfies while using the hashtag
#DhaadiRockstar. No Shave November is a movement
that many people enthusiastically take up and giving a
platform to share the fruit of their effort, i.e. their beard,
was a compelling draw that excited many to participate.
And the hope of winning a prize was cherry on the
cake. For any salon or beauty brands, selfie contests
are of great relevance and drive high engagement.

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 #Tip 86

Selfie contests, family photographs, festive

fashion photos, smile contests – any campaign
or contest that allows people to send their
photographs or selfies in a certain style and
encourages user-generated content is one of
the evergreen ways to drive engagement.

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 Fig 87.  Example: DIY activity contest.

For ChuChu TV, our client, we ran a contest that asked

people to make creative paper boats and tag ChuChu
TV with the hashtag #MyChuChuBoat. It generated
quite a bit of engagement and the prize also added
to the thrill. We also run regular DIY posts that show
kids how to make easy art and crafts at home and
encourage them to send their output. Even if it is not a
contest, ChuChu TV fans are always interested to learn
new DIYs that can engage their kids and aid in their
growth.

182
 #Tip 87

DIY Activities – Asking your audience to do

certain things like making a recipe, making a
paper boat, making a specific thing using your
product, decorating a diya, etc. to participate
in a contest makes them invest a lot of time for
your brand. They participate for two reasons: if
your giveaway is amazing or if they get to be
featured on a page that has a large following.

183
 Fig 88.  Example: A Urban Tree series post created for summer.

For Urban Tree, we always ensure to create posts that

are in sync with the current happenings, and that also
includes the seasons and the effect it has on the lives of
the people. Since watermelon is a fruit synonymous with
summer, we did a series on a topic related to the same.
We used engaging illustrations featuring watermelon
and seeds to convey our message. These do well for
one particular period as they are relatable and useful
for that time.

184
 #Tip 88

Season based posts such as summer collections,

winter special, monsoon tips, summer care,
etc. are evergreen campaigns that are a win
for brands. See if you can connect today’s
weather to your brand. Can you?

185
 Fig 89.  Example: JCS Product Post.

JCS, our client, is a premium jewellery store. We ensure

that all their products are showcased in the best possible
light. The photo shoot for the jewellery pieces used was
done keeping in mind Indian culture as the designs were
traditional. Every detail in the frame reflected tradition
as well as luxury. We went with an overall dark theme
so that the gold products will be highlighted. For JCS,
we rely on stunning high-definition photos to take their
social media game to the next level.

186
 #Tip 89

Product showcase: People today invest in

brilliant photography and videos of their
products. They place the product on the grass,
on the beach, and in beautiful locations just to
create the visual elements around it.

187
 Fig 90.  Example: A explainer video from Digital Scholar.

For my digital marketing educational venture, Digital

Scholar, we created the above video that lists 11
reasons why one should join Digital Scholar. This
explainer video has a twist; it’s not about us giving our
audience reasons to choose us but our students sharing
their experience and what they learnt. This works two-
fold, firstly their testimonials would communicate what
the features of Digital Scholar are and secondly seeing
testimonials from actual students makes Digital Scholar
more transparent, hence increases the credibility.
Explainer posts are an example of informative posts that
people can save for later purposes as they find some
value from it.

188
 #Tip 90

Create an explainer video about your product/

services or anything that you are trying to sell.
For example, 10 reasons why you should buy
this product this Diwali, and give 10 pointers
as explainers, and it shall help you educate
your client.

189
 Fig 91.  Example: Product placement of Levista.

For Levista, our client, we worked with the YouTube

page, Chennai Memes, for tactical product placement.
The Mini-Series, Samsaram Athu Minsaram featured
Levista. In this way, we were able to leverage their reach
for our benefit. When featuring your product in another
medium, one should be subtle and be able to integrate
the product into the flow of the story seamlessly. Apart
from co-creating content with other brands, another
smart approach is to use the product in mediums of
entertainment like movies or web series.

190
 #Tip 91

Co-create content strategies with some of the

best pages on social media. Pay them to promote
your content or create content for you. Some of
the most viral content happens when the top
entertainment pages post an emotional/funny
piece of content which may have a flavour of
the brand. You can even work it out together so
to create a win-win situation.

191
 Fig 92.  Example: Collaborating with another
brand to promote each other.

We integrated two of our clients, WINK, a high-end

salon, and ChuChu TV, a popular infotainment channel
for kids, for Children’s Day. We gave away ChuChu TV
sponsored gifts for the carnival conducted by WINK.
Since salons are usually visited by mothers, opening
the doors to kids worked as an indirect invitation to the
mothers. Through the gifts sponsored by ChuChu TV, the
crowd got exposed to the kid’s YouTube channel and
became aware of the infotainment channel. The post
above highlights the key features of the carnival through
attractive illustrations of kids having fun.

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 #Tip 92

If you are working with multiple brands,

promote each other. Your client might oppose
but take the smarter route. Convince your client
to run contests that in return offer some great
vouchers as giveaways from the other brands
you handle. This way, they save their costs, and
your other brand gets more exposure amidst
the new audience.

193
 Fig 93.  Example: Using influencers for product promotion.

For our client and coffee brand, Levista, we reached out

to influencers and sent them coffee baskets so that they
could try the coffee and give their review on it. This is an
effective way to create an impact on a larger audience
as even minor influencers still have a set crowd of
followers; more such influencers endorsing your brand
means all their followers eventually get exposed to your
brand. This amplifies your reach. Influencers give your
product/service an authentic and cool look.

194
 #Tip 93

Make a list of influencers in your industry

domain, start following them on social media.
If possible, meet with these influencers and
introduce your brand to them so that they can
talk about the content you post on their network
at the right moment.

195
 Fig 94.  Examples of attractive blog OG images.

When the election heat was peaking, we decided to

focus on the topic that mattered the most to our brand,
digital marketing. In the first example, I have used the
OG image to focus on answering the question of who
was winning the digital marketing game. Open Graph
image or OG image is the image that your social
media page extracts along with the title, URL, and
meta-information from your webpage to display it in
a social media post. Notice how the image was made
catchy with the juxtaposition of the two contenders and
their social media follower count. In the second image,
seeing the quotes ‘Digital Makes A Difference’ along
with the caricature of Rajnikanth makes people pause a
moment to understand what is the connection between
the two as not much information is revealed. When your
blog OG incites curiosity, people click to know more.

196
 #Tip 94

When you share your blog posts across social

media, make sure your blog titles and blog
open graphic images are share worthy. The
title can have questions or evoke curiosity like
‘101 Content Marketing Tips, 67th is
Outstanding’.

197
 Fig 95.  Example: A crossword post.

Once in a while, I run a crossword contest for my

followers and pull a decent amount of engagement
with these. Ensure that all the words are related to your
brand.

198
 #Tip 95

Crosswords related to the brand or ‘Identify the

hidden words in a maze’ are good weekend
habits to practice.

199
 Fig 96.  Examples of social media trends.

People search for a trend only for a few hours or days

after it starts trending, hence be the first one to talk
about the latest happenings in the city and drive in the
audience. In the first example, KFC adopts the ‘Art Artist’
trend and keeps it simple by giving all the attention to
their product, the KFC chicken piece. It is the focus of
the image. When your eyes move to the next section,
you read ‘the artist’, the arrow leads you to Kernel
Sanders, the creator of the famous chicken recipe. KFC
adopted the trending format to promote their brand.
The second one is also a minimalistic approach where
BookMyShow subtly pointed out the change their brand
has brought to the entertainment ticketing industry. It’s a
smart way to highlight their brand.

200
 #Tip 96

Identifying social media trends and posting

relevant trends always steal the show. If there
is a social media trend, adapt the same to
your brand and you will see a good amount of
engagement.

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Fig 97.  Example: An engagement post that uses reaction emojis.

Facebook enables multiple emojis for different reactions.

Use them to drive poll, which in turn will get you direct
interactions and engagement. You can assign a different
meaning to each emoji and ask an interesting question
about your brand or a current topic. Using emojis make
it easier for the audience to answer as it’s just one click.
The above image is one such example where emojis
were used to drive engagement to find out which luxury
brand will have the best electric cars. You can publish
the results in the next post as people would be eager to
see if their vote was similar to the majority.

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 #Tip 97

Specific reaction votes! Brands can post a

particular picture or post two images in the
same frame and ask people to choose ‘love’
button for the first choice or ‘like’ button for
second. This is a unique way to drive more
engagement.

203
 Fig 98.  Example: A brand hashtag that is used weekly.

For my personal brand, Sorav Jain, the hashtag

#NewThingsInDigital is a fixed weekly update that
goes every Monday not just on Twitter but on all the
major platforms. People are now aware of the same
and follow the hashtag every Monday to stay updated.

204
 #Tip 98

Create a brand hashtag and activate a weekly/

fortnightly/monthly series activity on Twitter.
This is one of the best ways to interact with your
fans regularly and also hear their opinions.
Tweet chats are still one of the smart practices
to build micro-community on Twitter.

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 Fig 99.1.  CSR activity Fig 99.2.  CSR activity
promotion post. promotion that asks people to
subscribe.

CSR activities always work. Like to donate, comment to

plant a tree, share to feed a hungry child, etc. NGOs or
even brands can leverage social media to spread their
cause. It drives engagement because the audience feels
they are indirectly helping someone or the environment.
For one of our clients, Ramco Industries Limited, we
created posts around the same. Fig 99.1 asks the
viewer to click to have a tree named after him/her and
Fig 99.2 asks the user to subscribe to the newsletter to
get a tree planted on their behalf. It’s a win-win situation.

206
 #Tip 99

Incentivize your ‘like’ activities: For example,

like this post/our page, and for every like you
give we will plant a tree on your behalf or do a
certain charity action. This is to spread a social
message as a part of the company’s Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR).

207
 Fig 100.  Example: An emotionally appealing post.

One of the recurring themes for our client, ChuChu TV

is that we use emotions to connect with the audience. In
this case, we use parental emotion to connect with the
right targeted audience.

208
 #Tip 100

Express emotions concerning your industry

or target audience. Make generic posts that
connect with their emotions. What is it to be
a digital marketer, how a mother can feel
the pain of the child when the child is being
injected, feelings of first-time home buyers.
Basically, generic emotions that connect with
your audience.

209
 Fig 101.  Example: JCS Instagram page’s tone is
regal and elegant.

Every brand has a specific tone that goes well with their
idea. The tone of JCS is royal grandeur as the product
is Indian design inspired heavy jewellery. In line with
the tone of JCS, we created posts that highlighted the
products with elegant backgrounds. The colours used
reflected the rich and regal persona of the brand. Using
grids on Instagram was another way to create a grand
and lavish look for the brand. Find out what works for
you and revolve your content strategy around it.

210
 #Tip 101

Define the tone of communication: Quirky,

funny, sophisticated, royal, corporate – what
type best represents your brand? Follow the
same suit across all your online communication.

211
 Conclusion

Today brands understand that to carve their own niche

in the minds of their consumers and grow on social
media, they have to create content with an edge. A well-
integrated content approach builds trust and enables
your consumers to make an informed purchasing
decision. Content marketing is the pull that creates
awareness among your customers, hooks them on with
the value it adds and retains them. The focus is always
on creating and distributing useful content strategically.
101 Content Marketing Tips on Social Media is an
endeavour born out of industry experience and aims to
get your content creation trotting in the right direction,
i.e. engaging your audience.

As of January 2020, 4.50 billion-plus people are active

internet users. And India is the second-largest online
market with 462 million users, after China.

According to marketers, social media is 72% effective

in customer engagement, and almost 60% effective in
increasing online traffic. Now imagine what a well
thought out content strategy can do and the leads it can
generate. Another factor that makes content marketing
a smart choice, apart from the traffic it pulls in, is that

213
 Conclusion

it brings 3X leads at less than 50% of the traditional

media cost. Now, who wouldn’t want to invest in that!
The marketing trends may keep changing but the returns
only get better if one can keep up.

Although you can give your own spin to your content

strategy getting professional help from marketing
partners would be wise. What may be trending today
would not get the same traction tomorrow. Only a digital
marketing partner with a keen eye can stay updated
and integrate the current trends according to your brand
objectives. An expert can guide your consumers from
the awareness stage to the consideration stage to the
decision making stage efficiently with valuable content.

214
 Author Bio

Sorav Jain is an entrepreneur, digital marketing and

social media expert, consultant, author, speaker and
runs a digital marketing agency echoVME. He is the
author of the book titled ‘Social Media for Business’
and practises social media marketing every single
day for multiple brands that he handles along with his
team at echoVME. Sorav is a corporate trainer and has
trained employees of Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar,
Navbharat Times, SS Computers, Genpact, HCL,
Shriram Value, MSL India, Preethi Appliances, Bosch
India, Hexaware, ISHRAE and many more companies
across India, Sri Lanka, and Dubai. He regularly hosts
Social Media Marketing Bootcamps and has trained
more than 5,000+ professionals under this banner.

www.soravjain.com

To stay updated on the latest things in digital marketing,

connect with @SoravJain on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
and Facebook.

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 Other Books Authored
by Sorav Jain

Social Media for Business eBook (Free):

Sorav Jain gives an insider’s view of the challenges and
opportunities faced by Indian brands while building
their brand on Social Media. This book provides an
insight into how businesses can approach social media
according to their objectives. The book features case
studies, tips and perspectives on how social media is a
virtual world that provides various business opportunities
apart from regular business networking.

https://www.soravjain.com/social-media-for-business-
book

#BecomeABrand:
Personal branding helps you build an online presence
and adds value to your business. #BecomeABrand lays
down a strategic roadmap on ‘How to use various
Social Media channels to position your Brand’. These
observations are aided by my own experiments, real-
time case studies and activity checklists that help you
use this as a tool for your personal branding journey.

#BecomeABrand: https://notionpress.com/read/
becomeabrand

217
 Other Books Authored by Sorav Jain

SOLD OUT: Digital Strategy for Effective Lead

Generation
Sold Out is a mini-guide for real estate owners and
marketers who are exploring opportunities to get their
business visible in the digital world. The book has been
crafted from the valuable insights that come along
with an experience of closely working with 15+ more
real estate brands. In this book, you will also find a
note from Rob Peck, Director, O3M Digital Marketing
Agency (Google Premium Partners).

Sold Out: https://notionpress.com/read/sold-out-

digital-strategies-for-effective-lead-generation

218
 Courses Offered by
Sorav Jain

Years of experience dealing with multiple clients from

various industry verticals has empowered me with
digital know-how that makes businesses grow online.
Whether it is your company or you as a brand, benefit
from the power of digital by learning how to leverage
digital right. Below are some of the courses that I offer
so that we can make the best of digital.

Facebook Marketing Masterclass:

This course aims at helping you understand the potential
of Facebook advertisements and how to design effective
Facebook Ads on your own. It offers a crash Landing
Page Course and teaches you how to crack Facebook
Pixel with ease. Learn how to engage your audience
through Instagram marketing and Facebook Messenger
Chatbot. Last but not the least learn to implement three
successful lead generation techniques.

Facebook Messenger Marketing Course:

Facebook Messenger Marketing Course includes case
studies that help you understand Facebook Messenger
Marketing (inclusive of salon, real estate, fashion retail,
jewellery brand and my personal brand). Delve into

219
 Courses Offered by Sorav Jain

the key approaches of Messenger Marketing and walk

through ManyChat Messenger Marketing Tool. It helps
you create your welcome Chatbot, lead flow, set up
the keywords for lead gen on Manychat and more.
Explore how to drive people from Facebook comments
to Messenger to grow subscription and track the results of
your Messenger Marketing lead generation campaign. It’s
an all in one capsule on Facebook Messenger Marketing
that helps you convert potential leads into your customers.

Influencer Marketing:
Influencer Marketing Course is a complete guide
on creating expert-level content and a complete
walkthrough of Instagram promotions to gain followers
and increase engagement. Discover many ways to
earn money as an influencer and advanced Instagram
growth strategies. Learn how to create a successful
themed, business, or personal account on Instagram.
Get tutorials for Instagram Grid Posts, Stories, Live,
IGTV, Highlights, etc. and identify, research, and
pick the best hashtags for your content. If you want to
become an influencer who earns six figures, then this
course is perfect for you.

220
 Content Creation and
Digital Marketing
Consulting

Looking for assistance in creating content that gives

you a competitive advantage in the digital realm?

Do you want to create brand awareness, reposition

your brand or generate quality leads and conversions
for your brand through your social media content?

Then connect with echoVME or me to get 360-degree

digital marketing service for your brand. Let’s connect
your brand with your customers! Our years of
experience working for brands from various industry
verticals has equipped us to boost your brand presence
through catchy content and effective strategies. For
result-oriented content marketing, echoVME is the way
to go!

Connect with me on:

Email: bde@echovme.com
Phone: 9176402555

221