2016 was a very unusual year for me. I cannot call it happy and I cannot call it sad. I bought a house in this year which was a really big achievement for us (Everyone as an opinion on rental and buying and I feel 'to each his own', whatever makes one happy in a longer run). We took a major risk and it was a period of testing times - big loans, savings all gone, the seller was very arrogant and shallow. There was zero travel due to the new house. Lethargy had set in due to constant pressure of saving, saving and more saving. Reading also became almost zero. Exercising and healthy lifestyle took a backseat because the juggle between office, the old house and the construction of new one took a toll on me.
Work became the only savior. It became my focus and I was spending more & more time & energy on my career.
Fun times with friends, colleagues and family were obviously beautiful.
And then came the month of December wherein I had a family wedding and after that back to back illness - Fever, severe back and neck issue and many other things. I was frustrated. Was it depression? - I don't know but whatever it was, I wanted to be out of it.

I was reading and surfing the internet on December 24 when I read these two quotes:

At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results - Chuck Yeager

Those who don't want to change, let them sleep - Rumi

Neha

• Promote tweets that are either based on launch of a product or a new announcement
• Make the hashtag trend
• Increase the reach of an engagement (contest, tweet chats, event etc.)

Analyzing the Twitter trends

1. Age is not a requirement; but experience is must
2. Definitely needs to have their defined interests or have carved a niche in a segment
3. All sorts of contests is strictly No-No but if it is in their area and if they are hired for a continuous engagement which also involves this contest, then it is fine
4. High number fans or followers is usually preferred but not mandatory. I have observed people who are experienced in a particular field, are recognized within industry, their message has better reach even when they have less than 3k followers.

Coming on to the final leg of this blog – the blame game:

My bio says that I am a perfume lover and there is absolutely no doubt about it to anyone & everyone when they see my smile buying or getting one. The shape of the bottles, mystique associated with the notes and the freshness that stays with you.

Today, I review my recent possession - Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue

Notes: lemon and cedar that makes the fragrance citrus and woody
Season: definitely a summer perfume and should be worn during day time.

One of the best aqua and heavy citrus tone perfume that has come my way after long time. And when I write heavy citrus, I mean 2-3 sprays overall and you are done for the day. It will give a feel of freshly squeezed lemon and sweet lime.
I personally love both the notes but if someone is occasional to citrus and has a preference of floral or sweet fruit or extreme wood then don't go for it. It is very strong and crisp as compared to Davidoff Cool Water or Michael Kors Sporty. I read 'it smells expensive' in one of the reviews on a popular perfume website, haha I clearly don't know what she means but yes there are bipolar views. Either people love it or just simply hate it. Being a popular choice, it also behaves different with different people. With me it stays the whole day but with many I heard it just disappears.

Price: upward of INR 4000 for 100 ml EDT, depends on the place of purchase (online or a shopping mall)
For all who want to feel fresh the whole day - this one is just perfect. It throws you back to those totally free humid summer days you spent walking on a white sand beach with a gentle breeze flowing. And I love this feeling :)

Neha 

Facebook Algorithm Changes

Facebook Monetiztion

Paid Fans

Organic Pages

• Worldwide we are experiencing exponential rise in data. It is actually a goldmine but requires deep digging. Only those brands which are able to harness the potential of their present data and turning it into information will rise in the field digital in 2015. Every organization must focus & invest in Business Intelligence units and churn the cream from the milk.



Data Mining

• Analytics has to be center of all digital activities. For all those organizations which are not looking at their website or social or media campaign analytics and still investing in digital for the namesake are just making fool of themselves. This field is growing mahoosive (arggh, me making the use of the recent urban dictionary ‘more massive than massive’) and one has to learn to separate wolves from the sheep in this industry. Info-graphics are boon to brands after they evaluate their analytics and measure it according to various metrics.

Analytics is the key of Digital Marketing

• Integration of activities like SEO (Search Engine Optimizing) + SEM (Search Engine Marketing) + SMM (Social Media Marketing) will prove to be differentiating strategy for brands. All the three should have similar content & keywords to cross sell each other be it your website or social media or paid reach. Till date we were just talking about online offline integration, but now we also see some brands saying ‘we are on Facebook, Twitter and thus we are doing digital’ which is so not complete. It is essential to make full use of all three buckets – Earned, Owned and Paid Media. They are no more separate & brands must tactically use them together.

SEO, SEM, SMM Integration

• Integration of content creation & its delivery – We saw many brands creating wonderful campaigns & innovations in India targeting their specific audience (rare scenario because most of the brand campaigns are directly adapted from west). However these campaigns were thinly spread across social mediums because of the low budgets to market them. In the era where we have the local barbers & multiple fake accounts present on Facebook , brands cannot just depend on organic reach. It has become extremely difficult and more over even FB is pushing paid marketing. Therefore it is very important for brands to allocate sufficient budgets not for campaign creation but its marketing too.

Brand Influencer

• Every organization must listen to its online audience. Identifying promoters & critics and then forming a strategy to leverage the ones who can talk positively about the brands and also slowly converting the negatives towards neutral. This activity should be consistently followed to create online ambassadors & brand influencers.

Effective Implementation of Digital Marketing

This Ad from #Nescafe is breaking the barriers of creativity, thinking out of the box, clutter free and most important touches the note of every person watching it. And themed it perfectly - #ItAllStarts