Author: FYA

The State of Social Media 2016
Case Study

The State of Social Media 2016

How many people do you think care about a product or a service, they may use it but do they really care about it? On the other hand, how many companies really care about their potential customers, not the sales or giving customized recommendations but actually care about them? In both cases, the answer is unsurprising, not many if not none at all. Now let’s take a minute and just think at the speed with which we scroll through our social media feeds no matter the platform when we barely stop for people we know and care about at different degrees, are we really going to stop for a brand? Another easy answer: a resounding probably not! So what is really happening? People are spending more time online; brands are spending more money online, most happy with sales, traffic or whatever metric they are tracking as per overall statics so how is this happening? People are getting the convenience of buying from anywhere, getting delivered for free, saving time and money while usually getting some or the other kind of deal. Brands are adapting to this consumer behavior and selling stuff cheaper than ever before via whatever online portal they can. So maybe it isn’t all that bad after all or is it? Of course sales matter, but who and what is driving them? But do sales matter more than people buying it? Do sales matter despite not being sure what prompted the user to click on an ad so most brands have no clue what is working vs what isn’t. What happens when something Snapchat comes along steals the attention from Twitter, Instagram, and even Facebook to an extent and doesn’t let just post ads with a deal and a buy now button, now what?? Here’s the problem and its always been the same one since I entered this industry in 2012, people only paid attention to the metric that seemed to most convenient not the ones that should have really mattered! It started with likes and followers then they asked what about engagement, ok we got some engagement and 2 years (probably more and spend a ton money) so what about sales, ok we got some sales and here we are waiting for someone to ask another question before spending 6 months to adapt our answers to that. Ok so now that I have rambled on to my level personal satisfaction, here’s the answer, the only metric that matters is attention! If you have the people’s attention they will probably remember you and think of you and talk about you so obviously unless your product/service isn’t complete shit, buy from you! But why should someone pay attention to you? You have to tell the best story not about the product not about how you make it but why it should matter to the user! So stop instead of worrying about the product photoshoot and giving the best deal, worry about do customers care about you enough to pay attention to you, because if they do they will buy it and if you can show them you care about them, they will buy again and again and that it the aim! How to show your customers you care about them? Well, that I will explain in part -2!
Posted by FYA
What Made Pokemon Go So Popular and How Brands Can Take Advantage of It
Case Study

What Made Pokemon Go So Popular and How Brands Can Take Advantage of It

People tend to walk the same lane as that walked down by the crowd. It’s hard to decide whether watching grown-up babies playing Pokemon Go with their eyes stuck on their phones while on the road is crazy enough or not. Surviving on the nostalgic craze, the world has come to know what the game is about, but not many seem to know the not-so-random success of the game. Google, known for the April Fool Pranks it plays every year, introduced the concept based as a prank between Pokemon and Google in 2013. Their main idea was to have pokemons appear on the screens of the phones whenever someone tried to search for directions on the Google map locations. Tied to it’s a tendency of having a futuristic vision, Google had already created a game similar to Pokemon Go named Ingress with the very well known software developing company, Niantic Labs. Tried and tested by the companies through the years to know and understand the user experience, Pokemon Go can never be qualified to be a random success. Social Media takes a new turn every year. There are a lot of aspects to focus on including introducing something new or reminding the audience about the past. Nothing can seem to defeat the response and hype created by planting a seed of nostalgia within people and it was exactly done for Pokemon Go. Asking the question of whether one would believe in augmented reality and that 150 million users would use an AR application, none would have nodded their heads in agreement if asked a few months ago. Creating the hype and have people pouring in to download the app was not something difficult for the reasons that their research was in place & updated and the emotional connection was a cherry on the cake. Anything and everything can be picked up to be used for a brand’s benefit in today’s time. Awaiting trends to build up, Pokemon Go is now taken up by brands to advertise themselves taking creativity to new heights. Brands advertise themselves and the offers given out to people are being based on the number the pokemons one has caught. Blogs about the same have been published giving away information about how to find and catch pokemons to the game addicts. It is interesting how an April Fool Prank has proved to benefit brands in the long run. Taking McDonald’s for an instance, it is the first sponsored brand who proved to be successful in signing a partnership with Pokemon paying huge amounts of money to create Poke-Stops and Poke-Gyms within the McDonald’s outlets. The large population of the world has been divided by the game into those who can’t care less about the craziness going around and the others who can’t stop themselves from going crazy. It has still not come into people’s consciousness that they have been walked into stores, restaurants and generating more business just for the sole desire to catch another pokemon. A new benchmark is set by Pokemon Go in the gaming industry and the fact that incorporating AR applications is going to be a win-win is set clear! Despite the fact that people are not averse or unknown to this concept, games including carrying out exciting activities would drag the people to play the same. Every trend that is set fades away in a while but it is important for brands to realize the dazzling future of AR applications and let go of the virtual aspect they have been trying to hold onto. The factor they all must now focus on is how to leverage the success of Pokemon Go to blend their future marketing activities with the new-set trend!
Posted by FYA
Case Study

How We Intend To Creatively Use Snapchat Spectacles For Business

There have been many features introduced by various social media platforms in recent times with the one talked about the most being Snapchat. The world has been buzzing about the Snapchat Spectacles that have added an opportunity for people and businesses to go crazy over creativity. Getting my hands on them and using them for a while, these spectacles have changed my way of looking at content creation. Completely changing an individual’s perspective with the wide-angle shots and automated save to the memories, the content generated I believe is a lot more interesting and engaging. The user experience is extremely immersive. Blowing my mind with the number of creative possibilities, I definitely intend on generating a lot of internal content when it comes to our routine Monday morning meetings, meetings with various clients and of course the daily start-up news. The spectacles, I believe are sure to bring a completely new perspective when it comes to working with FYA Group as every snap would help the audience feel like they are a part of the conversation per se and it works leaps and bounds when it comes to striking that connects with the viewers. Just like everything has a different side, with having fun while playing around with these spectacles at work, our clients, be it restaurant owners or fashion magazine editors can add a different perspective to their brands. We can now go behind the scenes and give the audience a tour in the kitchen and also show what’s it like to view exclusive shows in person. Many people currently underestimate the power to carry one-on-one questionnaires on Snapchat. Building a wide audience around various platforms and urging them to ask questions via Snapchat is definitely going to help us create an entire web series and deliver the experience of first-handedly answering their questions! I believe that the spectacles are going to change the look of content creation in the digital world and it’s going to be huge when it comes to execution of creativity.
Posted by FYA
5 Qualities Required to be the Perfect Social Media Manager
Social Media Marketing

5 Qualities Required to be the Perfect Social Media Manager

1. Has Love and Passion for Social media This is the most important quality a social media manager should have. He should eat and breathe social media. But he shouldn’t only be aware of the different social media platforms he should have profound knowledge about the working of social media. You can hear it in his voice and read it in his tweets that he loves what he is doing. 2. Should be Analytical Social media management is a lot different than being on social media. It requires a lot of analytical skills and planning skills. He should be able to analyze trends and use them. He goes behind the curtain and discovers how the show really runs. Because social media management looks a bit like this. 3. Is a very GOOD Community Manager He needs to possess good community management skills because unless he has knowledge of community dynamics he can’t control their communication platform. He needs to be able to understand human behavior and behavior human conducts as a society. He understands how society thinks. 4. Knows how to use Social Media for a Higher Purpose For him, social media is more than just likes, tags, and selfies. He knows how to use social media as a business tool, and create leads that will help him achieve his goals. 5. Is an Effective Strategist The social media manager is always working on at least 2–3 campaigns at any given time, and he is supposed to produce a result on all of them. He is a good strategist that comes with various meetings, briefs and brainstorming sessions. He is needed to be able to come up with effective strategies that work.
Posted by FYA
Don’t be a Romantic!
Blogs

Don’t be a Romantic!

Starting your own business has never seemed more cool or exciting than right about now. Everyone wants to do a startup and raise a million dollars! It’s a good dream to have; it’s also probably never been easier to get investors to believe in half-baked ideas that might one day find a mass audience. The problem lies in the vision. Let me explain, any idea that a person believes in seems exciting. We now tend to fall so much in love with this idea and that all sense of practicality fails to reach us and there is reason feeling guaranteed success! The idea only seems to be missing the fuel of money and funding seems to be the one sole goal for the entrepreneur. Now, I hate to shatter this dream but funding or money isn’t the secret to success. Startups like Food Panda, FabFurnish, TinyOwl, Housing.com, and many others are proof of this. I follow startups, VCs’, rounds of funding very closely because it’s very important to understand market trends, mistakes and what has been done right. While everyone obsesses overvaluations in the words of the Softbank’s President Nikesh Arora, “To live up to these valuations, there is a need for perfect execution!” So stop being a romantic and falling in love with ideas. Be passionate but practical because, in the end, the only thing that matters is execution! I will be writing a part two to this real soon about what a startup should focus on.
Posted by FYA
How Social Media has Become a Ubiquitous Part of Our Daily Life
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How Social Media has Become a Ubiquitous Part of Our Daily Life

Let’s be honest, I don’t think most of us would want to spend a day away without our smartphones. There is so much talk about social networks and social media everywhere. These conversations of eCommerce, valuations and the sheer time we spend on them have blended into our everyday lives. The question is what is social media and how did it become such a crucial part of our life. Social networks have opened new horizons of devising and learning new information, sharing ideas and connecting with others. Social media has notably changed the way people interact and carry on with their everyday lives on social networks. People using the internet, spend most of their time on social media sites. Realistically speaking the consumer-facing the internet is only about 20 years old. The impact of this on our lives is unimaginable! Just put it into numbers, Facebook has 1.65 billion monthly active users, with each user spending an average of 10–20 minutes a day on it. So the way I look at it, social media is the current state of the internet. The only thing that matters is where people invest their time and attention. Social media, these days have greatly changed the way people spend their leisure time, so it is difficult not to acknowledge that we as humans are living through the greatest cultural shift in communication and content consumption since the invention of the telephone and television. Only a few things have had this influence on people as Social media. These sites are certainly a step toward world globalization. There is a range of social media sites available, you can find any to suit your convenience and lifestyle. From Twitter to Facebook and Google+, something is available for everyone who wants to connect.
Posted by FYA
Top Trends Of 2016 That Will Surely Give A New Direction To The Digital World!
Blogs

Top Trends Of 2016 That Will Surely Give A New Direction To The Digital World!

In an era where more than 43% of the world population is connected to the internet enabling us to talk, share information and conduct business throughout the globe. As a result, we have seen more technological advancement in the near time than in the past centuries. And more and more technological advancement is going to pour in, in the second half of 2016. In 2016, we have seen various technological advancements and trends so far and few of them are here to stay for the long run. Here are our predictions as to what trends will rule the digital landscape in 2016. 1. Focus on Mobile People are not spending as much time on the desktop as they used to, they are going mobile instead. 2015 was a big year for mobile, Google recently announced that mobile traffic finally took over desktop traffic in 10 different countries and 2016 will be no exception to the rising trend of mobile-oriented content. Google has been providing web apps for quite some time now, and 2016 is going to see it become bigger. Every segment of the internet has seen a downfall of desktop traffic from banking to the social network and this trend is only going to go UP. 2. Context over Content Content is still the king, but context rules the household. Context gives strategy to your content. Content tells you what to say, but context tells you whom to say it, when to say it and how to say it. Learning about the context in which your content will be perceived gives you an edge over the others. We have seen many tech giants have opted for this strategy in past years. Prominent one being Google Now, Google Now gives you the information you might need not the information it has to offer. And in 2016 context is going to become more important than content. 3. Snapchat becomes King Snapchat is not like any other typical social media giants, it’s personal. Snapchat is more of a personal media messaging service. It’s personal in sending messages that only you can see and its feature of non-permanent media creates a sense of urgency. Snapchat is about here and now; users don’t have to worry about someone noticing and commenting on their awkward upload from two years back. And its personal approach is enabling brands and companies to engage with their viewers in a more casual way, where they can have a candid back and forth chat. 4. More Real-Time Content People don’t only want to be a part of it, they want to be a part of it as it is happening. As the technology is advancing rapidly and people are carrying more and more powerful computers with them, it’s getting easier to reach them in real-time. People are more interested in live chat raw videos than polished professional footage. They are more interested in live tweets of the show than big banner ads. With real-time content, people get a chance to be part of events transcending the geographical barrier. 5. Chatbots Bots are not new, everyone on the internet has interacted with a bot at least once. But in 2016, they are going to become more intuitive and more human-like. They can already book tickets, crack jokes and order a meal; but they are going to be more versatile and prompt. The reason for the bot-revolution is that it’s intuitive, you don’t have to scroll through various options and wait for the web page to load. You can just message a command like you are chatting with your friend. And plus it saves the user from the burden of installing tons of apps and switching between them.
Posted by FYA
If You Don’t Understand People, You Can’t Understand Business
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If You Don’t Understand People, You Can’t Understand Business

Humans are social animals; we interact with each other, share information, opinions, and experiences. It’s with this interaction that we build relationships, relationships that are the building blocks of a community and a society. A community is a group of individuals who share a set of common values and beliefs, and so is an organization. Here is a list to make the point that, if you don’t understand people, you can’t understand business. 1. Meeting People Despite all the technological revolution you still have to interact with people in person, you have to be there to carry out the business, and when all your customers, colleagues, employees are human it becomes very important to understand people if you want to understand business. Understanding people involves studying the way people work, their individual styles, what attitudes and perceptions they bring to work, how they interact with a team and the nature of their hopes, dreams, and desires. 2. People = Business Have you ever heard of people less business? Neither have we. People are what you build your business around. When you understand them better, you understand your business better. When you are good at understanding your company’s and customer’s needs and concern, it shows. You can work on your business plan better to make it work, and your plans are more optimized to produce the end product 3. Understanding Builds Trust You don’t trust strangers, do you? You just can’t. Yet building trust is the most crucial aspect of doing business, just knowing that a person is good at doing something doesn’t build trust it builds reliability and appreciation. To trust someone you need to know that person. You must understand the person you work with in order to trust them, which results in better work. 4. They Influence You Remember how your mother used to warn you about bad influence when you were young? Her words are still true. The people you surround yourself with influence your behavior and decisions. The kind of people you collaborate with influences the work culture of your organization, and they influence the way your company conducts itself. 5. Understanding Improves Teamwork Understanding each other is one of the key ingredients in buildings a great soccer team, and a company is not much different. Your colleagues are your teammates. Understanding people you work with helps you to work better as a team and in turn amplify your strengths and make up for the weaknesses. ‘People’ do you get it? That’s the whole point.
Posted by FYA
Developing Better Culture for Employees
Blogs

Developing Better Culture for Employees

In the last few blogs, I was talking about the responsibilities that you have as an entrepreneur. However, entrepreneurs solely cannot run a company. There are many factors that drive the business ahead. Of course, as a leader, you must know what are those attributes that help you go further with your goals. *Goals! Remember your goals for the company are not only yours, they belong to your employees as well* Identify those attributes and their roles, know where they fit in and their potentials. Hire people for their passion and commitment first, experience second and credentials third. There’s no shortage of CVs out there, but find those who have the same interest as yours. Ask them the right questions: What do you love the most about your chosen career? What course interested you in school? What’s your motivation? What do you expect from your career? Have an idea of what your potential employee believes in! As you choose the right employees, meet them, sit with them to discuss what is going well and what isn’t. It’s important to note your success, but it’s as important to analyze your weakness and losses at the same time. It takes a rich workplace culture to identify when things go around well and resolve the issues. Communication does not just mean talking, but also equally stress upon listening. A fertile culture grows around people who listen to what happens beyond the walls. What is trending in the market? What developments are going on, which can or cannot affect us? What does the target audience prefer? *Employees are a part of the same audience* Traditional workplace fashion is just so mainstream and monotonous. Take a step ahead of the changing world and be the change you expect.
Posted by FYA
What’s 5 Minutes’ Worth?
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What’s 5 Minutes’ Worth?

I think most people I know suffer from this fatal flaw — ‘Lack of Planning.’ The most valuable thing we have today is time, now more than ever! We want to watch shows on our own time, we want to reply back to texts at our own time so much so that we now get annoyed when another human being calls us up because the conversation they want to have is not at our time. Think of the 5 minutes of extra sleep in the morning, isn’t it the best?! So do you really think you are making the most of your time? I make a very sincere effort to do so, I am writing this on a flight after having an 18 hour day. I also want to be clear that when I say make the most of your time I don’t mean in terms of work! For all the traffic jams you get stuck in or the time you spend traveling, all the procrastination we do through every single day even with the smallest tasks; think of all the phone calls to loved ones, audiobooks or actual books, people that could have been met with just a little bit of planning and effort. As far as your entrepreneurs are concerned I am sure that you feel you have no time for absolutely anything while trying to do everything. Here are a few tips that can make a small difference: 1. To-Do Lists I swear by these and I make them and keep them updated regularly! I used to write these but have now moved to a digital one to be able to allocate specific times to be able to complete these tasks. It’s a simple concept; you can’t get everything done without knowing what everything includes. 2. Delegate There’s a difference in being involved and informed. As a leader and a passionate one it feels crucial to be a part of every small thing, but trust your team, identify the reliable managers and give them a chance; the responsibility will make them feel appreciated and give you a chance to do more. 3. Minimize This is a difficult one! Is it really possible to allow only a specific amount of time and then try to get it done in an even shorter amount of time? Well, I think so! For Example, I now go into con calls with a fixed list of points to discuss, mail them to the others an hour before the call and try to ensure everyone stays on track. 5 minutes saved on 10 calls is almost an hour added to the day. Try it, it might take a while to get a hold of but this is the real key to productivity. I hope you found these tips helpful and if you have any more do please share them in the comments below. P.S. — My current goal is to get 30 hours of work done in a 24 hour day!
Posted by FYA