9 Indian Startups that have Aced Content Marketing

Content marketing leaves a lasting impact like no other marketing strategy. Businesses, having recognized the true potential of content marketing in gaining and retaining customers, have already started using content marketing to their advantage.

Startups have more advantages over established businesses when it comes to content marketing. Startups may not have the budget to create and promote large amount of content like their bigger counterparts. However, being passionate about making it to the top will force startups to work hard and churn out relevant but creative content.

Here are some examples of Indian startups that are doing an amazing job with content marketing:

Zomato is one site that is a perfect example to the growth of a startup through content marketing. It is an online directory to find the nearest restaurants and now serves 15 countries, raising more than $65 million on the go.

Zomato’s content marketing doesn’t end with regular blog updates. They do not hesitate to try out different types of content including infographics, videos and campaigns.  Not all of those different forms of content may click with the audience; however, trying out new things is the only way to understand what works and what doesn’t.

SutraLite is an HR recruitment agency for startups and SMEs. Its content marketing strategy is a bit different. Though some of the articles created by SutraLite are related to their services, the ones that mainly grab attention are those articles not belonging to their domain. These articles help them to improve web traffic and grow.

Brightpod is a web-based project management and time tracking software meant to help marketing teams to sort out and have a clear workflow. It is a part of Synage Software started by Sahil Parikh in 2005. Synage Software is an expert in marketing their products overseas and Brightpod is the latest addition to the list. The constant updates on their blog for customers and marketers alike is what keeps them growing.

Eventifier is a tool that helps to showcase all tweets, images, slides etc. of an event in one page. It is the brainchild of a group of youngsters from Mangalore and was first developed at The Startup Centre. Gradually, they have managed to find a place in the market through their content marketing strategy. Apart from blogs and newsletters, the best form of content delivered by Eventifier includes creating relevant insights for event organizers.

With digital marketing companies on a rise, Simply360 is a company whose services every business needs. The social media analytics company that was started in 2009 has more than 25 solid customers to their credit.

Companies like Adobe, WPP and Twitter had also come forward with acquisition offers which the company rejected. Instead of that, they decided to go ahead on their own.  Simply360 has made it big by gathering data, dividing them and presenting them in the most suitable way possible. Many of the infographics and analysis created by the company has been adopted by various publications.

Thrillophilia is a trip planning portal that has come a long way from being a startup to being listed among the top travel domains. The portal provides large amounts of travel-based shareable content that has played a major role in its growth. Thrillophilia also offers specific activity based and unconventional travel packages.

Buzzvalve is a data driven content marketing business that helps companies to manage every aspect of web-based content lifecycle, from creation, distribution, marketing and conversion of content.  The startup has big names like UNICEF, ISB, Honda, Fortis, etc. to its clientele and their amazing content and performance has tempted many more companies to hire Buzzvalve for creating content for them.

Buzzvalve has a simple and minimal website but is very clear about what it provides and what the customers can expect from the company.  People can get a glimpse of Buzzvalve’s previous works through their social media pages.

Druva is the ultimate destination for companies for data protection and governance technology. The company that was started in 2008 has about 3000 customers to its credit and has already found a place in US market with revenue of $65 million.  It was just a regular startup until one of the co-founders came forward to take care of the sales thus propelling the company to heights it is in today.

The Druva team has used their expertise to their advantage in terms of content they provide. Users can find information regarding anything related to data security in Druva’s blogs. Also, they use LinkedIn for promotions.

JU is a friend management system for Twitter and Instagram with 10 million users across the globe. Now it has been rebranded as Crowdfire, a social media marketing product.

It is a startup with minimal financial resource but has managed to find their place in the market through their content strategy.

Though the content they provide seems similar at times, there has been no compromise in terms of quality and continuity till now. The blogs are mainly about managing your social media accounts and relevant happenings across the world.

Creating Stunning Infographics Improve Brand Awareness. Learn How

Infographics are a great way to present your content visually.Research shows that our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text! In fact, 93% of all human communication is visual.

Infographics present your data and information in charts and flows with the help of interesting shapes and graphics. They convert your lengthy data into visually appealing and easily digestible bits. Capturing more of user’s attention naturally leads to a better visibility and recall value for your brand. These are the ways stunning infographics can improve your brand awareness:

  • Infographics are sharable

Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared in social media compared to other types of content. A good infographic has logical content flow and is to the point. Once you have put together a visual content that conveys your compelling message in a focused and simple manner, it is bound to get shares in social media. More shares in social media naturally mean more visibility for your brand. Do not forget to take advantage of visual social media like Pinterest, Instagram, Vine etc.

  • Infographic is SEO friendly

Did you know that 55% of website visitors spend less than 15 seconds on a webpage? Infographics can not only increase the time visitors spent on your page but also the number visitors to your site. Articles with visuals get 94% more views. In short, infographics will increase number of visitors to your page, get you more shares and backlinks. Guess what this means? Higher ranking for your page in search engine results!

  • Visuals stay in mind

Information recall of a visual is 65% after three days compared to 10% for auditory information. This is the most important reason why infographics are great if you want to increase your brand awareness. The user will form an image of the brand based on her interaction with the content. A compelling infographic that gives relevant information will stay in the user’s mind for sure.

  • Easy to understand

Infographics are the best way to present complex concepts. You can explain multiple relations and correlations; lay down process flow or present variety at one glance. Presenting information in such simple manner displays your expertise in the subject and increases the likelihood of transactions.

  • Easily changeable and embedded

Infographics can be easily changed into different formats and dimensions to suit various platforms. They are also easily embedded and can be used to direct to your site in one click.

Infographics and video are hot trends for content presentation this year. To get the maximum brand awareness from them, do keep in mind these crucial points:

  • Drafting a compelling message is the first step to successful infographic. Your infographic must revolve around this central message in the focused manner.
  • A shabby graphic will do your brand more harm than good. Either invest in a good designer or stick to written content.
  • Source your data from reliable sources and credit the sources
  • Use your logo subtly. Using logo subtly but consistently will go a long way in building your brand.

Conclusion

They are one of the popular types of digital content used by digital marketing agencies around the world. Whether your business be B2C, B2B, or any other type, you can definitely include infographics in your content marketing campaigns.

5 Content Marketing Trends that Businesses Need to Know in 2017

Content Marketing is becoming a part of core marketing strategy for businesses across sectors and regions. 88% of B2B marketers admit to using content marketing. The field of content marketing is still evolving and there is a lot of change happening. So, here are the Top 5 game changers that will shape content marketing for small businesses in India as well as the big brands:

  • Video Content will be preferred

The Cisco Visual Networking Index has forecasted that video will account for almost 70% of consumer internet traffic by 2017. According to Nielsen, 64% of marketers expect video to dominate their strategies in coming years.

There is a growing popularity of video content among st users and the same will be reflected in the content businesses and brands put out. Videos are more engaging, convey a lot in less span of time and have a greater tendency to be shared on social media. This trend of more content in video format is going to continue this year.

  • Taking Matters into own hand

As more business realize the importance of a growing audience that comes back for great content, they will start building this audience themselves rather than relying on social media and other platforms.

Recent and frequent changes in Facebook and YouTube algorithms have highlighted the importance of having a loyal following even outside of these platforms. Facebook has recently made changes in its algorithms that give preference to posts shared by friends of users over those shared by brands. This means that getting to your potential customers is that much harder as the direct line of communication is now broken.

These and many more changes have made brands look for other options like mails, apps and even print magazines to directly connect with users.

  • Quality Content

As the users are bombarded with plethora of content, only the ones with good quality and niche content will get their due. Nobody wants to consume bad quality content in this age of shortening attention span. Even if the content quality is good, users do not waste their time watching something to which they do not connect or agree with.

The content consumption market is now at a stage where we will see specialization of content. This means content marketers will look for and try to chase niche markets. Differentiation of content market can be on various factors like region (urban/ rural), ideologies, demographics, habits and interests etc.

This is the reason why there is increasing demand for content marketing agencies for start ups and small businesses.

  • Mobile will Rule

This one is a no brainer. We have seen in the end of 2016 that Mobile internet usage has surpassed desktop Internet usage for the first time in history. In this light, all content that is developed has to suit audiences browsing on mobile. The length, tone, call to action in the content will change accordingly. A lot of content will also be distributed through mobile apps.

  • User generated content

2017 will see a rise in user generated content. Product users and early adapters posting their reviews is a great example of user generated review. People are more prone to trust third party users just like themselves and hence, we see the rise of subscriptions for review channels. The role of bloggers, reviewers and YouTube stars is going to be more prominent in coming year. It is not about putting articles online anymore; but, about managing users and user influencers.

 

5 Ways to Track and Measure Your Social Media Success

Nowadays, Social media is everywhere starting from our smartphones, computers to tablets. Knowing this to be true, more and more small businesses are making use of it to reach their targeted market. But if you’re off to a great start and already grabbed great presence by keeping your audience engaged, then it is quite good. But how do you know what’s really working as there are many social media platforms which can be used for your business.

Measuring or tracking the overall success of any strategy can be a difficult task. But this can be easy as there are hundreds of ways now. But the main question is, do you know where to find them and do all they really necessary for your business?

Here is the answer for this…

On Facebook, it is quite easy to get the detailed analysis of your page. Just go to your FB page and click insights given on the top. Here you will be able to know about page likes, views, reach, engagements and also any actions occurred on the page.

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Not only this much, you can also view the total number of likes. This will help you to find out which time and type of post are best for you and also to monitor your audience reaction to your posts if any.

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If you log in to your twitter account page, you can find your followers and how many people you follow. But to view the statistics, you must visit the “Twitter Analytics” page. Click on the profile image given on the top right of your page and select analytics.

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As from the image itself it is clear that by visiting analytics page, you will come to know about the 28 days summary of your page. You can view gain/loss of your followers.

Checking analytics constantly can help you in your social media success. You can check the analytics of your Linkedin page without any difficulty. Just click on the “Me” given on the top right of your page and below MANAGE, select your page. It will navigate you to the new tab, where you can click the analytics tab and select visitors, updates, followers and legacy analytics from the dropdown.

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Measuring Pinterest analytics always will help you analyse which type of images are best for your business to grab the audience. To visualise this, confirm your website first and then go to settings drop-down menu given on the top right corner, click analytics.

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Constantly checking your YouTube analytics will help you to know more details about your videos such as Watch time, Average view duration and Views. It will also show you the key things that might be driving traffic to your video.

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You can also able to see your top 10 videos and its details. Actually, more your video content speaks to your target audience, better your results will be.

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Tracking and measuring your social media performance is really an important thing for every business type. These can help you to find out where you should focus while promoting your brand on social media. It’s a fact you can track your followers and engagement but more than that, it will help you to achieve success.

10 Ways Indian Startups Can Compete with Giants Using SEO

The importance of SEO needs no introduction. Every entrepreneur knows its potential and return on investment. But getting ahead of giants who have been producing great content for couple of years may seem a herculean task.

There is no need to sweat though. There are ways to get past this and stay ahead in  the competition.

Here are 10 ways startups can compete with giants using SEO:

  • Go Niche

Fighting for piece of the same pie will drain your time and energy. Instead, you could specialize in an area which have been explored not much. There are always pockets in the market which are not recognized by other players. Even if they are recognized, they are too small for the giants to focus on. This could be a good entry point for your page.

Talk about topics and aspects that the giants are not talking about. This strategy can be applied to your products, service, delivery channel, marketing channel and online content.

  • Localization

Most of the startups want to tap in on the immediate locality. This is even true if you are selling a physical product. Why not specialize in just that? No giant will think about connecting with the audience based on localities.

You can rank number one for a locality by writing and promoting your content to location specific audience using Facebook. You can also participate in local community events or sponsor events that have a good online presence.

  • Personalize

As a small business you must take advantage of more customer service available per customer. Huge customer base prevents big giants from having a one on one personal relation with their audience.

As start up on the other hand, you can have a close relation with the smaller base of customers. This can be deeply satisfying for many in the world of automation and machines. Use your small size to your advantage and engage in personalized conversation with your customers across various platforms.

  • Great content

Fortunately not everything is about size and big money. Quality content is about getting into your audience’s mind and answering relevant questions consistently. Create more visual content in infographics and videos.

Keep up to date with the latest trends and deliver what the readers want. It may take some time to beat the competition but it is better to start sooner than later. You don’t want to be in the same search engine ranking three years down the line.

  • Long tailed keywords

This goes with the strategy to go niche. Long tail keywords consist of keyword phrases that are much more specific than common keyword. For example- ‘Beach facing property in north Goa’ versus ‘Property in Goa’.

It is essentially a trade-off between volume and relevance. Long tail keywords will have lesser search hits but will be specific to what you are selling and mostly untouched by the big players.

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Webmaster Tools to find the right balance between volume and specialization.

  • Develop an online personality

Just like humans, good websites and blogs also have a unique personality. What is your tone and mood? Maybe you want to come across as funny or authoritative? Witty or buoyant? Decide your personality and make it different from what your competitors have. As a start up you have more room to play around with and find your voice. So go ahead. Be different!

  • Build a Reputation

Building a strong reputation and credibility will earn you a lot of backlinks and trust. Maybe you did a survey of your market that was never done before. You can also have industry experts as guest blogger on your page. Give data and information or any other content that is your forte.

  • Be a step ahead

There is no easy way out here. You have to be sharp when you are competing with the best. Be smarter and faster. Study more of what your customers want and continuously keep improving on how you deliver that content.

  • Take advantage of your size

Small is not always weak. Having small teams means less hierarchy which ultimately translates into faster action. It is a well known fact that close knit informal teams produce innovative ideas compared to a formal process driven teams. The startup culture has its own advantages and you must use these to fight in SEO war too!

  • Market Intelligence

Do you know your competitor’s digital strategy? Where are they getting their traffic from? In the world of internet all the competitor’s moves are open to you. You can check the keywords they are targeting and the source of their traffic and following. Involving a digital and content marketing agency will give you deeper insights and infuse fresh ideas as well.

Conclusion

You can build considerable brand recognition, lead prospects, reputation, and sales conversions through SEO campaigns. Many multinational companies do not give focus on SEO as they want faster results by spending billions of dollars in marketing and promotional campaigns. You can use this to your advantage by investing more time in developing SEO strategies that give you sure success in the long term.