“He knew everything about me before i even uttered a word! I wasn’t prepared for this and after realising that the interviewer has been following my social media posts and has made an opinion in his mind, my interview was screwed and i gave up soon!”

Welcome to Parul’s worst interview ever! An interview in a dream company which had made her pass countless sleepless nights and her roommate Shreya, supportive as her, consoled Parul.

However, what made a smart and enthusiastic Parul lose out on her dream job? What was on Parul’s mind before she entered the interview room? Why did she give up on the interview mid way? There seems no coherent or logical answer, except that the recruiter outwitted Parul with his level of preparation and his probing set of questions.

The process of recruitment has changed rapidly with the advent of Digital technologies and social media platforms. Your vacation updates give an idea to the recruiter of the kind of exposure you have received in your life, your political updates may make your potential recruiter to cringe in his seat, the kind of joke that you have cracked on social media might help the interviewer determine whether you are a team player or not?

All in all, while entering the interview room, you are not the only one who has researched beforehand, there is someone who has researched about you too!

Nowadays, passing around CV or resume is passe, and updating your publication, a recent accolade or a pro bono activity during the weekend plays a vital role. It is judged by your loved ones, relatives, friends and your potential recruiters.

One special case that comes to my mind is that of a digital marketer who wanted to enter the Marketing consultancy field  in a big way but was adviced against the move by one of the veterans for lack of experience. However, the Digital Marketer kept up his morale and kept uploading relevant updates, tips and tricks on the sector and he would maintain his blogs. Finally he received a call from the same veteran that he was being offered the profile of Consultant in the esteemed firm. Happy end to the story! However, what remains to be seen is how the industry veteran was convinced of the candidature and what role did those many social media updates play in the recruitment decision!

Check out our earlier blog on the Meme culture: https://socialbuzz.org.in/2019/09/09/memelicious/

Human Resource is a critical skill set that every Entrepreneur is assumed to have. However, we see many startups fall apart due to lack of team skills or team bonding or belongingness to the organization.

Dr GG Saxena, IAS retired and currently Sr Vice President, TSCPL asks Mr Ambuj Saxena, co-founder, Social Buzz, some pertinent questions on current recruitment trends. During the candid discussion, there are pertinent points of discussion that revolve around the current recruitment trends and tapping digital marketing channels for building a positive candidate profile that speaks out before the candidate utters the first word. Tune into an insightful discussion on Social Buzz podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/536419/episodes/2765812

Delhi goes to vote! In the aftermath of various political events like Abrogation of Article 370, Triple Talaq act and more recently, the Citizenship Amendment Act and the pan India protests starting from Delhi, this time the state elections have assumed a larger than life significance!

Obvious as it may seem, Social media is affected too! Let’s analyse how the on ground event like Delhi Elections 2020 affects the social media universe.

Watch the vlog by Social Buzz team here:

https://youtu.be/Ey0vfzFCGR8

Or listen to the podcast hosted on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/536419/episodes/2721904

At Social Buzz, we hope you fulfilled your responsibility of voting on 8th Feb 2020 and today on the election results day, we hope may the best party win!

Native advertisements has been around for quite some time. In a relatively short span of time, Native Advertisement has become the focal point for brands who wish to be seen in front of a targeted audience

CAA and NRC have brought to light many glaring pitfalls of the state machinery like Police in handling the crisis. Had Delhi Police crisis management been more prompt and robust, would the revolution been smoother and less violent?

TikTok is disrupting the way brands market themselves in various geographies. Due to its penetration, TikTok is a necessary component of your marketing mix.

Tiktok is a fast growing Chinese app that has got India’s tier 2 and 3 cities hooked! Let’s understand the reasons of its unabated rise in the Marketing Go-To strategy!

In this jet age, Social Media is evolving at a very rapid rate with so many platforms present on the internet today. With 500 million people accessing the app daily, Instagram has made a distinguished name in the industry in spite of arriving a bit late than the major players like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. The photo-sharing app is a visual delight for its users who never get tired of scrolling down and double-tapping on Instagram’s posts. It has been observed that 64 % of the overall Instagram users are 18-29 years old, thereby making it a fruitful platform to target youth. Instagram is a platform that is equally fascinating for users, influencers, and businesses.

It’s imperative to note that 8 out of every 10 accounts on Instagram follow a business account and 1 out of every 3 stories are related to some businesses. So, ultimately Instagram is turning out to be a good platform for businesses to market their products and services.

As the popularity and user base of Instagram are increasing exponentially, the photo-sharing platform is not just limited to the marketing purpose of businesses. Instagram is smartly moving the goal post further and taking a lofty dive into the direct product selling segment as well. 

“We have been promoting our jewellery on Facebook and Instagram since the last few years. During this time we have learnt a few things. Instagram has been a better medium for us for the age group of 18-35, Whereas Facebook has been fantastic for us for women between 35-65. It’s not more sales over these platforms but updating our current clientele about our latest collection. When it comes to sales we have sold jewellery to our existing clientele more then to new clients.”    
– Sorabh Jain (CEO, Sam Jewellers)

Social Buzz has come up with facts of why Instagram shopping is different and more compelling from other platforms.

Instagram Shopping through Posts

Instagram has an appealing feature of product tag through which users can know the prize of the product just by tapping on the product displayed in the post. Apart from the product tag, following are the factors which influence the activity of the users following the business account on Instagram.

• Showcasing the product as a part of the lifestyle:One of the most impressive features of Instagram shopping is that the businesses are able to showcase their products directly as part of the user’s lifestyle. This creates vivid imagery in the user’s minds using the product and thereby helping them to initiate the purchase. The user just has to tap the product displayed in the image to know the price of the product in the image itself. This Instagram’s product tag makes it really effortless for the user to shop on Instagram
• Creating user-generated content: Whether it’s a memorable dining experience or visit to any awful tourist place, people love to share their experience on Instagram to charm their followers. Businesses can make gainful use of this fact as the users might be enjoying their products and at the same time posting about the same on Instagram. Inculcating these posts along with the product-centric posts will boost the business’s Instagram handle qualitatively and quantitatively.

“Facts Tell, Stories Sell”

Instagram shopping through stories

There is an impressive growth in the popularity of Instagram stories with more than 400 Million accounts using these stories all across the globe. It’s a pretty fascinating fact for businesses that one-third of the most viewed stories are from business/brand accounts. It is interesting to note that users find Instagram stories more natural than posts displayed on Instagram feeds. This natural behaviour of stories on Instagram prompts more users to swipe up and engage directly with the brand’s website. 

The following are the ways by which businesses can make their stories more appealing to the users.

• Videos : Videos are an effective way to educate and entertain your customers to get fruitful results in selling. It is observed that 64 % of social media users are more likely to purchase the product after watching a video. Moreover, 15-25% of story viewers swipe up to follow a link and engage directly with a brand’s website. Videos help in entertaining as well as educating the audience about the product and creating a positive impact on the overall sale of the product.

• Stickers: Usually, Instagram stories were used to direct traffic towards the website by prompting the followers to swipe up after watching them. Direct selling through stories was somehow limited until the launch of Product stickers in stories. By clicking on these product stickers in the story, users can discover more about the product and after tapping again, the users will be taken directly to the product page for purchase. The product stickers feature in Instagram stories shortens the gap between the user and the product.

Due to the increasing popularity of this photo-sharing app, more and more businesses are trying their hands on Instagram shopping. It is not only gaining attention of the established brand, but it is also persuading new businesses to enter this huge sea of online shopping

About the Author
Working as a Digital Marketing Executive at Social Buzz, Abdullah Khalid is a certified competent communicator and an award-winning humorous speaker. Due to his incessant love for Public Speaking, Abdullah Khalid is also recognized as a young Motivational Speaker and a Public Speaking Trainer.

Transformation of meme culture from a source of entertainment to an effective marketing strategy.

Facebook has updated a new paid subscription program that gives admins the ability to create and manage separate, subscriber-only groups and charge members a monthly fee for accessing the exclusive content. Only the members will be able to sign up and manage subscriptions through the Facebook app for iOS and Android.