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Made it to Rajasthan Patrika 40 Under 40

Trends

🙌 I feel honoured and humbled to be recognized for my work in ‘Marketing & Advertising’ in Rajasthan’s Power List 2.0 by Rajasthan Patrika. It is my privilege to be included in this exclusive group with so many achievers & changemakers from different walks of life.

🙏 Thank you Rajasthan Patrika & esteemed Jury for considering me worthy of this. It is a great feeling to be recognized by the newspaper that I grew up reading. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my parents, wife, family members, friends & everyone at 4AM Digital.

🚀 This recognition makes me feel more responsible towards my work, team members and clients and I hope that my entrepreneurial spirit and determination would inspire many. I am looking forward to a lifetime of learning, growth and contribution to the society!

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Updated on 17th June 2022

My interview with Rajasthan Patrika as part of their initiative got published in today’s regional and national edition. Thank you #RajasthanPatrika for recognizing my work in ‘Marketing & Advertising’ in ‘ ..

What goes behind the Instagram Reels ranking algorithm?

Instagram Trends

🔍 Are you looking to tap into #InstagramReels as a new growth opportunity, but you’re not sure exactly how it works, and what exactly you should be posting to maximize engagement?

📊 Here’s how Instagram determines which Reels to show.

 

 

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Before we jump into the algorithm, let’s first understand how Instagram determines which Reels each user is likely to be interested in?

Instagram determines the Reel likeability based on 3 key factors:

  1. Watch % of each Reel
  2. Engagement on Reel – Likes and comments on a Reel
  3. Click on audio page to create own Reel

4 most important signals that boost Reels reach are:

  1. User Activity: Reels user has liked, commented and engaged with recently
  2. User’s History of Interaction with the person who posted the Reel
  3. Reel Information: Audio Track, Video understanding based on pixels and whole frames using AI
  4. Information about the person who posted and how others interacted with them

If you found this information useful, please share 👇

What is Instagram Reels & how to use it?

Instagram New Updates in Digital Trends

📢Instagram has announced that it is testing its newest short form video-sharing feature, Reels, in India. The feature will start rolling out for users in India starting 7:30pm IST today.
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This new development comes nearly a week after the Indian government imposed a ban on TikTok & 55 other chinese apps in India. India is the fourth country after Brazil, France and Germany, where Reels is currently being tested.
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Here’s your complete guide to Instagram Reels.

 

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How to create #InstagramReels?👇
– Open the camera option in the Instagram app
– Click on Reels from the bottom of the screen
– Choose from several easy-to-use tools to record and edit a 15-second video
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🎬What features are available in Instagram Reels?
– Record and edit a 15-second video
– Choose to use the in-app music tracks, or even use a custom audio
– Speed up or slow down parts of the video
– Align option to helps creators maintain their position in front of the camera
– An array of augmented reality effects

What is Twitter Fleets & how to use it?

New Updates in Digital Trends Twitter

Twitter has launched a Instagram/Facebook/Whatsapp’s ‘story’ like feature called Fleets where you can share a thought & it disappears in 24 hours. Here’s your ultimate step-by-step guide on how to use Twitter Fleets?

 

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– Fleets are for sharing fleeting thoughts and disappear in 24 hours.

– To post a Fleet, Go twitter -> go to your Home Timeline -> Tap on your avatar at the top left of the timeline (+ button next to your profile picture)

– Type/share your Fleeting thoughts. Fleets can also be photos or videos with text on top.

– Your followers can see your Fleets on top of their Home Timeline.

– There are no public Retweets, replies or likes on Fleets.

– If your DMs are open, anyone can DM a reply to your Fleet. If they are closed, then people you follow can reply. I believe this will force people to close their DM to stop spamming!

– You can also see the people who viewed your Fleet.

So are you going to try Fleets?

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Is it safe to use Instagram bots?

Instagram Trends

🚨In an attempt to be more productive & drive more engagement 📈to Instagram, a lot users are turning to Instagram bots🤖 or Instagram automation tools to help them grow their presence. But did you know any sort of automation on Instagram strictly violates the platform’s terms of use and using Instagram bots can get your account banned‼️

🚦What qualifies as the ‘normal’ activity as per Instagram? Check in this post.

 

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Is Facebook’s Free Basics the Jio 3.0?

Facebook Trends

On 22nd April 2020, Reliance Industries Limited , Jio Platforms Limited and Facebook Inc. announced the signing of binding agreements for an investment of ₹ 43,574 crore by Facebook into Jio Platforms at 9.99% equity stake on a fully diluted basis.

Facebook currently has over 700 million Indian users on three of it’s platforms – Facebook.com, Instagram & WhatsApp; while  Jio provides connectivity to 388 million-plus subscribers in India. That is why this strategic investment by Facebook in Jio is talked about as probably the largest strategic investment for a minority stake anywhere in the world. To understand this deal better & the impact of this deal in Indian telecom & digital space, let’s break it into 4 parts.

1. Free Basics – Facebook’s Failed Dream

This is not the first time Facebook has expressed it’s interest in India’s massive & rapidly growing digital market. Earlier on 10th Feb. 2015, Facebook had made it’s interest in India evident by launching internet.org in India in partnership with Reliance Mobile.

Through this launch, Facebook wanted to provide free access to basic online services in India to get millions of Indians online. This ‘Free Basics‘ campaign failed due to digital & telecom activists & public’s argument about the intricacies of the country’s telecoms policy & net neutrality drafted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). You can read more about the arguments & concerns about internet.org on Nikhil Pahwa (Founder & Editor, Medianama)’s post where he outlines his reservations about what Facebook was proposing.

2. Jio 1.0 – The Smart Gamble

While Free Basics & Net Neutrality was dominating the telecom debate, parallelly Jio was working on launching their 4G Mobile Data services in India. Jio soft launched on 27th December 2015 with a beta for its partners and employees, and became publicly available on 5th September 2016.

During the Reliance AGM 2016, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and MD, Reliance Industries, dedicated Jio to India & 120 crore Indians. He spoke at length about the Digital Revolution, Jio Network, Jio Applications & Launch Tariffs. The Jio services were officially rolled-out for all on 5th September 2016 – under the name of ‘Welcome Offer’ – free to use until December 31, 2016. Jio later extended the welcome offer till March 2017. This bold, smart & strategic move by Jio was the beginning of disruption in Indian telecom industry & the penetration of internet to grassroots.

After Jio’s freebies, incumbent operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and others approached TRAI in Oct. 2016 against free call service being offered by Jio, calling the tariff plan predatory, discriminatory and non-compliant to present rules. TRAI ruled in favour of Jio stating that tariff plans of the new player (Jio) are compliant to existing rules and not discriminatory. This resulted in other telecom operators offering discriminatory tariff to individual customers within the same class to retain those customers who were using MNP to port to Jio. After Jio’s complaint, TRAI barred discriminatory tariffs to same set of subscribers.

3. Jio 2.0 – Let’s make some money!

With freebies after freebies, in 2017 Jio started charging it’s users with plan starting at ₹ 309 (Offering 1 GB data per day with a validity of 84 days). This resulted in data war between all telecom operators & customers were benefiting the most of it. In 2018, Jio had around 280 Mn users & it was the only profitable telecom operator in India. In July 2018, Jio had announced plans to launch Jio Fiber, which was commercially rolled out on 5th September 2019. Mukesh Ambani in Reliance Industries’ August 2019 AGM launched – Jio Giga Fiber, Jio set top box, and First Day First show in a major digital push to make Jio India’s largest network.

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When more & more no. of users joined this digital revolution in India, telecom operators started increasing their tariffs. In Oct. 2019, Jio went back on its three-year-old promise to keep ‘Free Lifetime Voice Calls’ and started charging for outgoing calls made to rival networks – Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL – at 6 paise/minute.

In Dec. 2019, Jio increased its tariff by up to 40%.

In Feb 2020, the Big 3 telcos – Jio, Airtel & Vodafone, appeared to have buried their past differences & opposed Trai’s tariff plan transparency.

4. Jio 3.0 – Risk of Monopoly?

Jio’s acceptance of Facebook’s friend request is exciting, but there is a risk of a monopoly! There is a fear that Jio-3.0 could be FreeBasics-2.0.

This deal is going to unlock mutual interests of Facebook & Reliance with Facebook dominating the messenger platform (WhatsApp), Social Network (Facebook & Instagram) & Payment Space (WhatsApp) while Reliance dominating Telecom Space (Jio), Marketplace (Reliance Retail, Jio Mart, Ajio), Entertainment (JioCinema, Saavn, JioTV). This deal puts them in a much better & competitive position compared to their rivals like Amazon, Walmart (FlipKart), PayTm, Google Pay etc. Clearly it’s a WIN-WIN deal for both RIL & Facebook.

The big question is – is this deal going to be re-entry of FreeBasics in India & Jio going back to Jio 1.0 to offer free internet services & making money while charging users data pricing differentiation between those companies which are on board with Jio 3.0 & Facebook and those which are not?

Didn’t realise that it has become such a long post so ending it on a lighter note with my tweet from 2016.

Let me know what you think about this deal in comments below.

Top 5 predictions in Digital Marketing space due to COVID-19

Digital Marketing Trends

Coronavirus has affected all businesses; large, medium and small.

At our digital marketing agency (4AM Digital), we are analyzing how COVID-19 is changing people’s behaviour, digital trends & economic impacts. All this behavioural change is impacting how the brands & organizations are approaching their digital marketing strategy & marketing budgets.

If you are a digital marketer or a brand, here are the 5 Digital marketing trends to focus on during & post COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Personalized Marketing


The technology surrounding personalization, CX, and social CRMs will continue to develop and improve at a rapid pace. Companies need to become even more data-driven and tech-focused, deploying CRM/CX management platforms and unified martech stacks that can power the hyper-personalization today’s consumers require.

2. Social SEO & VEO (Voice Engine Optimization)


SEO and social media can no longer be regarded as entirely separate disciplines. While traditional SEO is built around keywords, the same principles are now being applied to Social Media Optimization (SMO) in the form of hashtags, keywords, and trending phrases.

The goal of Voice Engine Optimization ‘VEO’ is to optimize your content to be among the top results in a user’s query. However, unlike text-based SERPs, a voice search will only yield one answer—so the stakes are very high!

3. Social eCommerce


Social media isn’t anymore just an online forum to chat, browse, and share—it’s now a place to shop. Social platforms are striving to evolve into full-on marketplaces with native shoppable features. In the push toward social ecommerce, Instagram is leading the charge, but we also see Pinterest and Snapchat going in similar directions.

4. Augmented Reality (AR)


Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are often lumped together—but AR is superseding its VR counterpart. Augmented Reality (AR) is among the most futuristic trends in digital marketing. AR isn’t limited to games and entertainment—it drives purchase behavior. Today, roughly 50% of consumers would be more likely to shop at retailers that offer AR/VR experiences.

5. Real-Time Marketing


Live streaming, or the transmission of live video, has taken the world by storm. Consumers crave live content, so marketing is now happening in-the-moment. 80% would rather watch a brand’s live video than read a blog, making this trend imperative from a marketing standpoint.

Twitter Shares Key Video Stats And Best Practices to Maximize Engagement

Uncategorized

You might have heard this earlier, but video is the best performing content type across all social platforms – and Twitter is no exception.

There are over 2 billion video views on Twitter each day, which is 67% YoY growth according to Twitter internal data.

As per Twitter 👇

Tweets with video attracted 10x more engagements than Tweets without video.

Twitter has published its latest findings on video engagement within tweets and here’s the summary of data-driven best practices for Twitter video ads:

1. Keep it short & simple

Videos with length at or under 15 seconds create the highest branding impact.

 


2. Include product and people

    • Open your video with your product to increase positive interest by 24% and click intent by 34%.

    • Show the human connection. When videos show a positive human interaction or human desire for a product, there’s a 40% increase in overall response.

    • Bring the brand back. Displaying your brand for more than half of the video resulted in a 25% increase in aided brand recall and a 21% increase in message recall.

 

3. Use visual cues

    • Clearly position your logo.

  • Incorporate a sound-off strategy to capture on-the-go mobile viewers, and use captions to drive a 28% longer view time.

What’s New In Digital This Week? 13th-19th April 2020

New Updates in Digital

Let’s have a look at the latest updates in the field of social media & digital world in the week of 13th-19th April 2020.

  • Facebook is testing longer-lasting stories, with an option to keep stories active for 3 days.
  • Facebook adds new options to mute group members for longer periods of time.
  • Facebook launches new app for Apple watch to help stay in touch with close connections.
  • Instagram updates IGTV app and adds new IGTV preview option for stories. Instagram’s also adding a new hands-free recording mode to provide new capture options.
  • Instagram is Testing a New ‘Challenge’ Sticker to Prompt User Engagement.
  • Instagram’s working on an option to simulcast Instagram live streams to Facebook. Also, Instagram live streams can now be viewed on the web.
  • Instagram’s working on an option to simulcast Instagram live streams to Facebook. Also, Instagram live streams can now be viewed on the web.
  • YouTube tests ‘Video Chapters’ to skip through to relevant sections in a video.

 

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How to watch Instagram live streams on desktop and web

Instagram

Instagram has recently started rolling out few features for desktop/web version which were earlier exclusive to mobile app. Last week they had rolled out access to Direct Message (DM) via web version – www.instagram.com & now they are giving users the option to watch Instagram live streams on web.

If you are wondering how to watch Instagram live streams on desktop and web; it’s very easy.

There are two ways to watch the Instagram live streams on the web:
1. Login to instagram.com on your browser & then serach for the user; on user’s profile you would see live icon (if they are live), click on the icon & you would enter the live stream.

2. You can directly go to live streams if you enter URL in below format :
www.instagram.com/UserHandle/Live

This desktop access to live stream also unlocks an important element for all creators – a separate URL for their live broadcasts. That means that when they do go live, they can now cross-promote their stream on other platforms, with a direct link, as opposed to simply directing their fans to head over to Instagram to check out their stream.

It’ll be interesting to see how many users ends up using DM & live stream feature via desktop, and whether more creators consider Instagram streaming as a result of the added option.