Social Media Archives - MARKETING JOURNO

5 Marketing Lessons from Sarahah

By Dhileepan | August 20, 2017

With ‘Sarahah’ – a self-development tool that allows people to receive constructive feedback – being in news for various reasons, I decided to write this article to jot down my learning, pertaining to Marketing, from the journey of Sarahah. Let us have a look at my learning (which I claim as ‘Marketing Lessons’):

5. Manage the controversies around the product:

Despite Zainab letting people know the actual intentions behind the ‘Sarahah’ app, as far as my knowledge is concerned, the constructive utilization of the app has been very minimal. With respect to the same argument, the app has been in news for wrong reasons such as cyber bullying for quite some time. Also, rumours were rife that the makers of Sarahah were planning to expose the identities of the senders on August 1, 2017. But, the people behind Sarahah were prepared to manage the controversies circling the app.

In order to thwart cyber bullying, facility to block senders has been incorporated to the app. From Sarahah’s official Twitter account, it was clarified that the rumours regarding the plan to expose the senders’ identities are fake.

4. Leverage influencers:

In the fall of 2016, Zainab Alabdin Tawfiq had launched the website, Sarahah and shared it within his group of friends, expecting 1000 messages to be shared in the site. But, by the end of 2016, only a couple of hundred messages were shared. So, Zainab decided to share the application with his friend whom he considered to be a major influencer. After sharing Sarahah with his influencer friend, the reach of the website became manifold. Post the sharing, the application spread across other Arabian countries too.

Hence, it was the utilization of an influencer by Zainab that brought in a sea change in the Sarahah’s outreach.

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3. Optimize the product for mobile platforms:

Following Sarahah’s outreach in Arab countries, Zainab had decided to create a mobile app for Sarahah. By hiring a third-party company, Zainab had created the mobile app and launched the same in the App Store on June 13, 2017. For the first time, Sarahah was available in English when it went live in the App Store. With its availability in the App Store in English, Sarahah went on to garner the people’s attention from Western Countries as well. The app has been made available for download from Google’s Play Store as well.

Zainab’s efforts to optimize his product for mobile platforms, such as to create an app version of Sarahah; cater the app to the universal audience by making it available in English; choosing the channel, App Store to distribute the app, have paid dividends to him.

2. Make a ‘Simple to use’ product:

As far as the ‘Sarahah’ application is concerned, you get to see minimal features in it and the navigation within the app tends to be uncomplicated. In order to use an application of this sort, one doesn’t necessarily be a tech-savvy. Also, for a person to send a message to a Sarahah user, it is not necessary for the sender to get the app installed.

All the above mentioned factors pertaining to the ‘Sarahah’ application have made it to be a ‘Simple to use’ product.

1. Incorporate a feature to your product that resonates with its target audience:

Be it in the workplace or family or friends, there have always been barriers (due to various factors) that have been preventing people from speaking openly. Under such prevailing circumstances, think of people getting a platform to share their opinion to the person they wish to and yet not reveal their identity. Wouldn’t such people feel excited or relieved with an opportunity of this kind? This is the point where Sarahah has been striking a chord with the people. It is the app’s ‘anonymous messaging’ feature that has been resonating well with its target audience.

What are your Marketing Lessons from Sarahah? Let me know in the comments below!

Emoji Marketing: 5 Smart Examples from Famous Brands

By Dhileepan | July 30, 2017

Taking a look at the history of emojis, and its evolution over the years since its inception, makes me feel awe over the monumental growth of the digital language. I feel that the uncomplicated nature of the emojis has been the primary reason for them to attain the status on what they are today. As people have been using the emojis in their day-to-day digital communications, brands have been pushed to leverage the icons effectively in such a way that their efforts benefit their products. By having a look at the usage of standard emojis (Unlike the custom emojis of films like Wonder Woman, War for the Planet of the Apes or Transformers: The Last Knight) by various brands across the social media circle, I have picked 5.

Now, let us begin our count down.

5) IMDb

After the release of the ‘IT’ trailer, the fans of ‘IT’, and probably those of the horror movies, would be mentally inclined towards the ‘horror’ factor. To capitalize on this aspect and engage the audience, IMDb offered a chance, via a tweet/post from their official Twitter/Facebook account, to its audience to comment their favourite scary movie in emojis.

IMDb Twitter — **IMDb’s tweet to engage its audience**

IMDb Twitter replies — **Audience’s replies to IMDb’s tweet**

IMDb Facebook — **IMDb’s post to engage its audience**

IMDb Facebook comments — **Audience’s comments to IMDb’s post**

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4) Target

Via creative means, Target had wished for the World Emoji Day 2017 from their official social media accounts, by recalling one of its significant occasions. Utilizing standard emojis like ‘Hot beverage’, ‘Dress’, ‘Womans hat’, ‘Womans sandal’, ‘Chocolate bar’, ‘Strawberry’, ‘Handbag’, ‘Nail polish’, ‘Notebook with decorative cover’, ‘Smiling face with open mouth’ and ‘Chequered flag’, Target had made a representation which they titled as ‘Classic Target Run’.

Target Twitter — **Target’s ‘*Classic #TargetRun*‘ tweet**

Target Facebook — **Target’s ‘*Classic #TargetRun*‘ post**

3) 24AM STUDIOS

In addition to promoting its movies using conventional approaches, 24AM STUDIOS – the makers of Sivakarthikeyan’s 2016 Tamil romantic comedy, ‘Remo’ – has been engaging with its audience in the social media circle via innovative means. On the Seventeenth of the July, the production house had embraced the World Emoji Day by coming up with an engaging tweet that was intertwined with the aspects of Remo. In the tweet, the followers of the twitter account of 24AM STUDIOS, were provided with four standard emojis such as ‘Information desk person’, ‘Syringe’, ‘Dancer(medium light skin tone)’ and ‘Older man (light skin tone)’, which symbolically referred to four among the different makeovers of Sivakarthikeyan in ‘Remo’ and were offered a chance to comment their favourite emoji. This activity was done in Facebook as well.

24AM STUDIOS Twitter — **24AM STUDIOS’s tweet to engage with its audience**

24AM STUDIOS Twitter replies — **Audience’s replies to 24AM STUDIOS’s tweet**

24AM STUDIOS Facebook — **24AM STUDIOS’s post to engage with its audience**

24AM STUDIOS Facebook comments — **Audience’s replies to 24AM STUDIOS’s post**

2) Rotten Tomatoes

In the case of the Twitter account of ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, the standard ‘Tomato’ emoji is utilized after the hashtag, ‘#Tomatometer’ in most of the tweets that contain the movie’s Tomatometer score or rating.

Rotten Tomatoes Twitter — **Rotten Tomatoes’s tweet with the Tomatometer rating for the movie, ‘*Atomic Blonde*‘**

In the case of the Facebook page of ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, the standard ‘Tomato’ emoji is utilized at end of most of the posts that inform the movie’s ‘Certified Fresh’ status.

Rotten Tomatoes Facebook — **Rotten Tomatoes’s post announcing the ‘*Certified Fresh*‘ status for the movie, ‘*Dunkirk*‘**

1) IT

In the official teaser and trailer of the film, the clip of the movie released in the MTV Awards, the Fan Art Contest conducted by the makers and the other promotional activities of ‘IT’, the red balloon has gained a prominence. This prominence has extended to the social media accounts of ‘IT’ as well, where the name of the movie’s Twitter account possesses the ‘Balloon’ emoji that already exists in Twitter. Occasionally, the tweets/posts of the movie’s Twitter/Facebook account possess the ‘Balloon’ emoji. It appears as if the ‘Balloon’ emoji is tailor-made for the social media accounts of ‘IT’.

Standard ‘Balloon‘ emoji in the Twitter profile name of the movie, ‘IT’

IT Movie Tweet — **Tweet from ‘*IT Movie*‘ containing the Standard ‘*Balloon*‘ emoji**

IT Movie Tweet from Entertainment Weekly — **Tweet from ‘*Entertainment Weekly*‘ containing the Standard ‘*Balloon*‘ emoji**

IT Movie Facebook Post — **Post from ‘*IT Movie*‘ containing the Standard ‘*Balloon*‘ emoji**

What are your favourite emoji marketing picks? Share with me in the comments section!