The power of Social Word of Mouth - Part 1

The highest used website in Bangladesh is, take a guess. It's Facebook. It's nothing hard to believe since well, since we are living in this "Facebook Generation". Don't worry I just made that word up!

What amazed me was NOT the way the demand for Facebook ads are going up. Rather it is the way certain restricted Facebook groups and pages are becoming increasingly reliable in terms of Social word of mouth. 

In general marketing you come across this term very often, Word of Mouth. A simple yet viciously powerful tool. However now a days we are not just relying on word of mouth of friends, family or the shop keeper of the shop next door. It's amazing how much within the last year there has been an addition into this strictly private reliable influences in our world. 

Behold. The power of Facebook and it's word of mouth. Below I will elaborate on a few groups that most of us residing in the major parts of the country must have come across. What makes these groups and community within these groups are the restrictions. It's not open for entry for all, rather these are closed and tightly or moderately controlled. Let's not jump to controversies but focus on the marketing bit.

Group 1: 

Desperately Seeking Dhaka ( DSD) : Inspired by many other groups that exist for different part of the world this group came into the spotlight for some time now. the growing number of members and the response to queries ( mostly related to Dhaka) has made this group in Aladdin's Lamp for many of us. People does get their problems resolved through this group, whether it's asking for a recommendation doctor or a travel agent to getting rid of stock. These are also huge portals to leave good as well as recommendation. 

Group 2:

FoodBank: There are 2 businesses that are budding faster than mushrooms in a rainy day. One, restaurants or cafes and two, boutique houses. This group is the key group that can make your restaurant end up selling out in a day with positive comments while doing exactly the opposite and getting you Bankrupt. While a lot of owners does try to promote themselves by giving positives recommendation but the best effect takes place when there are multiple reviews of a particular place. Places like Tabaq and Fish and CO. owes a lot to this group for their sales figure. Used wisely this group can actually be a arsenal to lower marketing cost of your new start-up. 

Group 3: 

STaY ALiVE..(Only for Girls): Well I bet you boys never heard of this or if you have had heard of it then you probably did from well a female of your knowing. Anyway. this group is very restricted. Although almost everything related to girls and their lives are discussed and shared the power of reviews and recommendations are amazing. Negative recommendations can acctually lead to a wild fire reaction leading to boycotting and what not. If you are looking forward to marketing a product close to a female's heart this is THE place. Specially when a review comes from one or both of the admins the aftermaths are pretty much expected. 

I admit. These groups are small and probably doesn't make much sense if you are a mass producing something and selling all over the country. But do understand that the growing youth of the country is pretty much hooked onto social medias and the numbers are rising as we speak ( or write ). If information is power, These just might have enough potential to be power hubs in the coming days. 

Free WiFi : adding value or taking value?

So this is one of the shops that I regularly travel past. What caught my attention was not only the SALE promotions but the second picture.

See this picture? this is taken from just beside the shop an as you can see there are a handful of people standing there doing something very attentively. Nope, they are not eagerly waiting for getting inside the shop or staring at a monkey ( that's what i presumed ) but they are using the free WiFi being given off from the shop.

NOTE:

Don't offer free WiFi in shops where the customers are not going to check-in or spend at least an hour waiting for the order to arrive. While it does work for restaurants ( even then they end up shuffling the WiFi passwords to stop pirates ) it probably will not work for a shop selling shoes and are on sale. 

Sorry to be a bit harsh, but this is just a waste of money. It would be better if this money was spent in some other way that would add value to the customers.

Ice Bucket hits Bangladesh!!

If you are anywhere near Facebook then you are bound to come across a viral video called the Ice bucket challenge. This initiative was taken by an ALS diagnosed American to raise awareness about this little known deadly disease.

So those of you who don't know, let me explain!

1. you get nominated by someone who has taken the challenge

2. You take the challenge - pour a bucket of ice water in your head (this mimics the feeling that ALS patients get due to the disease) and/or Donate to the cause

3. Nominate someone to take up the challenge

So love it or hate it, this thing is something you can't just ignore!

Although there is much chaos and arguments about taking this challenge and what not, I believe the initiative had served it's purpose well, i.e. raise awareness. I mean just a month back no one had a clue what ALS was. that's the beauty of viral videos in the seemingly shrinking world of internet! If you don't believe me go check your newsfeed flooding with tons of Bangladeshi taking on the challenge and even popular figures like Shakib Al Hasan, Sajib Wazed Joy and Ananta Jalil have all been nominated!

P.S. small insight: It seems 90% of Bangladeshi households consists of a red bucket. :p

"Fresh" is Beautiful!

I would like to start by saying, thank you! Thank you for coming up with this campaign, this idea and being brave enough to go against the tide and present a FRESH and much needed look into the age old concept about being fair.Being a girl in this part of the world, I am more than aware about the situation and these scenes are something any Asian girl can relate to.

I know this single ad will not be able to change our perspective on the complexion for girls in our country but it's worth a try. Who knows!

Let's hope this is not the end of this great initiative rather let this be a start. I would be more than delighted to find Meril splash coming up with a strong and headstrong campaign and it would be fun to watch a Local Brand do something like this. I mean Dove did do transform into one of the most talked about brand in the beauty industry. Would it be worth a shot for Meril? Hope so!

Mother's Day Campaign 2014

I have been waiting for this one for some time now and it's here now.  Yes, it's mothers day tomorrow. I have been eyeing the promotions up till now and it was pretty much about wining a dinner, discount offers.mobile marketing, get likes, votes etc and what not. It seemed all too mainstream to me and up until now I was thinking there was no "out of the box" promotion. Until I bumped into this beauty:

This was amazing and very heart touching. An emotional campaign launched by Magnito Digital to promote the brands of food outlets for the upcoming mothers day. I loved it. It was genuine and ingenious. Hats off guys!

The World Is Ours (The World's Remix) by Coca-Cola

Yes. It's Coca Cola again! I loved what they did with their campaign for FIFA world cup 2014. I loved it. Loved the song being sung in the same rythm in various languages, loved the energy and loved how it brought the whole world together. What's more I loved the fact Bangladesh was also represented here. I think I feel happy already. :D
#worldcup #7billionstars #openhappiness

 Run like you're born to fly. Live like you'll never die. Dare what you dare to dream. And everything in between.

Breaking the Taboo: The Senora Way!

I found this campaign pretty daring and highly needed specially here where such topics and issues are seen as taboos. Good job Senora.

The fact that they took a three way approach to address the issue from three catagory was interesting specially from the ponit of view of the Mom, the Dad and the Teacher.