In Sri Lanka, we are tired of hearing about influencing brands! But, what about social media brand influencers? Is any brand pop up in your mind, when you hear the word “social media”? Umm! that might be an influencing brand.

Certainly, social media was built as a platform for individuals to connect with people but nowadays it has become more impactful for brands also and plays a key role to influence a brand.

There are huge differences between influencing brands and social media influencing the brands. According to Sri Lanka, you unquestionably can detect those differences since the social media influencing brands are contrasted from the influencing brands. Yes! It would be strange if you have already known the leading brands of Sri Lanka.

Here! Figured out the top 20 social media influencing brands in Sri Lanka which you could encounter in your Facebook newsfeed.

1. McDonald’s.

Are you a food lover? If yes, there is no chance to be without knowing this!

It’s absolutely crazy that Sri Lanka has 6 million social media active users but above 78 million are following McDonald’s. Ehh?? The cause might be foodies are throughout the world. They understand the quality over quantity in terms of post length and it is grabbing excellent engagement!

Attractions:
1. The colour code of the brand and the way of utilizing it in designing, impulse people to likely follow and associate with them.
2. They are eager to hear their customers’ feedback as they respond promptly.
3. They know and provide what people actually expect.

Impression:
1. Could apply a bit more diversity in types of content posted.
2. Better to fix the recent reviews as it seems quite bad.
3. As videos have got more engagement, focusing on video may get more engagements.

Go through the page and feel the taste!

2. KFC Sri Lanka.

If you are a follower of the above one, this is not dissimilar for you. An international brand with new dishes for local plates in Sri Lanka. The larger the better! Over the last seven days, 5K plus people have conversed about it. They perform well into making a freakish visual impression on users. Completely! KFC Sri Lanka doing all right, but there is a flavour to add.

Attractions:
1. The blend of various content types of posts on this page is fabulous!
2. For engagement, the range of post matters! Here the average length of the post is 127 characters that might be a cause to lead the engagement.
3. Page’s activity level seems pretty good!

 

Impression:
1. The first impression is the best impression! Could record fundamental information like location, mail id.
2. Make users post content would be fine as it looks obstructs for user engagement.
3. If they fix above one, the responsiveness of the page also would increase.

Discover new recipes in your newsfeed with KFC Sri Lanka!

3. NESCAFÉ.

It all starts with a NESCAFE! Can a brand rollout in almost 11+ minds within seven days? Definitely! Moreover, Nescafe proved that the larger the better. Each aroma of the page is adorable with 37+ million coffee lovers.

Attractions:
1. All the metrics actually are higher.
2. Best responsive time generates more engagements.
3. They use the content as a voice to interact with people and several contents spot a place in people’s mind.

 

 

Impression:
1. There is a sweep to boost how often they post content.
2. 10% are videos meantime photos are 90%. However, they are receiving higher engagements through videos so giving a centre place for the video would be super cool.

Let Nescafe contents pop up in your profile!

 

4. JOHNSON’S baby.

Can anything make a better childhood period like JOHNSON’S baby? The icon of childhood! It’s followed by a huge number of baby-lovers though less amount of characters only uttering about it! What may the cause?

Attractions:
1. The classic profile and cover photo drag people to fall in love with the theme.
2. They respect the time of whom interact with!

Impression:
1. Suggesting to boost the activities to enhance the impressions.
2. Post length is generally not great.
3. May use a lot more distinction in types of contents.

Don’t forget to follow this amazing page!

5. MINI.

Have you heard this brand name? However, kenned by 11 million frames! The title may be “MINI” but the audience community is “Huge”. The metrics of this page is unpredictable as it has more participants around the globe! Overall dimensions of the page look pretty cool!

Attractions:
1. The classy concepts direct to more engagements.
2. Facebook Events are handled on the page successfully!
3. Milestone strongly expresses the quality of the brand.

 

Impression:
1. As they have an enormous following, could develop the activity.
2. Perhaps, they may add more details in about portion. (Products, Background, Features)
3. Recommended going for Facebook ads which can drive more traffic.

Heed and get inspired!

 

6. Daraz Online Shopping.

Do you like online shopping? Apparently, no one can be. You also would have witnessed Daraz Online Shopping at least once in your timeline since it is recognized by over 11 million followers. And, it’s wondrous that this brand was expressed by 12000+ people within the last 7 days.

Attractions:
1. First of all, the theme of the page and Facebook ads urge people to likely follow.
2. The front page showcases that their connected activities.
3. Contents of brand products carry out their quality to viewers.

Impression:
1. When people view a colour, they could visualize a mental picture of your brand so, Sticking with one colour would be perfect!
2. Better to let people interact with you as more are eager to catch about them.
3. Boosting the image content like videos would tend more actions.

Hit the like button and fulfil your needs in one spot!

7. The Body Shop.

Feeling worried about chemical cosmetics? which means you haven’t gone through The Body Shop yet. It stands out among 8 million people. Even though, few numbers people only experience its amazing highlights through social media. Everything runs smoothly, yet there are ways to boost!

Attractions:
1. Posts are unique and authentic that reveals the reality of products.
2. They don’t hesitate to hear and interact with consumers.
3. The option in the offers sector is great!

Impression:

1. As a big brand, they may try advertising on social media.
2. Might have taken the power of Facebook Events.
3. Post length is generally not great.

Just breathe out and take time to feel chill!

 

8. TGI Fridays Sri Lanka.

Hooray! Again caught the preferred one. Is this page familiar to you? you may not, but beyond 6 million of you seize its updates and 1k + are weekly associates with them on social media. Are you willing to relish the essence of the page? Just follow them and get delicious dishes on your Facebook wall.

Attractions:
1. Like a visual treat, their posts instinct to feel the flavour of food.
2. Appropriating the event pages is superb!
3. Average post length draws more viewers.
4. The final flourish is the quantity of content and information that users looking for!

Impression:
1. Could use more diversity of content posted.
2. Appears like not a very active page presently.
3. It would be fine to use ads to reach more people.

Check out & place your order today!

 

9. Sri Lanka Cricket.

There may be people who do not know to play cricket but there is no one who can be without loving cricket. Do you get the updates of our national cricket team? yuh-uh! it is being attracted the attention of more than 2 million cricket lovers with evident contents. This page is like a playground where all the global fans gather!

Attractions:
1) Facebook Events are being performed successfully!
2) The combination of contents causes excellent engagement.

 

Impression:
1) They may let people connect with them.
2) Engagement level sounds good though there are ranges to fill the better position.

Make a knockout and notice the notification!

 

10. Dialog Axiata.

The apt example is here for social media influencing brand, Dialog Axiata owns a grand influence in social media through 100% activity level. Imagine! how much it would impact on people whereas 78k+ were talked about it. Is there anyone who doesn’t inspect at least one content of Dialog Axiata? probably NO ONE.

Attractions:
1. On this page, a texture of contents and engagements joins mutually like 2 puzzles.
2. Users love their flexible responsive time management.
3. Overall the page seems too good!

Impression:
1. Looks few captions of contents are written in the native language. So there is scope to raise the actions like using an international common language.
2. Swelling the about segment would be fine! (Phone number missing, Email missing, Milestones not enough )

Without scrolling, kick into the page for entertainments!

 

11. Dilmah Tea.

Has this fragrance ever come in your wall? Hmm! It blossoms between 2 million tea addicts not only in one social media channel but also others too, since they do social service as well. Their events gain high gigs to the page. The tea room doing quite well yet can add more sweets!

Attractions:
1. Page wholly covers by classy contents.
2. Through captions and pictures, they carry the exact concern of what people expect!
3. Obviously, the crux of the biscuit is feedback!

 

Impression:
1. It would be perfect if they figure reviews option which encourages people to connect with them.

Direct Dilmah Tea to display in your home!

 

12. Mobitel.

We all hear about Mobitel but how many of us are the follower of it? Hmm! This may be addressed by fewer people than less than previous ones but the page’s PTAT is greater than them. What else a brand need? They connect with people through more events. Additionally, the brand colour is liked by all.

Attractions:
1. Candidly contents catch characters!
2. They often attach with the users in real-time along with the live video.
3. Activities look frequent which draws more audience.

 

Impression:
1. As a social media, more remarkable to raise an International voice which helps to reach more audience as it has a determined set of the audience only.

Say hello to Mobitel!

 

13. Newsfirst.lk

Like “A good face needs no paints”, a well-known brand no need influence to shine. There is no one who does not know Newsfirst which is Sri Lanka’s number one mainstream news brand. This page’s metrics are variable since all need its service. And the crowning accomplishment is admitted by over 1 million heads. The native brand with the native broadcast!

Attractions:
1. The genuine contents are really a sense of witnessing the incident.
2. Fantastic rebuttal levels!

Impression:
1. Humbly, suggest maintaining the quality of content.
2. Might have used the event page well.

Check out the latest news!

 

14. I Love You.

Erm! Is it really strange to you? However, 200k has a conversation regarding this. I love you is the destination where you can pick up a variety of advertisements. It is entirely covered by entertainment kinds of stuff. Doing wonderful, even there are paths to go.

Attractions:
1. Page’s engagement level is high!
2. The merge contents and it’s being like what the followers expect is directing for more walls.

Impression:

1. It would be glorious if they update the quality content.
2. Recommend to answer for the user posts in a timely manner and focus on response time as the users are willing to socialize.
3. Beneficial to keep a valid username that relevant to the page name.
4. Final and important one is if they consider the language, might reach more hearts.

Tailgate the page to track information!

 

15. ikman.lk

Hopefully, at least once you would have come across this way. It is spotted by 800k and rolling out in 22k minds. This page stands out for the website where people can buy and sell products. Seemingly, the engagement level is high!

Attractions:
1. The way of applying the brand colour exposes the content quality,
2. The timing of posting content and the combination of content types are pretty cool!
4. This page is connected with 100+ pages that stimulate cross domain interest and increases whole engagement.

Impression:
1. Could have reviews option since people like to share their feedback.
2. It would be good to develop the number of posts per day.
3. Recommend catching attention with a wonderful cover photo visual.

Wrap the page for wondrous features!

 

16. ODEL.

According to ODEl, whether we do shopping or not but we all follow it to peek at the classy and unique images. Isn’t it? It catches almost 8 million eyes and 17k are talking about this. The page influences, changing the lifestyle of a personality. Hasn’t it ever spurred you to purchase at least one?

Attractions:
1. The mix of multiple content models on this page is marvellous!
2. Quality is the pillar of entire engagements.
3. They join with people through events.
4. Habitually, the page’s activity illustrates

Impression:
1. Reviews option is missing like a puzzle missing from the picture.

Follow ODEL and live the fantasy!

 

17. Seylan Bank.

Why people follow a bank’s page? Does it really have anything serviceable? Hmm! A page can give valuable information with interesting contents means WHY NOT? This page views like a festival and 600k are celebrated! It utterly stuffs innovation, creativity, and fantasy what strongly drags a crowd.

Attractions:
1. Communication! This page is mostly answered for the user comments.
2. The content mingled method is best!
3. The tab “Seylfie Hall Of Fame” reveals how they appreciate their fans.
4. And the label “Branch/ ATM Locator” is quite strange from similar pages, Moreover, it proves their value.

Impression:
1. It would be perfect if optimized the reviews as it views somewhat dejected.

Beat the like button and have a visual treat every day!

 

18. SriLankan Airlines.

No need influence to this brand like “a sun not be dispelled by a hand” nothing can disappear this brands fame. Still, it is admired by 500k and the PTAT (Page Talking About This) rate also being high. The timeline is super clean with proper captions that mainly niche for the target audience, it brings people to relish this page. Haven’t you ever wondered like whoa! does this brand truly from Sri Lanka?

Attractions:
1. Contents feature and the post length grab everybody souls.
2. Their efforts to catch people hearts is excellent!
3. Both contents get huge actions since they present what people expect!

Impression:
1. Could have review option as it has global fans.
2. May improve the timing of posting contents.

Once fly into the page to bring comely clouds to your timeline!

 

19. Kelly Felder.

Ladies! have you already know this brand? if no, just take this chance to understand! It has been credited by over 500K heads and almost 40k are weekly chatted about this page. The rich and fashionable contents make people like experiencing in real-time, it turns more eyes to the spot. In social media, they are doing quite well, not bad at all.

Attractions:
1. They communicate with customers without sitting back and see what talk!
2. Tone and fuse of contents are mythical.
3. Username is enough comfortable to commit in memory.

 

Impression:
1. Could use the event pages more efficiently.
2. Comparatively, features appear slighter poor so it would great to consider that.

Let Kelly Felder sink into your sea!

 

20. DIMO Lanka.

We all heard this name somewhere! Since it is built above 500k people’s trust and importantly influenced people in social media through contents which exposes the culture, and that reaches higher than other content types. Rather than reviews they can give the personal feedback also via feedback option, it seems unlike with its similar pages. This one and events are making a real personal connection with the audience. What else a brand need than the love of customers?

Attractions:
1. Posting new content at a solid pace.
2. Doing an incredible job drafting in their sense statement and presenting the information.
3. They are being active with no barrier.
4. Fantastic response levels!

 

Impression:
1. Could advance the length of posts would create a much engagement.
2. Better to add a bit more variation in the types of content posted.

Tap the like and start living with DIMO Lanka!

Booh! It’s time to conclude, hope you have got to know some hacks which can implement to meet the huge crowd and how to retain them through social media.

As I mentioned before it might be strange if you have already known the leading brand. This means nothing can be perfect in all places; if a thing is good at one, another one would be at another one. Above! it all about the brands which are good at social media.

Need to influence your social media but have no idea? Use the above hints which these brands appropriate to stand out in between the bulk of brands.

Making Future Forecasts With Present Statistics Of Sri Lanka

A tiny island country located in the middle of the mighty Indian Ocean, situated just below the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka has diverted the attention of the world towards itself, quite a few times in the past. The reasons may have been myriad – ranging from politics to ethical issues and the most delicate infrastructural, economic and social welfare growth to endemic natural resources. Let’s put all these facts aside for the moment and keep all our focus on the ongoing development of Sri Lanka in terms of Social, Infrastructural and Educational Interfaces.

It is always better to start with statistics, isn’t it? So this is what I accumulated…

In 2014, Sri Lanka claims to have the highest literacy rate of 98.1% as compared to other developing nations which is extremely high. Take a look at the image given below which shows the country’s triumphant position in terms of the literacy rate as compared to its counterparts and other developing nations.

Source: UN Human Development Report 2011

Sri Lanka boasts of a total population of 21 million. From these 21 million people only 20% have access to the internet and are using relative gadgets and utilities without interruption. Scrutinizing the Internet penetration rate of Sri Lanka, I deduct that it is well ahead of its counterparts in South Asia like India, Pakistan, The Maldives, Nepal, and Bangladesh etc. Bearing only a 0.81% of annual population growth, the country maintains an internet penetration growth rate of 9% annually (which is massive). However, this is not to be taken as a booster, but as a motivation to match the current internet penetration rate of Asian tigers like Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Source: Internet Users by Country (2014) (Adapted)

So much for the statistics, now let’s keep it aside for a moment. We deducted so far that around 20% of Sri Lanka has access to The internet – So what is this 20% up to? I try to unveil the trends, facts, and related marketing implications one by one – check it out.

Mobile Traffic

When I mentioned ‘revealing the facts,’ I wasn’t only referring to facts like Search engines, Browsers, Social Media Platforms and eCommerce etc. In Sri Lanka, electronic devices play a vital role when trying to figure the facts related to the digital reach of the country.

As per StatCounter (one of the largest web analytics services provider), Sri Lanka has surpassed the percentage of online access via desktop (43%) by a massive (57%) from mobile devices such as Smartphones, tablets, phablets etc. In other words, almost 2.5 million users access the internet by using mobiles in Sri Lanka. Back in July 2012, only 16% of Sri Lankans used mobile devices and 84% of them accessed the internet via desktops. Interestingly in the global context, desktops are still the major web traffic source with a whopping 65%.

Can this be taken as an indication that Sri Lankan businesses have to think differently? Consumers are looking for more convenience by using smartphones. When the internet is simply accessible from the pockets of the consumers, what are Marketers supposed to do?

Becoming Social

In contrast to what our grandparents know as being sociable, our generation is giving a new definition to being social. We are socializing with people even remotely while in front of our computers or mobiles. This may be a blessing or a curse, that’s up to each and every Sri Lankan to decide.

With approximate 2,300,000 users (not considering the fake profiles), which is about 11.5% of Sri Lanka’s total population, Facebook is outperforming any other Social Media platform in Sri Lanka.  Interestingly as reported by Read Me, an IT online portal in Sri Lanka, there is 1,400,000 male users and 720,000 female users. From this 33% are within the age group of 25-34 years.

Though these latest trends in the Digital arena are becoming more and more ambivalent, let us consider them as opportunities and not complicate matters any further!So what are the marketing implications of these changing trends and growths in Sri Lanka?

Marketing Job Roles in Sri Lanka

The mammoth growth of the internet population of Sri Lanka does not mean you have to quit all your offline marketing efforts and focus only on online channels. Instead, the scenario is becoming complicated and the role of the Marketing personnel is now exigent. In the near future, it is expected that there will be no distinguishing between the roles of marketing staff as Traditional Marketer and Digital Marketer. Alternatively he / she should be able to merge both the channels, online and offline at the right ratio. A particular brand should be visible not only in smart phones, tabs, and desktops, but also equally it should be seen by the consumers in the newspapers, posters, direct mail, and such means. But the important thing that should be kept in mind is the marketing communication message that is to be seen by the potential consumers should be the same in both the channels, but appropriately adapted to the nature of the channel / device it is being communicated through.

Reaching the online population which is 20% at this moment is not enough for a business. It is important to reach the rest of the 80% who will also soon be a part of the ever growing Sri Lankan internet population.

The Websites and Marketing Campaigns

The thinking pattern of having two websites, one for desktop and one for mobiles is no longer even a valid thought. One unique website that the businesses are going to have should be mobile friendly. In the sense, it should not be responsive only for certain dimensions of smartphones. It should be a responsive website for tabs too.

As a consequent of the ever rising mobile users in Sri Lanka, redesigning your website itself or creating a Facebook fan page will not bring business. There are certain strategic movements that should be taken at a rapid pace just like how the internet is rising and mobile devices are influencing the users / consumers.

Similar to your offline marketing strategies like penetrating the market with a lower price, augmenting the product with value additions, distributing not only via own branded store but also through other retail outlets, promoting and positioning only one or two USPs despite all the features of the product, and much more, you have to decide on your strategy to enter the dynamic digital marketing fraternity too.

In most cases, it can be seen that brands with no proper strategic online marketing plans and contingency plans start ad-hoc online marketing campaigns and suffer from tarnished brand reputations.

You have to decide whether you are going to use online marketing as a mean of brand awareness only or as an additional income generating source or the sole selling platform. Depending on your objective your plans should vary adopting relevant online media channels.

Online marketing is not a “me-too product” where you simply copy what others do. Going “Digitalised” does not mean designing a website and creating a Facebook page anymore. Mind you, the efforts without adequate ROI are devastating!

Social Media Marketing in the Sri Lankan Context

It is widely prevalent that the brands who advertise / are active in Social Media profiles like Facebook and YouTube get offended at their marketing staff or agencies for not generating enough and more leads. They have to understand that Sri Lankans still show some degree of hesitation when it comes to making a purchase online. They widely use search engines and especially Social Media profiles to collect as much information as possible. Also, Social Media profiles may or may not work for the nature of your product. However social media profiles are the best in terms of creating and maintaining good rapport with your existing and future customers. Never expect money to flow from these platforms immediately. Instead distribute as much information about your brands as possible.

A recent survey done by Read Me shows surging results for the brands in Sri Lanka. 85% of the users are fans of local brands pages where a considerable 35% of them have liked more than 15 brand pages. Notably 45% of the respondents have responded that they would like to get information from these brands in their timeline. This is good news! Share your brand related message in a creative way for them to stop at your post while scrolling down in the timeline! Remarkably the survey also reveals that 78% of the respondents have admitted that they have been influenced by Facebook in making the purchase decision. Certainly this is great news for brands if this is true. The reason for mentioning “if it’s true” is we as Sri Lankans in most cases fail to reflect our real thoughts in surveys. 🙂

Online marketing is like a knife. You may cut multiple fruits and make a perfect fruit salad or you may end up in hurting yourself after all achieving nothing but getting hurt.