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Sri Lanka
Home Archive by Category "Sri Lanka"

Category: Sri Lanka

02 MarSocial MediaSri Lanka

The Top 20 Social Media Influencers Brands In Sri Lanka.

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.

mcdonald's

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!

KFC Sri Lanka

 

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.

Nescafe

 

 

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!

johnson's baby

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.

Mini

 

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.

daraz online shopping

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!

the body shop

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!

tgi fridays sri lanka

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.

Sri Lanka Cricket

 

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!

dialog axiata

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!

Dilmah Tea

 

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.

Mobitel

 

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!

newsfirst.lk

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.

i love you

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.

ikman.lk

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

odel

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.

seylan bank

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!

srilankan airlines

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.

Kelly-Felder

 

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!

Dimo-lanka

 

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.

Read More
07 SepResearchSocial MediaSri Lanka

What Should You Do to Take the Lead in Social Media Marketing?

It has turned out into a habit for many to fall asleep on Facebook and wake up on Twitter, and it is one of my habits too.  While some use Social Media as a hobby, others tend to make money through it. But in the process of marketing, how far do the Sri Lankan brands do Social Media marketing? 

Three reasons made me write this post. Firstly, it is the  Social Bakers’ statistics about the leading social media profiles and pages. According to that statistics, I noticed that it is mostly Sri Lankan entertaining sites like Hiru TV and celebrity profiles that are being followed by most of the Lankans, and the local brands don’t top on that overall list. To know further, I checked into the overall profile reach, and I found out that there are brands like Coca-Cola in the top ten. “So why couldn’t the local commercial sites get more fans than the local entertaining sites in social media?” was the only mind voice of mine.   

Secondly, while writing about Digital Marketing in my last post, I happen to notice that most of the local marketers think Social Media Marketing is digital marketing, while it is not. And what Sri Lankans think of social network marketing is posting something about their product on famous social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter and boosting them would attract more users.

Thirdly, in my last post, a user commented on what he felt about social media marketing. The one who commented said that some of these pop-up adverts on social media are more annoying than helping us pick the product or even to check the website about the product. The result of all these reasons is the post.

If new to social media marketing, know why you should do it.

With an internet penetration rate of 29.3% in Sri Lanka, the per cent of active social media users has reached 14% of the population. With the entry of smartphones, most of them use social network platforms on mobile. An overall view suggests that the most frequently used social media platforms, especially on mobile by the locals, are Facebook (94.17%), Twitter(2.62%), Pinterest(0.67%), Google Plus, YouTube, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. This usage rate is the reason for one to make use of social media effectively if he/she is into promoting products and services.

Unlike the traditional marketing methods, this social media marketing allows the marketers to interact with the target audience. Through this relationship, a marketer can analyze the preferences of the users and change his way of marketing according to those wish lists of overall consumers. Plus, it is the portal to get a direct and quick response from the customers, and for the customers to know about products.

Guess what? Social media marketing improvises the brand’s loyalty because of the crowd one has on such platforms. Such loyalty is build up through the brand’s engagement with its audience on the platform they use.

Social media marketing in srilanka

One might have a website, but the traffic the site gets is limited. This social networking is a portal to attract more diverse users to the site one owns. The more one is active on social media, the more the page or profile attract the audience.

Another plus is that the platform, Social Media, is free. Let it be Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, every platform is open. But, social media marketing tools are not free. There is little cost when using such tools, yet the tools are cheaper when compared to the marketing trends used earlier.

Are you unsure where you fail?


The Biggest Mistakes We See Companies make when they first hit Twitter is to think about it as a channel to push out information.

– Tim O’Rellly & Sarah Milstein 

Most of the marketers kicked off into this social media marketing because they thought it is a cool thing to do, and they entered the virtual world with no objectives. This irresponsibility, I would say, has led them nowhere actually. The reality is that having a thousand followers isn’t the only thing about social media marketing because one cannot make money out of it. What one as a marketer has to do on Social networking platform is entirely different. After an analysis of where marketers fail, let’s look into how one could overcome such failures as well.

Social media marketing failure

  1. How often do you update your pages?
    Most of the local companies have created a Facebook page, Brand’s Twitter and Instagram, but how often do you update your account? While the media sites and celebrities of Sri Lanka frequently update their page to make fans stick with them, brands fail. Regular updates are quite important to show off the followers that the page is still active and worth following.
  2. About what do you post?
    From a user point of view, local marketers seem to focus on posting only about what they sell. But when a new follower check into their social media page, how would he/she feel when he/she sees that everything shared are links to the site? Pretty boring right?
  3. As a marketer, do you monitor your social media sites?
    Like the first reason mentioned here as a failure, most of us don’t take social media severe enough to follow it closely. We fail to hit hard with the fact that social media is one of the leading platforms to “catch” audience and customers if used in the right way.
  4. Are you on the right platform?
    Everyone wants to have an account on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. But, think. What if your site is not relevant to be on either of those stages, but on stages like LinkedIn and Instagram? Creating a profile on all the social media platform can be stressful when thinking of maintaining them all.
  5. Unsure of when and to which post “boost” option should be used.
    The boost option is to attract new followers. Where our marketers make a mistake is, not choosing the right audience, and not thinking of the alternates like “promoting a post.” But what most of the marketers sometimes do is, boost almost every post they publish which would cost them more than they have allocated.

 

A few handy suggestions to overcome failures

Publish great content — content that teaches people something, entertains them, makes them think or, in some other way, adds value to their lives.

– Brian Boland 

  1. Keep the profile updated.
    It is very much important to stay active on your page (even more than you are on your profile, maybe). Even if there are days when you couldn’t be updated, maintain a regularity or make use of “scheduled posts.”
  2. Publish random posts.
    Don’t stop with publishing about your product; share something you found interesting from other profiles. If you are on Twitter, retweet some tweets from your followers, and let it be something interesting (and that may or may not have to do anything with your product.)
    Publish Random Post
  3. Keep an eye on your social media sites.
    There are tools like Buffer that would not only help you analyze your social media reach, but would also assist you with scheduling your posts for a different social media platform.
  4. Choose the right social media platform.
    Marketing is not seeking publicity. It is promoting your brand and product to potential clients. Therefore there is no need for you to choose the popular social media platform, but the right one. Know your audience, and know about the platforms available to stick with your followers.
  5. Know your content and choose.
    Boosting a post is an option that could be worth enough if you know to handle it. Maybe it is time to stop boosting almost all the post you have shared, and to choose the right one. If you are someone who had made the above-said mistake, start with your “EverGreen posts.” Keep in mind that the “boost” option is to attract new followers, so when boosting let it be a better post. And, do not choose the boost option to make a post reach your “target audience.” Either you could you “promote your post” option for such activities.
Tips and Trick to make the lead in it
  • Use hashtags.
    If you are still trying to attract “like-minded” clients, use Hashtags (#) in your posts. Not all the platforms are going to allow you to use hashtags, yet popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram do allow you. Hashtags allow you to engage as a community.
  • Maintain a community.
    Always remember the primary goal of being on social media: to create a network. Just by posting links from your website, or about your product wouldn’t help you. Talk to your audience, and listen to their thoughts. Create a poll, or make them review your product. Use your creative team to make users get engaged with your social media accounts.
  • Do some “re-marketing.”
    There are always some posts that would bring a new audience, maybe because it turned “trendy” recently. Such posts can be re-marketed with relevant hashtags of the “trending” subject.
  • Use images, videos, and GIFS.
    These are known as visual content marketing. I happen to see most of our local marketers using their Television ad promos as Video sharing on Facebook and Twitter. People who watch your ad on TV and Facebook can quickly get bored of seeing the same promotion. Try to do some new uploads. And make sure that your uploads convey your message as well as has a CTA.

Tip and Tricks for social media marketing 2016

  • Write according to the platform
    It is general to post contents on social media, but some platforms are good enough for longer posts while some are not. For example, Twitter doesn’t allow more than 140 characters, so your contents should be catchy and short. While Google plus encourages long timeline conversations more when compared to Facebook. Know your social media platform very well and change your content according to that.
  • Marketing plan
    If you are a starter in doing marketing in social media, make sure you have a plan. Have a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) framework when planning your social media marketing.

As a follower of some local brands, I happened to notice how such brands handle their social media. I have covered only a few, yet essential suggestion to the local marketers. If you are a consumer, let us know how you feel about social media marketing and advertising. And if you are a marketer, feel free to share your thoughts on handling social media. Let your thoughts flow in the comment box below.

Adieu.

Read More
22 AugResearchSri Lanka

What has the Internet done to the Sri Lankan Marketing Industry?

As a Sri Lankan, I have spent more time on TV and radio during the civil war. If there is a program on a TV  for 30 minutes, 10-15 minutes would be allocated for advertisements, in other words, promoting brands and products. Sometimes, they used to attract me quite well, but then such ads interrupt my favorite TV or radio shows.  It was after the civil war I got introduced to the internet and social media. My gradual attraction to the internet made me realize that the brands I have seen on TV are more often seen over there too.  I couldn’t understand why I see this. And I wanted to know why, which made me read about it further. I learned that it is the new trend called Digital Marketing. Wait! If Digital Marketing in Sri Lanka is new, then what was the old pattern? I wanted to know it. What I found out as a result of my curiosity is presented below. 

Marketing trends in Sri Lanka

Marketers in Sri Lanka quite well understand how much their internet marketing techniques are dragging the users towards the brand. But the freshers don’t. Marketing and the Internet have got along more often these days than they have been in the earlier stages of digital marketing in Sri Lanka. The record of InternetLiveStats shows that the “internet penetration” rate was 8.8% in 2009 (the year the civil war ended). But, the stats drove up after 2010,  and the recent report announces that the penetration rate has reached 29.3%. This improvement puts Sri Lanka in 57th place among the 201 countries in 2015, according to the InternetLiveStats. Sri Lanka is still a developing in the field of e-commerce. But with the surge of internet penetration, the digital marketing ecosystem is growing too.

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What was marketing like during the Civil War?

Due to civil war, (before 2009) the internet access was pretty down. The locals used traditional marketing methods like printing and broadcasting about products and brands as their marketing strategies. Although it was costly(when compared to the cost of digital marketing now), they had to make use of it, while the world was developing in digital marketing.

Printed media was one of the primary source used for marketing and advertising. The marketers focused on commercializing their products and brands through newspaper advertising, magazines, and leaflets given randomly or during events like an exhibition. Also, to attract the travelers, marketing through huge banners on empty lands was another trend of the time in Marketing.

The next traditional method of marketing was broadcasting or telecasting the promotions. Here more frequently marketers used the celebrities, like cricket players and local cinema stars, to promote their new products or brand. The number of TV watchers and radio listeners were high at that time, at least to get know the conflict updates, which also helped the marketers in promotions to advertise their products.  

Remember when you had to fill up a coupon when you did quite a  big shopping at a shopping mall or supermarket? Mobile number and address are the details you had to fill in such coupon. Ever got promotion notifications from them later? Well, the shopping centers and supermarkets were handling it as another technique to send promotions to its customers. Marketers also dealt with cold calling to convince customers about the products.

Final method was that some companies employed sale representatives. While cold calling was an another way to promote beyond boundaries, sales rep of areas had to take samples of the brands to doorsteps of everyone in the particular range. And, these were all used as marketing methods before  Digital Marketing started to penetrate into Sri Lanka.

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What influence does digital marketing have in Sri Lanka?

The end of Civil War made several opportunities open to the marketers. As the statics above has shown about the internet penetration in Sri Lanka, marketers have started to take advantage of it. Online advertising started parallel to the advertising and marketing through the simplex mode. Some websites started rising, and marketers began to realize the worth of online marketing. Still, only a very few people engaged in that new pattern, maybe because it was the beginning of the era of digital marketing.

For the start, the companies have only been looking to posting ad banners on the websites. For them, it was like posting an advertisement on newspaper. But the actual substance started to click as they began to get to know more about it. Then the companies began to move on to other marketing platforms available on the internet. Also, this new marketing world provided new entrepreneurs an idea. Bang! It gave a few individuals an idea on starting a digital marketing agency.

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Why should the Marketers focus on it?

Firstly, the Sri Lankan marketers would fall for its uniqueness: duplex. Digital Marketing helps the marketers analyze the effect their skills have on customers. This uniqueness helps them adapt according to the user experience. It also helps them to get real-time reviews from the product users, like Cinnamon Air for example, which would attract other customers towards their product.

[blockquote photo=”” author=”” ] Instead of one-way interruption, Web marketing is about delivering useful content at just the precise moment that a buyer needs it.- D.M. Scott, author New Rules of Marketing and PR [/blockquote]

Digital marketing is wide open; this is another possibility. How open is it? Digital marketing is wide open around the world. With the e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay, imagine how one would be able to know about them, without marketing it online? Like you wouldn’t bother about getting to know it if such sites have been advertised or sold on the traditional method of marketing: through printed media or TV and radio. One-click check-ins have made it very easier and simple. This feature of digital marketing is quite supportive to the enterprises that are focusing on global market, attracting international customers.

Digital Marketing is quite cost effective. When compared to the cost of traditional marketing methods, online marketing is pretty cheap. This online marketing would more likely replace some of the traditional methods like cold calling, advertising on television and radio. Although there is still some attention to the simplex mode of marketing, the number has reduced when compared to the ‘during the war’ stats.

Traditional marketing Vs Digital Marketing

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What type of Digital Marketing trends do the local companies handle?

Although there are several methods like the website, social media marketing, PPC, video marketing, email marketing, remarketing, the local marketers only managed to catch up with a few. Mainly, the website, social media marketing, PPC, and SMS marketing.

There are around 20 digital marketing companies in Sri Lanka which delivers Search, Social, Local and complete e-Commerce strategies to the global brands through an online platform, which includes Prime One Global LLC, Loops Solutions, Orix marketing and others. And according to Mike Berry has foreseen in 2012, the marketing trends in the year 2016 in the digital commercialization of Sri Lanka has grown.

The objective of the content and PPC marketing is to rank the company’s site on the top, or near the top lists while been searched. Since the company’s site would be quite new, or haven’t been in the required state for the search engine to display it while being searched, the digital marketing companies would polish it up for it to be ranked. According to the ranks, the company’s brand and the product get promoted. Also, PPC is another method where the companies ‘buy visits’ through the advertisements on search engines and on other sites.

While these two techniques are on the top in digital marketing environment of Sri Lanka, there is another big world for marketers waiting — the world quite big and equal to the Internet — social media. With the landing of smartphones, Sri Lankans spend more time on the social media (and the internet). Readme and Loop Solution conducted a survey in 2013, in which 58% of respondents access Facebook and Twitter through mobile. Almost 71% of the local respondents answered that the marketing done through social media has been quite effective than the traditional media marketing. Also, 49% of the respondents said that they watch TV less than one hour daily, while only 28% of them read the newspaper daily.

 

The survey on Social Media Marketing conducted by Readme and Loops solutions. Source: Readme.lk”

 

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 Also, according to the survey 85% of them answered that they have been following local brands. Also, marketing through Facebook has influenced 79% of the users to purchase the products. This force has made marketers focus more on social media marketing than on the other methods available.

The latest trend the marketers are focusing on is SMS Marketing. Since the number of mobile phones users is quite high, rather than cold calling, dropping a text about their product or brand is getting trendy these days. And, most of the companies focus on making much out of this growing style of marketing in Sri Lanka.

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How has social media marketing influenced the users of Sri Lanka on the local brand?

The Sri Lankan brands that has got more attraction through Facebook

The local brands that has got more audience through Facebook. Source: Social Media.lk

Fastest-growing-brands-in-Sr Lanka

The local brands that are growing fast on Facebook. Source: Social Media.lk

The Sri Lankan brands that have largest audience on Twitter

The brands that have the largest audience on Twitter. Source: Social Media.lk

The Sri Lankan brands that are attracting more audience on Twitter.

The brands that are attracting more audience on Twitter. Source: Social Media.lk

 
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What should the Marketers focus on for the future?

There are many other digital marketing activities which our marketers need to focus. Digital Marketing trends like Remarketing, Google Tag Manager, email marketing and so on are not very actively used among the local marketers. Since the industry is still developing one, we could expect the marketers to get into this trend in future.  Within the short period, Sri Lanka has got adapted to the digital marketing world. There is a long way to go because this digital world is changing day by day. If focused on the newly turning up digital marketing environment as well, the prospect of the domestic market to be a part of the global market would be rising. If the marketers are already focusing on the global market, it is advisable to concentrate on the broad range of social media. Social media doesn’t stop with Facebook and Twitter but extends to Snapchat, Instagram and so on. So focus on the rest of the available global platforms that would attract the global users. 

There would be constant updates about the growth of Sri Lanka’s digital marketing, so don’t forget to keep an eye on our blog. Also, feel free to catch us in a comment about the digital marketing in Sri Lanka.

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27 NovSri Lanka

Making Future Forecasts With Present Statistics Of Sri Lanka

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 accumulatedâ€Ķ

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.

Map-of-sri-lanka-with-distances

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.

Internet-usage-in-sri lanka-2015

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.

Socializing-in-person-features-2015

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.

Mobile-phone-usage-in-sri-lanka-statistics

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.  

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