Here is a golden chance for Indian mobile developers to lap up a shiny new 16 GB BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet. We are slightly late in reporting this as there are only 4 more days to go, but I guess it is still worth all the effort!

Alec Saunders, Blackberry’s Vice President of Developer Relations made the announcement about this initiative a few days back on Twitter.

To qualify, developers have to simply repackage an Android APK into a PlayBook BAR (Blackberry App) and submit it to Blackberry App world. The submission of the repackaged app should be done by February 13th for it to be eligible for the offer. Also, applications need to meet the standard BlackBerry App World Vendor Guidelines. Its that simple!

Some important things that developers will have to keep in mind:

• Developers will have to remove all mention of the word Android from their app, in the application description and in the app itself, before submitting your app to BlackBerry App World
• Developers will Remove all links to the Android Market from within the submitted app.
• The app should be built with minimum of OS 2.0 compatibility.
• Ensure your app is signed. Learn about code signing.

Check out the FAQS, Terms & conditions and other details about “Free BlackBerry PlayBook 2012 offer!”

Related posts:

1. Android Apps Developers Smile – Android market supports Paypal now !
2. Android App Market goes past Apple Store for Free Mobile Apps!
3. Wow! Blackberry messenger coming on Android & iOS

I visited Yahoo Mail probably after a few months as my amazon account is attached to it and mails come to that email ID. However, I was taken by surprise when the page loaded – I was a bit confused for couple of seconds wondering if I landed on “Yahoo typo” homepage. But that was not true….

Here is the Yahoo Mail Homepage which was presented to me!

Yahoo Mail had a full homepage advertisement of Indian brand - Fastrack . The ad diverted me to their Facebook page. I am assuming that this ad will be shown only to users from Indian sub-continent and even then Fastrack is guaranteed of hundreds of thousands if not millions of Facebook Fans.

Fastrack being a youth brand, seems to be on a big ad-spending spree just before the Valentines day and this Yahoo homepage mail campaign is a great way of capturing huge number of fans.

However, I am surprised that Yahoo is accepting full homepage ads on probably one of its most popular pages in India – Yahoo Mail.

For me it comes across as a serious sign of desperation – what do you think?

[Note: As I mentioned earlier, I visit Yahoo mail homepage very rarely and I am not sure if it is a regular thing for Yahoo. For me it was a first and hence decided to write on it]

Related posts:

1. New Yahoo Mail – will it make any difference?
2. Google Chrome Full Page Ad in ToI – But why ?
3. India Buzzing News : World Cup, Census 2011, Yahoo search engine, Fastrack & Indian kids!

It was interesting to read in a recent ET report that auto giants like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors India are planning to make refreshed efforts in 2012 to tap their existing and potential customer base through Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. As per the report ‘E-Marketing Outlook in India for 2012′ by Octane Marketing, the top two online marketing initiatives that will see an increase in marketing investments in 2012, as compared to 2011 are social media (at 68.8 percent) and e-mail marketing (at 53.1 percent).

DNA and TOI on the other hand, gave a detailed reported on how social media was increasingly used by Indian brands in 2011. All of this basically proves Social Media gaining prominence as a customer acquisition platform amongst Businesses in India.

We have listed down some pointers that should help Businesses acquire customers through Social Media.

A platform for good customer services

We’ve seen newspapers in India frequently reporting tweets or posts of angry customers on a company’s social media page. Once this kind of content about a company’s faulty product or inconsiderate service gets rolling in the online marketplace, there’s no looking back on the company’s reputation being harmed – Vodafone India is an example in this case.

A great way to acquire customers though social media would be to use this feedback to your advantage and gain your customer’s trust. Welcome feedback and act upon it so that customers know that you’re there on social media not just for lip service, but for actually being able to get things done quicker. Word of mouth for good service always spreads fast. Act on the praise and the brickbats with equal gusto.

Catering marketing strategies to reach out to the B-towns

We commonly tend to think that only people in the Mumbai locals and Delhi metros would be carrying smartphones. Hence, many brands make the mistake of forming their internet penetration strategies that apply only to that demographic. But remember, with the smartphone coming of age in India, about 75 percent of users of mobile networks belong to B and C class towns, as reported by the Business Standard. You can acquire customers through social media by catering your social media marketing strategies keeping in mind B town demographics, requirements and sensibilities.

Connect with offline events

Social media marketers in India need to remember that they still have to keep offline marketing as a part of their campaign. Relying on social media alone would cost them their non-Internet using customer base dearly. Partnering with offline events that match the brand image is crucial for acquiring a large following on a company’s social media page. Take for example Koovs, an Indian deals site which acquired a huge following when it partnered with the Great Indian Oktoberfest in 2011.

Share interesting content that may not be directly related to your brand

This is primarily to show your fans and following on social media that you’re not here to use them as scapegoats to promote your business 24×7. A chat, irrelevant conversation (to your business or product) of current happenings, polls, contests and interactive opinion taking quizzes etc. would be a great way to maintain relationship with your customers.

Make members amongst your following interact with each other so that as a brand or an individual seller, you can keep a track on what’s hot and what’s not. Check out HDFC Bank, Kingfisher and Tata Docomo’s Facebook pages to see how they have interspersed their wall posts with promotional and non-promotional conversations.

Associate promotions with days and dates

You wouldn’t expect the Indian shopping and deals portal Deals and You to run an Agony Aunt corner for the upcoming Valentine’s Day on their Facebook page right? Well, that’s exactly how they are planning to attract young customers to their Valentine’s Day special deals. If the Future Group is famous for strategizing its big sales in Big Bazaar chains according to the local festivals of each state they operate in, you can do the same on social media too.

Madhusudan Thakur, Regional Vice-President, South Asia for Regus aptly summarizes the advantages of acquiring customers though social media:

"As businesses emerge from the downturn they are increasingly reconsidering pre-recession working practices and opting for more flexible, competitive strategies. From supply chain management, to leaner working practices, to cloud computing, to increased use of video communications and mobile working no area of business is being overlooked. Particularly in India where Nielsen reports that 3 out of 4 social media users visit a social networking site at least once a day, and a discussion forum once a week, more and more companies are leveraging this channel to increase the loyalty of existing customers, and as a successful acquisition tool." [Source]

Social Media is definitely a great platform for customer acquisition, however, it should not be looked upon as another tool for just self-promotion & marketing!

Views welcome!

Related posts:

1. Social Media For Customer Service Is Here To Stay, But Businesses Unclear About Ownership!
2. Social Media: Indian CMOs find themselves Unprepared [Survey]
3. Air India gets bitten by Social Media Bug!

Social media learning, which is a significant component of the e-learning industry, is gradually being adopted in the Indian academia and corporate in a big way. 2012 will only see more inclusion of social media in e-learning systems across India. As Mint reports, about a quarter of business proposals approved by one of the largest organized angel networks in India, have been e-learning projects.

Here are the 5 big trends of social learning or e-learning in India in 2012.

Cost cutting in the education and training market

Cost cutting is always in vogue and 2012 is going to be no different. Gone are the days when Indian SMEs and corporate will invest in hiring expensive trainers and experts for conducting repeated training sessions for the company. By adding the element of social learning in its training packages, corporate are going to reap the benefits of cost cutting through e-learning. As Business Review India reports, the advantage of doing this is that social learning training modules can be paced according to the needs of the trainee according to his / her speed and capability and the form and method of e-learning content can be selected according to the degree of interactivity and multimedia that the trainee wants.

Social Learning for Innovation

Indian companies and academia will exploit and leverage the power of social learning for incubating think tanks and innovation in 2012. In addition to investing the millions that innovations usually require, social learning will enable a more inexpensive way of coming up with the Big Idea. Social learning in India in 2012 will create benefits of utilizing people’s undocumented knowledge, the ability to work across time and space, making informed real time decisions and solving complex IT issues through collaborative strategies. If you have been a student of Knowledge Management, then you will understand that social learning will enable the archiving of knowledge in educational institutes and corporates which can be reused later on.

State sponsored Social Learning

2011 saw the Rajasthan State Government investing in a social learning platform similar to Facebook, in order to provide access of education to all possible corners of the state. As ET reported, this education social network would include all the standard features of a social networking platform with its central focus on educational collaboration and real time learning.

How much of a success such state sponsored efforts would be is a different story, but 2012 will only see more of government social learning initiatives being out into practice. It’s time we realized that social media learning is only going to save the state’s resources in education. In an ideal situation, arm students with internet and computer literacy and you need no large building infrastructures or teachers.

More Gaming / Interactive Applications

On one hand, while India struggles to bring all its learning and training initiatives on the electronic medium, on the other hand, social learning trends in India in 2012 will be veering towards making learning and training fun. While social learning through gaming add fun to the whole academic process, it can also be used to add rewards, points and bonuses to the regular learning system. The value addition the social media will bring to e-learning gamification will be real time, collaborative and competitive learning.

Strategic Implementation

Although there are many players of e-learning in the Indian market such as Tata Interactive Services, Thomson Digital, Cognizant, Zensar Technologies, Patni Computer Systems, Reality Information Systems and many more who are at the top of their game, chalking out strategic implementation of social learning in the current e-learning infrastructure in India will be a challenge. Social learning is not a copy paste module which can be seen reaping benefits in India as it did in the West. The learning modes, adaption capabilities and behaviors of Indian content consumers are different. As aptly put by Ambarish Datta, previously Head – Technology Aided Learning at Reliance Retail,

"India is not America. Our learners are different. We’re behind on technology, and incorporating live virtual classrooms are not a reality for sectors such as retail. The Japanese have a ‘guru concept’ where they must have an instructor to be able to learn – India is similar in learning philosophies. Trends such as Web 2.0 applications for learning… we’re actually light years away from that! Providers have to understand and innovatively cater to buyers’ needs in India. It isn’t the electronic platform/medium that’s important, but the overall blended learning that enriches learners’ experiences."

[Source]

What are your thoughts on Social Learning Trends in India…?

Related posts:

1. Social media trends of India in 2012!
2. Social Media Trends in India [Interesting Insights]
3. 25 MBA distant learning colleges in India

India has added close to 11 Million Facebook users in last 6 months and has now beaten Indonesia to have the 2nd largest userbase on Facebook. According to stats revealed by Social Bakers, a social analytics company, India now has 43.5 million users on Facebook as compared to 43.1 million of Indonesia. Roughly, that stands for more than half of all the internet users in India.

The Top 20 Countries on Facebook by Userbase

Among the top 20 countries on Facebook, Brazil is the only country which has added more subscribers in last 6 months. Brazil added 13.9 mil users as compared to India’s 10.8 mln. India also registered 2nd highest growth rate in userbase (33.15%) after Brazil (58.15%).

Even though India has 2nd highest userbase, the penetration is one of the lowest with only 3.71% of all Indians being on Internet. While half of all Americans are on Facebook, even countries like Philippines (27.6%), Turkey (40.1%), Malaysia (46.9%) & Thailand (20.16%) have much higher Facebook Penetration.

Facebook users by Indian Cities

In India, Mumbai has maximum Facebook userbase with 3.7 mln users ranking 18th across the globe. Delhi (1.57 Mln) ranked 36th and Bangalore (1.53 mln) ranked 38th, have nearly same number of FB users. [source]

It is interesting to note that FB penetration in Chennai shows more than 100%, while Hyderabad (79.65%) and Pune (63.56%) also show very high percentage of users!

[via Penn-Olson]

Related posts:

1. Interesting Facebook India Statistics [Numbers, Growth, Brands]
2. Facebook India Stats – Adds max new FB users globaly in April!
3. Facebook brings its support office to India

Companies are going to aim at targeting more sales and customer engagement conversions, bloggers are going to increase their affiliate marketing opportunities and more movements like IAC are going to give birth to more number of Anna Hazare’s through social media in 2012 in India. In short, 2012 is going to be a big year for social media in India. Lets look at some of the Social Media Trends that you may encounter in Indian in 2012.

Internet memes, flashmobs and Google Hangout marketing

With owling, planking, falling, rickrolling and LOL cats having trended, more and more internet memes are going to be birthed by social media in 2012. Flash mobs have caught the fancy of Indians is 2011 and more of such witty, innovative and interesting memes are going to drive internet traffic in India through social media. As for Google+ Hangout, international brands have used it successfully to get feedback through one on one video conferencing.

In India, we’ve simply begun to scratch the surface of Hangout with SRK and Kareena interacting with fans for promoting Ra One, Farhan Akhtar promoting Don 2 and cricketer Virendra Sehwag interacting with his fans. 2012 is likely to take one on one interaction to the next level.

More attempts at viral videos

It’s impossible to say how many viral videos are going to hit India in 2012, but Kolaveri Di has definitely begun a viral revolution. More and more brands in India are going to attempt to make their own Kolaveri Di’s, with many of them likely to fall flat. In India, we’ve seen brands like Airtel who enjoyed the success of going viral through their Ali Baba and Chalis Chor ad along with the ad for True Roots International Calling Service, both standing at more than 2 lakh views.

The Silent Indian National Anthem by Reliance Big Cinemas too enjoyed popularity the viral way with an approximate of more than 12 lakh views.

Branching of social media beyond just networking

If you think you’ve had enough of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Orkut, you could try the recently released Pinterest. A social networking site with a twist that receives more than a million hits per week, Pinterest is all about creating ‘boards’ according to your interest in areas like Design, Technology, DIY, Film, Gardening, Fitness, People, Pets, Music, Books and much more. You can ‘pin up’ conversations according to your interest and network with other people on the basis of your creative connect. All the other social media features remain the same.

Lots of small businesses, not-for-profits and individual sellers are already using Pinterest to sell and engage internationally. China is hooked on to RenRen, a Pinterest clone for the same and India is definitely next.

Government behaviors and backlashes

2012 has started off with a glum note of government censorship of the internet because of SOPA and closer home, the Indian government is asking popular social media platforms to censor sensitive content. Due to the growing strength of social media in the world, people are only going to get back to their ‘oppressors’ through this very platform. If an IAC movement repeats itself in India, it’s going to be no surprise. In 2012 social media in India will continue to carry for the flavor of protest and outrage.

Online Reputation Management

Tech experts across the internet predict that a big trend for social media in India in 2012 is going to be the setting up of ORM teams in corporates. Currently, departments like Corporate Communications or Marketing handle company’s social media portfolios or in most cases this services is outsourced to IT or SMEs. But considering the kind of social engagement that Indian brands are having with users online (E.g. ICICI launching on Facebook, airline companies managing customer feedback on Twitter, Vodafone having harmed their brand repute due to a 3G coverage issue that a customer faced and so on), ORM for social media will be a trend and an alarm in India in 2012.

Do you think any other Social Media Trends that will be in forefront in 2012 in India?

Related posts:

1. Social Media Trends in India [Interesting Insights]
2. Air India gets bitten by Social Media Bug!
3. Social Media Is Going Mainstream And How [Survey]

Modern marketers can be easily compared to superheroes. The job that used to boil down to a simple exchange of goods for money somewhere at a fairground several hundred years ago has become a genuine art. Nowadays it involves creativity, good command of at least one foreign language, ability to analyze the tendencies of the market, keep track of the latest updates and many other skills. However, the purpose of this post is not to complain on or boast about the job I’m personally doing.

My initial idea was to take a look at some of the tools that help marketers around the world to do their job properly and efficiently. Some of the services mentioned below already enjoy world-wide popularity some of them are less known, some are free and some are not. The only thing they have in common is that they all can be equally useful and make our job a little easier.

Link Monitoring – Opensiteexplorer

This tool can be described as a search engine for links. It enables you to analyze the links pointing to your website. You may compare them to the ones that are linking to your competitors. Opesiteexplorer will help you to search for broken links in order to fix them and improve your website’s google authority. The service is available for free.

Purchase the Pro Version to get some additional features like information about the popularity of your website in social media (the amount of shares, likes, tweets) for $99 a month with a 30-day free trial.

Blog Monitoring – Google Alerts

Technically, I could’ve left this field blank as Google Alerts became an indispensable tool for any marketer a long time ago and most of us are already familiar with this service. For those who are not, I will mention what it is used for. It is a notification service, that allows you to receive automatic emails with the latest updates on the topic of your choice.

You may alter the frequency of the notifications as well as the type of alerts you want to get depending on the search field you are interested in e.g. Google News Search or Google Blog Search. This tool can keep you up-to-date on any issue doing the googling job for you, thus saving you much time and effort. The most pleasant thing is that it is absolutely free.

Social Media Monitoring – Tweetdeck

Tweetdeck is a real time service that helps you to stay in touch with all your contacts in social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and google buzz using one window. The most basic features enable you to keep track of friends, mentions and worldwide trends in social media.

The best part is you won’t have to sign in and out for every network you are using – everything is joined in one account. This is a vital tool for a marketer who wants to know everything about the social media buzz around any product. The application is available for desktop, IOS as well as android devices for free.

Public Opinion Monitoring – Surveymonkey

Definitely one of the most popular online survey tools. You may choose between different templates of surveys, types of questions and possible answers. Customize your surveys the way you want to – from adding your company’s logo to change of the color scheme and language. Unlike other survey tools, Surveymonkey allows you to analyze data using charts, graphs and filters and download it into a suitable format (Excel or PDF).

The basic free plan limits you to 10 questions and 100 responses per survey, but you can always upgrade to a monthly or a yearly plan to get more features like custom survey design or SPSS integration.

Business Process Management – TeamLab

TeamLab has several modules to enhance internal business cooperation. Try to manage your projects by assigning tasks to your team members and setting milestones. Their accomplishment can be controlled using time tracking, discussions and reports. With editing, sharing and version control options available you may optimize document processing.

Now you have an ability to write, edit and approve your articles on the spot. Conducting polls to figure out what brand logo to use or which product motto to choose might also come in handy. The program is available for free, but you may purchase the premium version to enlarge file storage space.

Mind mapping – Freemind

The program can help you in many ways which makes it an irreplaceable tool for work. Create project workplace, brainstorming platform, knowledge database – anything that used to be jotted down on a piece of paper (and was probably lost among piles of documentation) can now be stored in one place on your PC. You can link to web pages as well as directories and files on your hard drive straight from the program. The developers of the service are very proud of the folding feature that enables you to create an organic mind-map structure and not to get lost in the information heap. The program is free.

Web Conferencing – Readytalk

If you are looking for a multi functional conferencing tool, Readytalk might turn out to be one of the most attractive options available. Web and audio conferencing, webinars with expert support are combined in this application. Easy webinar scheduling, automated event reminders, custom registration forms, promotion of events on facebook or twitter make this tool stand out. Flexible pricing can satisfy everyone: those who conduct conferences on a regular basis as well as those who just want to use it occasionally.

Presentation tool – Animoto

Animoto makes it possible for you to design video slide shows using your images. You may import your pictures directly from facebook, flickr, picasa etc. Once you are done with editing share your media with the world via Facebook, Myspace, Youtube or email. If you are looking for a fast way to create an eye-catching video presentation without burning the midnight oil, you may use the cinematic artificial intelligence feature of the program that analyzes your music and images to edit and produce a video like an actual director.

The plans differ from a free version up to $499 a year depending on the amount of features you want to use and the desired quality of your output video file.

If you can think of a tool that in your opinion has to be mentioned in this list, leave a comment.

[This post has been written by Alexander Mitnikov, who is a freelance translator interested in  modern business & technology trends. His passion is agile software that helps Entrepreneurs, marketers and freelancers like himself enhance their working process to the full]

No related posts.

For last couple of years, tablet computers are in vogue. Even in India, tablets have become quite popular (at least the word “tablet”), thanks to “Aakash” by Indian Government. Popularity of tablets can be gauged from the fact that in last year alone close to 100 different tablets were launched by more than 35 different tablet manufacturers.

Although, mobile takes a lead in internet browsing on non-computer devices, Tablets are gaining much ground. Check out this nifty infographic created by Litmus, that gives you an idea about the rise of tablets across the globe.

2010 was the year when Smartphones gained popularity, 2011 was year of Tablets… Which gadget would 2012 remembered for? Any ideas?

Related posts:

1. Evolution of Tablets [Infographic]!
2. Tablets comparison: iPad Vs PlayBook Vs Xoom Vs Streak [Infographic]
3. Tablets in Enterprise: A Courtship set to culminate in Marriage!

I am not sure if you have noticed, but Rediff Homepage has got a makeover. It is not a drastic one, but there are some noticeable changes. Rediff had set a precedence (in India, which no one followed :)) in 2009 when it introduced a minimalistic, ad-less homepage design, which was a sea-change from previously busy cluttered interface.

While many liked it (I was one of them), there were few who did have harsh words to say. Over last couple of years, slight tweaking has taken place with few icons changing and new sections getting introduced. However, today’s change look slightly more prominent with structure, as well as color of links changing.

What I obviously hated in the redesign was the amount of real-estate given to Shopping & Daily Deals. If you consider the total Homepage real-estate over 25% of space is given to them, while the news section (which essentially is the core of Rediff) gets much lesser space.

Rediff has also changed the structure with news headlines now showing up on the left instead of earlier right.

Given the whitewash that Indian cricket team was handed down-under, Cricket section has gone out of favour. Additionally, the link colors have changed to Navy Blue as compared to earlier standard electric blue.

For a regular visitor, it may not look like much of a change, but just the fact that Rediff is giving more importance to “e-commerce” side of things rather than its core “news” probably points to changes we may see in future…

What is your take?

Related posts:

1. Ready for Rediff group deals?
2. The Rediff revamp – How do you like it?
3. Media Monday: Yahoo’s new look and a powerful “You” campaign – Why should Rediff worry?