Connected World! Kolkata’s message to the world of Digital Technology

We are tired of hearing the terms Content Marketing, Digital Strategy, online visibility and Social Media influence. As the internet gets flooded by content, the fine line between what is relevant and what’s not, is becoming thinner and thinner. Companies and online marketers are always trying to sell something, to get clicks on their products, to make customers install their app, to attend their seminar and most importantly love their brand. Google always stressed on the term “keyword” and when it comes to Digital Marketing, the keyword is “Love”. If the customers do not feel an emotional connection with a particular brand, they will never use their products. We all know about the technological advancements and the latest developments in the internet of Things, but there is one basic question that still troubles marketers – “How to stand out in this noisy world?”

Kolkata’s date with Digital Connectivity

So where does Kolkata stand in all of these? The concept of Digital marketing is kind of new here, though there have been tremendous developments in the IT sector. I absolutely love Tech Conclaves; they offer a much needed break from our mundane work schedules. It’s kind of a short vacay, where you meet new people, exchange insights and reconnect with professional friends. Every year, I look forward to INFOCOM and have some pleasant memories associated with this event. This year was special, not only because of Sourav Ganguly or Anupam Kher, but the theme of INFOCOM 2015 was “Connected World”. I couldn’t have asked for more.

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Transforming Setbacks into Comebacks – The Dadagiri Continues

He is a born leader. A man who is an inspiration for millions, a legendary cricketer and most importantly, an amazing human being. When Sourav Ganguly entered the auditorium, the audience went into a frenzy. Dada almost spoke for an hour and his inspirational words mesmerized everyone. He shared his experiences and explained the real meaning of leadership. The former Indian captain shared a valuable piece of advice and stated -“Say “I am the best”, It works like magic!” This is so accurate; self-belief is what makes the difference. There are times, when things don’t work out and the chips are down, this is the time most people stop trying and give up. But the current CAB president and Co-owner of Indian Super League side Atlético de Kolkata had different thoughts about this. “If you love your job you keep trying, then all your setbacks would turn into comebacks”, said the prince of Kolkata.

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The Best thing about You is You – Anupam Kher at his best

Anupam Kher is a man who knows no introduction; he started his journey in 1982 with the movie “Aagman” and won National Awards in the years 1989 and 2005. I was particularly looking forward to his session and wanted to hear his life lessons. In life, we have many enemies, but fear is the main enemy, which interferes with our dreams. Kher was spot on, he said quite brilliantly that fear is an imaginary thing which only exists in our minds.

The evergreen actor said that we should create work for ourselves, a truly brilliant piece of advice. Everyone has shortcomings, but the focus should be on overcoming them and bringing out our special qualities. I didn’t want his session to end and was completely absorbed. In our life, what matters is the experiences; as Anupam Kher said, “Journey is more important than destination”.

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Were you at #INFOCOM2015? Did you enjoy it? Do share your experience by leaving a comment below. Let’s get the conversation started.

                                                                                                                                                   By Pathikrit Banerjee

 

 

 

 

Last Seen by Facebook – The Untold Story of WhatsApp [Infographic]

From the pop up notifications to the blue ticks. WhatsApp is the most important part of our daily “apptivity”. It has taken instant messaging to a whole new level, so much so that Facebook bought it for $19billion. WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum & Brian Acton in the year 2009. Koum’s success story is heart-warming and awe-inspiring. He lived in the rural part of Kiev and grew up amidst intense political turmoil. The teenager who was a food stamp recipient went on to become a billionaire. After Facebook acquired the messaging app, he stepped into the tech billionaire club with a net worth of $6.8bn, keeping 45% share of the company.

Jan & Brian collectively spent 20 years in Yahoo and experienced failure numerous times. Brian was turned down by both Facebook and Twitter, but he kept on trying. WhatsApp was heavily influenced by iMessage and the app was first launched in the Apple App Store. The main idea behind WhatsApp was to design a cross-platform app for smartphones, in which the user doesn’t have to pay the SMS fees. WhatsApp is on the verge of reaching 1 billion users and it is sure to be an incredible milestone. It features in the top 10 most downloaded apps of all time and has rolled out the calling feature as well.

In this infographic about WhatsApp, we will have a quick look at its journey from the beginning and see what the numbers have to say. So check it out to know more about your favorite messaging app.

By Pathikrit Banerjee

Is Your Smartphone Outsmarting You?

Have you ever felt that your phone is an extended part of yourself? Do you check your phone every 2 minutes? Do you get anxious if you miss an update on Facebook? If yes, you are addicted to your Smartphone and it’s serious. Well, we all love to live in the “connected” world, sharing every small moment of our lives and getting updated about the news and happenings around us. Gradually this habit of “checking our Phone” turns into a necessity and we are hooked. I myself stare into the screen needlessly at times, browsing apps, checking the time, scrolling through twitter. According to recent studies, checking the phone in constant intervals increases the stress level and can give rise to health issues as well.

According to Sneha, a 3rd year engineering student, it is very difficult to divert someone’s attention who is constantly active on twitter. “We were on a dinner date and he was constantly tweeting and retweeting, it was annoying as he kept looking at his phone every few minutes. There was no scope of starting an actual conversation. Finally, I decided to leave and it led to our split. Yes, twitter has the capability of ending relationships.”

If statistics are to be believed, about 70% people check their phone, just after getting up and over 44% experienced anxiety, just at the mere thought of losing their phones. India has 167.9 million Smartphone users as of 2015, being 3rd in the list only after the US and China. This number is expected to rise to 279.2 million in 2018.

Overuse of Smartphones can lead to poor concentration and harm relationships. But what gives rise to these compulsive checking habits? At most times, people spend time on their phone, if they are bored or lonely. It is used as a medium of escape; much like playing games help reduce stress. But uncontrolled usage can be a medium of distraction and hamper work. Technology can’t always be blamed for the problems created as a result of it. It depends upon how we use it, disciplined usage and controlling those urges of checking, can prove beneficial. Our focus should be on using it’s smartness to make our lives easier and not be outsmarted by it. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility.

So are you too attached to your phone? What is your way of dealing with Smartphone addiction? Post a comment and tell us.

*Names have been changed to protect their identity.

By Pathikrit Banerjee

50 Shades of Indian Government – 5 things Modi Sarkar should Ban next!

AHOY!!!!!

In an attempt to make the Internet ‘clean’, the government of India decided to ban pornographic sites. It was a crackdown for the very first time in the country, a significant thing in the history of Indian internet; porn was blocked and 857 websites washed away in a weekend. The decision got mixed reactions from different parts of the society. Social media erupted and it slammed the government’s decision, while some found the funny side of it. After the massive resentment from the mass, the government decided to remove the ban partially.

We do not want to get into the consequences or the effects of the ban because we believe in “let’s face it”; no one loves to be the moral police. But at the same time, we have found out something very interesting about this whole ‘Ban’ drama.

Here is a list of things we think the government should ban next:

• The reservation or Quota System in education: This is a problem many candidates have faced while getting into a college or any other institution. The reservation of seats rules out the chances of an eligible candidate quite a number of times. We don’t need quotas; students should get selected on the basis of their merit.

• Those who reply to messages with a ‘K’: It is a texting offence, replying K to someone’s message is not only a mood killer but it’s also incredibly lazy. So here is a pro tip to our government, can you just ban those people who type a single letter to our entire freaking paragraph?

• The Dreadful App Requests & Sending of Game Invites on Facebook: Life on earth would have been so much easier, if people could stop sending Invites of various games and App requests on Facebook. Trust me you can play those games without me, it’s a no-brainer.

• Good Morning Picture Messages on WhatsApp: We all love WhatsApp, don’t we? It is wonderful to share personal space in your closed circle. Pictures, videos and songs- the experience is awesome. But no one asked for Good Morning messages from 40 members of 10 groups. There were days my phone almost hanged as I tried to find out, what’s so good about that morning. If Maggi, a thing we love so much, can be banned, why not these annoying images.

• People who greet us by saying –“Koto boro hoe gechis”: Do people grow younger with time? I mean seriously, don’t you guys have anything else to say? We respect our elders but sometimes these awkward compliments take you on the wrong foot and we have no other choice than faking a smile.

Not happy with our list? Tell us what do you think should be banned next. Post your comment below and fire up the discussion.

By Pathikrit Banerjee

Want It Abhi – 5 Things that Drive Gen Y

They are restless, wild and free. They have their own way of dealing with life and they even have their own lingo. Yes, we are talking about Gen Y, the strong gust of youthful energy, ready to change the world and stand for everything they believe in. Their values, beliefs and attitude towards life are sometimes being criticized but they remain unaffected.

“When I was a kid, my father used to buy me three pair of shoes in a year, one on my birthday, one for my school and the best pair for the pujas. But things are different now, my son doesn’t wait for my approval to buy stuff. He just orders it online and I have to pay for it,” says Sudip Ganguly, an IT Professional. This generation is used to take things for granted and are sometimes ungrateful. They believe they are entitled to certain things and getting them is no big deal.

Here are 5 things that drive the lives of Gen Y:

a. The Fame Game: They have a strong urge of being famous at any cost. Popularity is a thing of prime importance and nothing comes before it.

b. YOLO: This is the short form of You Only Live Once, a philosophy that guides the young generation. They live in the moment and want to enjoy it to the fullest.

c. Move On: They seem unaffected by the ups and downs of life, moving forward with newer zeal, without dwelling about the past. Be it a broken relationship or some other issue, Gen Y always has an excuse to move on.

d. Likeability: Being liked on Facebook is perhaps the most important thing to them and they put in extra effort to maintain that perfect social media velocity.

e. Being “Oh-so” Cool: Be it listening to popular rap music, which may seem noisy to others to clicking random selfies — Gen Y will do everything that makes them look cool. Being awesome is on top of their “to-do” list.

Did we miss something? What factors do you think drive the youth today? Feel free to leave a comment. Let’s Discuss!

By Pathikrit Banerjee

How to Use Twitter for Business Advantage?

Nearly 97% of the people residing in this world use twitter. Everything nowadays depends on how people present things. In this era of commercialism and technological advancements, the advertisements have made the way to social media websites too. There are many such sites which allow people to advertise about them or their company. Not only this has proved to be a business strategy but also it helps in advertising and that too in a very minimal cost. People nowadays are looking for something which will be cheap, durable and trendy as well. It doesn’t matter what we are talking about. This statement is true in each and every context. It is true about clothes, fashion, furniture, insurance, utensils, stationary, etc. this can work with anything. This is a very simple statement which makes sense in all circumstances.

Twitter and what it really contains

Twitter, as we all know is a social networking site where people from all over the world post status and communicate through e-messages called tweets. It is a very interesting website as not only twitter allows the users to tweet or send messages but it also allows people to show or tell their opinion. People have the right to say anything to the whole world. This is where you can communicate with the whole world. Well, it sounds amazing but is more amazing than it sounds. To enhance the business one needs to put a proper advertisement of the same. The advertisement must have some special qualities though.

What qualities must advertisement possess?

• People prefer to look at attractive and colorful advertisements rather than faded and monochromatic ones. Thus, to make your advertisement look livelier, add more colors.

• It should be short and very precise. If you put on paragraphs for display, people will not pay attention at all as no one has time, these days…that too just to read an advertisement. If you keep your advertisement short and to the point, there is a chance that people will be more affected by it.

• The size of the advertisement should be proportional. Huge posters are not required…whereas don’t choose too small advertisement banner too. Keep the proportion to the ratio.

• The main thing that should be considered is the language of the advertisement. It must be very precise and should be correct in all sense. A lot of people don’t believe in advertisements as they think, most of them are hoax. But being true to what you are and what you are capable of is very necessary.

• The language must be very good. No grammatical errors or mistakes should be there. After all no one wants to make a complete fool of them in front of the world. Correct grammar sure helps attract good clients.

And if we are talking about advertisement on a web level, then the tips and tricks are slightly different. A social website requires somewhat different technique to attract customers and clients. Well, most of them are same in online business. But some of them are different. Given below is a list of them-

• Make a proper profile first. Making an attractive profile is very necessary for further development in online business. It is like putting a face into the artwork. It will be your identity in online business.

• Add photographs to the profile. People find is more convincing if there are photos .adding colorful and related photos will increase viewers and as we all know, increasing viewers mean increase in chances of getting a client.

• Add good description and bio-data. If you are an individual person, you must give a good description of you and your business to convince people. If this is companies you are suppose to promote, and then give an apt description of the business and products and services. Tell everything one needs to know about it.

• Make the description funny and catchy. A good tagline always works in a favor. People tend to like catch phrases and taglines in advertisements. If advertisements are like soup, then taglines are like pepper and salt. They add extra taste and flavor to it.

Advertisements are important for development of business. Social media and networking sites are very useful regarding it.

By Subhasis Chatterjee

Landing Page Optimization Tips for Your PPC Campaign

I am sure that all of you have come across such a situation in your life when you have tumbled across a paid add while randomly browsing through the internet or random websites. These are paid per click advertisements. Apparently people get paid for advertisement itself. In this growing world of technology, advertisement as well business is growing very fast. People nowadays are so business minded that everything is being mixed with commerce and business .on one hand, it is a negative thing for development of a country or state but on the other hand. 81%of businessperson or agency believes in online promotion.

Consumerism and its effect on advertisement and business agencies-

Consumerism has reached its height and now PPC advertisements are a part of it. To create awareness among people, business person, people need to add good description and complete explanation of the product. If you are an individual person, you must give a good description of you and the service you are about to provide to convince people if you are promoting or  endorsing a brand or company, you need to put up a proper advertisement  and then give an suitable description of the business and merchandise as well as services. Here are some of the landing page optimization tips for PPC campaign. Giving up a small and to the point advertisement will be very good for clients as people avoid reading long paragraphs and if the advertisement is short, then people will be more attracted to it.

Why are advertisements needed-?

Advertisements are significant for progress of trade. Social means and networking sites are very valuable concerning it. Social media has become one of the greatest industries itself. Business needs advertisement but advertising agencies are the most crucial business tycoon nowadays. This …I think is the biggest irony of this time.

Pay per click advertisements-

The advantages of pay per click format of advertisement is that people randomly surf the internet and thus click on many numerous links .this kind of advertisement is solely based on chance and mood of the customer of the internet user. On the other hand there is no surety or guarantee that the advertisement will reach the correct client .the probability is comparatively less. Nowadays people are coming up with many business strategies to enhance or grow the business and commerce.PPC is one of those ideas or methods. This is effective because of the reason that nowadays people tend to be online rather than the real world. They like the virtual world more than the real world.

Why virtual world is better than the real business world-

In virtual world putting up the advertisement and saying or expressing your words to the client is easier. People hesitate to talk when they meet face to face but virtually, they can do anything. Everyone is a boss in the virtual world. Moreover it reduces the effort to go and talk to the shopkeepers and business dealers. One can easily get access to the thing they want, by just sitting at home. The space-age technology called the Internet thus helps us to reduce our efforts too.

The business world is growing every day. The things one needs for a flourishing business are-

• Good and relevant product ideas as well as merchandise.
• Proper execution and distribution of job and tasks.
• Finance management and investment of money.
• Proper advertisement and campaigning.

A good advertisement always helps in business purposes. This is a way or method of awaking people about your products or services, whichever that might be. People tend to trust more if the advertisements have pictures and short texts. Attractive colors and fonts might also help regarding all these. But above all, the thing of utmost importance is the proper display of the advertisement. If your advertisement is placed in a site where there are no or very few viewers, then the sole purpose of the ad will not be fulfilled at all. Proper execution and proper site of placing the ad must be found .ads make people think and they convince them to buy the services and goods. This is a very big deal in today’s world.

By Subhasis Chatterjee

Is Kolkata Safe For Romance?

Apparently, Kolkata is the best place for love birds. The city soaks in the essence of passion as the climate adds to the romanticism. Be it the couples holding hands and finding their personal heaven at Princep Ghat or a romantic pair being spotted in Millennium Park showing signs, love blossoms all around the city of joy. But there is a flip side, as this is just one side of the coin.

The couples need some personal space to spend some quality time with their partners, an escape from the stern eyes of the society. But do they really get it? Can they really be alone? Our society is structured in a way that free mixing is shunned upon and public display of affection is not encouraged. Couples are judged, they are labeled in an instance, and the whole generation is labeled. So getting our focus on the safety issue now, I would like to recall an incident which happened with a friend of mine, last month. It’s not only shocking or alarming, but it’s outright disturbing.

Aryan and Samapti were in a park in South Kolkata, spending some time of their own. They were just about to get intimate, when some boys came out of nowhere and started teasing her, calling her names which were unacceptable to her. Aryan stood up and protested, but they were not ready to give up and made a move to Samapti. Things were going out of control and it resulted in a fight, what happened next was shocking. Aryan was beaten so badly, he lost his eyesight in one eye and Samapti was too traumatized to even go out of her house after that. The incident made us speechless and utterly vexed, raising questions about the safety in the city.

Is this the Kolkata we love? Is this the city we are proud of? Where are we heading towards? Send us in the comments below and start the discussion.

*Names have been changed to protect their identity, as they didn’t want the incident to be spoken about in public.

By Pathikrit Banerjee