Brands are capitalizing on the increasing activity of people on social media

Whether it is a Facebook timeline, a tweet, or a flip of photos, the daily life of any person in a lockdown can be seen minute by minute on social media. People engage in online mass activities, popular celebrities are busy making videos of cuisine recipes and doing household chores. This not only creates more content for social media analysts, but is also important for brands so that they can get closer to their customers' likes and dislikes and expand themselves.

Manish Chopra, partner and head (partnership) at Facebook India, says, "People are using our platform to express their own experiences. This reflects his mood. So initially we saw people sharing their home workout tips. People were making coffee, banana bread, etc. and were playing Antarakshari in Quarantine. They were experiencing a variety of live entertainment, with many of the shows being made by popular celebrities and creators.

A group of people are spending more time on social media platforms for more reasons than before. Brands catch on to any trending topic very quickly and with their help they engage in engaging their customers. For example, fitness and homework in advertisements for many brands including Asian Paints, Godrej Consumer, Jomato, Swiggy

The appeal has been included. There is a lot of emphasis on the lifestyle of popular celebrities and brands are also capitalizing on the increasing social media presence of these celebrities living in homes due to the lockdown. Brands are vying to benefit from birthday celebrations and solidarity videos with stars and their fans.

Says Chopra, "Now we are in a phase where brands are recognizing the value of branded content and it is great for them to display their value on a personal level." For example, Godrej has formed a paid partnership with Karan Johar for its hair product Godrej Expert Rich Cream. Johar talks about his gray-white hair and then refers to the hair color brand. The Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain, KFC, teamed up with Chef Kunal Kapoor to campaign and include actors Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna and Kareena Kapoor among many others.

"People are consuming more media (including digital) than ever before," says Akhil Almeida, vice-president (Insights Division) at Cantar, which has created opportunities for brands to interact with consumers in a meaningful way. Nothing stops people from going online.

A report released by Cantar on online behavior following the ban on TickTalk and other Chinese-owned apps said the average time spent on Instagram doubled and the time spent on Facebook after the ban saw a 35 percent jump. People changed their interest when the government banned Chinese apps. This helped brands to develop an understanding of people.

GM Pragati Rana at McGaryBoin India says people are spending time on these platforms in three important ways. The first way is active engagement because you want to do interesting things. The second is to express ourselves as who you are and in the third way we are displaying ourselves with the subconscious mind without any purpose. He said that to connect with people, brands should fulfill these needs and should pay attention to it.

Along with direct access, brands are also collecting information about their online engagement methods, tone, and pitch with the help of social media chatter. Hence video has become a popular method of engagement. According to Kantar's report, following the ban on Chinese apps, YouTube saw a lot of engagement. It is already the most popular digital video platform in the country but after the ban, it saw a 25 percent increase in the average time users watch.

"The interesting fact is that a large part of social media usage is driven by video," says Almeida. According to Chopra, the lockdown has enabled people to express themselves in various ways and social media platforms have encouraged it. "Facebook and Instagram are platforms of expression and we are seeing that people use them to connect with their family and friends," he said. With the Instagram reels, he is hoping to go a step further in this. The increasing use of these platforms and the diversity of people engagement is certainly a boon for brands and platforms, but solving the rapidly growing problem of hate speech and false identity is also important.