Responsibly Digital Social Media Day celebration 2018 held in Gujarat

Ahmedabad:

To navigate through the mazeof competition on social media, one needs to be cognizant of the trends that are making waves on various digital platforms.Besides focusing on engaging content that is click-worthy, it is equally important to maintain a secure presence online. The 6th Edition of ReDi’s social media day deliberation sat Hotel Crown Plaza highlighted the current trends in social media and how one can make the most of it for their business. From thought provoking sessions by social media pundits to engaging panel discussions on Mental Health In Digital World and Digital Trends 2018 & its Impact on consumers & Brandsto hands-on workshops for writing creative content and creating audio and video content, the conclave in its sixth edition witnessed participation of more than 250 digital marketers, communicators, students and start-ups.

The thumping success of BJP in 2014 Loksabha elections has been attributed to the strategic use of digital campaigns. Since then not only governments but individual candidates have been using social media in building their reputation. In his engaging speech on ‘Political Marketing’,HarpreetDhody,Digital Media and Public Policy Communication Advisor to Government of Chhattisgarh, elaborated on the role of digital media in engaging voters through an example of how his agency leveraged social media for the chief minister of Government of Chhattisgarh.“Political marketing is different from that for other industries; you need to occupy the mindshare, not market share. What works in political marketing is portraying the politician as a human. It’s about creating content and videos that reflect the politician as one of us; that’s what clicks in political marketing which has a very low frequency of purchase with elections happening once in 5 years. Sticky relatable Headlines have better power of content sharing ; case in point being Dr.Raman Singh’s tweet on PMO’s address in US Congress comparable to Swami Vivekanand’s Chicago speech. Timeliness, relatability and strategic positioning are key pointers for digital positioning in politics”

While Keynote speaker, Ms. MahimaKaul, Head Public Policy, Twitter India dived into the nitty gritty of Twitter: Transformation, Privacy & Governance, dissecting the nuances of the ever-evolving platform. Sharing on how Twitter has helped shape dialogues for governments and citizens Mahima said, “Most of politicians and governments are now on Twitter. Government presence on twitter has been instrumental in quick problem solving for the citizens, be it Assam floods or crisis in railway or in foreign ministry.”

Stephanie Raison, Communication Specialist, UNICEF India talked on the importance of social media for social cause andVeenaBandyopadhyay, Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF INDIA elaborated on Nutrition.

A recent research suggests that youth today spend more than 3 hours a day on social media. With the increase in cases of digital depression, it has become the need of the hour to learn the art of balancing the two worlds.Elsa D Silva (Founder, Safecity), Raksha Bharadia (Founder, Bonobology), Dr. Falguni Vasavada Oza (Professor, MICA & Digital Media Influencer), and Dr Vinod Goyal (Psychiatrist) deliberated on Mental Health in Digital World. The discussion moderated by Kanan Dhru (Founder, Lawtoons), laid bare the issues faced by people and much-needed solution for the social media buffs in Ahmedabad.

Speaking on the occasion, RakshaBharadia said, “Everyone is posting happy pictures of themselves on social media. And we start thinking that it’s the real world, forgetting that there’s a lot happening in between two happy posts. Moreover, we give a right to people to judge our pictures. Judgmental statements and comparison is what then affects our mental health.” On who is at fault, the platform or the player, Raksha said, “I believe it’s the player. Social media is a great platform and it has been proved a number of times. It’s the individual who needs to have a sense of self.

Dr Falguni Vasavada Oza seconded Raksha adding, “Today, social media is less about technology and more about psychology and sociology. And it is the player who is at fault, here. I’m a great believer in the positive influence of social media. It’s a promising medium. It’s our responsibility to not get affected by negative comments. We cannot let comments and strolls affect us.”

Chaired by Mihir Gajrawala, Founder-Creative Yatra, the panel session on Digital Trends 2018 & their Impact on Consumers & Brandswas interesting for brands, digital marketers and students to identify the current trends in digital world and how to align brand strategies with it. Niraj Harlalka (Cofounder, Jolly Food Fellow), Mahesh Langa(Senior Journalist), and Gurnoor Kaur Behl (Founder, House of GKB) were among the panel members.

With organic marketing no longer working, it is paid marketing that has taken center stage. Gurnoor shared, “In 2017, influencer marketing was at its peak and continues to be doing well. Each influencer has some value and it’s around this value that he/she gradually builds a community. It’s important to stick to that value to influence new and retain old followers.”

With an aim to help the youth learn about video and audio content production, a trend that has been going for a while now, Digital Pratik shared tips, trade secrets, plus resources, apps and tools that can help create the best in minimal budget. Rohan Ayyar of SEMrushspoke on How to Create and Implement Content Strategy.The digital natives got to ‘Learn the Art of being a 280 Character Ninja on Twitter’, a workshop by Amitabh Kumar from Centre for Society & Research in association with @TwitterIndi, as he shared useful info revolving around concerns like trolling, cyber bullying, harassment, fake news etc.Two other workshops, one on Carving Out an Original Online Identity: Creative writing for the web conducted by Niharika Sanyal & Himanshu Nainani from CreativeYatra and a lowdown on GoDaddy Pro and how to use its amazing tools to your advantage byGaurav Nakulgarnered great applause from participants.

To applaud the efforts of individuals and organizations that have been using the social media platforms to bring about a positive change in the society, the ReDi for Good Awards, supported by Oxyzen Financial, were distributed during the event.

Awardees included young and talented Hitarth Sheth, a 15-year-old from Surat who runs Gujju Student, a community-driven platform of 50K Gujarat Board students who connect with each other to discuss study-related doubts. Hitarth is also working on Buddhimaan, a project to bring affordable Virtual Reality headsets to classrooms. The recipient of the ReDi for Good community category award was ‘MastikiPathshala’, a primary school in Godhra that has e-mobilized expert teachers and resource persons from across the globe, adding quality to education and also improved its infrastructure by securing financial aids by reaching out through digital media, on which they are highly active. For their positive contribution towards social concerns through positive social campaigns, Amul was also honoured on the occasion.

– DeshGujarat