If I go back in the year 1995 when Internet launched in INDIA & all most after 23 years where we have seen all types of digital innovation be it search , social media. WhatsApp or market place; Internet users have wide variety of options based on if they want to search or share!
Time has changed wherein Internet users are able to find out all information they want from their phone without visiting search engine. They share their opinion about product / services / movie reviews / news & everything in general on WhatsApp among other consumers.
They check product prices on market place like Amazon & FlipKart , they order food online without searching for restaurant with the help of delivery app like swiggy! Search volume is decreasing as they can find what they want from their phone without SEARCHING!
Unlike earlier where in Consumer was relying on search engine to find product / services they are looking for by keying in keywords ; thanks to social media like FaceBook that brands & advertiser can push their advertisement to the right audience without approaching local advertising agency for media planing And everything been done on a click of a button at an unbelievably least cost.
Audience for any kind of event be it exhibition, Fun, Education, motivational are there on Facebook where in they have expressed their Age, Sex, Location & Most important their interest ; advertisement for marketing an event been delivered right in the hands of audience on their phone based on filters selected by advertiser.
Even While they chatting on Facebook messenger advertisement crosses their eyeballs; For example at Kotak we conduct Free Session On Digital Marketing all Across INDIA and cover small cities & town during our journey ; we try to cover multiple cities close by and expected audience between 100-150 per session.
As Time is short , budget is low it's all most impractical to approach local advertising agency for announcing an event on Radio, Local TV / Cable , Newspaper or even distributing low-cost leaflets.
Situation has come where in we were doing 4 sessions in 2 days in 2 cities that means we wanted the least 100 Audience for each session; FaceBook Ads came as a solution. We were upfront knowing number of target audience we have in that city, we were on a click of a button knowing number of times our advertisement can get visibility and number of clicks it generate to our registration form.
This is not a rocket science and Facebook Ads manager was displaying these statistic for us See Screen Shot Given below ;
Depending on the number of audience we decided to spread across our budget at Rs.500/= per day for 7 days and VOILA results were amazing we got overbooked within 3-4 days.
The point is why this happened & How ? This happened because of wide usage of FaceBook In India; specially after it acquired WhatsApp ; We as an Event Organiser can not search on google as “Who Will Attend My Session On Digital Marketing” but for sure using FaceBook Ads / Advertisement manager we can set up a campaign which goes only to user from location where you are conducting session to those who have expressed their interest as “Digital Marketing “ as per our current example.
Conclusion is as a smart internet users you now have multiple option; we will not search for product on google or so as event audience but for sure see advertisement on Facebook & search market place like Amazon & FlipKart for product. At the same time we can not search business on Facebook or Amazon; there Google Still RULES.
As an advertiser based on what you are offering you too have to present everywhere as remember USERS ARE SEARCHING WITHOUT SEARCHING!
