Why Marketers should focus on Indian Language Content

English once dominated the Internet in India, but not anymore. According to the 2001 census, there are more than 1.600 dialects spoken in India, with 22 official languages recognized by the government. Interestingly, only 8% Indians read English language newspapers while others prefer consuming news in their local language. Clearly, these regional languages are now taking center stage, and the Internet too is transitioning into a diverse amalgamation of Indian languages.

According to a recent Google – KPMG report, India has 234 Million Indian language users online while only 175 Million are English language users. The Indian language user base is poised to account for 75% of India’s Internet user base by 2021. These projections are set to have a profound impact on the existing and future content on the Internet, where a paradigm shift is now imminent.

Rapidly growing Internet penetration, affordable mobile data connections and improving digital literacy have appeared as the key drivers for the growth of Indian language content within the Internet ecosystem. It is interesting to note that apart from digital content platforms, several chat applications, online government services, digital payment services, classified ad platforms and e-tailing platforms are witnessing a steadily growing Indian language user base. Currently, 68% Internet users feel that Indian language content is more reliable than English.

However, there is a huge gap between the demand and supply of quality Indian language content across categories from digital news to online payment platforms. 60% Internet users claim that limited Indian language content acts as a major obstruction in the adoption of online services. Therefore, Internet based enterprises are losing out on a lot of businesses and have a untapped client base. In fact, Indian language content drives almost twice the engagement and exponentially increases the reach of online content. So, the transition from English to Hindi languages will benefit content creators as well as brand managers experts for SMEs.

As brands comprehend the persuasion power of Indian languages, regional content is increasingly being leveraged to increase brand recall through vernacular based digital advertising. Additionally, Indian language users find it challenging to read product descriptions and reviews in English. Research suggests that the share of digital advertisements in Indian languages is set to increase from 5% to 35% by 2021. This proves to be a massive opportunity for SMEs.

90% of new Internet users over the next five years are projected to be Indian language users. Government is planning to propagate digital literacy among 60,000 rural households by 2021. The adoption of Indian language content across categories such as entertainment, news, online shopping and digital payments will consequently skyrocket. Business will continue to capture a larger share of consumers by giving them access to quality Indian language content.

This shift in the Indian language consumption trends within the Internet will push e-commerce firms, digital entertainment platforms, online payment platforms and other Internet based players to continually invest in creating content that covers the most consumed regional languages. The creation of vernacular based content will lead to higher internet inclusion, especially among the rural population in India and hasten India’s journey towards becoming a truly digital country.

How to use LinkedIn to grow Business

LinkedIn is one of the world’s largest social networks with over 470 Million users globally. While most use LinkedIn to manage their professional profile on the web, SMEs have made the most valuable use of the professional network. Today, LinkedIn is considered to be amongst the top platforms for B2B lead generation globally.

The Sales-cycle is usually longer for B2B businesses. This happens because there are multiple decision makers involved in the process of onboarding a new vendor/partner. The most powerful way for B2B Businesses to increase sales while reducing the overall cost of selling is to build powerfully engaged customer communities. Building customer communities provides deeper insights into what customers find valuable.

Clearly define who your customer is and search – For a software development company the customer is the CIO/CTO/CMO/CEO. The second level to defining your customer is his/her geographical location. Once you define your customer clearly, use ‘LinkedIn Search’. The powerful LinkedIn Search shows results categorized into people, companies and jobs. Choose from the options and enter the location where you think most of your customers will be. LinkedIn will show the people working in various organizations who are your target audience. Even if LinkedIn displays a list of people that you are already connected with, visit their profile and explore the similar people suggestions that LinkedIn gives as ‘People also viewed’.

Connect and build relationships – Once you have a list of potential customers, it’s time to make connections. Being a professional network, it is important to keep in mind that you must not choose people at random and send LinkedIn invites to them. You must see if you have a common connection between you and the person you intend to connect with and ask for a recommendation. If you want to still explore the option of doing it yourself because you believe that people will find you valuable, before sending a LinkedIn invite, ensure that you write a ‘custom message’. When you are connecting with a third person for the first time, offer a valuable opportunity instead of asking for something on the invite itself. An invite tells the other person that you are valuable and you will not be another random connection that adds no value to the professional network.

Engage and Communicate Value – LinkedIn offers a powerful way to engage with one’s network at scale. Use the LinkedIn posts feature to author blog posts that you feel will be highly valuable and relevant for your network. Share actionable insights and thought leadership via your LinkedIn posts. As your network starts engaging with your content, your profile discovery increases. While LinkedIn posts are engaging and have an amplified reach via LinkedIn Pulse, the ones who find it hard to express their thoughts as a blog post can use images as status updates on LinkedIn.

If you carefully spend time to build a network of the most relevant and valuable people around you, it increases the probability of your message reaching out to the most relevant people who could be your potential customers or the audience that you intend to engage with. LinkedIn is a powerful platform for SMEs and startups. When combined with great quality content marketing it can help SMEs establish great relationships and grow faster.

SMEs to E-commerce platforms

Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have taken to e-commerce platforms to expand their reach, both in the domestic and global markets. According to a report, 50 Million SMEs in the country, at least three million, especially from smaller cities are already using e-commerce platforms. In coming years, the figure is likely to double and may touch 30 Million in five years.

Zeelplast Machinery was started with Rs. 50,000 in 2008. The company is based out of Ahmedabad. The fully automatic moulding machines manufacturing company was limited to supplying local areas, before it took to e-commerce. Now the company has evolved from strength to strength with its brand identity, marketing support and getting orders from across India.

According to a study conducted by Snapdeal and KPMG, nearly 85 percent of SMEs which adopted E-commerce believe it is a cost-effective medium for sales growth. It also claims SMEs actively adopting the internet for Business activity boast 51 percent higher revenue, resulting in 49 percent more profit and a seven percent broader consumer base than their offline counterparts.

Some E-commerce entities are also helping SMEs to procure raw material at affordable costs. This has emerged as a new line of business. Ahmedabad based tradohub.com is working in a similar way. It supports SMEs for buying raw material from international markets. Buying material from e-commerce platforms reduces the cost by six to eight per cent. This is helping SMEs to adopt e-commerce platforms which are beneficial for IoT and Indian Economy as well.