Pune celebrates Social Media Day

July 1, 2016

From Facebook updates to Snapchat stories that last longer than a newscast, June 30 is a day to celebrate social media which has redefined how people interact, communicate and share with family, friends, and the world. Social media has evolved over the years, from its early days of MySpace to the now prevalent platform of TikTok. Additionally, people are finding new ways to get themselves known on social media as it becomes a new career venture or marketing platform for many, with the ability to now buy tiktok followers, as well as buy views, likes, and followers on other sites. Social Media Day was first established by popular website Mashable back in 2010 to recognise and celebrate the impact of social media on our lives, locally and globally. The main goal for Mashable is to encouraging people to participate in various ways and through various media platforms, both on the web and in real life. If you are looking to embrace social media platforms like Instagram then you might want to go to Upleap.com to find out how you can get more followers.

The world is literally a click away and that is the magic of social media. Even businesses have recognized the value of social media for connecting with customers and promoting their products. This is why using the Influencer Marketing Agency is so enticing as it allows businesses access to a huge catalog of influencers on a number of platforms. Businesses know the power that social media now has over influencing people to go to their specific platform and buy/see their products. There are specific blog articles such as Social Media Explorer – The Power of SEO and Social Media combined, that can delve into this phenomenon further. So what is the best way to celebrate this day: the people of Pune came together to interact and learn more about the gifts of social media with prominent speakers who are well known in the digital marketing domain. The event held at Classic Rock Coffee Co was celebrated for the third time in Pune. The keynote speakers at the event included adguru Prahlad Kakar, HR consultant Gautam Ghosh, image consultant Tanvi Bhatt and digital media specialist Kiruba Shankar.

Tanvi Bhatt

The personal branding expert spoke about celebrating social thoughts and leadership. In an engaging session, she stressed upon the importance of asking yourself questions that will help build your personal brand. “Who are you? What do you do? Whom do you do it for? Why do you do it? There are crucial questions we need to ask ourselves. People want an instant connect. You need to have a framework that makes people connect to you,” she said.

Speaking to Pune365, Bhatt mentioned that she got a good response from the audience, “The topic is new so it surely takes time for people to wrap their heads around it.”

Kiruba Shankar

“Podcasts are the new thing,” says Kiruba Shankar, CEO of Business Blogging, a social media consulting firm, who has 20 years of work experience in the digital domain. Speaking on Social Media Day, Shankar provided an insight into the future of social media and the growing avenues, emphasizing on the power of podcasting. “Compare it to your newspaper, just as you have someone deliver it to you at your doorstep, podcasts are basically a string of audio files that comes to your mobile phones directly instead of going onto a Youtube” he said. That’s how easy and accessible this fast-growing media platform is, “The trend is fast catching up in the US, though India will still take a while to get there,” Shankar added. Addressing the audience, a city where he loves “the entrepreneurial spirit”, he said that the basics of digital marketing olve ping build a brand and increase sales. For this “podcasting can go a long way, right now even insurance companies are using podcasts to deliver investment advience.

Gautam Ghosh

The HR professional shared his thoughts on emerging social media to attract and engage talent. He spoke about passion being an important part of everyone’s lives, especially in their field of work. “The culture of a company can be communicated through the different channels of social media. It also determines the kind of work culture they have and how much they value their employees,” he said.

Prahlad Kakar

A student of Fergusson College, talking to the Pune crowd made him nostalgic as he began reminiscing about his college days and how he started off at a bank only to stumble into the advertising world. “I envy kids nowadays, there were only three jobs available during my time that of a doctor, engineer or IAS officer. Now, this generation has the choice of following their passion,” said Kakar. Dissecting the use of social media, he said, “The digital space allows you the choice to react. It also has the power to engage and destroy.” After sharing some more personal experiences Kakar said how social media is an extremely important tool which everyone must know how to use effectively.

Audience reactions

Swati Kedare

“The sessions are quite good. Kiruba Shankar’s session on podcasting was quite interesting…”

Pooja Kulkarni

“The sessions have given me a few good tips to take back home. It is my first time here.”

Rajesh Kedare

“Kiruba Shankar is a brilliant story teller. The talks are interesting and innovative.”