The Indian players offering social media marketing services can broadly be divided into three categories —
- Digital advertising agencies offering social media marketing services with a focus on virals, social network apps, social media campaigns etc.
- Public relations agencies/ practitioners offering social media services with a focus on online reputation monitoring and social media outreach etc.
- Prominent bloggers offering, basically, corporate blogging consulting services and workshops.
Let's look at the players under each category in some detail.
Digital Advertising Agencies
Location(s): Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore
Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.
Known clients: Boston Consulting Group, Airtel, MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow, Tata Motors.
- Quasar Talk, from Quasar Media, now part of the WPP Group.
Location(s): Delhi
Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach.
Known clients: General Motors.
Location(s): Mumbai
Services: Viral videos, corporate blogging.
Known clients: Tata Motors, Sony Entertainment Television, Nokia.
Location(s): Delhi
Services: Social media outreach, blogging, online reputation management, viral videos
Known clients: Dominos India, Maruti Suzuki
Location(s): NOIDA (Delhi)
Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.
Known clients: None.
Location(s): Hyderabad (also New York & Dhaka)
Services: Online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.
Known clients: None.
- ID8Labs
Location(s): Mumbai (also Philadelphia)
Services: Social media outreach, viral videos.
Known clients: None.
Location(s): Delhi (also London & New York)
Services: Social media outreach, viral videos, social network apps.
Known clients: None.
- The Flea
Location(s): Mumbai
Services: Viral videos, social media consulting.
Known clients: Star TV.
Public Relations Agencies/ Practitioners
- Rajesh Lalwani's Blogworks
Location(s): Delhi
Services: Social media consulting, online reputation monitoring, social media outreach, workshops.
Known clients: Fastrack (social media news room, Twitter, Facebook) & Breakthrough.
Prominent Bloggers
Location(s): Chennai
Services: Corporate blogging consulting, workshops.
Known clients: None.
- Dina Mehta's Mosoci.
Location(s): Mumbai
Services: Social media consulting, workshops.
Known clients: None.
- Rajiv Dingra's WATConsult.
Location(s): Mumbai
Services: Social media consulting, social media outreach, workshops.
Known clients: Frito Lay, Nokia, HSBC, Mahindra, Rediff, Tribal DDB, ForceIndia.
Coming Soon
By the end of 2008, the following players are likely to enter the market —
- Nielsen Buzzmetrics is said to be in talks with some Indian multinationals for their online reputation monitoring service.
- International PR agencies Fleishman Hillard and Edelman are said to have approached Indian multinationals for their online reputation monitoring service via their offices in Mumbai.
- Zeta Interactive, which owns social media agency Relevant Noise, may start offering these services through their Zustek office in Hyderabad.
- Advertising agency CreativeLand Asia is also planning to start offering social media outreach services.
- Several PR agencies — including Weber Shandwick (with Screengrab), 2020 Media, Redifussion PR, Adfactors PR, and Genesis Burson Marsteller — are planning to start their own social media divisions.
It seems that, by the end of 2008, we'll have 25-30 serious social media players in the Indian market. That's amazing, isn't it?
