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Update: Here’s an updated list of social media agencies in India.
I have been watching the social media marketing scene in India for a while now, and, suddenly, things seem to be heating up in this space. On the demand side, companies/ brands are showing willingness to engage with social media and, on the supply side, many players are offering, or planning to offer, a variety of social media services.
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): 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, I see the following players entering 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.
Apart from the five possible entrants that I have identified, I see at least half a dozen other serious players entering the social media marketing scene in India by end of 2008.
- Update on February 26, 2008:- According to Palin at India PR Blog, 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?
I intend to update this list of social media agencies in India on a regular basis. So, if you know any other agencies in India who are focused on online reputation management, social media outreach or viral marketing, do send me an e-mail or leave a comment below.
Now that we have a firm handle on the list of social media agencies in India, the other thread to pick up, of course, will be Rajesh’s tweet on what is the potential size of the social media business in India.
Also read: Rajesh Lalwani & HH at India PR Blog, Palin at India PR Blog.
Now that is a comprehensive list.
Damm only one person in PR – i guess its not to late for me to jump in
Great going Gaurav.
Thanks, Priya, feel free to ping me and ask me to add to the list of agencies/ clients anytime you hear of any new developments.
Gaurav Im not sure how you missed it but our list of clients is listed on our website here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=11 And that also is a partial list (as many clients are under NDA). As far as I know We are among the largest stand alone social media consulting companies (Both in terms of number of people we employ and revenues) in India you can check all the media buzz about us here -> http://www.watconsult.com/?page_id=8
Infact we are doing a lot of work with large digital media agencies as well as direct clients. We are soon to announce major developments both on scale and clients. So watch out for us.
Really appreciate your effort to list the companies though.
@Rajiv: Apologies for the oversight. That’s a really impressive clients list. Have updated the post.
Will be watching out for your upcoming major announcements.
Thanks gaurav. Will keep you updated.
Nice list Gaurav. Thanks.
It might be interesting to add differentiators to make it even more meaningful.
Social media can be many things – setting up a blog for someone can be social media , so can be uploading a video on You Tube
For eg. we deliver strategic advice that’s aligned with business/ marketing needs/ goals of the clients. Deliver insight programmes, drive evangelist programmes etc.
Social media is just one of the routes for outreach, we combine our learnings in mainstream and social media to drive value for our clients.
Cheers.
Rajesh
I’m nitpicking but you spelt NIELSEN wrong.
Hi Gaurav,
Excellent content.
You missed our client list on the website. Please do take the link from here..
http://www.id8labs.com/clients.asp
Keep up the good work.
Do keep in touch.
Amit
Yeah its true that social media marketing is evolving in the market and many companies are showing their interest in providing social media services, social media marketing is a part of online marketing. With the online marketing many people are boosting up their business
We would also like to be included in this list.
Thx,
I am impressed, lets catch up.
Hi Gaurav,
Almost all of these agencies and consultants listed are in the PR and external reputation space..
I am writing to introduce my blog on internal communications and new media from India ( http://www.intraskope.wordpress.com)
Cheers
Aniisu
Hi Gaurav,
Would like to introduce Windchimes to you – a social media agency that me and my friend have started. Do visit our site and mention it in your list of SMM agencies of India
Hey Gaurav – would appreciate it if you added us as well!
Hi Gaurav,
Good work. This list was really required. But there are few more agencies working in this space.
iStrat Software from Delhi is one such name. I work with them and we have already done some brilliant work in terms of blogging and online reputation management for some well known companies. Do include us when you update your list the next time.
Hi Gaurav,
I am Ajinkya, a 2nd year student of PGDCM from MICA, Ahmedabad. I am interested in Social media, and towards the same I have pursued relevant project and written paper. The list you put forth here is of tremendous help to me now.
Being a veteran in this field, could you please guide me towards carving a fruitful career in this field? Specifically speaking, which companies would be ideal for a passionate management graduate to start his career in? which companies are growing and hope to continue their growth in these troubled times?
Awaiting your response.
Thanking you,
Ajinkya
Hi Gaurav,
Very impressive list and nice work you have done of putting it together.
We are a new startup social media agency based in Chennai and I would like our agency Catch5 Studios to be added in the list.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Gaurav,
Your effort is very much appreciable. But you missed the biggie, I just wanted to add one more company, who has been aggressively into Social Media & Online PR activities, is Hanmer MS&L, recently got acquired by MS&L, one of the leading Digital Agency in the world.
But your blog is amazing and very informative. Gr8 effort. I am a Digital PR professional from Mumbai and an SEO consultant.
Hi Gaurav,
That’s an impressive list. It would have nice, if you could have separated the technology companies that are providing analysis solutions on social media from the other companies.
One such company is ‘Germinait Solutions’ (www.germinait.com) based in Mumbai, where we are building a next-gen technology platform for social media analysis. We have done some brilliant work in Natural language processing area. Please include Germinait Solutions in your list.
I am eager to know about other companies that are working in similar space.
Regards,
Neelesh
Apart from the list of the companies, that have already been mentioned above, another agnecy that is already doing great amount of mindblowing work in this space is OgilvyPR. Their digital works are too well established and have very high expert team catering to all the markets of APAC.I have personally some of their work and of others too in various campaigns. So I feel that digital in India is not lagging far behind
You missed us out
Bloggers’ mind
http://www.bloggersmind.com. Please check our website and do include us in the list next time you update.
Thanks
I read your list and you seem to have comprehensive knowledge about social media in India.
What do you think are the chances of an international social media company surviving in India. I am a student in Miami Ad School and I am working on a project on social media. Any information that you can give me about social media in the India market, the scope, the kind of clients who would be open to it, anything at all, would be of great help.
looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks.
@chetna. Well I write on Indian Social Media. You can visit my blog and gain some insights based on my experiences.
Hey Gaurav nice blog and very good database. But can u suggest any book on Socila media Marketing. This can be very halp full for me. I will really appreciate your suggestion.
@siddharth Acharya
There are many books on Social Media Marketing, the recent one we had in India was Social Media Marketing by Dave Evans. Its a good book. But its quite deep and professional. I suggest you can go to http://www.docstoc.com and scribd.com. and search for books on Social Media. You will find many.
Hi Gaurav,
Very comprehensive list. We would like you to add Mercury Communication to your list. We are an integrated Social Media Agency and we have worked with some big clients. We do social media consultancy, monitoring and outreach for clients.
http://www.merccomm.com/index_files/MercuryCommunicationServices.htm
http://www.socialcreeper.com Though it’s not a Indian Company, it’s a true social Media Company that guarantees enhanced visibility to your website using social media platforms. You might want to check this, it’s truly interesting.
Thank you for information, really helpful
I wonder if it's a little too late for this
But we at Windchimes Communications (http://www.windchimes.co.in) have been in this field for a while, and have some good clients as well.
Possible to update now?
Good blog, Gaurav. Cheers!
One thing you don't mention is the success rate of these companies, especially when marketing internationally. I find it very difficult to locate staff with enough international experience to say, market to the US using social media. The English is all wrong, their cultural awareness is naive, but their arrogance something to behold! As an American working here, when I've found good staff willing to learn, they've done really well, especially in Kolkata. Here in Delhi, they simply just don't get it. I'm trying to understand what the difference may be.
Domestically, I've worked with a number of these companies and they've done some really successful campaigns for the Indian market, things that would never have worked overseas. I'd like to be able to offer outsourcing services to American clients, but I don't think the talent is here to do it effectively yet. I think the industry in India is similar to call centers a while back, when they finally realized that they needed to train their staff in cultural awareness and interaction. Only then will India be able to expand their social media marketing business beyond its own borders.
Jeanne: I agree. Most young Indians do have limited international exposure and Indian English is very different from American English. I think the trick is to recruit well-educated (and costly) employees and charge a premium.
Nice post Gaurav, In fact we used this list a start point to evaluate agencies. Ended up using a local consulting firm finally (http://www.lucidsense.com) who in turn works with these agencies.
BTW, we found several more hot upstarts in this space that seem to be really getting innovative, maybe time to add some more names to this list..
also add http://www.antzmedia.com
Hi Gaurav!
You need to add one more category, i guess – Social Media Marketing Platforms – and our product, 360Buzzads, falls in that category. Please check out http://www.360BuzzAds.com for more details
Thanks for this information Gaurav