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Quick Summary: The social media marketing scene in India is heating up both on the demand and supply side, with digital advertising agencies, PR practitioners, and prominent bloggers offering a range of social media services.
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.
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
Comments (11)
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.
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