From the quiet, quintessential town of the 80s and 90s to today’s bustling metropolitan, Pune’s identity has undergone a generational shift in recent decades.
Conventionally, the city was known for its top-tier universities and educational institutes. Today, it is known for its IT parks and manufacturing centers.
However, in addition to these, Pune has also grown into a dynamic brand ecosystem.
In recent years, it has become a vibrant business center that hosts hundreds of startups, SMBs, and large corporations. The ever-intensifying competition of the city has made it an advertising battleground, particularly in terms of social media. Each brand in the city is trying to cut through the noise and amplify its social media presence. But only those who keep up with the latest social media advertising trends succeed.
Now, if you are also a Pune-based business looking to shape narratives in your favor and drive growth, this blog is a must-read. It discusses eight latest social media trends shaping Pune’s brand ecosystem and transforming the future of brands in the city.
- Content Personalization: Storytelling that Feels Exclusive
Generic messaging is dead. It doesn’t work on social media, at least. Personalized messaging is the need of the hour now. However, even when it comes to personalization, social media platforms have their unique unwritten rules. Here, users have distinct expectations. One of them is hyper-relevant content. It refers to storytelling that feels personalized and exclusive. It is as if you, as a brand, are talking directly to a prospect. Such content resonates with your audience’s values, interests, and browsing patterns.
Now, why does it matter in Pune? It is because Pune’s audience is diverse. From Gen Z college students to mature IT professionals and old-school, traditional consumers, Pune is home to each. These groups have unique expectations and requirements. Tailoring your ad based on demographics, psychographics, or buying history can yield higher engagement and potentially, greater conversions as well.
For example, a Kothrud-based fitness center creates a personalized ad for each target audience. Instead of creating a typical, generic tagline relating to fitness, it speaks specifically to each group. For example, it talks about workouts between classes for MBA students and emphasizes staying fit after office hours for professionals.
- Short-Form Video Dominance: Presenting it Quickly, Effectively
Attention span, particularly while browsing social media content, has gone down from minutes to seconds. Therefore, long-form videos don’t work anymore. Social media users, whether on Facebook or Instagram, prefer reels that deliver content in a few seconds!
Businesses from each domain are making reels nowadays. However, let’s consider the example of retail. Pune-based retail brands are crafting reels relating to various topics and achieving explosive results through their content. For instance, they showcase products in 15-30 seconds and enhance engagement through behind-the-scenes clips. Many of them also leverage user-generated content to connect more deeply with users.
Cafes, for example, can create reels of the coffee varieties they serve, add customer reactions, and pair them with some trending music piece. When shot well and marketed with an ad agency in Pune, it can convert casual browsers into walk-in customers. When users gain value and like what they see, they are more likely to connect and step in.
- AI-Based Predictive Ads: Switching Proactively to Consumers’ Needs
Alongside personalized ads, something else, called predictive ads, is also shaping. Many advertising agencies in Pune are using AI to generate dynamic creatives that change based on a viewer’s profile and even the current situation on a particular street.
For example, on a humid June afternoon, an ad for a restaurant, 100-200 meters away from a certain point, automatically switches from hot tea to cold coffee. So, users, whether stuck in traffic or moving, watch the ad change to something relevant in the situation. While many may appreciate the brand’s creativity, some others may quickly resonate and drive down to the restaurant. Even if they don’t, a prominently placed, engaging ad can create a high recall value.
- Micro-Influencer Partnerships: Moving the Needle for Local Brands
After influencer marketing, micro-influencers are emerging as the latest social media trend. Micro-influencers are creators with 5,000-50,000 followers, mostly local. They are trusted locally and have a niche audience affinity and higher interaction rates. Besides, they are more affordable than top-tier influencers with a broader regional or national appeal.
For instance, a local boutique in Pune can partner with fashion micro-influencers to advertise their range of Kurtis. Although limited, the local outreach of influencers, when leveraged appropriately, can help engage with the native audiences and increase footfall.
Micro-influencers are usually natives with a local face and identity. These factors make them demographically more aligned and therefore, more effective as advertisers.
- Conversational Marketing: Fast, Personalized Interactions
When it comes to social media, users expect quick responses. Handling queries manually can be cumbersome for a local brand. Besides, it can cause delays and possibly lead to inaccurate responses. This is where conversational marketing comes into play.
Accordingly, many Pune-based brands now use WhatsApp click-to-chat ads, Instagram DM automated replies, and chatbots on Facebook and website links. As a result, brands can keep prospects engaged even outside business hours.
For instance, a catering service provider in Pune automated Instagram and Facebook responses concerning pricing, packages, and availability. It helped them respond to user queries instantly and reduce the lead time dramatically.
- Social Commerce: Turning Social Media into a Business Engine
Social platforms are no longer just virtual places to connect. They’ve become direct selling channels as well. The shift is evident from features such as Instagram Shops, Facebook Marketplace integrations, buy buttons in pins, and WhatsApp Business catalogues. These help brands convert browsing into instant buying.
For example, a local imitation jewelry maker can integrate a buy button on their Instagram ad, simplifying and expediting the buying process for intrigued viewers.
- Interactive Ad Formats: Making Brand Experiences More Immersive
Passive viewing is outdated. Today, users look to interact with the ads they view. These are called interactive ad formats. Some examples of such ads include poll stickers on Insta stories, game-style ads, augmented reality try-ons, and swipe-to-reveal filters.
For instance, a Pune-based cosmetic brand can launch an AR filter to allow users to try virtual lip colors. The filter can make the ad more interactive, engaging, and enjoyable for the users without hard-selling the product.
Interactive ads are inherently more engaging and help build brand affinity. But they aren’t fancy add-ons. Instead, they are strategic tools that drive attention in crowded feeds.
- Voice Engagement: Leverage the Power of Voice
Audio is the next big wave in social media engagement. It is because users love tuning into podcasts, audio reels, and voice features. Brands will be leveraging them to connect with audiences through the sound medium. Podcasts, audio stories, and voice-integrated ads are gradually gaining momentum. Some examples include educational podcasts on local business topics and sponsored audio content on Instagram and Spotify.
For example, a Pune-based career counselor sponsored a short audio on professional podcasts, reaching students and professionals during their commuting hours. Audio insights work well for high-intent, active listeners. It is because when people listen actively, they are more attentive to the content. As a result, they engage better.
Social media is a dynamic place where trends continuously emerge and evolve. Knowing these trends is important. However, learning how to implement them is equally crucial. Accordingly, let us look at some of the best social media practices in the next section.
Best Social Media Advertising Practices
Here’s how you can make a more targeted use of social media trends in your campaigns.
- Begin with Clear Business Objectives: Don’t begin with vague goals such as increasing followers or boosting engagement. Instead, define cost per lead target, monthly revenue from social, desired customer acquisition cost, and lead-to-sale conversion percentage. These are tangible goals that drive more targeted efforts.
- Creatively Test Your Strategy: Avoid running a single creative for too long. Successful brands test multiple creatives simultaneously, experiment with hooks in the first few seconds, test different CTAs, and refresh creatives every 3-4 weeks. Also, consider changing the opening line, background music, and thumbnail. These changes can reduce ad fatigue.
- Build Early Retargeting Layers: Don’t focus on cold audiences alone, but also on retargeting. Create separate audiences for video viewers, website visitors, Instagram profile visitors, engaged users, and cart abandoners.
- Use Social Proof: Trust is a decisive factor in competitive markets such as Pune. But trust demands proof. Accordingly, you must display social proof aggressively through client testimonials, before-and-after transformations, user-generated content, review screenshots, and milestone celebrations.
- Maintain Consistent Branding Across Platforms: Each platform is unique. Yet, your brand efforts must not look disconnected. Whether on Instagram or Facebook, you must use a consistent color scheme, use a similar messaging tone, and reinforce the same brand promise. A basic page for a premium service instantly reduces trust and drives users away from your brand.
- Monitor Your Campaigns Weekly: Digital campaigns evolve rapidly and require continuous tracking. Therefore, you must track factors such as click-through rate, cost per acquisition, frequency, conversion rate, and return on ad spend. Monitor the performance weekly. A drop in performance or numbers for seven consecutive days would demand instant alignment.
- Focus on Lifetime Value: For products that encourage repeat purchases, you must think beyond the first-sale ROI. Examples include gyms, coaching centers, SaaS startups, and subscription brands. A higher acquisition cost for a customer who stays for more than 6-7 months doesn’t matter as much.
Ready to Shape the Future of Your Brand Through Social Media?
Partner with Prajapati Advertising. We are comprehensive, seasoned advertising specialists who have seen the social media space evolve. Our experts know how to leverage the latest social media trends relevantly and blend the physical and virtual space to help your brand gain maximum traction. So, don’t just create pages or run campaigns. Make the most of them. Create value for your users and drive tangible engagement in return with personalized campaigns that precisely suit the local Pune audiences with us. Call us at +91 99 22 138 138 to connect with our experts and discuss your needs.