Social Media Agency Feature: AliveNow

Who are we?

AliveNow is an award winning full service social media agency based in Bangalore. We were one of India’s first pure social media agencies to begin operations and have been in business since 2009. We are one of the only agencies and companies in the social media sector to get awarded by NASSCOM . We are situated in the heart of Bangalore and have worked with some of the biggest brands in India and around the world.

What's in the name?

We have always liked the word “Alive” as it connotes a sense of positivity, vibrancy and optimism. And social media marketing is in essence keeping a brand vibrant and engaging on social platforms. We initially wanted to name ourselves, “Alive on the Web” but that wasn’t sounding very nice, so we chose AliveNow. Another name we had in mind was “Alive Online.”

But AliveNow was finally chosen and what AliveNow basically means is – You only truly “Alive Now” on the web if you are “Alive” on social media.

What we do?

Comprehensive social media marketing solutions. We have expertise in pretty much all important social platforms and have worked on blogs, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Facebook, etc to produce fantastic results for our clients. This can be seen in many of the case studies we share on a regular basis on our website. Click here to view them

Why we do it?

The passion and we saw an opportunity/vacuum in the industry early on when we started.

How we evolve?

When we started operations in late 2009, it was a completely different ball game. The idea of social media and social media marketing for marketers and brand managers was new and untested. Early on, the process was very much - first explain to the client what social media was, then tell them why they needed to be on social media and finally convince them to pay us to establish their brand on social media. A tough process, but we pulled through nevertheless and were able to work with some of the largest and most reputed brands in India and around the world.

As the industry evolved, as social platforms evolved, and as marketers and brand managers evolved, we as an agency evolved as well. Our team size grew, we became a more result-oriented social media agency than just being someone to come to for building apps or getting likes, and most importantly, even we choose very carefully who we would like to work with. Many times we’ve said no to brands who come to us thinking social media is a cheap service or brands who come to us asking us to just buy likes, etc.

So in a nutshell, we’ve evolved to become a more results-oriented agency, choosing to work with brands that value us and value our service, and finally growing our team with young, talented individuals who are passionate about social media.

Social responsibility in social media

Don’t mislead clients/brands on what can and cannot be achieved via social media. Instead of over-promising and under-delivering, it’s better to always under-promise and over-deliver!

Need of the hour

Every Tom, Dick and Harry Company is on social media and anyone who has little knowledge about Facebook thinks they are social media gurus! So marketers and brand managers who choose to work with a certain social media agency need to make sure they aren’t getting a raw deal. By doing some basic things, a brand manager can make sure this doesn’t happen to them.

One: A serious social media agency makes sure their own social media is well managed; how can you manage someone else’s social media if you can’t manage your own social media presence!

Two: Always ask for case studies of work done with previous companies.

Three: If the agency is charging you too low, then don’t expect spectacular work, good work comes at a price and a brand managers/marketers must be willing to pay for quality work.

Four: A reference check is always good and helps establish an agency’s credentials and credibility.

We learned the hard way

Don’t share too many awesome social media ideas/campaigns before a brand is fully on board. We have had a couple of unfortunate experiences where we see our ideas executed by the brand in house or by some other agency.

Did we just share that?

(Nothing that we shared, but this incident was quite shocking!)
Sometime late last year, a brand manager from quite a decent company called and asked us if we could pay him under the table a significant amount if he helped us clinch the account. Wow, that shocked us!

They work with us

We have worked with over 100 brands on social media. Some directly, some via other agencies, some on a retainer basis, some on project basis, and they are local, national and international companies.

Some of the brands that we have worked with are:
UniverCell, Aditi Technologies, PVR Cinemas, TTK Prestige Smart Kitchen, Kingfisher Explocity, Fortis Hospitals, Barista Lavazza, Naturals Salon, Hyundai, Apsara Pencils, Hard Rock Café, California Pizza Kitchen, Pepsi, Honda, Chevrolet, ITC, Kaati Zone, and more. To view a full list of our clients, you can click here

Note: The above list includes past and present clients, and also project-based and retainer clients.

Industry as we foresee

The last 3 years have been quite a journey; the next few years also look promising and challenging. Social media agencies will come and go, and we do foresee some consolidation. But the ones who will stay and survive will need to:

• Adapt and change quickly as and when new social platforms arise.
• Become more and more results driven and ROI driven than just aim for Likes, etc.
• Very often the path take by agencies and brands is let’s go all out on all social platforms, that in our opinion is a flawed approach. So agencies who are able to understand brands better and are able to help choose the right platform to achieve the brand’s objectives will tend to get more respected.

A day without Internet

We would realize the value of the Internet!

Only if we really had a day without internet, we would realize the true value of the internet. We tend to take the web for granted as we are always connected in some way (mobiles, tablets, laptops, etc), so if we truly experience a day without the internet, we would realize it’s value and come to respect it!

Lastly, are you hiring?

Yes, we are always looking for bright and creative people to join our team. We are hiring for the following posts: Business Development executive, Junior Graphic designer and Social Media developers. More information about these openings can be found here