Social Media Agency Feature: Social Shehnai - A Wedding Marketing Agency

Who are we?

The agency was founded by Diksha Haria and Siddhart Nakai.

We at Social Shehnai are a young, enthused bunch of social media obsessed folks that live, love and breathe the shaadi scene. But, how in this world is social media related to weddings?

We were once welcomed at a wedding by a friend with a remark - Oh, you social media guys getting social in wedding haan! What stayed with us after that wedding was 400 calories and 4 words.

“Getting social (media) in wedding, Social Shehnai was born.” – Diksha Haria.

The mother of all social events is a wedding and we are here to make ‘The Big Fat Indian Wedding’ socially and digitally alive. We create hype, spice and drama around a wedding on social media platforms like it is no less than any international brand. We help get Pinky aunty from Patiala, UK-returned cousins, Sharmaji from next building, near and dear ones, all on the same page. Yes, a Facebook page that is exclusively made for the couple, made by us and made in India. But that is not it, we create a savviest experience around the wedding from creating uber-cool customized apps to on-ground innovation activities like twitter/instagram video wall.

All in all, we lay out the red carpet leading up to the Digital Mandap of the Virtual Wedding Venue.

What's in the name?

Social Shehnai was an instant click among us because the name captured the essence of our philosophy being: Taking the wedding scenario to the next level digitally while being rooted in the core tradition.

What we do?

Ever wondered how Hum Apke Hai Kaun would be in today’s social age?

Social Media Management

We create an exclusive wedding Facebook page for a couple. We build engagement, interaction and excitement with live feed of the entire event. We integrate social media with real life conversations to capture the buzz around the wedding. So no matter where guests that can't attend are, they can feel like they are there!

A special #hashtag is created so guests can upload all the candid moments and cool selfies, some instant post-able proof that they are right-now-this-very-minute witnessing the wedding. In this way, we capture all the candid moments that the photographer might have missed and eventually make all guests potential photographers.

The Wedding page remains as an everlasting memory for the couple constituting all the memories – surprise video wishes from close friends, online sangeet competition, and behind-the-scenes fun. It’s like the new-age wedding album.

Wed-app Solution

Wedding websites have given way to webapps. Along with larger than life showcase value, they are also functional in nature. They help in event micro management where the guests can directly upload their passport details, browse the wedding itinerary and enjoy sangeet tutorials right at their fingertips.

Additional Services

We design a unique experience from creating uber-cool e-invites, videography, candid photography to on-ground innovation activities like twitter/instagram video wall.

Why we do it?

Amazing wedding, but did it trend on twitter?

If you've been to a wedding recently, chances are your Facebook friends and Twitter followers know all about it.

A study released by Wedding Paper Divas found that the average guest shares 22 photos of the event on social media sites. Half of guests said they had "checked in" to a wedding on sites like Facebook and Foursquare and 70 percent of Twitter-using guests tweeted about the event while in attendance. When it comes to photo-sharing, 76 percent of guests posted to Facebook and 54 percent used Instagram.

A wedding is the mother of all social events in India. Social Media is set to revolutionize it in a very big way.

So, your wedding Facebook Stylists, Twitter influencers and Instagram paparazzi have finally arrived – Social Shehnai

How we evolve?

The industry is growing so fast and we are still keeping up with the trends and things you do to keep up and evolve.

Crowdsourcing is the biggest challenge that creates the big difference at a wedding. We have been working on various on-ground activations and innovations to boost engagement. RFID-enabled invitations, projection mapping, digital outfits (showing tweets via LED lights threaded into its fabric) would be taking the digital quotient to the next level.

Social responsibility in social media/ Need of the hour

Now that everything is so transparent and all concerned parties are exposed to all the information, how does one handle the social responsibility aspect from an agency point of view.

Social networking laws are not properly drafted yet there are things we consider that need to be taken care of from our experience.

Privacy Policy is essential, especially when it comes to an event as intimate as a wedding. We make sure the couple intimates us on the do’s and don’ts of several important aspects before starting the project.

View points and tips

Digital trends also need to be intertwined with tradition to make this social extravaganza ‘complete.’ In a wedding we did in Abu Dhabi, Team Social Shehnai presented the couple with a bless book that had been secretly made constituting of all the blessings bestowed upon the couple by their guests who weren’t that tech savvy, which was later also uploaded on their wedding page. Sometimes, we need to take the term ‘social,’ quite literally. On-ground reality is critical.

They work with us

Our clients are confidential

Industry as we foresee

Social Media has evolved dramatically over the years and so are the client’s expectations. It’s not about likes anymore. Client’s expect interactions, and have started linking social media with sales and customer service. Every passing day this integration is deepening.

The space that we operate in is entirely different. Here, the client is not interested in any statistics, but more interested in image management. Weddings are a sensitive subject. It is a question of reputation, which is a responsibility, which we take and deliver fun and engagement of a different level to the couple using social media platforms.

A day without Internet

A day without Internet would be pretty much like this – BLANK!

Lastly, are you hiring?

We are offering a graphic design and marketing internship that will allow the student to learn about advertising and marketing strategies, assist with industry events and create marketing collaterals.