[Interview] Abhinav Sinha on Oyo Room's social media strategy

A combined model of Airbnb and Uber was often viewed with anticipation. However, with the recent funding, Oyo Rooms redefines hotel booking in India. With their latest campaign #AurKyaChahiye in action, Social Samosa gets in conversation with Abhinav Sinha, COO, Oyo Rooms.

How do you plan to use #AurKyaChahiye for strengthening OYO Rooms' brand positioning on social media?

#AurKyaChahiye is the first 360-degree campaign which we have come out with, and social media will be one of our main channels for strengthening our brand identity. We are trying to incorporate the idea of #AurKyaChahiye campaign in our content strategy for social media. Currently, we are on six social media platforms and we have an integrated marketing communication in place for all these platforms aligned with the campaign.

How will the campaign be promoted across social media channels? 

The campaign will be promoted aggressively on all the social media channels, where we are present, through content, contests and other interactive measures.

As a new age start-up, what are the social media marketing fundamentals that you keep in mind? 

Our social media team makes sure that the creatives used on our page are engaging and enticing. My team only puts content that is relevant for our followers. We don’t want to put out just anything for the sake of getting more likes. We aim to create a community on social media which loves OYO Rooms. Also, at OYO, we treat social media as a major lead generation and a branding channel. We ensure that whatever goes out on our page has a call-to-action in the form of a website link, app download link, etc.

How is social media helping you in creating an edge over your competitors? 

OYO, as a company believes in doing great things and new things every day. This is true for our social media presence too. We are our biggest competitors. Each day we just try to be better than what we were yesterday.

What would be the major hurdles faced by start-ups in marketing across social channels?  

For start-ups, creating a follower base on social media is a challenge. People won’t trust you unless you have followers and initially it might be difficult to get a huge follower base.

Do you use social media for lead generation? 

Yes, we use social media for lead generation. We target people based on their interest, behaviour and other parameters, an option you don’t have on traditional media. We also look at social media as being a channel for new customer acquisition. Apart from this, my social media team engages with people online and tells them about OYO and how we are solving a bigger problem for the society.

How do you plan to approach peer-to-peer platforms such as Periscope and Snapchat?

Periscope and Snapchat are the new age social media platforms with increasing user bases. We have plans to introduce OYO on these channels as well. In fact, we use Snapchat sometimes to share video stories from our monthly town hall within the company.