Have you noticed how we spend so much time on our phones, mindlessly browsing different feeds, images & platforms?
Instead of this, how great would it be if we spent that time maybe on learning something that truly interests us or a skill that we really want to pick up on?
This is the exact thought that crossed the mind of CJ Adams, Co-founder of Keen. With the help of Area 120, a workshop for Google’s experimental projects, Keen was born!
Currently only available on android and on the web, this app runs on Google search’s machine learning expertise and helps you curate & share content based on certain interests.
To use Keen, you must first sign into a Google account. Then you can enter the topic that interests you the most.
Keen will then give you multiple suggestions that relate to your topic of interest. You can choose only the suggestions that you want to track.
You will then be directed to a pinboard consisting of various images that link to different web content that suits the topic you chose. You can find blog articles, YouTube videos, shopping links and much more.
Every collection you create, Keen uses Google’s search engine to help you discover, curate and share content related to your topic of interest. Remember, the more you save to a keen and organize it, the better the recommendations become.
Finally, you can click on the little Gem next to each article in the explore section, and that article will be saved in your Gems providing you with easy access to the links that you like the best.
Once a Keen is created, you can keep editing it, remove or save links from the list, either make it a public or private keen as well as share the keen with others and allow them to collaborate and add content as well.
When you go to look at it, Pinterest does an amazing job of being a source for ideas by helping us collect images, information and much more & now Google Keen does resemble Pinterest in a way, definitely making it a solid competitor.
At the end of the day Google Keen seems to be the new talk of the town and the real question we need to ask is:
Instagram recently announced that it would be releasing a new sticker called ‘Food Order’ to help support small businesses in the food industry. The sticker will help the restaurant keep in touch with their customers & bring more people to support their business.
As the unlock face begins, restaurants are looking for ways to increase their business. Businesses can now share this sticker on their stories, and just by one tap on the sticker a customer will be directed to Swiggy or Zomato website for them to order.
In order to be able to use this sticker, the restaurant is required to:
Here is how you can set up the sticker on your Instagram Profile:
Go to your profile & tap “Edit Profile”
Under “Public Business Information” tap Action Buttons
Under “Select a Button”, tap Food Orders
Select a partner (Swiggy or Zomato) for your food orders. In case you haven’t set up food orders with a partner, follow the instructions on the partner’s site.
Then add the website that your business is using for the food order services.
Tap Done
Now you are set up and all that is left to do is to use the sticker to promote orders and connect with your customers.
When sharing the story, you can share photos and videos, add the Food Order sticker and share your story. The colour of the Food Order sticker can also be changed based on your preference. There are a few things to keep in mind regarding the sticker. Only one Food Orders sticker can be added per story. Your viewers can reshare your story to their own story, but you will not receive notifications for every reshare of this Food Sticker Story.
The sticker is easy to use, easy to share among customers and NOW is the best time for restaurants to make the highest use of them. Since it is a fairly new sticker, Instagram will keep pushing the stories and accounts of people using this sticker.
Instagram is rolling out all these new stickers to help businesses not lose connection with their customers. Last month the Support Small Business sticker was released in order to help businesses reach new customers and stay connected with people. People made really good use of that sticker when it was released. In the same way, this new Food Orders sticker is part of Instagram’s ongoing efforts to safeguard and support small businesses during COVID-19, and to help them get back up on their feet. Now it’s time for us to make use of the new benefits we receive.
All around the world, businesses are facing an unexpected challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial for the business to sustain in the competitive environment and be operational at this time. Consumers are ultimately the king and their support is very important for the continuous flow of business in the respective regions. Consumers contribute to the overall economic development of the country.
In March and April 2020, Facebook launched a series of features including the ‘Stay Home’ and ‘Thank you’ stickers. In the month of May, they launched a new series through their photo-based app Instagram called ‘Support Small Business’ sticker to help small businesses and brands reach more people and stay updated with news about COVID-19 pandemic.
Image 1 (Sticker)
Image 2 (Sticker with preview)
The new stickers allow followers to show their love towards their brands in stories. It’s similar to a “shout-out” which has been used before. Although here the followers get a preview of the account as shown above. The brand gets notified of your mention and it can repost your story on their page. When followers mention different brands, all the stories come together in a common shared Instagram story, so followers see various businesses or brands being supported by people.
The stickers help in developing brand awareness, brand loyalty between the brands and the customers. As many businesses are using social media as a core communication due to easy accessibility, it’s easier for people to show support and follow what the brand is offering for them and the community. Brands can also use the sticker for other businesses or entrepreneurs in the community or the region.
The recent “Vocal for Local” initiative by the Honourable PM of India Mr. Narendra Modi promoting local businesses to boost the Indian economy has been well received by social media community in India. Brands, companies, small businesses, public figures, community pages are promoting various local businesses in spreading the ideology of informing users to support local products and services.
As a digital marketing agency, We have initiated a volunteer-driven community of people called “Yenna Kudla”. Under the tag of Yenna Kudla, we share stories under #VocalforLocal ideology where owners promote their businesses through Whatsapp groups and our Instagram pages about their products and services. As a result, we have had a lot of interaction with new local businesses in Mangalore because we mentioned many businesses and brands in Dakshina Kannada. The key goal was to increase the reach for these businesses and create employment opportunities.
As an agency, we are supporting the best way to promote brands associated with our “Yenna Kudla” project and it is essential for a business to stay updated with how social media is helping the brands to develop better relations with their customers and the community.
