Are you planning to curate digital and social media campaigns to create brand awareness, enhance brand recall, generate leads and enhance customer experience without capturing the vast offline space? To put it simply- it is not possible.

Digital marketing is evolving day in and day out. It has its origin in Marketing and Strategy. But no doubt, without knowing the basics of marketing and strategy it becomes very difficult to have innovative ideas in digital platform of marketing. In marketing and public relations (PR), it’s very difficult to have an edge over others, if the campaign ideas aren’t creative and innovative enough.

Nowadays, there are queries whether offline activities such as conventional media coverage, consumer or social connect events help in branding of social media image through pictorial or other posts or not. It is quite evident that offline media coverage of an event activity or award received, have more impact on people, those who matter to the brand on the social media space! People might forget what award the brand won but the picture/coverage of the person receiving the award will be there in the minds of different stakeholders. Isn’t it enough to underline the importance of offline activity onto Online Platforms?

Time and again it is inquired whether offline events/media coverage hold any importance in social media marketing or not. First and foremost, let me tell you that being a communications consultant, I have been planning, strategizing, and developing both ATL (above-the-line) and BTL (below-the-line) plans for the promotion of the brands. It must be remembered that offline events/ media coverage create real time documentations – photos, videos, audio clips and all forms of data for a brand which can be effectively used in social media. Social media marketing is a perfect stepping stone or launching pad to correlate offline and online activities of a brand or a product or specific service provided by the players in the marketplace.

Side by side, offline events conducted in certain duration help to create action call for the brand or the concerned individual. Offline activities should be targeted towards achieving something and it can happen through professional connection only. Whenever a social media promotion for any brand/ event is initiated, it is done for documentation. Here comes the role of social media. It creates the media hangover. photos and promos, which can’t be created. So, offline activity is a must.

There is no denying the fact that offline events give a real time audit which it directly complements or gives a cost definition to social media coverage. After all, the physical presence, work or activism of a brand is always so important. Nevertheless, the whole idea is inclusive and social media promotion is only possible with a targeted approach when there are offline events/media coverage throughout on an economic year to a niche audience, targeting customer or consumer base.

Keep on promoting the brand first offline and in this globalized village, chances are indeed high that you have to use online space to get your brand registered in the minds as social media placement is a follow-ups of offline announcements. The reality is, the offline space of customers or consumers is many times bigger than vibrant digital space.