Category: News

Making a career move

Posted on by Abhinav

Every time I used to read Jeremiah’s blog titled People on the move in the social business industry I used to think when would I make a move. Finally the time has come. Yes, I am making a move, not only in terms of career but also in terms of location. After an exciting and really fruitful 2.5 years at Bangalore, I am moving to Delhi.

Away from the lovely weather which can turn you on anytime of the day, will move back to the extremities of hot and cold weather ! From the IT capital to the National Capital. From a city which probably has the highest road taxes to the lowest ! From a city which releases movies in 5 different languages, most of which I don’t understand, to one which will have movies in just 2 languages, thankfully I understand both 🙂 That also means I can watch 2-3 movies in theatres in my new city for the same price which I paid for a single movie in Bangalore. Loads that I can talk about the differences but let’s not make it too long.

Where am I joining ? I would be venturing out (yet again) and starting a Digital Marketing Company based out of Gurgaon. Lots of things happening around and lots in store but will have to wait for the right time before I can share everything… Stay tuned and wish me luck 🙂

Featured in 'The Telegraph' : Social Sense

Posted on by Abhinav

It’s a new year and it’s a new beginning for a lot of us, but this post comes as a result of something that happened right at the end of the previous year!

After getting featured on Rediff and Careers360, I was featured in a story by The Telegraph on the topic, of course, Social Media Marketing. The CareerGraph section, a weekly supplement has featured a few biggies from the big industry which makes me both honored and proud to be listed along side the likes of Mahesh Murthy and Sanjay Mehta.

To quote myself, the article says :

According to Abhinav Sahai, co-founder of Zapylacz, Bangalore, hard core marketing professionals aren’t welcome here. “They are keen on selling rather than engaging the community. It’s more about communication, less about selling and advertising,” he explains. It needs professionals ranging from content developers to managers. “Software developers, user interface experts (who design software applications and websites focusing on users’ experience), search engine optimisation professionals (who decide how search engines work and what people search for) and people who can conduct research or understand consumer behaviour,” he adds. Sahai himself is a computer science engineer but with no MBA or any other specialisation.

But is this sort of thing here to stay? The consensus among social media professionals is: it’s only set to grow. “The biggest advantage is its viral nature — each person has at least 100 friends. You can reach 1,000 x 100 users in just a week through re-shares on Facebook or re-tweets on Twitter,” says Sahai of Zapylacz.

But of course, this media too suffer from certain weaknesses. The audience is quick to point out the saleability or non-saleability of a product, points out Sridharan of Brand-comm. In other words, negative publicity is difficult to contain. “The biggest disadvantage is its uncontrollable nature — if something goes wrong, it can blow apart a company’s reputation,” agrees Sahai.

The interview was conducted last month and only the excerpts were published primarily due to the size of the story.

You can read the entire story here.

Sounds a nice way to end the previous year, hope there is more to come in the New Year. Happy New Year folks!