Summary
SPOTIFY INDIA EXECUTES INDIA'S FIRST LONG-TERM TWITTER TREND-JACKING We entered trending conversations on Twitter, and promoted learning by hyper-contextualizing podcasts to trends IN REAL TIME. For example, when #TuesdayTrivia was trending we shared the ‘Brain Stuff' podcast that talked about what outer space smells like. For #WeekendVibes the ‘Stuff You Should Know' podcast revealed foods that release happy hormones!
Challenge
Our biggest advantage was the abundance of knowledge-based podcasts that were already available on Spotify. With genres like science and tech, history, motivation, personal finance, new languages, we had it all. So, our objective for 2022 was to: a. Make Spotify the default platform for audio learning b. Enable the discovery of self-enhancement titles
Objective
We're living in the golden age of podcasts. From true crime to comedy, the podcast industry is booming. India is already the third-largest podcast-listening market in the world. Every month new shows are launched, and new podcasters come into the limelight. Spotify, the home of music all around the world, is also the home to podcasts of different genres. But we aren't alone in this race, every other audio-streaming platform is out there promoting podcasts. So, to become the go-to platform and increase listenership in India, we needed to be disruptive and raise the bar. For that, we realized there was one category of podcasts, no one else was promoting. Through data, we understood that audio learning is taking off in India: 62% users already seek audio learning for self-enhancement 40% users have used podcasts as a learning tool to engage with expert opinions. This valuable data led us to promote knowledge-based podcasts.
Strategy
Our strategy was to bring knowledge-based podcasts to learners having real-time conversations on digital. According to research conducted for Twitter, an overwhelming 83% of people on the platform said they're open-minded. So, we chose that platform where every day, 30 trending conversations help people find great content, what's new and inspiring stories. Thus, we arrived at our big idea – to conduct India's first long-term trend jacking. By entering every trending conversation, we promoted learning by hyper-contextualizing podcasts to trends IN REAL TIME. To enter trending conversations, we partnered with Twitter to set up a specialized dashboard that uses AI and machine learning to bring knowledge-based podcasts to the top: Identifying potential trends – Owing to the custom dashboard's algorithm, we could map conversations that were gaining traction, even before they appeared on Twitter's trending list. Mapping relevant conversations to Spotify podcasts – Before the activity began, we added over 200 podcasts to our dashboard's database. Then, it started mapping trending conversations to relevant podcast shows and episodes. For example: When National Sports Day was trending, we promoted the Indian History Podcast that shared stories of Major Dhyanchand. When the movie Brahmastra was trending, through ‘The Origin of Things' podcast, we shared the story of India's first multiplex, PVR, where they would probably watch the movie. Tweeting real-time – We didn't have to wait for hours to enter trending conversations, as we fed in a database of keywords, tweets and podcast titles in the dashboard, from the list of over 200 podcasts on our app. Through a mind map, we also created cohorts out of our audiences according to their learning needs and served them with relevant podcasts. For example, ‘general trivia & theoretical knowledge' for those seeking trivia about trending topics.
Data
With this technology, we became a part of 53 planned & 13 unplanned conversations (over 27 days) We knew usually brands take 2-3 hours to enter just one trending conversation. Reasons? Preparing the content, feedback, and approval. We were aiming for a month-long activity with instantaneous timelines on each post. And to solve this challenge, machine learning, thorough planning, and subject matter excellence came to our rescue. In no time, the dashboard's algorithm learned from our inputs and started recommending podcasts based on other trending conversations, which helped us leverage important learning-based topical days, such as #TeachersDay, #EngineersDay and #InternationalLiteracyDay. Apart from the key topicals, we also had fun with everyday trends on Twitter. For example, when #TuesdayTrivia was trending we shared the ‘Brain Stuff' podcast that talked about what the outer space smells like. For #WeekendVibes the ‘Stuff You Should Know' podcast revealed foods that release happy hormones! The month-long trend jacking activity made Spotify the first brand in India and the second brand globally to master real-time messaging on social media.
Solution
Results
We introduced people to knowledge-based podcasts, and soon they were hooked. All in all, we exceeded all expectations and went to increase the podcast listenership for Spotify India. Daily active users increased 2x resulting in 70% incremental listeners and Monthly active users went up by 40% With a total 66 tweets (53 planned & 13 unplanned) we received 10.5M reach & 32M impressions! And most importantly, we made a large cohort of curious learners look to podcasts on Spotify as an impactful way to learn more about the world around them.
