Since its inception, Meesho has been known as a brand that connects with people across different income levels and demographics in India. It is positioned as a platform that empowers individuals to start and grow their businesses through social commerce and sets itself apart on its affordability factor. Launched in 2015, Meesho has become the first horizontal e-commerce firm in India to turn profitable.
This pan-category approach can also be seen on its own account, wherein Meesho reminds consumers that it sells a wide range of products for them to be a part of pop culture. It further uses its storytelling ability and catchy captions to engage with the audience.
Since Meesho largely targets younger members of the population, the brand does not shy away from catering to their needs. Be it making reels that tickles our funny bones or depict themes that immediately establish a connection, Meesho is always on its toes in terms of its reel strategy.
Soumitra Choubey, Associate Director - Brand Marketing, Meesho told Social Samosa that the reels are optimized for higher engagement.
To achieve this, Choubey said, “We try to make the content more relatable, infotaining, adding more value back to the user which in turn gives us a lot of engagement in the form of shares, comments, and saves, etc. We see that as a driver of growing community size. We tend to avoid chasing followers because we think it is an outcome of making good content.”
“We understand that people are not on Instagram to see branded content. So we try to provide either entertainment, inspiration, or information or all of these combined. What we're seeing is that when we are optimizing for engagement, we are actually getting a lot of distribution,” added Choubey.
While every brand is chasing higher engagement on Instagram today, Meesho looks at a simple input metric to chase this ROI.
“Who will share this? When will they share it? Whom will they share it with? And if these few questions are answered. We put the content out there and hope that engagement will follow,” Choubey told Social Samosa.
Meesho has put social media, especially Instagram, to good use in growing its popularity and connecting with the target audience. It has leveraged the audience's love for reels and created its own space on Instagram. It boasts of 2.7 million followers on Instagram and has an army of dedicated creators that share affordable deals across categories such as decor, DIY, make-up, jewellery, apparel, and more. Its creators, who largely use hashtags such as #meeshohaul, #meeshofinds, #meeshofashion, have created over 90.7k, 59.1k, and 28.2k posts, respectively.
Embracing infotainment as a content bucket
On first glance, one can spot a variety of infotainment reels on Meesho’s Instagram. It provides educational content for its target audience, including business tips, product showcases, how-to guides, tutorials, consumer testimonials, influencer collaborations, interactive content, and more.
The objective behind these Reels is to gain affinity, which was decided after trials and errors.
“After trying different types of content formats, we have realized that Instagram is majorly an affinity channel. And we are making sure to not use it like a sales-driving channel,” said Choubey.
What started as a simple product showcase, Meesho’s Reels, has seen a shift in content formats. Approximately 17 different kinds of content themes and formats were tested, said Choubey, before Meesho embraced infotainment as its niche.
Sharing different stages of experimentation, Choubey added, “Initially there was a lot of content related to product showcases. Our own catalog was also getting showcased in the forms of statics, stories, videos, and animatics. But then we decided to rethink and open up the landscape a bit. We started experimenting with vox pop, getting real people on the channel; getting them to talk about Meesho and its offerings, and getting some of our campaigns on reels. We experimented with the rare finds as a bucket along with fun and relatable content around shopping.”
The themes that Meesho has arrived at are largely tips and tricks and life hacks, as these cut across categories for a horizontal player.
Meesho’s reels often contain the following common characteristics:
DIYs and tutorials - Very frequently, reels are posted on Meesho’s page that feature tutorials of the products on the platform. These are informative in nature and contain suggestions for the viewers. Some videos also feature interesting DIYs that people can try on their own and involve useful recommendations.
Audience interactions - The brand also does interactions with audience members. The hosts are seen asking questions to people on interesting as well as day-to-day topics. Some of the best responses are compiled and posted on their page.
Memes - Memes are an integral part of today’s zeitgeist and a powerful way to connect with young adult audiences. Meesho often posts relatable and quirky memes involving popular topics and current events. These are usually based on themes that touch common sentiments. Meesho also likes to experiment with new formats and one such recent trend that can be seen on its Instagram page is the dubbing of videos featuring animals in human voices to create a sense of awe and generate laughter.
Product promotions - Reels of products available on Meesho are posted from time to time. These are either in collaboration with influencers or Meesho’s own hosts, wherein they talk about the best buys or the cheapest items that can be bought.
Usage of regional languages - To ensure maximum reach across the country, efforts are made to feature languages that the majority of the population speaks. Reels often feature characters speaking in Hindi and limited use of English.
Budget-friendly recommendations - Frequent reels feature recommendations by Meesho on the most budget-friendly items that can be purchased.
Influencer Collab - Influencers with large followings create Reels featuring Meesho products, showcasing their own experiences with the products, and potentially offering discounts or promotions. This has helped expand Meesho's reach and credibility. It has collaborated with popular influencers like Abhinav Singh, Garima Chaurasia, Khushi Chaudhary, Anisha Dixit, Kishen Das, and Kabita Singh, among others, repurposing viral social media trends with a unique twist in their reels. Influencer marketing has turned out to be really beneficial for Meesho as people are more likely to buy products when their favorite influencers review and try the products themselves.
Reels help Meesho reach a larger and more diverse audience on Instagram, increasing brand awareness, engaging the audience, educating, informing, driving traffic, building trust, and staying relevant.
As Meesho continues to inform and entertain, here are a few key takeaways brands can learn from Meesho’s reels:
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Have recurring personalities
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Use high-quality visuals, catchy graphics, and attention-grabbing imagery
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Tell a story with every video
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Use customer testimonials and success stories to build trust and credibility
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Interactive elements, such as polls, quizzes, challenges, and questions boost engagement
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Keep it funny and lighthearted
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Stay updated with trending challenges, songs, and hashtags
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Incorporate universal themes that make your content relatable on a larger scale
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Consistency is the key that helps maintain and grow an engaged audience.
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