Introduction:
In the modern sense to have a strong branding strategy for any kind of organization is mandatory. Especially in terms of online news-sites have different types branding strategies. Generally we know that we are now belonging to the era of information technology. So it must be clear to us that the traditional branding strategies are not suitable to promote or establish the strong brand image on the consumers’ mind for any company especially for the online news-site. Here the study done by me will introduce you with some modern branding strategies.
As an integral part of the Internship of the BBA program, this study has been conducted and submitted. This study is attempted to reveal the facts about the strengths and weakness of the Branding strategies of the Glocal24.com with view to have an-depth idea about the branding in online arena. Branding and communication department is the major department for making the strong position of Glocal24.com among different types of online news-sites of local and global. In order to strengthen the brand image, Glocal24.com has been taking some initiatives to provide better news and information to its consumers (users). With these efforts Glocal24.com is doing better gradually. So I have decided to intern in Glocal24.com.
Background of the study:
The internship program is an integral part of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program of Department of Marketing of Faculty of Business, Jagannath University. After completion of the program a student must submit the report on the assigned topic to the supervisor and department. The program has 3 months duration.
From 1st November, 2011 to 31st January, 2012, I worked with the employees of Glocal24.com. With the help of Honorable supervisor Professor Md. Jakir Hossain, Chairman, Department of Marketing, Jagannath University, Dhaka had been selected my topic. And under the proper guidance of on-site supervisor Mr. S. M. Ashik Ahmed, I have conducted my study on “Branding Strategy for Online News Portal in Perspective of Glocal24.Com”.
Rationale of the study:
This study will have both practical and academic value. It will help to get a clear idea about Branding strategies of Glocal24.com. On the other hand, the findings of this study will help the Decision makers, and interested person to take appropriate actions for the betterment of the existing branding practice of it. It will also help interested person to conduct further study for the development of this online-news portal.
Objectives of the Study:
To evaluate the branding strategy of Glocal24.com
To measure the effectiveness of the present branding strategy of Glocal24.com
To identify the new ways to build strong brand image with both theoretical and practical knowledge
Provide branding solution for both in local and global market places
To prescribe some suggestions to improve the branding strategy of Glocal24.com so that it can draw the attention of the target market as well as can help to achieve the organization objectives.
My main objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate the core branding strategy of Glocal24.com and what are their brand elements, POPs and PODs, criteria, inventory strategy etc. My objective was also to find out the challenges and opportunities of this citizen journalism site.
Methodology:
Methodology is a vital part of a Study or Report. This is a descriptive type of study that has undertaken insights and understanding about overall operation of the Glocal24.com. This report is prepared on the basis of primary and secondary data. The relevant data information was collected through direct interview of the personnel engaged in various departments of the Glocal24.com. The secondary data sources are different published reports, manuals and different publications of Glocal24.com in online and documents.
The subject matter related to methodology of this report is the following:
Primary sources of Data:
Direct Interviews & Conversation
Official records
Observation of various organizational procedures
Expert opinion
Structured and unstructured questions have been asked to collect information.
Secondary Sources of Data:
Various reports of Glocal24.com
Relevant papers and different books and publications
Manual of different departments
Various online publications of Glocal24.com and other websites of Splendor IT.
Various online publications related Glocal24.com
Scope of the Study:
The report deals with the Branding and Communication process in terms of theoretical point of view and the practical use. The study will allow learning about the Branding and Communication issues, importance, modern techniques and models used to make it more efficient. The study will help to learn the practical procedures followed by the leading organizations. Moreover the study will help to differentiate between the practice and the theories that direct to realize how the organization can improve their Branding and Communication process in online.
Limitations of the Study:
The main limitation of the study is the collection of information and time limitations. Because the most of the information are confidential and the theme of that news site is totally unique in Bangladesh. The authorities of Glocal24.com are so much helpful but due to the time limitations I have missed their proper cooperation.
I have enlisted those limitations as below:
Lack of adequate knowledge about Branding practices of any online news portal.
Due to the shortage of time I could not get at depth knowledge of Branding practices of the Branding and communication department of Glocal24.com.
Many personnel of Glocal24.com are not interested to provide adequate information.
Most of the information about the topic relevant in this purpose was secret form the point of view of organization. So this kind of information could not be collected.
For the reason of confidentiality, some useful information cannot be expressed in this report.
Lack of available information about Branding strategies of online news portal.
Company profile of Splendor IT
About Splendor IT
Splendor IT is a total IT (information technology) solution firm in Bangladesh for providing all kind of IT solution, internet marketing campaigns, web designing, web development, desktop application development, customizing technology solutions, online promotion, human resource solution and outsourcing for businesses of all types.
Splendor IT begins its commercial operation in the year 2010 with the aim of supplying high quality software products, website and services to customers. Splendor IT is professional web development and offshore outsourcing company based in Bangladesh. It is a fast growing website design company that develops high-end internet portals and websites used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. This firm aspires for delivering effective, creative website site designs and application development for its clients. Splendor IT emerges with a single source for IT industry knowledge, expertise, resource and product. Its professional technical support is to solve your IT problems and maintain your IT systems. It offers a full menu of services to help companies manage and satisfy all IT needs. This innovative IT firm will meet its clients’ varied needs and enable them to maximize their investment in IT.
Splendor IT, as a leading web design company, offers professional website design and development services, custom web application development and custom e-commerce solutions. This IT firm is totally committed and dedicated to customer satisfaction and delivering on its promises. It is able to suggest new initiatives to improve service and maximize the benefits to the customers’ organization. The talented team of Splendor IT with dedicated professionals will bring together your vision and ideas into reality with creativity, technology, and marketing. Splendor IT offers its clients a business-centric suit of solutions which will firmly establish them as the leaders in the web industry.
At a glance
| Name | : Splendor IT |
| Motto | : Relax while we work for you |
| Company Type | : IT Enable Business |
| Main Markets | : Bangladesh |
| Year established | :June 01, 2010 |
| Business activity | : IT Enabled Services (Search Engine Optimization, Graphics Design, Data Entry), E-Commerce, Web services and Training |
Mission, vision and values of Splendor IT
MISSION
Continuously delight customers in current and new businesses by delivering superior value through enhanced offerings on the internet and other platforms. I will do this by preserving their entrepreneurial spirit and leveraging their financial strength and expertise in building brands, communities, product and technology; sales and service
Splendor IT is a leading provider of online recruitment, informational, technological, educational and related services in Bangladesh.
VISION
To create splendorous platforms that transform lives.
Company VALUES
Customer Delight
Entrepreneurship
Knowledge
Results
Trust
Employee
Milestones:
The world’s most artistic illusionist personal Jewel Aich personal website developed.
UN organization Youth Foundation of Bangladesh website developed.
Advertisement firm View Finder corporate website developed.
Developed BIBI Foods and Beverage Ltd corporate website.
Eco Development and Holding Limited corporate website developed.
United International University (UIU) Student Alumni Association website developed.
Websites of Splendor IT:
Splendor IT has different types of websites. All the websites are creating their brand image in particular sectors in our country. Splendor IT developed education related website, job related website, technology related website, travel related website, corporate and business related website and some news portal websites.
Splendor IT has developed the following websites:
GLOCAL24.COM
STUDENT-WISH.COM
BDUNILIFE.COM
CORPORATE-PLANET.COM
TECH-YARD.COM
BDTRAVELING.COM
STUDENT-WISH.COM:
“Student-Wish” is an educational & informational and 1st ever part-time jobs website which provides all the information to interested people, this site basically for the students of Bangladesh. All the services of this web portal are totally cost free.
Mission:
The student will get their desired information in a single place instead of searching for the information in many places.
Provided Information:
Part time jobs, Tuition, Scholarship, Admission info & result, Student Visa, Foreign Study, Short courses and seminar, competition info, life style, Beauty Care, Share & business, Love & romance, Health Care, Jokes and funny picture, institution info and many more
Website URL:
http://www.student-wish.com
CORPORATE-PLANET.COM:
“Corporate-Planet” is a news & informational website which provides the update business and corporate news of home and abroad. It also provides lifestyles and so on. All the services of this web portal are totally cost free. It was launched on 29th July, 2010. It also provides the update news of Brand positioning of various renowned companies in all over the world.
Mission:
Always provide updated news and information about business world.
Website URL:
http://www.corporate-planet.com
TECH-YARD.COM:
Tech-yard.com is an IT website powered by Splendor IT. It is founded on 20th June 2010. Tech-yard.com provides updated IT information to everyone. Anyone can easily find out latest IT information provided by Tech-yard.com. It offers the basis for production, information, communication, and systems for the information technology world. It makes the latest news available on technology, software, computer science, internet, semiconductor, telecom and science technology. Tech-yard.com deals with the products of IT world. These are computer, laptop, software, internet service, modem, semiconductor, telecom products, mobile handset, MP3, iPhone, camera, televisions, and others modern high-tech products and services. Its products and services are being updated regularly.
Mission
Always provides updated IT information to everyone.
Website URL
http://www.tech-yard.com
BDTRAVELING.COM
The “Bdtraveling.com” focuses and highlights the hidden treasures of Bangladesh. It includes our country’s lots of places which are of historic heritage and natural beauty. Visitors or travelers can also know the residential accommodation as well as transportation for their desired destination.
Mission
Always provides clear information to make sound tour in Bangladesh.
Website URL
http://www.bdtraveling.com
BDUNILIFE.COM:
BDunilife.com ‘Jobs solution’ section is designed and developed to build a bridge between the Employers and the Fresh Graduates who have just completed their university degree. The website’s ultimate goal is to facilitate the Fresh Students to get a job. The site will be acting as a resource center for both the Fresh Students and Employer.
It is not just another Job portal in Bangladesh. It started to provide some unique services which are not present in any other existing ones. Employer can easily post their circular at free of cost.
Mission
To connect the fresh job seekers directly with employers by shortening the job seeker’s employment search and lowering the employer’s cost per hire.
Website URL
http://www.bdunilife.com
Profile of Glocal24.com
GLOCAL24.COM:
Glocal24.com is the first ever citizen journalism website in Bangladesh. The concept of citizen journalism rises above the conventional media. A citizen journalist of the country can report, read, write, comment and view news around the world. Citizen journalists are general people or citizen of any country who report the happenings they find significant. Citizen journalism provides the tools of informing and opinion shaping to the people in both text and visual forms.
Glocal24.com allows its users to become citizen journalists or CJ. Users can post their news here and comment on these. They can post photos and videos too. Such opportunity is given for the evolution of technology and emergence of new modes of communication. Glocal24.com adds bigger dimensions to the raising the expectations and information needs of the people. This website provides its visitors with the instant and seamless flow of information. Glocal24.com is an effort to provide one platform to interact and express the need to empower democracy by providing a media to the people of the country to communicate with one and all. Another feature of Glocal24.com is that this website offers rewards for the top authors and top commenters in every month. This website also offer various quiz programs in different occasions. Visitors gather here both for reading and writing news.
Short Profile
| Title | : Glocal24.com |
| Country code | : BGD |
| City of Publication | : Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Publisher | : Asikul Alam Khan |
| Organization | : Splendor IT |
| Start date | : 26th March, 2011 |
| Language | : English |
| Address | : House-16, Road-07, Sector-01, Uttara, Dhaka-1230 |
| Fax | : 88028961609 |
Organization Infrastructure:
Hardware Infrastructure: Many workstations for website development, testing and support facilities.
Internal Training Facilities: In-house staff training facility to train people at a time and other interactive tools.
Internet Connectivity: A dedicated leased line for all our development facility supported by a backup Banglalion wimax cable link in case the leased line fails.
Dedicated Servers for application Hosting, Testing and Client presentation: Have co-location servers with one of the best data center in USA having multiple OC3 connectivity and all the latest Firewall installed.
Communication Infrastructure: Facility for video team conferencing/ 24 x 7 phone calling for onsite-offsite-client team coordination.
Contingency and Disaster Recovery: An offsite location has been created for any kind of eventuality should the main center be rendered unusable. A dedicated leased line for all our development facility supported by a backup broadband cable link in case the leased line fails.
IT skill
Literature Review
Branding:
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business. A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word branding began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A legally protected brand name is called a trademark. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity – it affects the personality of a product, company or service.
According to Philip Kotler, “Brand is a means, term, sing, symbol, or design, or a combination of these intended to indentify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to difference them from those of competitors.”
So we can say that a brand is a name, an identity that creates differentiation among the competitors to better position in the mind of the consumers.
Brand Elements:
Name: is a must for any brand. e.g.: Grameenphone.
Symbol: is something that is unutterable. e.g.:
Logo: can be ‘Name’ only, ‘Symbol’ only, ‘Name+Symbol’. e.g.:
Characters: That represents the brand with unique made characters. e.g.: Mr. Cookie biscuit has a cartoon character.
Slogan: It reflects the unique selling proposition of a brand. e.g.: ‘Stay close’ Grameenphone.
History of Branding:
The word brand comes from the word “brandr”, a word used by early Norse tribesmen meaning ‘to burn’, as in branding livestock to declare ownership. It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. No doubt, anyone who has read cowboy stories is familiar with the concept of branding cattle.
Over time branding of cattle became not just mark of ownership but also of quality. In the Chicago meat market, buyers recognized quality beef through the brand mark on the cattle. This was because the ranches which produced better quality of meat did so as it implied –better grass or more adequate supply of water, better living conditions for the cattle or a shorter journey to the meat market. No longer was ‘meat on the hoof’ a commodity, it was ‘branded’ and the better quality was recognizable.
At 3000 to 5000 BC:
At least 3000 to 5000 before centuries as archaeologists have found evidence of advertising among Babylonians dating back to 3000 BC. The pottery and porcelain made in China, Greece, Rome and India had a potter’s marks in 1300 BC proved that the terms branding occurred along the way until now.
Between 1600s and 1800s:
Literally, between the 1600s and 1800s, criminals were branded as a form of punishment and identification. For an example, in France, they branded a fleur de lis on the shoulder, while in England; they branded an S on a person’s cheek. Many of us also know that Proctor & Gamble and other consumer product companies began branding their products in earnest in the mid-to-late 1800s. Brands in the field of mass-marketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo on the barrels used, extending the meaning of brand.
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For examples:
Even the signatures on paintings of famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci can be viewed as an early branding tool.
Around 1900
James Walter Thompson published a house ad explaining trademark advertising. This was an early commercial explanation of what we now know as branding. Companies soon adopted slogans, mascots, and jingles that began to appear on radio and early television. By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were developing relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological sense.
From 1980’s till Now
From there, manufacturers quickly learned to build their brand’s identity and personality, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury. This began the practice we now know as “branding” today, where the consumers buy “the brand” instead of the product. This trend continued to the 1980s, and is now quantified in concepts such as brand value and brand equity. Naomi Klein has described this development as “brand equity mania”. In 1988, for example, Philip Morris purchased Kraft for six times what the company was worth on paper; it was felt that what they really purchased was its brand name.
These days
Building a brand can take a long time and is a combination of a having a consistent product, as well as strong advertising and marketing. The highest level of achievement in the world of branding is to create a brand that is instantly recognizable even without the name of the company present. This takes years of marketing and huge amounts of investment. From now and later on, the term brand has a wider meaning, and is used to describe a name, logo or slogan associated with a particular company, product or service.
Brands came about as a way to identity companies’ products from similar products of rival businesses, but of course branding could also be used to disguise an inferior product as one of higher quality. A brand is all about how a customer perceives a product or company. A successful brand is recognizable and creates an instant association with a product or service.
In the near future
Branding will become a Holistic Buying Proposition (HBP) and categorized to 5 main elements which are smell, touch, sight, sound and taste. Branding is about forming an emotional attachment between brand and consumer. A complete multi-sensory brand is greater than the sum of the 5 main categories. We can take Starbucks as an example; Starbucks’ sensory uniqueness is far less associated with the smell and taste of coffee than with the interior design of it’s’ cafe and its’ green and white logo. Branding will become a belief system amongst the brand itself and consumer.
Three key aspects for Global Branding:
There are three key aspects that contribute to the assessment for the best global brands:
- The financial performance of the branded products or services,
- The role of brand in the purchase decision process and,
- The strength of the brand.
Financial performance measures an organization’s raw financial return to the investors. Role of brand measures the portion of the decision to purchase that is attributable to brand – this is exclusive of other aspects of the offer like price or feature. Conceptually, role of brand reflects the portion of demand for a branded product or service that exceeds what the demand would be for the same product or service if it were unbranded. And the last one, brand strength measures the ability of the brand to secure the delivery of expected future earnings.
Goal of Branding:
To establish a powerful, relevant identity in the minds of customers in order to encourage their initial purchases and nurture an ongoing relationship between the marketer and the end user.
Creating customer loyalty through value innovation – is the ultimate objective and meaning of brand.
Why do Brand Matters to customers:
Help buyers identify the product that they like/dislike
Identify marketer
Helps reduce the time needed for purchase
Helps buyers evaluate quality of products especially if unable to judge a products characteristics
Helps reduce buyer’s perceived risk of purchase
Buyer may derive a psychological reward from owning the brand, Rado or Ford
The Four Steps of Brand Building:
Ensure identification of the brand with customers and an association of the brand in customers’ minds with a specific product class or customer need.
Establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of consumers
Elicit the proper customer responses to the brand identification and brand meaning
Convert brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand
Four Questions Customers ask of Brands:
Who are you? (brand identity)
What are you? (brand meaning)
What about you? What do I think or feel about you? (brand responses)
What about you and me? What kind of association and how much of a connection would I like to have with you? (brand relationships)
Leveraging Secondary Brand associations:
Marketers can create secondary brand knowledge by linking the brand to the following:
Companies (through branding strategies)
Countries or other geographic area (through identification of product origin)
Channels of distribution (through channel strategy)
Other brands (through Co-branding)
Characters (through Licensing)
Spokespersons (through endorsements)
Event (through sponsorship)
Other third party sources (through awards and reviews)
Co-Branding:
Co-branding is also known as brand alliance or brand bundling. It occurs when two or more existing brands are combined into a joint product are marketed into a same fashion.
It can generate greater sales from the target market as well as open additional opportunities with new consumers and channels. It can reduce the cost of production introduction of two well-known images in the market and also compliment the expertise of each other. For examples:
Pillsbury Brownie with Nestle Chocolate
Healthy Choice Cereal from Kellogg
Jet-Visa-Citibank Credit Card
Fisher-Price Pampers baby products
Eddie Bauer edition of Ford Explorer.
Branding strategy of Glocal24.com
Brand Elements of GLOCAL24.COM
Brand Name:
In case of choosing a brand element brand name is a fundamentally important choice because it often captures the central theme or key associations of a product or service in a compact and economical fashion. It can register the meaning and activate it in memory very rapidly. The name Glocal24.com is also very effective as the subscriber, user and the audience will be able to realize that the website is on the basis of 24 hours global and local news.
Logo:
A logo is an iconic symbol, graphic mark or emblem designed to represent a company, product or service. It also depicts an organization’s personality. Logo is easily identifiable and transferrable. A logo can be only name or symbol, color or sometime both the name and symbol. Glocal24.com is using both the name and the symbol of glob in its logo.
Slogan:
Slogans are the short phrases that communicate descriptive or persuasive information about the brand. It should be to the point, memorable and believable. It provides a compelling reason why customer will choose the brand. Glocal24.com also uses a slogan “Be a citizen Journalist” which will encourage the users to visit the site and write something in the website.
Mascot:
Mascot is a person or animal or thing that is supposed to bring luck to its users. It creates media exposure, excitement and generates goodwill for the brand.
URL(Uniform resource Location): Specifies the locations of pages on the web and are also commonly referred to as domain name. Criteria in selecting the brand elements
Memorability:
Brand elements should be chosen so that it can be recognized and recalled easily. The name of the Glocal24.com is good enough to create an image in the mind of its user and to recall in the future.
Meaningfulness:
Brand elements should be meaningful by providing descriptive and persuasive content. Glocal24.com expresses that it contains both the local and the global news and through its slogan it also ensures the benefit of the citizen journalism.
Likable:
Brand elements should have something fun, interesting and rich visual imagery so that the target audience can be captured with a long lasting image. The logo of the Glocal24.com with its color combination and global view creates an interest in the mind of it users.
Transferable:
Brand elements need to be transferable across the geographic boundary and cultures. The purpose of the Glocal24 .com is to create its user globally and locally by the word Glocal. Also its slogan “Be a citizen journalist” holds for every citizen in their city across the world.
Protectable:
Brand elements should be legally and competitively protected. If any element of a brand is easily copied then the uniqueness of the brand could be disappeared. That’s why the domain name of the glocal24.com is registered and also its logo has a registered trademark.
Points of Difference (PODS):
Points of difference are attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. There are some attributes or benefits through which a user differentiates Glocal24.com from the other competitive brands:
First ever citizen journalism site in the country
All category global and local unique news are available
No professionals, citizens are the journalist
All the citizens can share their problems, comments and provide their own suggestion
People from any country can post their news
Visitors can take part in regular quiz programs
They can also participate in daily online vote survey
There is also opportunity to win prizes by being top author in every month
Points of Parity (POPS):
Points of Parity are attributes or benefits which are not unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brand. Glocal24.com has some similar extents in comparison with other competitive brands:
24 hours online news service
Current and latest national and international news
Common categories news like sports, entertainment, politics, business, economics etc
Opportunity for the viewers to comment under each news
Participation in daily online audience poll
Daily feature video and news
Live news
Brand Positioning Strategy:
Brand positioning is act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s mind.
Glocal24.com follows the following strategies to create a unique position in the users mind:
It segments its user in various bases like:
Behavioral Bases
User status: Whether the user is professional or student
Usage rate: How recently and frequently they visit the site
Usage occasion: When they like to visit the site most
Brand loyalty: Evaluating the users loyalty towards the site
Demographic Bases:
Age: Identifies which ages of users visit and post the news
Gender: The users ratio according to the masculinity and femininity
Profession: Classifies the users according to their professions(teachers, businessman, jobholder)
Education: Classifies the student user (school student, college student or university student)
Geographic Bases:
International: Tracks the international user through their news and their origin country
Regional: Tracks the local user according to their news and preferred category
Compelling benefits
Glocal24.com offers some unique benefits which create a positive image in the users mind
Users can create an account in the site
It is the only site where the users not only visit the site but also can post a news of their own
It provides a platform for the user to exercise democracy through writing unbiased news and sharing comments.
Brand Mantra:
Short three to five word phrases that capture the essence or spirit of the brand positioning and brand values. The elements of brand mantra of glocal24.com are:
Brand Functions: The service or purpose of the glocal24.com is to provide the news both locally and globally.
Descriptive Modifier: It provides the news to all the citizens across the world
Emotional Modifier: Glocal24.com provides the news through citizen journalism not only professional journalism.
Brand mantra chart of Glocal24.com
| Emotional Modifier | Descriptive Modifier | Brand Function |
| Citizen Journalism | Citizens | Local and global news |
Brand Inventory:
Is a profile of how Glocal24.com brands and markets their image. It follows the following elements:
Brand Elements (Official logo, name, color, mascot, slogan)
Marketing Programs (Campaigns, direct marketing, Print media, online partnership)
Profile of the competitive news sites (Analyzing the strategy of the competitive online news sites like prothom-alo.com or bdnews24.com)
Designing the brand mantra according to the provided service, way to provide the service and its user types.
Brand Exploratory:
Is the process of how the subscribers perceive Glocal24.com as a brand. The criteria are:
Awareness: Users ability to reuse the website after using it first time
Favorability: Whether the news favors or benefits the users relevantly or believably
Uniqueness: Are the news unique or different from the other news websites
Secondary associations:
Sometime brands can be linked to other entities that have their own associations, this is called secondary brand association
At present Glocal24.com has some secondary associations:
It has been rated one of the good rated websites in Bangaldesh by Alexa within shortest time. It is also reviewed by the ISO. And its ISSN number is 2224-0594.
Glocal24.com also arranges regular online events such as glocal quiz, glocal guru etc.
It also introduces glocal scholar where top professionals, teachers, faculties share their valuable views and opinions
Position in Alexa.com:
Alexa.com organizes the competition on popularity of websites on the Web. The Alexa Traffic Rank will show how popular the site is compared to others, including Reach, Pageviews and more.
Statistics Summary for glocal24.com:
Glocal24.com’s three-month global Alexa traffic rank is 283,838. Roughly 30% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces). The time spent in a typical visit to this site is roughly 22 minutes, with 48 seconds spent on each pageview. Glocal24.com is relatively popular among users in the city of Dhaka (where it is ranked #881). Visitors to the site view an average of 14.0 unique pages per day.
Alexa Traffic Rank | Reputation | ||
| 283,838 Global Rank | 1,342 Rank in BD | 58 Sites Linking In | 10 Reviews |
Glocal Guru:
Glocal24.com, the first ever citizen journalism news site in Bangladesh, introduces “Glocal Guru” – online contest. Anyone can win by answering only one question. The contest question is given on facebook.com/glocal24. The question is formed from the news of glocal24.com on that particular day. It provides question at every evening and its ending time is for submitting the answer by 10pm in that day. The winner is announced within an hour through random selection among the givers of correct answer. The winner is recognized as Glocal Guru because s/he is familiar with the news of Glocal24.com. The winner is selected on everyday basis and gets ‘Prize Money’.
Scholars community:
‘Scholars community’ is an online platform for local and global scholars by Glocal24.com (ISSN: 2224-0594). Here scholars can share their outlook to the whole world through a single platform. Local and global scholars like teachers, professionals, consultants, researchers, journalists, columnists can join here by registering online at no cost. Scholars will get opportunity to share their opinions on economy, business and investment, branding and communication, company and advertisement review, education and research, science and technology, arts and environment. Moreover, they can publish here their own articles, journal review, professional experience, and can comment on other scholars’ writings.
Scholars community is an initiative by Glocal24.com. Glocal24.com started its journey on 26th March 2011. Now this site is much popular in India and UK as well. The portal ISSN is 2224-0594. As it has ISSN, scholars’ articles here will get international recognition. Moreover, local and global scholars can maintain a friendly relationship here through a single platform. Educated and general people can be benefited through scholars community by getting valuable knowledge from scholars.
Identifying User’s equity:
Glocal24.com identifies its user’s equity using the following dimensions:
Judgment Dimensions:
Site’s quality:
How users value the site?
Whether the visitors or the users are satisfied using the site?
Credibility:
Are the users satisfied at the sites expertise?
What is the visitors loyalty level?
What is the users likeability?
User consideration:
How relevantly users consider the site?
How distinctively they evaluate the site’s performance?
Superiority:
How the users differentiate the site to make it superior to the other site?
Resonance Dimensions:
Behavioral Loyalty:
The frequency and repeat usage by the users
Attachment:
Do the users feel proud of the site?
Are they dedicated and spend good amount of time in the site daily?
Active engagement:
Do they visit the site regularly?
Do they seek more information about the site?
Do they take part in the online events regularly?
Do they post regular news?
Brand Extension:
Brand extension occurs when a firm uses an established brand name to introduce a new product. Glocal24.com also uses its name while introducing the following new programs.
Glocal Professional Ace (GPA):
Job Interview Training
CV writing
Human Resource Training
Job Skill Development
Communication skill Development
Marketing and management skill development
Customer Relationship Management
The opportunity & strength:
GLOCAL24.COM is the first mover in citizen journalism site in Bangladesh.
Gradually its position in ALEXA.COM’ ranking is going to be better day to day.
Each day there is seen that new & new users register their username in GLOCAL24.COM.
And it has already been added to the Google.
GLOCAL24.COM is going to be corporately related with the BONIK BARTA newspaper.
Findings:
A very few number of users just write not the maximum number.
Most of them are very much active in early days of the session but not in the whole session.
Some of them just comment on the news but do not write the news as usual.
The users are very much conscious about the prize money. Sometimes it is going to be encouraged them to write worthless article.
The rewards money is not handed over as fast as they deserve.
The executives do not communicate with the writers regularly. That might create a communication gap with them. But how to communicate with all of the registered users that is a million dollar question. Because the e-mail is not so much fruitful for that reason.
Sometimes the updating is totally stopped due to the absence or unavailability of the admins or editors of GLOCAL24.COM.
Sometimes the admin or editor is available but the electricity or situations are not as suitable as needed.
There has not held any kind of campaign in perspective of GLOCAL24.COM or citizen journalism.
Recommendation & Conclusion
Recommendation:
User retention: The first challenge for Glocal24.com is to retain its user, visitors and writers regularly. As it is a news site where readers not only read the news but also write news so it is necessary to ensure that the users also post their news regularly.
Proliferation: Now a days lot of online news sites available in the country. All print media also introduce their online edition. So it is difficult to create identification in the mind of users. So it is important to increase associated programs, news category, and user friendly environment.
Increased Competition: As the number of news sites increase day by day so the competition is also higher. So it is very difficult to survive. To cope up with this competition it is very essential to provide unique news, exceptional news, real life and suggestive news.
Accountability: Here the citizens are the journalists. They insert their news whatever they perceive from the real life. So if there are any controversies or discrepancy regarding any news the panel board of Glocal24.com will be liable.
Regulation: There might be some rules, regulation and restriction toward publishing the news. So it could be a big impediment for exercising proper citizen journalism.
Regular Maintenance: As it is a news site which is run by the readers not by the professional journalists, so it is a great challenge to ensure news regularly and decently. So it is important to provide some strict instruction in the site’s profile. Also the site rewards its top writers and readers to inspire themselves. So it is very important to evaluate properly the top author and provide the reward in every month.
Conclusion:
Each and every person remains up to date by getting recent information or news of all over the world from different sources. One of the most important, fastest and easiest ways to get latest information or news is the online news portal. Actually all of us more or less are familiar with various online news-sites. But there may be some gap to get the original news; because all the journalists decorate the original news by giving different types of twists. Sometimes we the general people miss the true fact. Due to make up the gap of getting true fact there have been introduced the journalism sites where the general people or the actual witness can cooperate in sharing the facts or own views in front of the whole world. But in our country we don’t have the opportunity to share our own opinions or views as a general citizen without any kind of intermediary or unfairness. For this reason Splendor IT has introduced such kind of news portal site named as “Glocal24.com” ever first time in our country. And it plays a vital role to enhance the awareness of the citizens’ power of sharing and getting news or information.
Reference:
Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller, third edition
S. M. Ashik Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer, Splendor IT, Contact Number: 01926691283, Email ID: ashik@splendorit.com
Wikipedia, URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand+History+of+branding [accessed on 20.01.12]
Dry Pen, URL: drypen.in/branding/history-of-branding/ [accessed on 20.01.11]
Branding History, URL: www.brandinghistory.com/2011/02/the-history-of-branding[accessed on 20.01.11]
Editors Blog, URL: http://www.editorsweblog.org/news/2007/01/india_citizen_journalism_portal_to_democ.php
Search for I, URL: http://www.search4i.com/News-Media/Online-News/109493/Citizen-Journalism-News-Portal-in-India
Alexa, URL: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
Glocal24.com, UR: http://www.glocal24.com/about-us
http://www.splendorit.com
http://www.student-wish.com
http://www.bdunilife.com
http://www.corporate-planet.com
http://www.tech-yard.com
http://www.bdtraveling.com
http://glocal24.com/scholars/
Bibliography:
Citizen journalism: Citizen journalism (also known as “public”, “participatory”, “democratic”, “guerrilla” or “street journalism”) is the concept of members of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, which are practiced by professional journalists, or collaborative journalism, which is practiced by professional and non-professional journalists working together. Citizen journalism is a specific form of citizen media as well as user generated content.
New media technology, such as social networking and media-sharing websites, and the increasing prevalence of cellular phones have made citizen journalism more accessible to people all over the world, who can often report breaking news much faster than traditional journalistic organs. Notable examples of citizen journalism being used to report major world events include the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism
Glocal: Global +Local. “Glocal” refers to the individual, group, division, unit, organization, and community which is willing and able to “think globally and act locally.”
Source: http://www.linkedin.com/answers/international/internationalization-
localization/INT_INZ/753130-37471811
