Social media and sociological impact on communities

Social media has clearly shown how the communities are being impacted and a shift thats visible. Traditionally, we saw communities built on the basis of region,language, religion and caste to name a few. Later, developmental factors/technologies such as education, transportation facilities, telephone helped build new communities and maintain them better. For instance, either of these factors would be important for me to keep in touch with my school/college mates often. And as we all experience, these chums are close to us and influence our decision making at various aspects of life.This was an important shift because, these communities were built completely based on one's will and choice and were not sort of "imposed". Many times, our relatives are nothing but extra and unwanted baggage that rarely come to any productive use. So, my friends, for example were my  source of strength and inspiration and what empowered me most that I made a choice to build my own community. Then came the web and it has fast paced and overpowered all other developments in community building. So the reason of building a community was to get the "best of the lot". For example, I may not know someone for a long time but when it comes to taking decisions on traveling, I would trust his opinion since he is a frequent traveler. This, according to me is a radical shift in terms community building compared to earlier times. Because, you are valuing a person based on his knowledge and giving a lower priority to acquaintance. There may not have been much of sharing of information and getting-to-know between you and him ( which is how, traditionally, communities were built). I would still trust my friend's opinion more ( which is to say that the importance of the traditional concept of community has not diminished), however there is a chance that he may not know much about the place that I want to travel. Therefore, I resort to the Mr. knowledgeable. I am not suggesting a specific person in this, in fact, it could be a community on Facebook or My Space which could be live and offering discussions, interactions on the topic of my choice. Another aspect of community building compared to earlier times is that no one wants to maintain a community for long and kind of be "attached". This again goes contrary to the earlier ways, when there was a lot of thought about "long term relationship building" and "we would be there for each other"  for ever. Its more of build-use-exit. You may or may not exit but there is no strong intention not to exit. So communities would be transient, temporary and only "for now". Another reason that choices are becoming more specific and specialized that no one community can suffice one's needs. For example, a person may offer great advice on travel to the UK and the do's and dont's. But how far would he know about, for example, Coventry Cathedral in West Midlands and its history and his own experience would be questionable. So I would then ask someone/community who knows about this piece of information better.

So to summarise, the take aways are that a. there is a dramatic shift in communities building b. communities are not built to last c. information is going to be very important to build a community and sustain it.

Considering all these factors, social media has a big role to play and there is no doubt that it is till evolving.

Five questions you need to ask before you THINK about social media

Its really become a cliche' to speak about social media by all and sundry especially by those with some basic knowledge of Facebook and Twitter can one profess to be an "expert". And to make matters worse, social media is free-so to say. Therefore, attaching a value to social media for marketing can be difficult; I have experienced that people find it difficult to comprehend the reason why one has to pay when its all "free". For many, ( including those offering social media services) the conversations start and end with opening profiles on Facebook and Twitter and getting people to "follow". Understandably, this is the most visible output that one sees so getting someone to cut through this impression initially can be difficult. However, whatever perceptions people have about social media and its application, its important to reason whether there really is a need and what should one ask oneself before adopting this new age media.

 Here are some five questions that one needs to ask oneself before thinking of using social media for marketing.

1. Do you really need social media and if yes, what are your goals?
2. Have you done an online marketing audit to understand your company/brand's online presence? What mentions do you see of your company/brand? What message is being communicated, if any?
3. Who is going to manage social media once its set up? Its a no brainer to open up profiles but you need to manage it and clearly you shouldn't employ an intern for this job.
4. Do you have a social media plan in place or you are doing it just because everybody does and its "free"? Are you aware of the results that can accomplished?
5. Do you have a social media policy in place? Are your employees, customers and other stake holders aware about your social media plans and whether you intend to educate them about it?

I think before jumping on to the social media bandwagon and doing it like you could be losing out on something really important, it would be helpful if you ask these questions before you think about social media. Once this is done, I think one could have a better perspective and then, social media could be an important ingredient in one's overall marketing plan.

Social Media Summit-Future of Social Media

As a speaker invited to speak on "Future of Social Media" (20th October 2010), I gathered my thoughts, did some research and prepared to what I felt on how Social Media would look like in the future. Clearly, there are so many developments happening in this space that it becomes difficult to predict also considering the fact we are talking about an industry which is tried, tested and experimented in so many different ways. Here are some important developments that I felt could be seen in the near future and some issues that we would have to face. 

1. Exclusivity: As social media gets crowded and everybody is sort of jumping into it, adding friends, sending messages, participating. However, this excitement would be short lived. Compare this with an analogy of email particularly when we started using it in the beginning. We were thrilled to open an account and started telling our friends about it and how we would be glad to hear from them. Slowly,we started getting unwanted mails and it dawned upon us that a lot of it is spam and unwanted emails. Having learnt the hard way, we are now very careful to disclose our email id or subscribe to any information. Social networks would meet the same fate soon since people would be uncomfortable with so many requests coming and that would result in a lot of noise. As a result, we would want to keep our networks exclusive, filled with people who we know, whom we want to share information and those whom we want to receive information from.

2. Privacy: Privacy issues have been common for Facebook, Google and many of the prominent social media channels. But for a user like us, it would be naive to ignore the seriousness of the issues that we could need to face. Locational privacy is something that could translate an online thing into an offline matter. Its one thing to share which movie you saw yesterday or which ice cream you like and another thing to put up on your status update where you are going for a vacation. That opens up a whole range of possibilities for burglary or theft. In fact, to highlight the seriousness of this issue, Please Rob Me, a mash up between Foursquare and Twitter aggregated location content from these sites and put them up PLR. This is of course just a tip of the iceberg as we could run into problems by sharing information.  

3. Social TV: Whether TV would replace the PC or vice-versa is a question everyone seems to be asking. None, according to me. However, we would soon witness the era of Social TV wherein the internet is made interactive on TV. Google TV is a step in this direction. This would also usher in an era of T-Commerce wherein people would, for example would want to check out the attire worn by a TV star and where has he purchased from, the reviews of that particular store, how many of his friends have bought from it, what do they have to say, so on and so forth. Already, there is simultaneous consumption happening between TV and social media wherein people are texting while watching their favourite TV soap and exchanging comments.

4. Pattern recognition devices: Imagine a device that gives you every information that you need to have if you just scan an image of your desired product. Or more interestingly, if you scan a good looking face in a pub, you could have a social profile popping up and you would be updated on what are the likes, dislikes of your object of desire. You could also know whether she is single or into a relationship so that you are informed whether to make that first move or not! You could also use this device into say, a retail store and get a lot of information about the product you wish to buy, what people are saying about it, its use etc.

Social Media as an HR tool

One of the doubts that is often asked by my clients is, if they have to use social media for marketing, their clients should have an online presence which is the basis really to develop meaningful conversations with them. That is one of the perspectives which may not be entirely invalid.However, to get them on"board" and begin a social media relationship with them, I ask them if they would be willing to work around internally for their staff? That would be easier for them to monitor and gauge whether this technology works for them and how much? The tools can be set up and a monitoring mechanism can be put in place. They could even request their staff to start using the community page, board etc. for example,at least half an hour everyday. I also develop a social media policy on the do's and dont's for the staff so that there is a direction into which their energies are focused at the same time the objectives of the client are met. It has worked well for my clients and I guess this is an acceptable proposition for most and one of my ways to help them get a taste of social media.

Invited as a panelist for Social Media Summit 2010 in Mumbai

Social Media Summit 2010 organised by Virtue Insight on October 20th 2010 promises to be an important event for those interested in  Social Media and whats happening in this industry. This event is organised in Hotel Orchid, Mumbai.


 I am invited as a panel member for a discussion on "Overlooking the future of social media" during this Summit.



Key Themes discussed at this Summit:

• Why care about social media marketing (SMM)?  
• Outlining the growth of social media and its benefits in today’s Asian market  
• Analyzing the worldwide trends in social media & lessons to be learned for Indian market 
• How should brands use social media? Illustrating with case studies
• Forecasting revenue growth for brands with ultimate utilisation of social media  
• Recognizing SMM as a demand generation tool for brands, products & services to boost business growth
• Discuss and identify the innovative strategies for a cost effective SMM plan to boost sales, nurture your product & establish an impactful brand presence in the market
• How social media is evolving through mobile applications - What is next for mobile social media?
• Engaging customers though mobile apps and mobile social media
• Selecting your appropriate social media agency. How can marketers use social media and achieve ROI?
• Analyzing the  practices for delivering PR campaigns across multiple social media platforms
• Global marketing strategies in order to incite the user to use advanced social media services. 
• Strategies on boosting the penetration of social media in smaller cities and rural areas.
• Analysing revenue generating models via various channels like (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogs etc)
• Establishing social media marketing as a ROI strategy while growing your brands, products and services
• SMM as a contrivance for improving customer base & brand loyalty.

Details on registering for this event:

Ordering is simple! You can simply email or call and book your seats on

TEL: +91 (44) 2377 0517. Email – delegate@virtueinsight.com 

For this one day conference, conference fee is 07,000 INR + tax per person

For 2 - 3 delegates - 06,000 INR + tax per person

For 3 and more delegates - 05,000 INR + tax per person

 Should you have any queries, please feel free to write to us – info@virtueinsight.com

Talk on "Socialmedianomics" on September 15th 2010

After my talk on Social Media as a new age marketing tool a fortnight back, I have been invited by The Institute of Management and Research for a talk on "Socialmedianomics". This is a 90 minutes talk during which I intend to familiarise the audience with the basics of social media, introducing various channels, tools used and a social media marketing plan. This is an introductory lecture on social media but depending on the understanding of the audience, I could cover advanced topics, possibbly in greater detail.

Talk on Social Media-New Age Marketing

I was invited to speak on "Social Media-New Age Marketing"at Nasik Management Association on September 2nd for about 90 minutes. The objective of this lecture was to familiarise the audience on Social Media and how it is a useful marketing tool for everyone. Another aim was to explain how it could be an effective branding tool and used for research. I was expecting two types of audience, one who are not familiar with Social Media and two who are using Facebook, Twitter etc for personal uses but are not aware how it can be used professionally Assuming these facts, I began by starting my presentation by first explaining the power of Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 and how it is a force to reckon with especially in the context of Social Media. Key facts about social media usage, tools, sites like Facebook,Linkedin, Twitter, Digg, Youtube, Flicker would be presented and how they are used for social media marketing. I  also presenting a case study of a beauty clinic and on how social media was used effectively to launch a new package they had introduced. Some short examples were also discussed relevant to the International context. To set the ball rolling, I also explained basic certain aspects like the difference between traditional media and social media, how to create your pages/groups,how to circulate information on sharing sites etc. Finally, this session turned out to be interactive and I think the audience gained on how Social media could be used for marketing people, products and places.

Taxonomy of social networking data

Here is a list of taxonomy of social netowokring data that is useful:

Service data is the data you give to a social networking site so that it is used. Data like this might include your legal name, your age, and your credit-card number.

Disclosed data is what you post on your own pages: blogs, pis, messages,  opinions etc.

Entrusted data is what you post on other people’s pages/sites. It basically means the same as disclosed data, but the difference is that you don’t have control over the data once you post it — the other user does.

Incidental data is what other people post about you: a writeup by someone about you, a picture of you that someone else clicks and posts. Again, it’s basically the same as disclosed data, but the difference is that you don’t have control over it, and you didn’t create it in the first place.

Behavioral data is data the site collects about your habits by recording what you do and who you do it with. It might include games you play, topics you write about, news articles you access (and what that says about your political leanings), and so on.

Derived data is data about you that is derived from all the other data. For example, if 80 percent of your friends self-identify as gay, you’re likely gay yourself.”

Why Google Wave failed

Its come and its gone before anyone could notice it. The google wave disappeared as quickly as a wave that never really intimidated any of the serious micro blogging sites. So what went wrong? As is true of social networking sites ( and of the internet business), the concept must catch the netizen's eye and if that happens, it spreads like wild fire. There was also no reason to be on it -unlike twitter or facebook where everyone is on it and if YOU are not, you are "left out". It also did not create a mass quickly which is so very important in this business.I also recollect Malcolm Gladwell's book, "Blink" wherein he writes how those "two seconds" are really important to catch anyone's fancy and if you can do that, you could achieve wonders with your product. I think Google wave failed to create an impact in these first two seconds.

Aggregate or Die!

I wrote about aggregation of all social media into one single platform some time back. I can see that many of my friends are already irritated with the prospects of managing a Twitter, Facebook or a Linkedin. Clearly, it is time consuming and not an enjoyable task. To top it all, one can see many more social networks,micro blogging sites with niche offerings practically every day.One cannot be definitely be all around the place. So what does the future hold ? Google has come up with Gmail Labs which has added several features to make the inbox a central communication platform. From video conferencing to SMS to instant messaging, Gmail is no longer only for e-mail, it’s growing into an information and communication hub. So on and so forth with a Hootsuite or a Tweetdeck where you can manage multiple platforms on a single dashboard. The future of course lies in having an inbox which will not be just for checking mails but also to manage identities across various platforms. So you will get Flickers,Twitters,Facebook updates all in an inbox-one single identity.

Changing roles of Marketing Managers

One of the most visible changes due to the prominence of online media is the shift in the role of a Sr.Marketing Manager/Director. Besides being brand experts, they are becoming more data savvy as digital media creates a need for converting all data into actionable formats. Understanding insights generated through digital channels are the need of the hour since along with other metrics such as customer value and potential are becoming important.The digital media is a real asset to organisations which in conjunction with traditional marketing disciplines such as segmentation, strategy, media management etc.can be a useful weapon for all Sr Marketing Managers. At the end of the day a marketer is essentially working on three aspects with customers : acquisition, development/maintaining them and retention. Marketers that combine all channels into a holistic view of their customers will surge ahead of competition and companies that make investments in this area will most certainly have an edge.

Prospects of Social Media in India

Potential for Social Media in India

View more presentations from Pankaj Muthe.

Is the buzz with Google BUZZ fading?

It would be close to a that Google Buzz was launched. I have used it on and off and everybody would agree, its no great shakes. What started off with a lot of potential, looks to end up in a mess.But again, it’s been a month so there could be more, lets wait n watch. I also wonder if it could have started with some different feature, rather than just "updates". People are not excited by that anymore. I mean agreed FB was the first kid on the block and Twitter popularised it but you can throw the same stuff again and again.

What Google could have done was to do something with its location-based service: Latitude. But I wonder how many use Latitude. Or if they do, they likely don’t even realize they’re using it because it’s just turned on in the background. And that’s precisely why Latitude doesn’t appeal or is not exciting.

The past several months have proven that consumer demand for location services is dependent on one thing: the ability to “check-in.” That is, rather than having a service that is always on in the background transmitting your location (like Latitude), people are actually using the services that allow you to display when and where your location is sent out.

Checking-in is cool for people because of two main things: user friendly and privacy. People prefer checking-in because it drives in logic. You hit a button to say you’re somewhere, and it gets sent and displayed. You don’t have to worry about whether your cell phone is always transmitting because you’re in charge of it. In the future, as people become more comfortable with the concept, I suspect some form of “always-on” location will become the norm, but for now, it’s just a beginning.

Maybe Buzz is the location-based service that Google should have thought of to be built in. It has the idea of checking-in built into it; you simply do so by buzzing from your cell phone. When you do that, Google offers you the opportunity to tag your buzz to a certain location and instantly send it out to your friends.

Lets see if they do it? Keep buzzin' in!

5 handy tips to get more out of Google Analytics | yesterdayshero

5 handy tips to get more out of Google Analytics | yesterdayshero

SOCIAL MEDIA IN TRAVEL

Have you ever gone on vacation to a foreign place (when I say foreign, I mean a place completely unknown and one you’ve never been to before)and wondered which is the best place to eat is, what hotel suits be needs, which one maintains hygiene standards etc.? Social media has opened up a window to all this and other concerns that a traveller to a new place may have. It’s the world of reviews where customers express their views that will be heard. No longer will hotels be laid back and "surprise" customers on towels and think that nothing can be done. Vacationers will now be able to instantly tweet, blog, email, post feedback on review sites, capture a video to post on YouTube or viameo share their experiences quickly to their audience and friends thereby creating an image about a hotel they have never been to. How is this different from the normal word of mouth? This is faster, many people can view it ( not just your friends) and more people can support/ reject by their own reviews.

When I go traveling, I’m interested to know the reviews of food joints. If it’s less than 3 stars, I become weary of the place, but at the same time am looking forward to the reviews because it will tell me whether the service I receive is worthy of my time and money. Without anything positive, I know that I’ll move on, no matter how “world famous” the cuisine and food is. This is where sites like OpenTable, Yelp and Thummit come into play. You indicate cost, location, the ability to reserve a table and the menu, the restaurants may tend to do more business or at least provide enough information to eat at your establishment.

If you’re traveling for business, you need to obviously do some planning ahead of time. When traveling for a conference or event, you’ll typically have a “host hotel” that most everyone stays at. But what if you look on Google and see that another hotel is nearby and TripAdvisor or reviews of Google indicate that it has free wireless access while the “host hotel” does not and is of similar price. As a customer, you might be more interested in free wireless rather than paying for it. Jeremiah Owyang makes a point in his article about how hotels should not charge for Internet service. This is probably the most important travel resource and you can bet that most review sites will promote free wireless service for nearby hoteliers. So you bet that social media will affect which hotels are stayed at.

Inbound Marketing vs Outbound Marketing

Outbound marketing is where a marketer pushes his message out far with the help of trade shows, seminar series, email blasts, internal cold calling, outsourced telemarketing, and advertising. Inbound marketing is where one attracts visitors naturally through search engines, through the blogosphere and through the social media sites.

Outbound marketing is getting less and less effective over time for a couple of reasons. First, you are bombarded with over 2000 outbound marketing interruptions per day and you as a consumer is figuring out more and more ingenuine ways to block them out that includes avoiding them, by installing a caller id, spam filtering, changing media channels or simply ignoring them. Second, the cost of coordination around assimilating knowledge about something new or shopping for something new by using the internet through search engines, blogs, and social media sites is now much lower than attending a seminar in Five Star Hotel at the Taj or flying to a trade show in Delhi.

Rather than indulge in outbound marketing to the masses of people who are trying to block you out, "inbound marketing" is an intelligent way where you help yourself "discovered" by people already learning about and shopping in your industry. In order to do this, you need to set your website up like a "magnet" for your industry that attracts traffic naturally through the search engines, through the blogosphere, and through the social media sites. I believe most marketers today spend 90% of their efforts on outbound marketing and 10% on inbound marketing which in the near future would see a major shift.

Inbound Marketing and Social Media Marketing

Inbound Marketing is marketing aimed at getting found by customers.

In conventional marketing (outbound marketing) companies focus on hunting customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt audience. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, spam and trade shows, exhibitions etc.

Changes in technology is making these initiatives less effective and unaffordable. Companies use caller ID to block cold calls, TiVo makes T.V. advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less effective. It's still possible to get a message out via these channels, but it definitely costs a hell of a lot of money .

Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head. Let me explain how:

Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that propects want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information and updates.

Instead of driving their message into a crowd over and over again like a sledgehammer, they attract highly qualified customers to their business like a magnet.

The most successful Inbound Marketing campaigns have three key elements:

(1) Content - Content is the essence of any Inbound Marketing campaign. It is the information or tool that attracts prospects to your site or your business platform.

(2) Search Engine Optimization - SEO makes it easier for propects to find your content. It is the practice of building your site and inbound links to your site to maximize your ranking in search engines, where most of your customers begin their buying process.

(3) Social Media - Social media amplifies the impact of your content. When your content is spread across and discussed on networks, communities,groups, it becomes more authentic and nuanced, and is more likely to draw qualified customers to your site.This increases web traffic

Social Media Marketing links-TOOLS AND ANALYTICS

Following is a list of tools and analytics that can be used for Social Media :

Google Alerts
http://www.google.com/alerts

Technorati
http://technorati.com/

FeedBurner
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Woopra
http://www.woopra.com/

Social Mention
http://www.socialmention.com/

Social Media and Brand Reputation Strategy - eMarketer

Social Media and Brand Reputation Strategy - eMarketer