Over the last 7 months of 2009, we have been actively participating in the Social Media industry in India, interacting with large number of clients, and that experience of 7 months has translated into this summary of 7 findings from 2009, and 7 wishes that we have for the industry, for 2010.

Our early client (or even agency) interactions were about a concept sale, for Social Media. And there was an incredulous feel as to what were we doing in their conference room, talking about Facebook and such kids’ stuff!

We’ve traversed a long distance since those days.

Of course, it is still early days for Social Media in India, but in a lot of ways, things have moved ahead:

1. Increasingly now, people know that Social Media needs to be a part of their marketing mix, if not yet, a part of their business processes itself. For those who understand the space, they will appreciate this difference. Perhaps by the time we review the space in end 2010, we may see that Social Media has also become a part of the company’s business processes!
2. We do not need to struggle to explain our business. A simple term like “Social Media Agency” is understood by most now. Though we are not strictly a Social Media Agency, we are close to that, and if a simple phrase can generate a close enough recognition, we are okay to let things be there.
3. In case of a few of our clients, we had picked up their abandoned early efforts of a Facebook page, for others we had started fresh ones. Suffice to say that ALL of those clients realize now that the Facebook page, the Twitter account, the blog, the YouTube channel etc. are their digital assets and  that they will not abandon these creations any more. Whether we manage these for them or they choose to do it themselves, their Social Media activities are here to stay. Note that the word “ROI” did not even come up in this! So there!!
4. In the early days, it was easy to get an acceptance to create a Facebook page or a blog or a Twitter account. From a hygiene factor, these were good to have. Things have changed here as well. While we still get many prospects who want to do Facebook and Twitter for the hygiene factor, there are others who have started seeing beyond. We have clients who have integrated Social Media very well with their offline marketing and others who are now asking for stand-alone Social Media strategies, with specific focus. There are few who have realized, that Facebook could be their new Email, in terms of having a regular and direct reach to their customers.
5. It took a while to get clients to accept our retainer fees. A few commented that our monthly fees were more than their annual PR budgets. Valid point, but  an apples vs oranges comparison really. What did that annual PR budget get them? A few print releases / mentions in the papers? With large reach, potentially, but with a blink-and-miss probability and also the life of just that one day for the effort? Whereas, the Social Media activities were an ongoing effort, an all-day activity done for them every day, and which resulted in strong digital assets being established for them, which were here to stay! It needed a different kind of dedicated effort, and produced a different kind of result as well. Thankfully, from clients who are in the know, our fees seem more acceptable and understood now.
6. We are very pleased to see a big shift from our agency friends. I mean, the advertising, PR and media buying agency partners. We have seen hesitation, threat, doubt and fear in the early days, but we are now seeing an increasing confidence in the Social Media space, from many. They have become open to new ideas, and to some extent, they are putting these up to clients, and many are getting through as well. This is going to be the most exciting part of 2010, I believe.
7. We are also happy to see companies looking at Social Media Monitoring as a part of the Social Media activities. Although still a pariah amongst all of the Social Media methods (in India), a few companies have started seeing the potential of “listening” and we are seeing this number go up. Businesses which are more sensitive to customer feedback, are especially concerned about managing their online reputations, and monitoring becomes an integral component here.

Having said all this, what we would really like to see change some more, are things like:

1. More clients seeing the relevance and importance of Social Media and at least beginning with the reference of the Social Media contact points on their collaterals, their website, their email signature files etc.
2. That clients realize that the challenge for the 0-1000 journey (the first 1000 Facebook fans or Twitter followers, say) is not trivial, and requires their participation. If that means that the client needs to put the Social Media icons and links on their website, on their TV commercial and press advertisements, send out emails to intimate their stakeholders, or whatever else that is required. Same needs to be done! Once a certain threshold level is reached, then the viral aspect kicks in, thanks to content and engagement activities.
3. While we are seeing a few, we hope to see many more of our clients open up to fresh new ideas for Social Media activation, which are in addition to the simple Facebook page, Twitter account, blog and YouTube channel. An activity conceived for and within Social Media itself, and which can bring together a large base of their Target Group. Something of this nature needs a conviction and a larger commitment in terms of time and resources, but the payback is larger, as it breaks the clutter and stands out. It needs bold first mover types to grab such opportunities, and we look forward to seeing more of those, amongst our clients!
4. We are also hoping for more buy-in from our advertising agency partners, to in turn have the conviction to present and sell to their clients, some of these new ideas. They will stand to win awards and we will be happy to stand next to them and get some reflected shine on us too, in the process. We know we have materials that can win awards for them, but we need their conviction to move it ahead!
5. We hope this year, Mouthshut.com and others in the league are able to put better technology in place, to separate the genuine reviews and feedback, from the fraud postings. While the fraud posts impact brands in the near future, in the long run, it hurts the credibility of sites like mouthshut.com, and make them less trustworthy!
6. We don’t really want this to happen to anyone. But it may still happen. A brand-damaging story that starts from Social Media and hits the mainstream media all over, and causes damage to the brand. Much like the Domino’s case in the US, or even akin to the Shashi Tharoor twitter escapades. Because such damage to one brand will open the eyes of all the other brands, that Social Media cannot be taken lightly. Even if a brand does not participate in outreach activities, they need to maintain a watch, and monitor the space, to identify potential PR crisis and plug them, before they go out of control.
7. Finally, we wish for clients to have realistic expectations. No, we do not oversell. At times, the client himself feels a huge surge of enthusiasm about Social Media. Which is perfectly fine, and good, in fact. However if this enthusiasm translates to an over expectation of results, that is tough to manage. The process of growth in Social Media is slow. Especially if done organically. Which is how most Social Media strategies are happening. Done right, the process can be made as efficient as possible. However, benchmarking with the television reach or looking for tens of thousands of fans and followers in double quick time, are all expectations that are bound to fail. A quick look at what other brands have managed, especially in their own segments, and then seeing how good or bad their own Social Media performance is, will be a good starting point to understand the positioning.

The above mentioned experiences are based across a variety of businesses, as from the outset itself, we saw clients from diverse verticals. From chemical engineering companies targeting B2B clients to television channels with millions of viewers, to electrical equipment manufacturers, software companies, hospitals, doctors, electronic device manufacturing companies, educational institutions, etc. We have seen, since then, that the prediction that within 2 to 3 years, everybody will be using Social Media is well on its way to coming true. It’s ahead of schedule actually!

All in all, it is exciting space. We are looking forward to working with many clients through 2010, and we will certainly hope to make a mark with few of our Social Media winning strategies, in course of the year. Watch this space J

There are still many out there who do not understand or appreciate the concept of Social Media Monitoring. For their benefit, just a quick introduction to the idea first.

Conversations are happening on Social Media.

A blog that talks about say, telecom issues.

Comments on that blog, from various people, about the blog, but more pertinently, about their preferences or prejudices, amongst brands, for example.

Or a discussion on a message board, about hosting service providers.

And several posts to the thread, indicating active participation, besides the much larger number, who just look and go away.

Or consider a Twitter stream about Digital Cameras:

Any such discussion can significantly impact your brand, your sales. Say, by driving away customers, on account of some negative conversations, or pushing business to your competitors on account of some flattering postings in their favor, etc.

In order that these events do not catch you by surprise, you are better off to do what is referred to as “Social Media Monitoring”. That process where you keep track of the social media conversations, related to your business. Typically done with a mix of software tools and some manual data clean up, this activity is emerging as an acknowledged and regular business process for many companies now.

And now that many companies are getting into such Social Media Monitoring efforts, we see behavior and response from people, based on their stage of evolution with Social Media monitoring. And what are some of these stages, then?

1. The discovery stage: typically from a company (or person) that has just started doing Social Media Monitoring. There is huge fascination usually, in discovering a host of mentions of their brand in Social Media. It’s almost incredible to them. Most of them did not imagine that people could be so animatedly talking about their brand. Here, the brands do not particularly go about investigating the details of what context the conversations are happening in. The discovery itself is the reward, at this point. That they are in the conversation horizon of people is a reason to feel satisfied.

2. The first stage of investigation: this is when the company goes beyond the fascination of discovery and probes a little deeper into the nature of conversation. And this is usually followed by a few rude shocks. When it is found that many of the conversations are critical about the brand. Yes, people share good experiences with fewer people, but bad customer experiences are broadcast to many. Also that, most people who “write” into the social media space have a kind of ‘activist’ profile. And they pick up the smallest of your mistakes and amplify the same via Social Media channels. This is when companies often get upset, ask for opinions about how to “shut these guys up”, or “is there a legal recourse to stop such postings”, etc.

3. The stage of understanding: here is where now, the company really gets serious about looking at the data that is coming out, and converting it into actionable pieces. Conversations can be about a variety of things related to a company’s brand. From quality issues, to customer service, to price, to product details, to wish-list for new services, to competitor comparison etc. Each of these needs a different handling, perhaps from different people in an organization. So now is the stage when a company starts tagging the conversations and distributing these to the right teams and people, and also starts figuring out a response mechanism, which is consistent across the organization, because finally, to the outside world, it is that “one company” only.

4. The final stage (as of now – this space is changing!): this is when the company has now got a real good picture of the social media conversations and their impact. That many a times, the mention of their brand is inconsequential and needs to be ignored. Sometimes there is a negative mention, but it is on account of some personal reasons and can be settled offline. Or that there is conversation that they are quite familiar with, and in fact, stems out of their own press releases, for example. But then to pick those few, which are from the real ‘influencers in the space’ and which give them new and very relevant information, and which they need to act upon, is the ultimate objective. This is the “smart” way of monitoring social media, and putting it to use. It takes a lot of effort to separate the wheat from the chaff, but this is indeed, the real thing.

I am sure, there will be even more sophistication that is evolving, but the above stages largely capture the experiences of most companies, currently dabbling into the space of Social Media Monitoring.

Questions, other thoughts, experiences? Please feel free to share below.

Social Wavelength is a full service Social Media Agency. Our solutions range from creation of long term strategy, custom application development, SMM, Presence Management, Community building and management and actual execution of Social Media initiatives. Currently, we serve clients from a large variety of industries including healthcare, electronics, media and many more. These clients are a mix of Indian and International entities, from one-person companies to large multinationals. I believe this mix of clients we are servicing gives us a unique perspective, when it comes to how different brands and companies can utilize Social Media. It helps us identify the variables which go into making Social Media initiatives successful, as well as the constants.

We thought it’d be great to share some of our observations here. Learning from the trenches, as it were.

Fundamentals are fundamentally important

Was that a profound statement or what?! But seriously, this is the real world. Results have to be real as well. Not an inventory of things you did, but a checklist of things you achieved.

Listening is way more important that it is made out to be

Whether by using basic Twitter search, Google Blogsearch, Oneriot etc. or with Radian 6, Techrigy SM2 (Full Disclosure: Social Wavelength is a Techrigy SM2 Reseller), listening is the most important activity you can invest your time in, at all stages of your initiatives.

Buy In

Going with today’s theme of making profound statements I’d like to say, that Client buy in is very important. Buy in into your agency, you, your portfolio. The more of this there is, the easier it is for you to suggest and implement innovative strategies.

Integrate

If you think about it (not even too hard) its obvious that an integrated approach is the only thing which makes sense. Why is it, then, that we see so many social media activities oblivious of their counterparts in the so called ‘mainstream’ media? A non integrated campaign is merely an experiment, a dabbling. When Social Media initiatives are integrated with the overall marketing strategy, you achieve, well, Resonance.

There is huge room for innovation, loads of untapped potential

How many ‘Remarkable’ Social Media campaigns do you recall? Things which made you say, “I love the way they’ve used Social Media” or “Damn! That’s audacious”. Not nearly enough!

So there you have it. Just some things we picked up on the job over the last few months. There is lots more, of course, but we’d like to hear from you. What are your thoughts? What is your learning from the trenches?