It is often misunderstood that managing social media is easy for brands. I mean, we all do Facebook. So what can be the big deal about managing a brand presence on Social Media.

Well, for one, going from a comfortable, many times edited broadcast mode communication, to a real time, interactive space, where responses go out on the fly, is a huge bridge to cross. That is where the challenge begins. And then, it can get bigger!

Let’s look at this example, where perhaps, on behalf of the brand, someone with lack of understanding, lack of language skills, or both, decided to respond to comments on a Facebook post:

The disaster that can happen is for all to see.

Maybe English was not the primary language for the person replying. And she did not get the word ‘shameful’. What if it was a one-time unfortunate accident. But by the fact that this screen shot has gone around the world, many times over, the damage to the brand has been done. And badly.

Let’s look at another example. This was in fact, a well-intentioned effort, from a global leader and a household name, McDonald’s.

They’re been very active on social media, have done interesting activations, and have engaged their fans.

So it was not surprising that they initiated a hashtag #McDStories, where they hoped and expected that customers may share fun stories linked with McDonald’s.

But the campaign backfired and how.

Check out the detailed story which shows how the #McDStories hashtag became instead a bashtag. While there may have been consumers who had genuine, interesting McDonald’s stories to share, there were others who used the opportunity to bring out the horror stories of their McDonald’s experiences, from unhealthy food, to poor working conditions, and everything else in between.

Clearly a well intentioned effort that went horribly wrong.

There have been other cases where brands have had trouble, while engaging with consumers on social media. A case closer to home in India was about Cafe Coffee Day, when a fairly active social media brand had a trending hashtag in the form of #ccdsucks.

All of these cases show that:

1. Social media is clearly a double-edged sword for brands.

2. There is extreme participation of consumers around brands. Good and bad experiences can get quickly amplified. Whether the brands like it or not.

3. Brands need to have a sense of preparation, for things that could go wrong. While a #CCDSucks or a #McDStories cannot be necessarily foreseen, a fundamental awareness that things can go wrong, and a broad strategic approach for such situations, is something that brands need to have in place. Typically, before an incident occurs.

4. Often the understanding to manage such crisis is not internal, within organizations. This is due to a lack of experience in real time interactive spaces, and the eagerness to be “in control” always. The latter eagerness can often get brands to take impulsive steps that may not be the wisest ones after all! The Vodafone case when the brand tried to sue a consumer who was complaining about their services on social media, is an example of this.

Simple pointers for brands at this point are:

1. Your consumers are present and talking on social media. Whether the brand is present there or not. So just because there are challenges, to not be present on social media, is not even an option for brands.

2. Brands need to prepare themselves well. They cannot trivialize social media and relegate it to a lower level, in the corporate hierarchy. Senior management must participate in decisions related to social media.

3. Being prepared for eventualities helps in not being totally surprised.

4. Adequate budgets need to be apportioned. Just because Facebook or Twitter are free to use does not mean that brand budgets for social media should be peanuts!

5. And brands should really engage with agencies or consultants who “get” the medium. There are cheap ad film makers, but brands still go for the best in the business. Because stakes are high. The same kind of thought must prevail while making choices in selection of a social media agency!

With all that, social media’s an exciting space. One just needs to work harder, on a 24×7 basis!

I have received more than my share of “critical feedback” suggesting that my blog posts are often a little too long. The feedback has come first, from my teenage daughters (I am glad for their candidness!). Unfortunately, there is a risk that this post may also not be “short”.

But then, for this, I have to blame Mrs. Hansotia. Who Mrs. Hansotia? Oh, she was my English teacher from class VI to X. And like most English schools, ours too suffered from the now-exasperating British legacy of being extremely verbose.

Till today’s teenagers do not go and completely take over all English language teaching in schools, we may still suffer this excess for some more time. The rest of us have too much of a hangover from our school times, and end up being flowery length by default!

Then there is the radio legacy.

Back when live TV had not come, we had to depend on the adjectives of our poetic commentators (think Suresh Saraiya, for example) to visualize how the ground was, and how exquisitely Vishwanath had cut the ball to the cover fence for four (before getting out the next ball), and things of that nature.

Live television came, and we did not need to be “told” many of these things, as we could see them. And yet, our commentators, brought up in radio days, continued to tell us what we could plainly see!

So you get the point? I am talking about the long, long text that we write and speak. Instead of cutting to the chase. And instead of sometimes, cutting out the crap!

My grouse is not just about the longer blog post or the verbal diarrhea of our commentators, but in general, about the legacy to write too many words, and which even shows up on Facebook at times. Thankfully, Twitter does not give you that option at all.

At a recent event where I was a speaker, the topic of my talk was ‘How to be relevant to your audience in 140 characters’.

Before the event, once the organizers announced the topic, there was a whole lot of interest seen in Twitter, etc. I have not seen so much buzz around a speech topic. While part of this may be attributed to the organizers promoting the talk and the event, that the topic fascinated and intrigued a lot of people, was undeniable. In fact, there was a lot of questions post the talk and many of the folks also came and chatted individually, later.

So where are the real challenges in our habits, and especially in context of social media updates for brands?

You want to make a product update.

You have written brochures of web content for the product before this.

You are greedy. You want to get all of your details out, in that one update itself!

You want to use the opportunity of having to make a Facebook post about the product, to cover more or less everything about the product!

So your post could well read like:

“This exciting new <product> from <brand>, model number <abc> comes with it’s own remote control and a child proof lock as well. Made of stainless steel, you could see your own reflection on the <product>, and it is lightweight as well. So you can enjoy your day, with this <product> even as you bask in the sunshine.”

Or words of this kind.

This is clearly brochure-ware, and not good for a Facebook post.

If I had to constrain the writer to write the same post for Twitter, she’d find a way, wouldn’t she?

She’d probably write this as “Our new <product> <model> has a child proof lock, so your kid will not get accidentally hurt. Check it out at bit.ly/abc.”

Why could this not have been done on Facebook as well? Just because Facebook gave her more characters to post, she let her flowery language loose?

Here’s another example from recent times.

I had this really weird experience at a recent pitch where 6-7 people from the client’s end were sitting and my colleague was presenting. And at a point where he was explaining a point in depth, the client (almost) rudely interrupted him and said, “Yes, we get it. It’s a good idea. Now let’s move on!”

Whoa! That took us by surprise, although the client meant well.

We are all busy. Our attention spans are low. So get to the point. And get there fast. ANY word that does not add real value ought not to be present. If I can say it in one word, I don’t want to use two.

In a twitter conversation, often a single word tweet can have impact, e.g. “Epic!” or “OMG”. And if you want to give the liberty of an additional word, then there could be “Life sucks!”, or “Go Federer..”, etc. The story is told. In those 1-2 words!

So guys, as the title to the post suggests, “Cut the crap. And cut to the chase!”

Here’s an ad, that drives home the point..

I was at the Click Asia Summit earlier this year, and shared thoughts on Social Media Planning, and challenges thereof.

A video recording of the same is shared here below:

Would love to read your views on these thoughts. Do share!

Wikileaks in the world and RadiaGate in India have suddenly exposed the world to a new set of possibilities. And a new set of vulnerabilities.

Conversations, be it on phone or in other electronic formats, and which one assumed to have been private and secure, can actually become very public and embarrassing for the people involved! While the legality of the public appearance of Wikileaks and RadiaGate conversations may be open to judgement, another form of conversations that are clearly legal and yet equally potentially damaging are the kind that are happening in various spaces of Social Media. For a brand or an individual, there is as much damage to fear in Wikileaks or RadiaGate mentions, as it is in damaging Social Media conversations!

Considering a certain parallel between these situations then, I would like to share some learnings from a RadiaGate situation, which can in turn be useful, in tackling Online Reputation Management challenges, for brands, via Social Media.

The bigger story of Nira Radia’s taped conversations, the 2G telecom scam, the role played by corporates and politicians, and many more of those issues, will take a long time to become clear. This post is not about RadiaGate or its fall out, per se.

What this post strives to attempt, is to relate the early response from Ratan Tata, in RadiaGate and map it to a possible ORM challenge for a brand, and see what learnings we can take from the same.

So here is what happened, in this context:

Several telephonic conversations involving lobbyist Nira Radia were tapped, and many of these conversations made their way to the public space, via links posted on the Outlook magazine website.

Nira Radia happened to be officially appointed by the Tatas, as their PR representative, and would have been looking after many corporate matters related to the Tatas. As a part of such management, the Chairman of Tatas. Mr. Ratan Tata, would also have need to talk to Nira Radia, sometimes. Now since the phones of Nira Radia were tapped, and those tapped conversations went public, what also went public, were some of her conversations with her client, Ratan Tata.

Considering the stature of Ratan Tata, this was extremely embarrassing, to say the least. Similar small bits of conversations that Mukesh Ambani (another client of Nira Radia) had with Nira, also went public, likewise.

Well, Ratan Tata was angry. As anyone in his place would. But unlike many others, Ratan Tata chose to go public with his feelings, condemning the leaks. It took everyone by surprise, as first of all, Ratan Tata is not one to go to the media ever so often, and secondly, on account of his direct involvement in some of the leaked conversations! Both, the extent and the manner of his response, surprised everyone.

Whether he should have gone public in this manner, with his thoughts or not, could there have been other, better options are all a matter of conjecture.

But visualize the same kind of dirt flying on the Social Media space, instead of publicly accessible tapes. Then, from an ORM point of view, would this have been a right thing to do? What could have been the best means to handle a crisis of this kind?

Recognize first, that there was indeed a crisis. The goodwill of the Tata name had got shaken. It was made to appear that Tatas, like any other group, also use lobbying, to get favors for themselves. And because you hold a person and a group in such high esteem, therefore, it hurts even more. For the hero to have fallen, and seem like an ordinary mortal after all.

It was in the backdrop of such feelings that the public harboured, did Ratan Tata’s protests came. Here then, are some views on this, from and ORM perspective:

1. If as a company or a large brand, you are attacked by far smaller entities – the bloggerati and all – the last thing you want to start doing, is to show how powerful you are. If you come out like an elephant willing to trample them all away, it can only backfire. As the first reactions to Ratan Tata’s strong response showed. In spite of the great respect that the country has for Ratan Tata and the Tata name, when Ratan Tata himself chose to come out and show anger, it appeared as if reality had stung him. That his group had also tried to manipulate (in their own way) for spectrum etc. appeared to question the lofty standards of the Tata group.

Besides everything else, when Ratan Tata takes the fight to the open, it indeed becomes an open fight! And people like MP Rajeev Chandrashekar chose to also take him on, in public, and suddenly it appeared to a lot of dirty linen out for everyone to see!

2. So if one does not come out strongly, does that mean that one takes negative press (and negative social media) lying down? Surely not. There IS a need to act. And act fast too.

In the recently concluded Click Asia Summit, after my talk, I was asked this question. Whether in the totally unpredictable world of Social Media, a company can at all plan its footsteps?! Could the Tata group have “planned” for a situation like RadiaGate?

No, you cannot PLAN for an exact situation. In this very open world of electronic information, Wikileaks and RadiaGate WILL happen. You just don’t know what the next one will be like. And what damage it will cause. So while you cannot plan the exact nature of response, you CAN prepare a protocol and be ready. And not have to be randomly impulsive, and potentially put your foot into your mouth!

Companies need to have a plan, and genuine training to the team, to deal with these new media related challenges that can come any day! A key starting point is to have a Media Monitoring plan in place, especially a Social Media Monitoring one!

3. As a part of the plan, empower the frontline team to respond! I remember the live coverage of 26/11 and the various authorities in whose face, media was prepared to stick a mike. And how they had no clue what to really say. There was no coordinated response, neither was there a preparation at most places, about the ways to deal with situations of this kind. Where 26/11 was television, worst is the case with social media, where any kind of negative news can come, for your brand, and can potentially snowball. Before a Ratan Tata intervened, there would have been lots of questions posed to the frontline folks in Tata Communications. Were they equipped to give any kind of response at all?

4. Play in the same field. So, if someone has put a strong message against you in an online forum, and you choose to go and call a press conference in response. That does not work. No can do. The biggest conversations – at least in open forums – about Ratan Tata and Barkha Dutt and Nira Radia were all happening on Social Media. Ratan Tata, writing a letter in mainline press, or doing a press conference, was fine. But he let the tongues continue to wag on Social Media.

It was important to respond in this space also. Whether it was by posting a YouTube video and then have a team responding back to other queries, or whatever.

5. Strengthen your team with external forces! Yes, you can shout yourself hoarse with your side of the story, and there will always be people who will doubt it. And the more you say, the more questions will be raised, and the more risk of being perceived as guilty! However, can you get force multipliers in terms of external support? Consolidate third party opinions that agree with yours, and give your point of view, that much more credence. Instead of just Ratan Tata fighting the lone battle on behalf of the Tata group, including taking on Rajeev Chandrashekar and the Congress government, could there have been other credible sources who could have been brought in, to strengthen the Tata story? And give it better credibility?

Same approach works in Social Media as well!

6. This is the time when all your earlier good work comes to help. Yes, all those testimonials and your credentials that you have been building up. This is the time to go out and leverage those. Used in a subtle way, the testimonials and credentials now need to give additional credibility to your view point, and make people question the allegations against your brand. Tata might have done it in some measure and could have done a lot more. And you can do it too, in the possible face of any negative mentions against you, on Social Media.

In summary, I would emphasize that there will be more Wikileaks and more RadiaGates. There will also be more of the Dominos cases or the Nestle Greenpeace attacks. This is the new world, the world of new media as well.

It is not about hoping (praying??) that it does not happen to you. But about being aware of the possibility first, and then about having preparation for such eventualities.

Yes, we can learn from what Ratan Tata did right, and also from what he did not do so right.

Richard Branson of Virgin Group has been an entrepreneur’s icon for long, and I am glad to read his pieces in the Mint, weekly. It was very fascinating to read his piece about Marketing in the Age of New Media. The interesting part was that a lot of the content there was what I have also been talking about, to clients and at events and conferences. So, to read about the same concepts from Richard Branson, was heartening, and also a validation of sorts.

As Branson mentions, we have also experienced the struggle amongst senior executives, marketing folks, chief executives, founders of companies, as they try to cope first with digital media, and then with an interactive format in terms of Social Media. From living in denial, to over-reacting, we have seen these folks responding in various different ways. But few are taking sensible steps and making decent headway, in this new world of new media!

Some specific sentences from Branson’s article, and those who have heard me, might be pardoned for mistaking these as my own thoughts – they are so similar:

People no longer want to be sold to; they want companies to help them find an informed way to buy the right product or service at the right price.

They still watch ads, but often online rather than on TV, and they’re much more likely to view ads that friends have recommended.

When something goes wrong with a product, they want to be able to reach the company instantly, and they expect quick solutions.

All of these are the true essence of Social Media. Social Media presence is not just about that simple Facebook page. It is a part of your entire business process, as you can see here.

Branson adds:

The website, Facebook page, blog and Twitter feed are no longer add-ons to a business’s communication budget: They should be central to its marketing strategy, and used in coordination with other marketing efforts.

People are talking about you in the space. Their chatter will influence your sales, your reputation. Should you be listening in or not? Your prospects are tweeting and posting Facebook updates.

In context of organizational change forced on account of new media, Branson proposes:

Beyond customer service, you may need to consider that the old divisions between advertising, marketing and public relations (PR) have broken down, so it’s time to review how your marketing team works.

This has been the big debate at many organizations. Traditional companies and structures always had things slotted out well, divided amongst different teams and departments. For once, this new thing is not a part of any one single team. Social Media has to pretty much run across the organization, and companies will have to evolve new structures to accommodate this new reality. We are fortunate to work with a couple of large Indian companies who have embraced this new reality, and have responded by finding ways to make Social Media work across the organization.

Branson shares some insights from Virgin:

Virgin Atlantic recently created a Social Relations team to manage the combined media space and to make sure our sites and communications are current and interesting, maintaining the cheeky flair that characterizes the brand.

We have always tried to maximize the impact of our advertising through clever PR, daring stunts and amusing media campaigns.

The rise of social media has presented some exciting challenges to the status quo and caused us to question our usual ways of doing business. When we launched a new global ad for Virgin Atlantic on TV and in theatres—full of humour, fun and with a touch of glamour—the ad also started to generate a big following online, as it was promoted by our fans to their friends. This extended the reach of our ad far beyond our usual audiences.

This is again a very interesting thought, and one which we keep sharing with our clients. Your Social Media outreach has to be consistent with your brand positioning. You cannot be all serious and conservative otherwise, and try to go and have a cool and casual attitude on Social Media. Within the framework of what you stand for, or what people perceive you as, you need to create the Social Media presence. Virgin in that sense, is in a good position. Since it is already associated as a hip and fun brand. And the social media presence extends that positioning.

Finally Branson shares the need for commitment from the top:

To succeed, such efforts must be supported from the top. David Cush, chief executive officer of Virgin America, freed up the management of these channels from the company’s classic hierarchy. His social media team is made up of 20-somethings who have been selected to run the online services. David says they have been given broad guidelines and then let loose.

These employees, who were “born digital”, have placed Facebook and Twitter at the centre of the company’s communication strategy, capturing the Virgin spirit online.

The points shared here have a few clear messages:

a. Recognizing the reality of this new media and its ever growing impact, there is a need for commitment from top management, to this space. As demonstrated by Virgin.

b. Simply because traditional marketers and communication specialists in companies are not grounded into the realities of this new media, it is important to let these be managed by those who “get the space”. Whether it is 20-somethings inside the company, or an agency who can support your endeavors in this space, from the outside.

c. The most critical aspect is to NOT be obsessed about “controlling the communication flow”. CONTROL is a dirty word in the context of Social Media. Remember and understand that you CANNOT control! Once that fact sinks in, let the team assigned to the job for the company, have a reasonably free hand. Conversations will flow, sometimes into areas that are not very comfortable. But the fact that the brand allows that to happen, responds with honesty, and allows its customers to have their say, is what customers are looking for. A brand that really cares to listen, and then respond!

For the CEOs feeling lost in this new world, these final words from Branson should serve as good direction:

To succeed, entrepreneurs and business leaders must look at this rapidly changing world through a different lens; by working with your online sites, services and teams, you can transform these challenges into opportunities.

Yes, the final message to any company, to any CEO, to any CMO or senior manager, who is getting sleepless nights on account of the ever changing world, is to not get overwhelmed. Rather, take a deep breath, get a good team in place or look for an agency who could help you get it right, and then plan out a strategy. And implement it. And convert the challenges to opportunities!

Richard Branson spoke the words from my mouth! But Branson being Branson, I hope the message rings in loud and clear. Although I have been saying the same things, I could have not put it better myself..

Your views? Comments? Please share them herebelow..

Once upon a time life used to be 8×5 …eight hours a day for 5 days a week. For some it would be 8×6, 9×6 or some such combination.

Then Internet came along…and life became 24×7. Internet gurus taught us how our ecommerce store could continue ringing in revenues even while we slept…and with 24×7 revenues, came the need for 24×7 customer service. On the other hand, our bosses gave us laptops with data cards…and we became 24×7 corporate slaves. The concept of time changed completely.  It was no longer neatly bracketed into silos (time to work, time to play, time to sleep, and time to do nothing) … it became one long line…with anything happening anytime.

Let me warn you; all this is set to change, again. For good or for worse I don’t know, but it is going to change be sure.  This is how:

• If I need to get my Dell laptop repaired, I need to either look up their manual for a 1.800 number so that I can call them, or I need to logon to their website, pull out a custserv email id and write them a mail, or I need to fill in a form on their website giving details of the complaint. Right?  … Wrong! No need to do this anymore! (BTW Dell India has one of the worst IVRS….it keeps you on hold endlessly)

• Now all you need to do is logon to twitter and send out a tweet “Having problems with my #Dell laptop. Need help”. Chances are that a Dell representative who is continuously monitoring twitter for tweets with references to Dell, will send you a @ message offering a help. Chances are also that a Lenovo representative (who is tracking competition) will also send you a @ message offering help, even though you are a Dell customer (hoping that Lenovo scores some brownie points with you for helping you out !)

The point is that as a consumer, I no longer need a “definitive” address (phone number, email id, website URL etc.) to reach out to a brand. I can just tweet into cyberspace (even without knowing Dells twitter handle). It is like standing on top of my building’s roof and shouting that I am a Dell customer and I need help… and my expectation is that Dell will hear me and respond!

Social Media will create a huge jump in consumers’ expectations of service levels from a brand. He no longer needs to reach out to the brand. It is his expectation that he can just shout out anytime and from anyplace … and that the onus of listening to him and seeking him out lies on the brand. Brands now need to be truly omnipresent.

Welcome to the new reality: 24x7xEverywhere.

Everything seems to be shrinking. Besides inflation (which is causing the value of money to shrink), there are two more things that are shrinking very fast: our attention span and our window to the world around us.

First, the shrinking attention span:

• Recently I came across a “research report”. It was called an “Infograph”. In about 15 graphs on a single long HTML page, a research on demographics of Social Media users worldwide and their Social Media behaviour had been conveyed. It took all of 6 “Pg Dn” keystrokes to see the graphs and about 10 minutes to digest the communication. Less than 5 years ago, the same data would have been presented in a 20 page pdf file with lot of words and commentary. Not so anymore. Crisp, to-the-point communication. So crisp that if you are not “into the subject matter”, those colourful graphs would remain just that. With substantially reduced attention spans, who really has the time or patience to ‘read’ a research report! We are now living in a world where research reports have become infographs and paragraphs have become tweets. Finally my 6th standard grammar précis writing classes are becoming useful. Today while writing tweets, the key challenge is how to communicate a complete thought process in 140 characters and also generate a question in order to create back flow of communication (If I remove the characters required for a bitly link and for RT), perhaps you need to finish the communication in 120 characters.

Now the shrinking window (no pun on “MS Windows”!)

• Once upon a time, our window to the world was all that our eyes could see if we turned our head from one side to another. Perhaps our eyes could “see” a radius of about 5 kms (if there was no obstruction).
• Then about 100 years ago, cinema screens were invented. A cinema screen was about 20ft x 20ft. Substantially smaller than our earlier window to the world, yet we could see and experience much more through this screen.
• Then 60 years ago, television was invented. The screens become smaller (24” x 12”), but our ability to see increased (now we have multiple channels to choose from).
• Then 30 years back, PC was invented. The screen further shrunk (12” x 5”), but our vision expanded. The WWW allowed to go just about anywhere you desired.
• And now the cell phone. Our screen size is just (2” x 1.5”).

It is interesting that our window to the world is continuously shrinking but our vision or ability to see more is actually increasing!

White paper on Social Media Mega Trends can be downloaded from http://www.socialwavelength.com/white-papers-download.php

If voting was restricted to Twitter alone, Shashi Tharoor could have been elected Prime Minister of India! Sadly for Tharoor, it isn’t, and there is life beyond.

Without a doubt, Shashi Tharoor has done more for brand Twitter in India than anybody else! Common citizens, who are far away from using Twitter, also recognize the word Twitter, thanks to Tharoor, and the news he made, with his cattle-class and such tweets!

But the same medium that made him famous, could well have spelled Tharoor’s undoing. And which is where, there are Social Media lessons to learn, for the rest of us. But I am jumping to the conclusion. Let me cut back to the beginning first.

So the Tharoor – Sunanda Pushkar –  Lalit Modi – IPL saga has been enough in the news, for me to repeat the gory details. And this piece is not about who was right and who was wrong, but more about Shashi Tharoor, and the Social Media mistakes he made.

The genesis of his mistakes though, can be understood, if we understand his personality. And M J Akbar does a great job of describing this in his Sunday piece in the Times of India. Couples of key facts pointed out by Akbar are that Tharoor did not leave his high profile and high pay UN assignment to join Indian politics, rather he left it to try and get the top job at the UN. And that for Tharoor, half limelight is better than no limelight! Also that Bush considered him to be immature.

In all of these statements lie perhaps, the explanations for Tharoor shooting off his mouth every now and then, and for his landing into a mess now, which Akbar puts as “writhing between a mistake and misfortune”.

Tharoor through his wild and popular run as the favorite Indian Twitter celebrity account, made an art of creating 140 character copy. Tweets that would be cheered by Indian Twitterati, tweets that would get huge RTs, and which as a consequence, generated huge Twitter following, and a cheering squad, which was happy to get a ‘cool and handsome MP who was tongue-in-cheek, and had a great sense of humor too, and who was so different from the boring Indian politicians of the day’! Tharoor looking for that half limelight could have not asked for more. To repeat the first sentence of this post, he had reached a position where if an election was based solely on Twitter votes, he had reached a position where he would win hands-down!

But the fact was that, Tharoor was just a great copywriter and made tweets interesting. He was not really that cool as a person, and he was not that far from the other politicians he would ridicule so often, in terms of his integrity.

And Santosh Desai, in his column again in the Times of India, explains how Tharoor’s slick language and style got him into more trouble than good, and how in this particular case, it landed him into quick sand. When style comes without adequate substance, such slips happen. And Tharoor slipped, ultimately resulting in loss of face, and an ignominious resignation from the ministry.

As Santosh Desai points out, and I have seen in person, in the twitter stream, and in the Tharoor support forums that have sprung up, Tharoor will still remain a favorite on Twitter. But his political future is another issue.

So what is the key Social Media lesson here?

The one and most important fact that this episode brings to the fore, is that on Social Media, you cannot pretend to be someone you are not. Or in other words, it is not just about words you use, but that you really have to ‘be it’. Take into contrast, another celebrity, Anand Mahindra. In fact, there has been a decent compilation of Anand Mahindra’s Twitter efforts, and how effectively he has used the medium. Now Anand Mahindra asks questions, admits he does not know it all, converses genuinely, and helps where he can. In short, he comes out as a regular human being, even if he is not one another common man. On the other hand, Tharoor came out looking larger than life, which unfortunately he was not!

And this is the last thing you do on Social Media. Social Media in general and Twitter in particular, is very public space. It amplifies conversations, and you create a Social Media brand positioning / reputation for yourself. If this is very different from who you really are, the pretense cannot be kept up for too long. Because Social Media has its own way of circling back, and haunting you, for your inconsistencies.

Social Media is about being honest to yourself, it is about transparency, and it is about being fair to your fans and followers.

As someone pointed out, best practices on use of Social Media are yet to emerge. But in the early days as we are, these are some early lessons to pick.

In lighter vein, Shashi Tharoor could attempt another first on Twitter, if he wants. If he chooses to resign from Twitter as well, he could be the first one to auction off his 700-odd-thousand follower account?!

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.