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..

What do you think? Are advertisers and ad agencies not “walking their talk”??

By the way, I refer to the following blog post that I had don earlier, on the subject of views of Nitin Paranajpe (CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever Ltd): http://blog.socialwavelength.com/2011/07/thought-provoking-words-from-nitin-paranjpe-ceo-and-md-of-hindustan-unilever-ltd/

I had the pleasure of attending the Mumbai leg of Exchange4Media’s Conclave where Nitin Paranjpe, CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. was the keynote speaker.

Starting the day’s proceedings with a heavyweight speaker of this kind, set the tone for the day. His talk was thought provoking and virtually posed a challenge, for all of the attendees present, to think if they were preparing adequately for the changing times, and the future that could be!

I was particularly pleased when in the first 5 minutes of his talk – which were in a way, also the first 5 minutes of the conclave – he started talking about how digital has started to grow, and how it can only get bigger now!

Digital and social media figured extensively in the keynote address, and which certainly pleased me, no end!

Paranjpe made it clear at the outset that he was going to throw some thoughts, potentially with an idea to provoke, to challenge, to make people think and consider. Some of his observations were speculative, and he emphasized the same, but the idea as per him was, to wonder how things would be, if those speculations came true. He also emphasized that he did not necessarily have answers, just questions. And that everyone would need to figure out their own answers really!

With this background, I am pleased to share some of his thoughts, with my comments interspersed, as per below:

1. One of the bold thoughts that Paranjpe threw was about how big digital could potentially get, in India? He mentioned that in the US, TV was still a lot bigger, but in the UK, digital had become bigger than TV, in media spend. Could such a scenario occur in India as well, he wondered?

* My thoughts: wow! Even to consider the possibility is mind boggling. Today digital is almost an afterthought for planners and marketers. And it is a small percentage of the spend, with bulk still going to TV. While we consider digital going to a double digit share – and that looks far away – considering an idea that it could possibly be bigger than TV, is certainly HUGE. If anyone else had said it, we’d have dismissed it summarily, but when Nitin Paranjpe speculates this, we have to stand up and think about the possibility!!

2. Paranjpe talked about possibilities that we had not envisaged and how things have got impacted on basis of the same. Be it mobile phones and their population in India, on the one hand, or the use of Digital Video Recorders. As CEO of one of India’s largest advertisers, it was candid of him to admit that most of the television that he himself sees, is on DVRs. And that he certainly fast-forwards the advertising there, except on account of his professional interest! Paranjpe was essentially referring to potential inflexion points. He wondered, if like mobile phones’ usage costs had come down dramatically, what if cost of DVRs came down from around INR 4,000/- to INR 400/-? How will life change then?

* My thoughts: indeed a staggering thought. If more and more television in India gets viewed via DVRs, what does that do to the big budgets allocated for TVCs?? Would there be a strong rethink then?

3. Nitin Paranjpe shared this amazing infographic, about what happens on the Internet in 60 seconds:

A fabulous graphic, this shows the totally dynamic and ever-changing world on the Internet.

* My thought: how many marketers are really prepared for this ever-changing world? If there was an eye opener, this graphic it is!

4. Like in case of DVRs, Paranjpe feared another possible inflexion point. Like the cost of mobile usage, he speculated, what would happen if broadband costs came down rapidly? Say, these became INR 200/- or even free? How will life change due to that?

* My thought: will anyone watch any TV at all? Would you get all the entertainment and news and everything else that you need, on broadband? When you want it? From allocation of media spend, to budgets for content creation, things will never be the same again!

5. Nitin Paranjpe emphasized the three new skills people need to learn and have: Engage, Engage, Engage.

* My thoughts: If this does not spell Social Media, what does?

(In fact, Paranjpe waxed eloquent about Social Media!)

6. An important point Paranjpe made was that consumers see a lot, but remember litte. On one of his visits to small town India, he asked a few people to remember some of their favorite ads of recent days. And they could not recall much at all. That in spite of the fact that television reaches everywhere. On further prodding, they mentioned that they remember the old Sridevi ad, for Lux!!

This is what he meant when he said that while consumers see a lot, there are few things they remember. And which is where the challenge for the marketer lies.

7. Another story that Paranjpe related, again from a village in India, was seeing a young woman there, use fabric softener. On asking, he was surprised to find that the girl completely understood the concept of softener, and it was not accidental use. That prompted Paranjpe to share a masterful insight – that thanks to television “aspirations have become homogenous, even though the means may be heterogenous”!!

Few other thoughts that Paranjpe shared included sharing how Cornetto had used crowdsourcing and social media. The fact that even their agency partners were also still getting an understanding of the new space, and they were learning together.

Paranjpe shared a very interesting personal challenge that he has taken up for himself. That this year, he intends to get familiar with the new media, and he is doing it the hard way. He has a 25-year old “mentor” who is taking him through the paces, including giving him homework and projects! Isn’t this fantastic??!

No wonder, Anurag Batra of Exchange4Media conveyed at the end of the talk that Paranjpe’s speech was better than many that he heard at Cannes recently!!

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!

It was fun time again this year, at the Global Youth Marketing Forum, organized by Dr. R. L. Bhatia.

I was invited to speak on the subject of how brands are using Social Media to reach youth markets. As our company has many brands that target youth markets using Social Media, I was able to share my experience. A detailed case study that I shared was about one of our clients, Channel V, and a recent, successful campaign that we ran on Social Media, called ‘Sabse Liked College’.

My presentation deck, from the forum is as under:

This post is the second part of a two part series on the challenges faced by the marketing world today.

In the previous post, I shared some thoughts around the changing marketing model, the need to relook the marketing budget allocations, and the changing role in an organization for marketing.

This second post is largely inspired by Umair Haque’s message that “Marketing Can Do Better“, again from the Harvard Business Review. And my question to that is, “can it?”.

Yes, theoretically, it can do better, but the challenges as highlighted by Umair, are so huge that it will take a marketer significant will and conviction, and then effort, to make the change, and then ‘do better’.

Umair starts with a strong paragraph, that should make any marketer squirm.. :

Why are so many marketing campaigns brand-destroyers and money-losers? Why is “branding” becoming a devalued asset, whose returns are dwindling (witness Google building the world’s mightiest brand with barely a penny of orthodox marketing expenditure)? Why do people and communities exact steeper and steeper discounts, price-cuts, and margin-crushing concessions from the beleaguered, besieged companies once known as the masters of the universe?

The half-life of companies is shrinking and the weary practice known as “marketing,” adding little to no real value, seems powerless to help.

The challenge is well and truly thrown at the marketers!

Are marketers really that helpless?

I completely agree on his points of steep discounts, promotions and margin-crushing concessions. I mean, take for example, brand managers rushing to the GroupOns and the LivingSocials and the SnapDeals to sell (nay, ‘give away’) their products at deep-deep discounts. I liken this move to a marketer throwing up his hands and saying, “Ok, I give up, I cannot sell, and so I will just distribute my products for free!”.

Okay, I do not mean selling anything on GroupOn is wrong. Perishable inventory surplus and things of that kind are fine. But selling branded products for next to nothing, is beyond my comprehension.

Umair also brings in this concept of how marketing has not adapted / changed in all these years, and how its just about “talking down” to the customer:

Marketing is still a militaristic, adversarial school of thought that’s largely about cramming “product” down the already overstuffed gullets of “consumers” by “targeting” “messages” jam-packed with illusory, imaginary benefits at them, in grand “campaigns” that make overblown promises (“See this beer? It’s going to land you the girl of your dreams!!”). I’d argue that marketing as we know it is, still, largely about talking down.

I see this all so often in the marketer’s obsession to “control” things, “control” what comes in the media, “control” communication. Because in that manner, he can decide what exactly the customer should hear, see and read. And he wants to tell the customer what is right for him (the customer). Yes, the whole idea of “talking down“.

Not realizing that the customer does not want it, is not taking it, and that the so-called “control” is a myth in today’s times anyway!

Umair goes on to introduce the concept of “listening up“, then. But in his inimitable style, he first warns what marketers should not conveniently consider to be a ‘listening up’ effort! Yes, marketers may be prone to apparently grab new concepts, if in its garb, they are able to run their favorite old agendas, still.

So here is what Umair warns, is NOT listening up:

Listening up doesn’t mean surveilling your customers, and then discovering slightly cleverer ways to trick them (yet again). Listening up doesn’t mean holding five thousand focus groups a year, and thenprice discriminating the daylights out of hapless customers. Listening up doesn’t mean delving into mines studded with billions of seams of “data” about “consumers.” Listening up definitely doesn’t mean techno-stalking people in creepy, weird, and slightly sinister ways.

I am sure marketers must be seeing a creepy sense of familiarity in the above words. The obsession with traditional means and old forms or marketing keep taking us back to the old ways and the old tricks!! So what DOES Umair refer to, as he talks of “listening up“??

Marketing is going through a churn, perhaps akin to none other in its history. The fundamental rules of the game that one could swear by, seem to be challenged. And things could never remain the same again!

This is a two post series examining some of the changes and the challenges for marketing today.

There was an interesting cover story that the Harvard Business Review did in December, around the impact of Social Media. As a part of that feature, there was a particularly fascinating piece on “Branding in the Digital Age” by David Edelman.

Picking some thoughts from there, I have put together some thoughts in the presentation below:

Some of the key pointers in this presentation include:

1. The fact that the traditional model of a consumer purchase decision is not quite valid anymore. Earlier a consumer would put together an exhaustive list of options, then based on various inputs, figure his way down to a final choice. The typical funnel effect. But that was then. What a consumer is now doing, is best described in an elliptical curve.

Gathers names of a few brands that he recalls. On account of whatever inputs – be it advertising that he connected with, or referrals or whatever. That is the consideration point. From there begins the consumer’s evaluation journey. Read up blogs, see online content, talk to friends, etc. It is at this juncture that his choices may increase or decrease. He may drop some from his earlier list, he may add others. However all these changes are based on the inputs he is getting, usually from trusted sources.

From here comes the buy point. It is observed that today, a customer may walk into a store, still with an open mind, and final decision is taken at the point of sale.

The story does not end here, though. From this point onwards, begins the loyalty loop. The customer today wants to share his experience of using a product. Good or bad. And here is where he creates the impact for the next prospect.

So the shift from a funnel to an ellipse is the one major shift in marketing.

2. The crucial impact that the above change has, is in context of marketing budget allocations. When the customer was going though a funnel based decision process, the marketer had to ensure that his brand makes it to the awareness point of the buyer (the widest mouth of that funnel) and then, as the customer winds down the path of his decision making process, the brand is able to persuade the buyer to choose it. This may well happen by means of providing best push closer to the point of purchase. Maybe as discounts.

What that meant was the traditional marketing budgets went big time, into the awareness cycle – mass media advertising in a sense – and then into the purchase influence last leg. In terms of spends then, it was a large creative effort for creating the advertising, and then a variable media purchase budget. And planning or budgeting usually meant, only about playing with the media choices, and how much to leave for the sales offers.

Once we get into a different consumer purchase cycle, there may still be a need to be present at the awareness point and the buy point (and hence the spends there), but there needs to be adequate budgets kept for the two most critical touch points, where customer is most likely to be impacted by influence. This is while he is evaluating and when he in the loyalty loop. Usually, traditional marketers have not planned for these and have no budgets to allocate.

3. So what are these evaluate and loyalty loop stages? What is the media there? Unlike traditional marketing where you’d think TV or print or whatever, out here, we are looking at the various forms or owned and earned media for a brand. And how can a brand stay on top of that? Well, by monitoring what is going on there, providing inputs where necessary, and creating their own content as well, to put into those spaces.

The crucial impact where budgets are concerned is that, this is completely new space. Where brands were otherwise looking at creative costs and media purchase costs, this is non-productive expense, in that sense. Expense to monitor and manage the platforms where owned and earned media resides. Putting resources or getting outsourced help for the same. A brand has to start planning and budgeting for these.

4. There is also an evolution of the marketer’s role beyond the traditional work. Today, the brand produces tons of content for itself, far more than the 4-page brochure or the 10-page website that used to be the norm. With blogs, Facebook pages, presentations that are shared, tweets, YouTube videos, white papers, etc., the content produced is large. Add to that, product manuals, FAQs, registration forms, etc. and a brand becomes a serious content producer. If this content is allowed to happen in any which way, there is a risk that it will cause lot of negative response, which will spill over into Social Media space. And do harm to the brand. The marketer then, needs to assume control over such communications, and ensure that it is consistent with the brand’s positioning.

All these are the changes facing marketers and marketing teams, in this changing world.

It is a threat usually, but can also be an opportunity for many. An opportunity for those who can figure this change and adapt themselves, to a more significant role in the organization.

I will continue dwelling on the challenges for marketers in a a follow up post.

Meanwhile, very keen to seek your views on these thoughts. Please do share comments.

Anyone who knows me a bit knows that I am an avid Bollywood fan. But that does NOT mean that I watch all films. I do have my favorites and I do have hunches. And I end up seeing a lot of films in the process. From a film marketer’s point of view, I would consider myself a top consumer.

One of the last big releases of the year, from a successful film maker and starring a popular and also successful pair released last week, viz. Tees Maar Khan. Ordinarily, I would have not waited for reviews and would have seen a film with such pedigree. But somehow, due to a hunch that the movie may not be so great, and also a basic paucity of time, I held back. And I am glad that I did. Because the verdict was out by early Saturday. On Facebook and Twitter, the film was flamed. And I was glad that I had not wasted my time on it.

I do not understand so much about movie making economics, so I am not sure if Tees Maar Khan will still end up recovering its costs or not. But overall the film has flopped. And there is no denying it. And two very critical factors in the failure of the film are:

1. Social Media – Facebook, Twitter etc. – that enables reviews and opinions from people spread out faster, and

2. The fact that ‘people trust people like themselves’. So much for the number of stars the film got, in the newspapers. That is only one reviewer’s opinion. I will trust my friends and people of that kind.. !

This article on Film Marketing shows the impact that Social Media is having on Hollywood as well.

A few specific quotes from the article are as under:

When negative Twitter commentary seemingly torpedoed the Sacha Baron Cohen film “Bruno” in July 2009, movie executives started talking in solemn tones about the ability of social networking to sway attendance. The era of using marketing to trick consumers into seeing bad movies was drawing to a close.

It was mostly lip service.

Yes, as it says, there was denial in Hollywood as well. Although they sensed the possibility of a Social Media impact, and talked about it, they did little in terms of actual response. So what was the result?

As Hollywood plowed into 2010, there was plenty of clinging to the tried and true: humdrum remakes like “The Wolfman” and “The A-Team”; star vehicles like “Killers” with Ashton Kutcher and “The Tourist” with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp; and shoddy sequels like “Sex and the City 2.” All arrived at theaters with marketing thunder intended to fill multiplexes on opening weekend, no matter the quality of the film. “Sex and the City 2,” for example, had marketed “girls’ night out” premieres and bottomless stacks of merchandise like thong underwear.

But the audience pushed back. One by one, these expensive yet middle-of-the-road pictures delivered disappointing results or flat-out flopped.

And what was one of the reasons WHY this happened?

As a result, studios are finally and fully conceding that moviegoers, armed with Facebook and other networking tools and concerned about escalating ticket prices, are holding them to higher standards. The product has to be good.

Although the article is more about the need to make quality films, the impact of Social Media on pronouncing a verdict on the success or otherwise, of films, is clear and unambiguous. This is true of Hollywood, and becoming increasingly relevant in Bollywood as well!

Why just cinema? In fact, even television shows are impacted significantly, by Social Media chatter.

Check this data about Twitter and its relevance to television programming.

It is clear that with smartphones, streaming television, and a fundamentally multi-tasking attitude of people, the activities of watching television and tweeting, often happen simultaneously. The tweets could be about not believing Barkha Dutt’s words as she tries to give her side of the story in #RadiaGate or it could be your view on the singer in Indian Idol. It could also be about the bizarre twist that the story takes in your favorite soap opera, or your opinion on the commentator at the cricket game.

The tweets (or facebook posts or blogs or whatever) have a tendency to create larger opinions. Whether a program ‘works’ or not. Whether a TV anchor is doing a good job or not. Whether a channel does good coverage of sporting action or not. Suddenly in addition to your isolated TV watching (or maybe with few friends or family), you have a whole world out there, ‘watching with you’ and also ‘talking to you live’, about their feelings regarding the television program! Your opinions are obviously subject to their influence now!

So if you are in the television or movie business, these are not mere statistics. These are real signs to watch for, to deal with. The success of your film or your television program, WILL have dependence on the chatter in Social Media. The earlier you accept this, the better.

Once you accept it, and you are still responsible for the marketing success of your entertainment product, what can you do about it now? Or can you do anything at all?

Here are a few thoughts:

1. You cannot get away with an ordinary product. Sorry, there are no short cuts anymore. Word gets out. It gets out fast. Fewer suckers are available to test your product, if it is fundamentally not good. So work on creating a good product, in the first place!

2. Talk to your audience before the release of your film, or the launch of your television program. Use the Social Media channels to create the right expectation around your product. Most of the time, a film bombs because people were expecting something very different. Or the wrong audience went in, they did not like the film, and then the wrong buzz started on Social Media. By talking to your potential viewers in advance, setting up the film / TV program, for what it really is (and what it ISN’T as well), you make sure that the audience that likes that kind of entertainment, will only watch, and they may actually like it, and start sharing good tidings about your film / TV show.

3. Don’t oversell. A lot of the buzz on Social Media, prior to the release of a film, centers around the reports that one has picked up, and the anticipation therefore, about how the film will turn out. If there has been aggressive selling, there is every chance that the expectations will be very high, and as soon as these are not met, the chatter on Social Media will swing to how the film did not measure up! And disaster follows, then. An example of this may be the new show about to be launched on Imagine TV, with Shah Rukh Khan as the host. Marketing messages about it being the greatest show on television or how SRK is being paid close to $ 0.5 mn per episode etc. are creating massive expectations out of the show. Will it measure up in actual delivery? Either ways, the pressure will be very high for the show to be absolutely perfect for everyone. A tough expectation to live up to.. !

4. Listen, monitor.. : Whether it is a film or a television show, listening in to what your consumers are talking about, on Social Media, is absolutely critical. Listening, and then acting on the feedback. For an ongoing television program, there is no more immediate a feedback loop than Twitter. Even as the show is on, you will see tweets about ‘how the VJ sucks’ or about ‘the bias from the celebrity judges of a reality show’, etc. There is a chance to correct in the next episode and relate better to the audience. Of course, the ultimate opportunity is to crowdsource the complete show, going ahead, based on feedback from Social Media. In the case of a film, there may be low opportunity to correct, since the serious monetization life of a movie these days, is about a week or so. Still, say, Ashutosh Gowariker listened to, and got the feedback that Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se was a little too long, and people were strongly disliking that fact, AND if he had also kept a shorter edit ready, could he have quickly replaced the prints, and given the film another chance to succeed? Possibly.. !

For the record, our company, Social Wavelength, works with few entertainment brands (amongst other clients) and we would be happy to guide you, for creating a good Social Media strategy for your next film or your next television program! Feel free to contact our sales team at bd@socialwavelength.com.

I would love to get your thoughts / feedback on the above points. Do share them in the comments below..

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..

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