Social Media: Learning from the trenches

by mihir on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

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?

22.11.2009 campaign, learning, mihir, social media View Comments

Advertising Agencies and Social Media: The Challenges

by sanjay on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

I have many good friends in the traditional advertising world. A few clients as well. And many prospects. And I have a lot of respect for their work. They are among the most creative folks I know in life.

So I want to assure that this post is not meant to be critical of them.

There is a perspective based on observation and experience, about how traditional advertising agencies are finding some aspects of Social Media to be challenging, and which is shared here.

As an opinion. And looking for other opinions, in fact!

Over the few months that we have been in business as a Social Media agency, we have pitched directly to clients as well as via advertising agencies. In doing so, we have had good experience interacting and working with both types of prospects.

Having seen this at close quarters, I observe few fundamental challenges, for advertising agencies to adapt to Social Media that easily:

1. There is a ‘campaign’ focus: Agencies have traditionally been involved in campaigns. Those that may demand a lot of hard work, high creativity, long hours, but which are finally one-off shots (whatever be the length of that one-off shot).

Social Media is not quite like that. Social Media is an ongoing process, something that needs to happen all day long, day-in-and-day-out. This is unfamiliar territory, in principal, for the agencies.

2. Intuitive and smart writing is required, need not be masterpieces: Agencies have the best creative talents, no doubt. Especially copywriters, who create that magic, with the use of few words that get on to billboards or on print ads or the script on the TV ad. They may work on several iterations before they get those 4 words right, but those 4 words then, are very right and work wonders in an advertisement.

Such excellent copywriting would work very well on social media. Except that it is unaffordable. And perhaps not required. Each tweet does not have to be the masterpiece copy that comes on ads. Each Facebook update does not have to be discussed and debated in a creative brainstorming session.

Social Media is about being ‘just right enough’ on the creative front, being more intuitive and natural, and being almost casual in your content. Whether it is on Facebook or on Twitter or other formats.

The extremely creative copywriter of the agency can do this, but her presence for each tweet or each FB update, will not be affordable then. And anything less might not do, or may not be available in the agency team!

3. There is huge effort in getting it right, and then getting it ‘out’. As mentioned earlier, agencies work hard to get the ad right, and for which long hours and very hard work is the norm. But it all culminates at the point, when the campaign is pushed out, after all the final approvals. And that’s it. After that the team can relax, as it is then, for the campaign to deliver. Or not.

In social media however, there is no one ‘out’. Social Media is about conversations. About dialogs. Once you put your message out, you will get responses. And you have to respond back. And it goes on. And each time, you need to put your best foot forward. And the ‘campaign’ does not really ‘end’ at all! This again is something to get used to, for agencies.

We have seen many a social media initiative of agencies falling into the ‘campaign’ slot. Most times, it also continues to be a ‘broadcast’ as against a conversation.

While we do not agree to it being called a ‘social media strategy’ then, we have ourselves worked with agencies on such initiatives. Considering at our end, that we are participating not in a true social media effort, but rather, in an advertising campaign, where a blog or a Facebook page or Twitter is serving as a media, and we are delivering the content for that advertisement.

This is really the type of Social Media involvement that we are seeing a lot of, from advertising agencies.

We hope that agencies get convinced about the “real” social media. The type which involves long term and ongoing engagement with your customers. The type that creates relationships and not just one-off branding or sale opportunities. Where the brand truly mingles with its customers, and becomes their very approachable friend.

Once agencies are convinced about this opportunity, and then they can convince their clients too, perhaps we can see a shift in the approach.

However it does appear to be a steep mountain to climb, from where we are at this time. There are a lot of old learnings to be given up, and new ones to be learned. And in that, amongst other things, the agency revenue models may also get challenged. And which is the biggest status quo that no one wants to disturb.

As long as the current situation prevails, agencies may keep doing advertising and using social media platforms as advertising media. While others, including agencies like ours, will strive to convince clients about an alternate approach. One which is the true social media.

Yes, I might have ruffled a few feathers here. And so I am open to be corrected.

Do you think agencies are changing faster than I give them credit for? Or is their current approach the right one anyway? Your opinions are welcome, in the comments below.

30.09.2009 Sanjay, Services, advertising agencies, social media View Comments

Why do you need a Social Media Agency?

by sanjay on Friday, July 17th, 2009

Because customer conversations do not happen on your laptop’s C drive, they happen in the Social

space!

Say what? Yeah, ok, I kind of jumped the gun.

So let’s start at the beginning.

As we meet clients and talk to them about Social Media initiatives and strategies, many times, we realize that what we are advising is something that a client can so easily do himself. Well, not all parts of it, but many of the simpler ones.

So then, why does the company need us? Why can’t they do it themselves?

Some of the reasons in response to these questions:

  1. Unless it is a day job, it does not get done well: There are times when there is a “mood” to jump into Social Media. Usually starts somewhere at the top levels of management. And the plunge is taken. Facebook page is started or a Twitter account initiated, or some blogging takes off. May even go on for a few months. And then, one of many things could happen:
    • a. The ‘champion’ of the project leaves the job, or
    • b. A joint venture initiative comes up, which occupies the mindshare, or
    • c. The CFO asks some awkward questions on resource utilization, etc.

    And the effort dies down. Slowly but surely, it fizzles out to a zero. Nobody even tries to clean up the mess. The ‘fans’ on the Facebook pages are left high and dry. Nobody responds back to the tweets. The blog looks like an abandoned ghost town.

    Impact on the brand? I am sure you can imagine!!

    If alternately, an agency was involved, such holes would not remain, usually.

  2. You know all the stuff, but you do not how to present it: The business belongs to the client. She knows her business better than anyone else, and we, as Social Media consultants cannot even come close. However, with the client’s knowledge of her business, and her ability to put content together about the business, there may be a shortfall in the area of presentation.A very long blog post may be written, that no one reads through. Posts may sound too technical and boring. There may be a struggle to communicate in short for, say, 140 characters, for Twitter. And of course, fundamental language skills may not be that good.

    Here again, the Social Media Agency will fix all of these issues, and create content of suitable size, suitable style, and present it well.

  3. There are only 24 hours in the day: Many times, we find that on the scale of good intentions, clients score 110%. That they want to go after Social Media and want to crack the puzzle, and they want to blog, and they want to tweet, and they want to do everything that comes in between. And they want to do it themselves too.With that kind of earnestness, the task begins and is taken up. The ‘honeymoon’ period goes like a breeze. They are frequent blog posts, there are regular updates on Facebook, on Twitter, etc. And then…. then, a big tender / RFP comes up, and getting that business could mean wonders for the client. OR, perhaps there are some regulatory / compliance issues that come up and grab the time of the client. And the first casualty of time is the Social Media plan. Because it is not delivering short term results!

    A Social Media agency would ensure against gaps of this kind!

  4. The best things that you do are also often, your best-kept secrets: Most companies have, over time, worked on some amazing projects, some outstanding work for their clients. In doing so, they satisfied their clients no end, perhaps even earned some bonuses for themselves. They have probably even made a case study document out of this, with an intention of showing it to some other client, if a similar case comes up.There are also times when companies have come up with this brilliant presentation about themselves, and which they shared to their bankers or potential investors or while pitching for some new accounts.

    Such case studies, such presentations are then, hanging around somewhere in the C drives of computers. And sitting there, they do not have a chance to impress anyone else.

    A Social Media Agency will typically prompt the client to come out with such “secrets” and which are then showcased strategically, via Social Media, and then, have a chance to reach a wider audience!

In conclusion, I repeat that as a Social Media Consultant, or a Social Media Agency, there is almost nothing that I can do, which my client cannot do. There is scarcely any ‘technical’ skill that I bring forth, that a client would not have.

The only reason then, for a client to engage us, is because, “we will get Social Media done”, and left to themselves, clients may or may not do it consistently / regularly!

Yes, I generalize to an extent, to make the point. What do you think, though? In your experience, do you think this generalization is valid?

17.07.2009 General, Sanjay, Services View Comments