Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Less Blogging this Week

This week will be more of packing and travelling since I'll be moving to Mumbai to join my new employer "Godrej". So this has direct repurcussions on my blogging. That means blogging will be dry this week. But promise to come back next week, pronto!

Oh, by the way, my joining is on 5th june and I also promise to post certain inputs from whatever on the track experience I'll gather. So that means, new & interesting posts for sure.

So hope you have made yourself comfortable in my blog site and to my blogging topics and style. And please keep your criticism and appreciation flow through your comments.

And last but not least, need all your wishes and best of luck for this new journey :-)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Social Media Experiment: How online behavior can reduce Twitter noise

This week I thought I will use my blog not only to post marketing or technology related info but use it for some real-time data analysis. One of the primary reasons I took the opportunity of using my blog is to satiate my innate desires to understand any issue from 3 important aspects: Logic Building, Asking the right question and last but not least intuitive analysis.

So you may ask why so? In the beginning of this week, Robert Scoble discussed about Twitter noise referring to unnecessary monologues on “What are you doing”. So I thought what better way than discussing the same topic/issue with Tweople (referring to inhabitants of Twitter) themselves. So I asked a simple question to most of my followers in Twitter and they responded back. Thanks a ton fellas!

The question: Why u *FOLLOW* or *Un-FOLLOW* someone in Twitter?

Methodology: Launched a survey on 19th May via tweets asking the same question. Till date got about 32 responses off 310/203 i.e. “Following/Followers” in my Twitter profile through Twitter replies, direct messages (DM’s), emails and additional few responses came from other sources anonymously.

Who responded:

1. Afzal Khan (http://toprankseo.blogspot.com)
2.
Chris Brogan (http://chrisbrogan.com/)
3.
Daksh (http://themarketingblog.wordpress.com/)
4.
Netra Parikh
5.
ideasmithy (http://www.theideasmithy.com/)
6.
Subatomic (http://www.yeskarthi.wordpress.com/),
7.
Franticnews (http://franticindustries.com)
8.
labsji (http://labsji.wordpress.com/)
9.
garimadhiman
10.
gsharma (http://www.gsharma.com/)
11.
seanpaune (http://www.seanpaune.com/)
12.
watblog - Thanks for the link (http://watblog.com)
13.
cruisemaniac (http://thecruisemaniac.com/)
14.
mokshjuneja (http://mokshjuneja.com/)
15.
hiway (http://www.harshadsharma.name/)
16.
juancarlosarzol (http://www.juancarlosarzola.com/)
17.
Damiano (http://www.nitmesh.com/)
18.
Ravages (http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/)
19.
shirleyjohn (http://livingthelifeofmydreams.blogspot.com/)
20.
dhudiburg (http://www.dailymarketingace.com/)
21.
ronakshah (http://www.richdollarblog.com/)
22.
vimoh (http://www.vmohanty.com/)
23.
shankargan (http://www.shankarganesh.com/)
24.
montrealseo
25.
palinn (http://advocable.com)
26.
DDeeps (http://deeplydeeps.blogspot.com/)

And many more who responded anonymously via other sources, So thanks to them also!

What did the statistics say?

The analysis is primarily divided into two types of graphs i.e. “Why we Follow in Twitter” and consequently “Why we Un-Follow in Twitter”. The graphs below show such:
The micro-survey results shows that 5 reasons come out to be more influential i.e. Follow those whose tweets are interesting & usable information, follow thought leaders and role models, Follow friends, Follow back those who follows you and last but not least latest tweet from users. Clearly, it seems that interesting & Usable info guides more twitter users to follow.On the hindsight, the survey portrays a clear and definitive response to why they un-follow in twitter. Spammy tweets is the clear winner and following it are less benefits from tweets, one-sided or monologues by Tweople, Un-follow them who doesn’t follow you and last but not least high SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) puts off users from following someone in Twitter.

Findings & Conclusion

There is no doubt that there is a lot of noise in twitter due to spam messages, blog links, self-glorifying updates, blog marketing and many more ways. But from the figures above, it is very much clear that usable information will get Tweople following you whereas spam messages will put Tweople off.

According to DoshDosh, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these ’spammers’ and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build a large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.

Still my take from the data I have gathered is that most users want Twitter to be a much filtered source of information and social tool (thanks Afzal). And once Tweople understand and start applying this, it’s not far from the fact that signal/noise ratio will drastically improve since it’s still early days for twitter for all of us.

One more interesting thing that I noticed is that Twitter is more for extrovert ones since at the end of it all you just type “What are you doing” and if you follow those two graphs up above, you will surely find some amount of coherence in our offline behavior as well as online i.e. we all want to read about what our mentors are doing, brand ourselves, let others know what we am interested in. So it won’t be wrong if I say that all of us want some amount of limelight.

This is one of my many analysis that I will put forward in times to come. Hope you will participate in the near future to make it better and more indepth.

Lastly, if you want a piece of me, follow me here in Twitter or Subscribe to my Blog RSS Feed.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Links for 2008-05-22

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Social Media Strategy for B2B companies - Insights from Lena West

Few days back, got this mail as part of my MarketingProfs newsletter. The topic was "Getting Results with Social Media: Q&A with Lena West". Though every now & then, we all marketing and social media enthusiats get emails like this but this one somehow struck some chord which prompted me to include a part of the interview into my blog. I found the Q&A quite insightful, interesting and most importantly clears up the ground level realities of Social Media acceptance in B2B companies as they have begun to launch Social Media efforts and incorporate Social Media tools into their marketing campaigns. But with the new tools comes the inevitable learning curve, and many organizations are finding that their initial wade into the social media water isn't yielding the results they were hoping for or expecting.

Here, she shares some insights for B2B players looking to hone their social media strategy.

[Q] It seems that in the last couple of years, companies have been looking to learn all they could about blogs and social networks. Are these still the hot spots for companies wanting to start using social media, or are other areas emerging?

[Ans] Blogs and social networking are still very "hot." Gosh, I don't like saying that because it makes anything new media related sound like a fad - which it decidedly is NOT.

Online communities and engagement are emerging areas for brand investment. Companies that are active in social media are finally getting the blogosphere memo that it's not just about being part of the community and listening, but facilitating dialogue as well.

There was a report released recently that showed that with the economic downturn, many brands are taking a good chunk of their traditional marketing spend and allocating it to social media engagement. Not to mention that there is still a huge learning and adoption curve for social media on the corporate front. The best is far from being over and we haven't even reached the peak yet.

[Q] What do you think is the biggest misconception that companies have about using social media tools?

[Ans] That legal "won't let them" or that people will say negative things about their brands. Newsflash: people in your market are already saying both good and bad things about brands. Why stick your head in the sand, when you can find out what's being said, address it and develop relationships?

As for legal? Their job is to protect the firms they're hired to protect. It's our jobs as consultants, social media evangelists, marketers and PR professionals to present a plan that mitigates risk while still being open, honest and direct. If you're not doing your job, don't dare blame it all on legal.

[Q]There’s a growing emphasis on establishing the right metrics to measure social media programs. What’s hard about correctly tracking and measuring the effectiveness of social media efforts?

[Ans] Because when [companies] started their social media initiative(s), they didn't determine what the end goal was and as a result they don't know which metric to measure to keep tabs on that goal. It’s really that simple. There are HUNDREDS of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you can track, but if you don't know what you should be tracking and how that indicator relates to your goal… you might as well go watch Project Runway. This is why it's so important for brands to get help implementing social media. If I've seen it once, I've seen it a hundred times. It's seemingly minor things, like selecting the appropriate metric(s), that can cripple otherwise healthy social media programs.

[Q] Is blogging a good fit for every company?

[Ans] Blogs do seem to get the most attention, but that's because everyone can type. You see, people mistakenly think they have to be some uber-orator in order to have a successful podcast. Or, with a video blog, they think they have to be the next Ed Bradley or Barbara Walters. And, even with online communities, they feel it's a lot to manage, but a blog…? Heck, anyone can type. That's the thought process.

No, blogs are not a good fit for every company. Different social media tools produce different results. For example, if you know your audience is on-the-go, you might want to consider a podcast because audio offers a different means of portability than text.

Companies can tell they should start blogging when they feel that they want something more from their marketing than demis and data. Many people get older and they think, "There has to be more than this," and they go on a search for their passion in the Burmese mountainside. Companies get the same fire in their breastbones. They think - and correctly so - there has to be more than numbers and email addresses. They start thinking about how to start a movement in their industry. They start thinking bigger about their brands. THOSE are the companies that are ripe for engaging in social media -- blogging or otherwise. It starts as a yearning to be part of the big picture.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Price of being a Spectator

There are primarily 3 kinds of marketing moves that decides your future standing.
  1. Marketing steps which are taken only after your competitors have taken which somehow makes you feel that it provides you the cushioning.
  2. Marketing moves which make things happen; makes you remarkable.
  3. Marketing steps which are taken only after wondering what happened.

Now in a dynamic world, the saying is true – “It’s not the big who swallow the small but the fast who swallow the slow”. That’s why timing of your marketing campaign is so important.

Now the question is - You want to wait till it’s done or you want to be a doer than a mere spectator! The choice is yours...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Old Media vs Digital Media in hyperconnected world


While reading the article “The Hyperconnected vs. 84% of Everyone Else on Earth” by Steve Rubel it makes me wonder that what it means to New Media/Social Media enthusiast like me when he says that:
“…52% of the US online population as largely passive.

Net, this leaves me convinced that despite all of the buzz around the growth of new media and/or digital advertising, neither will replace existing modalities for some time to come...Digital media is going to be additive in the near to medium term. However, in a decade - perhaps sooner, perhaps later - it will be a different story.”
This is really interesting (Download the PDF). Even Robert Scoble has his own take too on this though in a different way conforming how Google news & Techmeme has little or no noise compared to Twitter or FriendFeed.

Given all these facts & figures together, we can't just write off old school media as yet but on the hindsight looking at the
increasing online spending Y-o-Y compared to old media, we can say that old media is losing steam (PDF Link) whereas digital media is catching fire. Also, it won’t be wrong to say that companies find it more alluring to shift to digital media compared to older one because it gives more traction going forward especially in terms of connecting with their audience near & far. So the statistics shown in the chart doesn’t include the extent to which companies will allure it’s audience to world wide web (Remember 20 years back there was no market for purified mineral water but now billions of dollars flow in- How? Because companies have changed the audience’s viewpoint. So why not digital media then?)

Yeah there will a lot of problems in terms of overcoming the digital divide across the world but things have started changing like decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

So will it take digital media so much time to change gears from being an additive one to complementary & then finally mainstream. What say Mr. Rubel?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Amitabh Bachchan's blog: Marketing gimmick or serious cause?

I never thought that I will write anything about bollywood stars in this blog. But for the couple of weeks something is brewing offline as well as online which is quite interesting to talk about. India's mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan(BigB) has started his own blog which has been the center of attraction both in media as well as in film fraternity.

Though WatBlog has stated this move from Amitabh Bachchan as a marketing gimmick by BigAdda.com (Mr. Anil Ambani's Social Network) but what excited me was the more recent news from this front in ET that Amitabh Bachchan is paid a huge sum of Rs. 100 Crores ($25 million) to blog on BigAdda.com! I guess Mr. Arrington of TechCrunch fame who reportedly earns something around Rs 1 crore ($250000) per month may take some tips from Mr. Bachchan...Psst!

But whatever may be the scene out there, but Mr. Bachchan has justified to BigAdda.com since the amount of controversy it has generated has given the portal enough viral affect which has generated enough furore in offline media to catapult BigAdda.com into a superior visibility status.

Not only the viral impact has helped BigAdda.com but this sort of joint venture has helped Mr. Bachchan to put his much needed voice across his rivals subtly but also do much needed PR for BigAdda itself for free which they could have spend as direct expenses via advertising in television or print. So I believe that it's win-win situation for both these brands.

One more thing about his blog is that it's a big hit among his fans as there were 100's of comments which shows that his fans have taken his blogging step seriously. But the question is will Mr. Bachchan take blogging seriously like others such as Aamir Khan who has even hosted his blog at aamirkhan.com? Or he's going to use this voice-up platform to promote his future films.

P.S. The backdrop of his blog has a picture of Amitabh Bachchan in his next awaited release "Bhootnath".

Thursday, May 15, 2008

How about this Marketing Idea?

Was going through Drew's Marketing Minute and stumbled upon this marketing idea. Though it's still a drawing board idea from South Korea but it sure opens up more than an oppurtunity in revolutionizing traffic lights. Read more about the "Virtual Wall" on Yanko Design.

So all those creative and innovative marketers, does it ring a bell in your head about how this innovation can used to great PR and advertising oppurtunities.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

How Brands make “Meaning beyond Money”

"...Mass media has become increasingly fragmented and viewers’ engagement levels have decreased. Only 5% of the viewers watch TV ads and 30% of the viewers watch TV while reading the newspaper" (tweet) by Stephan Loerke (PPT Link), Managing Director, World Federation of Advertisers.

So this calls for newer and innovative ways of customer attraction and retention strategies. Social Media gives a lot of promise in terms of participation, engagement, permission, collaboration etc which has brought the customers and the companies in the same platform.

But the question is why should you care?

One of the reason is, you like it or not, your customers will definitely talk about you and the web has given them a apt platform to raise their voice to appreciate as well as criticize you.

Now the worst scenario is that your customers are not talking about you at all. Think about it. They don't care about you. But they necessarily need not be negative conversations. They well could be constructive discussions filled with chances to learn about your customers and what you need to do to make them happy. Happy people buy more and tell their friends. It's your prerogative whether to join the conversation or not or rather we can say "To Participate or not to Participate is the question"!

The best outcome is that those who are talking about you are spreading the word on your business - Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell called them Citizen Marketers. The worst case scenario is that those customers who talked about you even once stopped doing so, they did not think you cared about what they were saying, so they stopped caring about you and your business - you become invisible to them (and increasingly their friends).

So letting your customers talk about your brands make a lot of difference since it makes "Meaning beyond Money".

Related Stories:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Remembrance of a Lifetime

This is one of the most unusual posts that I will ever write, I guess.

Have you ever felt bad or rather disliked a good customer service? No one does! Even I didn't thought so but in my case it was very unusual. Today I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC (a growing fast food chain). Everything was quite the usual types except for I was in a very foul mood. Even my companion couldn't help me settle down. So in my infuriated state I sat in a chair, soon to be asked to move since we were two people and some bunch of hippies wanted to sit too in our chairs. And that did it for me. I somehow lost it and gave it back to the waiter. It's not all. I accused him of bad customer service and how they should treat their customers. I even went to the extreme to meet the General Manager and told him that how their service sucks.

Now that's one part of the story. The other part made me feel more than guilty than I can express in words. The waiters (I mean all of them) were deaf & dumb. It was told to me by the General Manager. And the gestures of the waiter during the tiff was to make me understand that all the seats were in the sharing basis. I misread it and took it otherwise and blasted him off. Later he came around and did gave us a seat though and made us comfortable.

Uptil now I was totally infuriated at their unattended customer service but after knowing the real reason of communication gap I was totally immersed in guilt. After apologizing even, the waiter was so calm and still helping me out and making it seem more normal. I simply loved it! At that moment I was only wondering that does a man who can talk or hear can only communicate more, or is it about being more humane?

Still I believe that it's a great move from KFC to employ disabled people as the responsibility increases from both sides i.e. a customer as well as an employee to have a better and wholesome experience. So now before accusing anyone think twice that have you been a good enough to be served well?

But still this incident will be in my memory for a long long time.

P.S. Thanks Sangita for the suggetion.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


What's this? Does Airtel and YouTube logos look similar? Laugh out loud my friend, it is!! Interesting I must say. Wondering is it "TRUE-COPY"?

Thanks Pratham.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Swainism #1: Marketing, Social Media & You

From this post onwards, I will try to post some personal insights on Marketing, Technology, Media, Advertising & to whatever life has to offer. I hope I'm able to express all my thoughts clearly through this specific blog posts henceforth. Please pardon me if I come across as someone who knows it all; As for me it's a just a learning curve and I would need ur admiration and criticism equally as I move along. I have named these post as "Swainism" (Pun intended!!).

  • Man is full of contradictions whereas community thinks in a linear fashion. That’s why marketers should try influencing community on the basis of engagement & trust rather than demographics since the networked world has ended demographics.

  • Social Media is not just another channel to push your message. It’s more about building relationships on trust, respect and faith rather than pushing it towards the consumers. These tools manage reputation, attention, and value chain sharing very well, and these are the tools that build business from trust. (Thanks Chris)

  • Technology will be a key enabler in bringing the brands, customers and business in a holistic ecosystem where business will engage customers through trust & mutual respect to help build their brands. Social Media has a key role to play in that.

  • Long gone are the days when marketing spend was treated as a percentage of sales like short term promotions etc due to easy accountability. Now need of the hour is long term brand building exercise which will touch the audience at 360 degree.

  • Last but not least, most of today's business models which are "Community Driven & Socially Accepted" are the ones minting money in the backdrop of "KARMA CAPITALISM". The future is very bleak for them since THEY (reffering to consumers) know and Trust is missing in the equation. (From one of my Twitter posts)

If you have any such idea(s) and want it to get posted in this blog, do mail me at sampad.s[at]gmail.com. I will post it as soon as possible with a linkety link if possible.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

How Less is More?

It's interesting to see the menu of any fast food joint like McDonald's or cafes like Barista, Cafe Coffee Day or Starbucks etc (Thanks Addy for telling me about Starbucks' thousands of coffee combinations)! I get all the more confused seeing all those choices in front of me. It's ok if you have decided what you want and order it. If you haven't then sure it's a problem to make up your mind.

So the question is "Do we need more choices or less of it"? It's a difficult one to answer thinking how much will be enough for anyone. But one example from an article from MarketingProfs really hit me hard and made me think about it.

"...The story is about In-N-Out Burger; their customers don't expect an extensive menu. Their menu only includes 3 variations of same kind of sandwich i.e. a hamburger, a cheeseburger and the Double Double which comes with two patties and two slices of cheese. You can order a side of fries and a shake. But that's all. NO chiken strips, no salads, no stuffed jalapenos, no kids' meals. You can customize orders from the so-called secret menu i.e. Animal style, for instance, added grilled onions but dining options is unapologetically limited. And last but not least, they keep the lines long and service slow."

One thing is sure. Too many choices can cause a lot of customer experience anxiety and mental exhaustion. So the best strategy would be to simplify the products, services and portolios as it helps customers isolate their needs from burgeoning choices that are in offer in the marketplace.

P&G got it right way back and more & more companies are realising it that nowadays "Less is More" & "More is headache". More so, it all depends how individually exclusive you can keep your products or services without diluting it in the clutter.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Creating Empathy, Understanding & Openess in Business

This post is a part of my explaination to one of my commenters about my "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" slides I posted some months back. So thought of sharing it...

"...Business in modern day has become quite complex because of many reasons. One of them is understanding customers. I will try to connect 4 steps which I mentioned in my slides of "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" (SlideShare Link)i.e. investigating, walking + talking with people, learning by doing and sharing.

For example, if you want to launch a new product, the first primary thing that has to be done is to know what your target audience wants. Some of the tools that businesses have been using are market research, newer methods like alpha & beta tests etc. But the question is do they truly help us understand what they want?

One more thing that has to be remembered here is that we all are dealing with people who by nature are emotional and more often than not are not guided by logic or rationale. So what are these tests do for us! Don’t get me wrong here; I am not saying that it is of no use. But I personally believe that a healthy mix of personal experiences and qualitative & quantitative research will work as a wonder drug in these cases where Logic + Emotion (had to mention David Armano here) is taken care of easily. And that’s where Social Media can help us. Social Media can help businesses to engage, connect, collaborate, corroborate, share and help socialize between customers & businesses.

Last but not least, validation to the extent of measurability & stepwise accountability of the ongoing processes of understanding your customers is an important criterion as it can make or break a company. It can be through bringing your customers into the validation process not just through alpha or beta tests as the question lies somewhere else. It’s much better to have rough answers to right question than to have detailed answers to wrong question like quantitative analysis or focus groups. Validation can be brought to the table through asking the right questions like memorability of trademarks or logos, customer’s brand voice (message) perception & last but not least your customers should be able to verbalize the brand’s concept. Then working backwards towards number crunching may be the total solution.”

Please feel free to add/comment/criticize on it.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


This provides the perfect recipe for your morning coffee with snacks. Isn't it? NO I'm not kidding. Of all the Facebook Apps, research shows that "Just for Fun" is a clear winner. The next one is Gaming. Not surprising though, at least for me since I get most of my Facebook apps invitation from this group only (guys stop sending me such). Anyway getting down at number crunching, it's no rocket science to understand that numero uno i.e. Just for Fun Apps is ahead of the 2nd one i.e. Gaming by a whooping 270%+. Oops!!! There goes Facebook's valuation, at least for me...but as they say "..the rest is history".

Courtesy: Flowing Data

Friday, May 02, 2008

5 key pointers towards Brand building

This morning started with a lot of questions in my head. First up is brand building and how it can make our brand a time tested one. Though branding activities depend on geographical to user base preferences & tastes, but still the basic morphology of building a successful brand remains the same over-time. I have tried to chalk out 5 most crucial questions that is to be asked before building a successful brand:
  1. Does your Marketing Strategy gel with the existing Promotional campaigns?

  2. Does it give you Traction in the marketplace in terms of Scalability?

  3. Is it Measurable to the extent of Flexibility?

  4. Does it build a "Brand of Value" or a "Brand of Convenience" for the consumers?

  5. Does it reflect in the Balance sheets (i.e. is it measurable & accountable)?

These 5 questions is in the heart of any branding activity since the market has become more dynamic than ever mainly because of Fragmented Media // More choices and less of time for consumers to choose // Traditional advertising is losing steam // And most importantly consumers are buying stuff more due to peer recommendation by factor "X" . So all these factors are affecting consumers to turn out to be into "Brand Sluts".

Related Posts:

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Slidepost: Global State of Social Media

This is the Social Media Research done by Universal McCann including 17,000 people in 29 countries. The research provides a comprehensive global trends in Social Media usage.

I think the presentation's findings are quite interesting and insightful.



Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Less Blogging this Week

This week will be more of packing and travelling since I'll be moving to Mumbai to join my new employer "Godrej". So this has direct repurcussions on my blogging. That means blogging will be dry this week. But promise to come back next week, pronto!

Oh, by the way, my joining is on 5th june and I also promise to post certain inputs from whatever on the track experience I'll gather. So that means, new & interesting posts for sure.

So hope you have made yourself comfortable in my blog site and to my blogging topics and style. And please keep your criticism and appreciation flow through your comments.

And last but not least, need all your wishes and best of luck for this new journey :-)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Social Media Experiment: How online behavior can reduce Twitter noise

This week I thought I will use my blog not only to post marketing or technology related info but use it for some real-time data analysis. One of the primary reasons I took the opportunity of using my blog is to satiate my innate desires to understand any issue from 3 important aspects: Logic Building, Asking the right question and last but not least intuitive analysis.

So you may ask why so? In the beginning of this week, Robert Scoble discussed about Twitter noise referring to unnecessary monologues on “What are you doing”. So I thought what better way than discussing the same topic/issue with Tweople (referring to inhabitants of Twitter) themselves. So I asked a simple question to most of my followers in Twitter and they responded back. Thanks a ton fellas!

The question: Why u *FOLLOW* or *Un-FOLLOW* someone in Twitter?

Methodology: Launched a survey on 19th May via tweets asking the same question. Till date got about 32 responses off 310/203 i.e. “Following/Followers” in my Twitter profile through Twitter replies, direct messages (DM’s), emails and additional few responses came from other sources anonymously.

Who responded:

1. Afzal Khan (http://toprankseo.blogspot.com)
2.
Chris Brogan (http://chrisbrogan.com/)
3.
Daksh (http://themarketingblog.wordpress.com/)
4.
Netra Parikh
5.
ideasmithy (http://www.theideasmithy.com/)
6.
Subatomic (http://www.yeskarthi.wordpress.com/),
7.
Franticnews (http://franticindustries.com)
8.
labsji (http://labsji.wordpress.com/)
9.
garimadhiman
10.
gsharma (http://www.gsharma.com/)
11.
seanpaune (http://www.seanpaune.com/)
12.
watblog - Thanks for the link (http://watblog.com)
13.
cruisemaniac (http://thecruisemaniac.com/)
14.
mokshjuneja (http://mokshjuneja.com/)
15.
hiway (http://www.harshadsharma.name/)
16.
juancarlosarzol (http://www.juancarlosarzola.com/)
17.
Damiano (http://www.nitmesh.com/)
18.
Ravages (http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/)
19.
shirleyjohn (http://livingthelifeofmydreams.blogspot.com/)
20.
dhudiburg (http://www.dailymarketingace.com/)
21.
ronakshah (http://www.richdollarblog.com/)
22.
vimoh (http://www.vmohanty.com/)
23.
shankargan (http://www.shankarganesh.com/)
24.
montrealseo
25.
palinn (http://advocable.com)
26.
DDeeps (http://deeplydeeps.blogspot.com/)

And many more who responded anonymously via other sources, So thanks to them also!

What did the statistics say?

The analysis is primarily divided into two types of graphs i.e. “Why we Follow in Twitter” and consequently “Why we Un-Follow in Twitter”. The graphs below show such:
The micro-survey results shows that 5 reasons come out to be more influential i.e. Follow those whose tweets are interesting & usable information, follow thought leaders and role models, Follow friends, Follow back those who follows you and last but not least latest tweet from users. Clearly, it seems that interesting & Usable info guides more twitter users to follow.On the hindsight, the survey portrays a clear and definitive response to why they un-follow in twitter. Spammy tweets is the clear winner and following it are less benefits from tweets, one-sided or monologues by Tweople, Un-follow them who doesn’t follow you and last but not least high SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) puts off users from following someone in Twitter.

Findings & Conclusion

There is no doubt that there is a lot of noise in twitter due to spam messages, blog links, self-glorifying updates, blog marketing and many more ways. But from the figures above, it is very much clear that usable information will get Tweople following you whereas spam messages will put Tweople off.

According to DoshDosh, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these ’spammers’ and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build a large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.

Still my take from the data I have gathered is that most users want Twitter to be a much filtered source of information and social tool (thanks Afzal). And once Tweople understand and start applying this, it’s not far from the fact that signal/noise ratio will drastically improve since it’s still early days for twitter for all of us.

One more interesting thing that I noticed is that Twitter is more for extrovert ones since at the end of it all you just type “What are you doing” and if you follow those two graphs up above, you will surely find some amount of coherence in our offline behavior as well as online i.e. we all want to read about what our mentors are doing, brand ourselves, let others know what we am interested in. So it won’t be wrong if I say that all of us want some amount of limelight.

This is one of my many analysis that I will put forward in times to come. Hope you will participate in the near future to make it better and more indepth.

Lastly, if you want a piece of me, follow me here in Twitter or Subscribe to my Blog RSS Feed.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Links for 2008-05-22

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Social Media Strategy for B2B companies - Insights from Lena West

Few days back, got this mail as part of my MarketingProfs newsletter. The topic was "Getting Results with Social Media: Q&A with Lena West". Though every now & then, we all marketing and social media enthusiats get emails like this but this one somehow struck some chord which prompted me to include a part of the interview into my blog. I found the Q&A quite insightful, interesting and most importantly clears up the ground level realities of Social Media acceptance in B2B companies as they have begun to launch Social Media efforts and incorporate Social Media tools into their marketing campaigns. But with the new tools comes the inevitable learning curve, and many organizations are finding that their initial wade into the social media water isn't yielding the results they were hoping for or expecting.

Here, she shares some insights for B2B players looking to hone their social media strategy.

[Q] It seems that in the last couple of years, companies have been looking to learn all they could about blogs and social networks. Are these still the hot spots for companies wanting to start using social media, or are other areas emerging?

[Ans] Blogs and social networking are still very "hot." Gosh, I don't like saying that because it makes anything new media related sound like a fad - which it decidedly is NOT.

Online communities and engagement are emerging areas for brand investment. Companies that are active in social media are finally getting the blogosphere memo that it's not just about being part of the community and listening, but facilitating dialogue as well.

There was a report released recently that showed that with the economic downturn, many brands are taking a good chunk of their traditional marketing spend and allocating it to social media engagement. Not to mention that there is still a huge learning and adoption curve for social media on the corporate front. The best is far from being over and we haven't even reached the peak yet.

[Q] What do you think is the biggest misconception that companies have about using social media tools?

[Ans] That legal "won't let them" or that people will say negative things about their brands. Newsflash: people in your market are already saying both good and bad things about brands. Why stick your head in the sand, when you can find out what's being said, address it and develop relationships?

As for legal? Their job is to protect the firms they're hired to protect. It's our jobs as consultants, social media evangelists, marketers and PR professionals to present a plan that mitigates risk while still being open, honest and direct. If you're not doing your job, don't dare blame it all on legal.

[Q]There’s a growing emphasis on establishing the right metrics to measure social media programs. What’s hard about correctly tracking and measuring the effectiveness of social media efforts?

[Ans] Because when [companies] started their social media initiative(s), they didn't determine what the end goal was and as a result they don't know which metric to measure to keep tabs on that goal. It’s really that simple. There are HUNDREDS of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you can track, but if you don't know what you should be tracking and how that indicator relates to your goal… you might as well go watch Project Runway. This is why it's so important for brands to get help implementing social media. If I've seen it once, I've seen it a hundred times. It's seemingly minor things, like selecting the appropriate metric(s), that can cripple otherwise healthy social media programs.

[Q] Is blogging a good fit for every company?

[Ans] Blogs do seem to get the most attention, but that's because everyone can type. You see, people mistakenly think they have to be some uber-orator in order to have a successful podcast. Or, with a video blog, they think they have to be the next Ed Bradley or Barbara Walters. And, even with online communities, they feel it's a lot to manage, but a blog…? Heck, anyone can type. That's the thought process.

No, blogs are not a good fit for every company. Different social media tools produce different results. For example, if you know your audience is on-the-go, you might want to consider a podcast because audio offers a different means of portability than text.

Companies can tell they should start blogging when they feel that they want something more from their marketing than demis and data. Many people get older and they think, "There has to be more than this," and they go on a search for their passion in the Burmese mountainside. Companies get the same fire in their breastbones. They think - and correctly so - there has to be more than numbers and email addresses. They start thinking about how to start a movement in their industry. They start thinking bigger about their brands. THOSE are the companies that are ripe for engaging in social media -- blogging or otherwise. It starts as a yearning to be part of the big picture.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Price of being a Spectator

There are primarily 3 kinds of marketing moves that decides your future standing.
  1. Marketing steps which are taken only after your competitors have taken which somehow makes you feel that it provides you the cushioning.
  2. Marketing moves which make things happen; makes you remarkable.
  3. Marketing steps which are taken only after wondering what happened.

Now in a dynamic world, the saying is true – “It’s not the big who swallow the small but the fast who swallow the slow”. That’s why timing of your marketing campaign is so important.

Now the question is - You want to wait till it’s done or you want to be a doer than a mere spectator! The choice is yours...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Old Media vs Digital Media in hyperconnected world


While reading the article “The Hyperconnected vs. 84% of Everyone Else on Earth” by Steve Rubel it makes me wonder that what it means to New Media/Social Media enthusiast like me when he says that:
“…52% of the US online population as largely passive.

Net, this leaves me convinced that despite all of the buzz around the growth of new media and/or digital advertising, neither will replace existing modalities for some time to come...Digital media is going to be additive in the near to medium term. However, in a decade - perhaps sooner, perhaps later - it will be a different story.”
This is really interesting (Download the PDF). Even Robert Scoble has his own take too on this though in a different way conforming how Google news & Techmeme has little or no noise compared to Twitter or FriendFeed.

Given all these facts & figures together, we can't just write off old school media as yet but on the hindsight looking at the
increasing online spending Y-o-Y compared to old media, we can say that old media is losing steam (PDF Link) whereas digital media is catching fire. Also, it won’t be wrong to say that companies find it more alluring to shift to digital media compared to older one because it gives more traction going forward especially in terms of connecting with their audience near & far. So the statistics shown in the chart doesn’t include the extent to which companies will allure it’s audience to world wide web (Remember 20 years back there was no market for purified mineral water but now billions of dollars flow in- How? Because companies have changed the audience’s viewpoint. So why not digital media then?)

Yeah there will a lot of problems in terms of overcoming the digital divide across the world but things have started changing like decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

So will it take digital media so much time to change gears from being an additive one to complementary & then finally mainstream. What say Mr. Rubel?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Amitabh Bachchan's blog: Marketing gimmick or serious cause?

I never thought that I will write anything about bollywood stars in this blog. But for the couple of weeks something is brewing offline as well as online which is quite interesting to talk about. India's mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan(BigB) has started his own blog which has been the center of attraction both in media as well as in film fraternity.

Though WatBlog has stated this move from Amitabh Bachchan as a marketing gimmick by BigAdda.com (Mr. Anil Ambani's Social Network) but what excited me was the more recent news from this front in ET that Amitabh Bachchan is paid a huge sum of Rs. 100 Crores ($25 million) to blog on BigAdda.com! I guess Mr. Arrington of TechCrunch fame who reportedly earns something around Rs 1 crore ($250000) per month may take some tips from Mr. Bachchan...Psst!

But whatever may be the scene out there, but Mr. Bachchan has justified to BigAdda.com since the amount of controversy it has generated has given the portal enough viral affect which has generated enough furore in offline media to catapult BigAdda.com into a superior visibility status.

Not only the viral impact has helped BigAdda.com but this sort of joint venture has helped Mr. Bachchan to put his much needed voice across his rivals subtly but also do much needed PR for BigAdda itself for free which they could have spend as direct expenses via advertising in television or print. So I believe that it's win-win situation for both these brands.

One more thing about his blog is that it's a big hit among his fans as there were 100's of comments which shows that his fans have taken his blogging step seriously. But the question is will Mr. Bachchan take blogging seriously like others such as Aamir Khan who has even hosted his blog at aamirkhan.com? Or he's going to use this voice-up platform to promote his future films.

P.S. The backdrop of his blog has a picture of Amitabh Bachchan in his next awaited release "Bhootnath".

Thursday, May 15, 2008

How about this Marketing Idea?

Was going through Drew's Marketing Minute and stumbled upon this marketing idea. Though it's still a drawing board idea from South Korea but it sure opens up more than an oppurtunity in revolutionizing traffic lights. Read more about the "Virtual Wall" on Yanko Design.

So all those creative and innovative marketers, does it ring a bell in your head about how this innovation can used to great PR and advertising oppurtunities.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

How Brands make “Meaning beyond Money”

"...Mass media has become increasingly fragmented and viewers’ engagement levels have decreased. Only 5% of the viewers watch TV ads and 30% of the viewers watch TV while reading the newspaper" (tweet) by Stephan Loerke (PPT Link), Managing Director, World Federation of Advertisers.

So this calls for newer and innovative ways of customer attraction and retention strategies. Social Media gives a lot of promise in terms of participation, engagement, permission, collaboration etc which has brought the customers and the companies in the same platform.

But the question is why should you care?

One of the reason is, you like it or not, your customers will definitely talk about you and the web has given them a apt platform to raise their voice to appreciate as well as criticize you.

Now the worst scenario is that your customers are not talking about you at all. Think about it. They don't care about you. But they necessarily need not be negative conversations. They well could be constructive discussions filled with chances to learn about your customers and what you need to do to make them happy. Happy people buy more and tell their friends. It's your prerogative whether to join the conversation or not or rather we can say "To Participate or not to Participate is the question"!

The best outcome is that those who are talking about you are spreading the word on your business - Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell called them Citizen Marketers. The worst case scenario is that those customers who talked about you even once stopped doing so, they did not think you cared about what they were saying, so they stopped caring about you and your business - you become invisible to them (and increasingly their friends).

So letting your customers talk about your brands make a lot of difference since it makes "Meaning beyond Money".

Related Stories:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Remembrance of a Lifetime

This is one of the most unusual posts that I will ever write, I guess.

Have you ever felt bad or rather disliked a good customer service? No one does! Even I didn't thought so but in my case it was very unusual. Today I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC (a growing fast food chain). Everything was quite the usual types except for I was in a very foul mood. Even my companion couldn't help me settle down. So in my infuriated state I sat in a chair, soon to be asked to move since we were two people and some bunch of hippies wanted to sit too in our chairs. And that did it for me. I somehow lost it and gave it back to the waiter. It's not all. I accused him of bad customer service and how they should treat their customers. I even went to the extreme to meet the General Manager and told him that how their service sucks.

Now that's one part of the story. The other part made me feel more than guilty than I can express in words. The waiters (I mean all of them) were deaf & dumb. It was told to me by the General Manager. And the gestures of the waiter during the tiff was to make me understand that all the seats were in the sharing basis. I misread it and took it otherwise and blasted him off. Later he came around and did gave us a seat though and made us comfortable.

Uptil now I was totally infuriated at their unattended customer service but after knowing the real reason of communication gap I was totally immersed in guilt. After apologizing even, the waiter was so calm and still helping me out and making it seem more normal. I simply loved it! At that moment I was only wondering that does a man who can talk or hear can only communicate more, or is it about being more humane?

Still I believe that it's a great move from KFC to employ disabled people as the responsibility increases from both sides i.e. a customer as well as an employee to have a better and wholesome experience. So now before accusing anyone think twice that have you been a good enough to be served well?

But still this incident will be in my memory for a long long time.

P.S. Thanks Sangita for the suggetion.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


What's this? Does Airtel and YouTube logos look similar? Laugh out loud my friend, it is!! Interesting I must say. Wondering is it "TRUE-COPY"?

Thanks Pratham.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Swainism #1: Marketing, Social Media & You

From this post onwards, I will try to post some personal insights on Marketing, Technology, Media, Advertising & to whatever life has to offer. I hope I'm able to express all my thoughts clearly through this specific blog posts henceforth. Please pardon me if I come across as someone who knows it all; As for me it's a just a learning curve and I would need ur admiration and criticism equally as I move along. I have named these post as "Swainism" (Pun intended!!).

  • Man is full of contradictions whereas community thinks in a linear fashion. That’s why marketers should try influencing community on the basis of engagement & trust rather than demographics since the networked world has ended demographics.

  • Social Media is not just another channel to push your message. It’s more about building relationships on trust, respect and faith rather than pushing it towards the consumers. These tools manage reputation, attention, and value chain sharing very well, and these are the tools that build business from trust. (Thanks Chris)

  • Technology will be a key enabler in bringing the brands, customers and business in a holistic ecosystem where business will engage customers through trust & mutual respect to help build their brands. Social Media has a key role to play in that.

  • Long gone are the days when marketing spend was treated as a percentage of sales like short term promotions etc due to easy accountability. Now need of the hour is long term brand building exercise which will touch the audience at 360 degree.

  • Last but not least, most of today's business models which are "Community Driven & Socially Accepted" are the ones minting money in the backdrop of "KARMA CAPITALISM". The future is very bleak for them since THEY (reffering to consumers) know and Trust is missing in the equation. (From one of my Twitter posts)

If you have any such idea(s) and want it to get posted in this blog, do mail me at sampad.s[at]gmail.com. I will post it as soon as possible with a linkety link if possible.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

How Less is More?

It's interesting to see the menu of any fast food joint like McDonald's or cafes like Barista, Cafe Coffee Day or Starbucks etc (Thanks Addy for telling me about Starbucks' thousands of coffee combinations)! I get all the more confused seeing all those choices in front of me. It's ok if you have decided what you want and order it. If you haven't then sure it's a problem to make up your mind.

So the question is "Do we need more choices or less of it"? It's a difficult one to answer thinking how much will be enough for anyone. But one example from an article from MarketingProfs really hit me hard and made me think about it.

"...The story is about In-N-Out Burger; their customers don't expect an extensive menu. Their menu only includes 3 variations of same kind of sandwich i.e. a hamburger, a cheeseburger and the Double Double which comes with two patties and two slices of cheese. You can order a side of fries and a shake. But that's all. NO chiken strips, no salads, no stuffed jalapenos, no kids' meals. You can customize orders from the so-called secret menu i.e. Animal style, for instance, added grilled onions but dining options is unapologetically limited. And last but not least, they keep the lines long and service slow."

One thing is sure. Too many choices can cause a lot of customer experience anxiety and mental exhaustion. So the best strategy would be to simplify the products, services and portolios as it helps customers isolate their needs from burgeoning choices that are in offer in the marketplace.

P&G got it right way back and more & more companies are realising it that nowadays "Less is More" & "More is headache". More so, it all depends how individually exclusive you can keep your products or services without diluting it in the clutter.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Creating Empathy, Understanding & Openess in Business

This post is a part of my explaination to one of my commenters about my "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" slides I posted some months back. So thought of sharing it...

"...Business in modern day has become quite complex because of many reasons. One of them is understanding customers. I will try to connect 4 steps which I mentioned in my slides of "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" (SlideShare Link)i.e. investigating, walking + talking with people, learning by doing and sharing.

For example, if you want to launch a new product, the first primary thing that has to be done is to know what your target audience wants. Some of the tools that businesses have been using are market research, newer methods like alpha & beta tests etc. But the question is do they truly help us understand what they want?

One more thing that has to be remembered here is that we all are dealing with people who by nature are emotional and more often than not are not guided by logic or rationale. So what are these tests do for us! Don’t get me wrong here; I am not saying that it is of no use. But I personally believe that a healthy mix of personal experiences and qualitative & quantitative research will work as a wonder drug in these cases where Logic + Emotion (had to mention David Armano here) is taken care of easily. And that’s where Social Media can help us. Social Media can help businesses to engage, connect, collaborate, corroborate, share and help socialize between customers & businesses.

Last but not least, validation to the extent of measurability & stepwise accountability of the ongoing processes of understanding your customers is an important criterion as it can make or break a company. It can be through bringing your customers into the validation process not just through alpha or beta tests as the question lies somewhere else. It’s much better to have rough answers to right question than to have detailed answers to wrong question like quantitative analysis or focus groups. Validation can be brought to the table through asking the right questions like memorability of trademarks or logos, customer’s brand voice (message) perception & last but not least your customers should be able to verbalize the brand’s concept. Then working backwards towards number crunching may be the total solution.”

Please feel free to add/comment/criticize on it.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


This provides the perfect recipe for your morning coffee with snacks. Isn't it? NO I'm not kidding. Of all the Facebook Apps, research shows that "Just for Fun" is a clear winner. The next one is Gaming. Not surprising though, at least for me since I get most of my Facebook apps invitation from this group only (guys stop sending me such). Anyway getting down at number crunching, it's no rocket science to understand that numero uno i.e. Just for Fun Apps is ahead of the 2nd one i.e. Gaming by a whooping 270%+. Oops!!! There goes Facebook's valuation, at least for me...but as they say "..the rest is history".

Courtesy: Flowing Data

Friday, May 02, 2008

5 key pointers towards Brand building

This morning started with a lot of questions in my head. First up is brand building and how it can make our brand a time tested one. Though branding activities depend on geographical to user base preferences & tastes, but still the basic morphology of building a successful brand remains the same over-time. I have tried to chalk out 5 most crucial questions that is to be asked before building a successful brand:
  1. Does your Marketing Strategy gel with the existing Promotional campaigns?

  2. Does it give you Traction in the marketplace in terms of Scalability?

  3. Is it Measurable to the extent of Flexibility?

  4. Does it build a "Brand of Value" or a "Brand of Convenience" for the consumers?

  5. Does it reflect in the Balance sheets (i.e. is it measurable & accountable)?

These 5 questions is in the heart of any branding activity since the market has become more dynamic than ever mainly because of Fragmented Media // More choices and less of time for consumers to choose // Traditional advertising is losing steam // And most importantly consumers are buying stuff more due to peer recommendation by factor "X" . So all these factors are affecting consumers to turn out to be into "Brand Sluts".

Related Posts:

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Slidepost: Global State of Social Media

This is the Social Media Research done by Universal McCann including 17,000 people in 29 countries. The research provides a comprehensive global trends in Social Media usage.

I think the presentation's findings are quite interesting and insightful.



Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Less Blogging this Week

This week will be more of packing and travelling since I'll be moving to Mumbai to join my new employer "Godrej". So this has direct repurcussions on my blogging. That means blogging will be dry this week. But promise to come back next week, pronto!

Oh, by the way, my joining is on 5th june and I also promise to post certain inputs from whatever on the track experience I'll gather. So that means, new & interesting posts for sure.

So hope you have made yourself comfortable in my blog site and to my blogging topics and style. And please keep your criticism and appreciation flow through your comments.

And last but not least, need all your wishes and best of luck for this new journey :-)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Social Media Experiment: How online behavior can reduce Twitter noise

This week I thought I will use my blog not only to post marketing or technology related info but use it for some real-time data analysis. One of the primary reasons I took the opportunity of using my blog is to satiate my innate desires to understand any issue from 3 important aspects: Logic Building, Asking the right question and last but not least intuitive analysis.

So you may ask why so? In the beginning of this week, Robert Scoble discussed about Twitter noise referring to unnecessary monologues on “What are you doing”. So I thought what better way than discussing the same topic/issue with Tweople (referring to inhabitants of Twitter) themselves. So I asked a simple question to most of my followers in Twitter and they responded back. Thanks a ton fellas!

The question: Why u *FOLLOW* or *Un-FOLLOW* someone in Twitter?

Methodology: Launched a survey on 19th May via tweets asking the same question. Till date got about 32 responses off 310/203 i.e. “Following/Followers” in my Twitter profile through Twitter replies, direct messages (DM’s), emails and additional few responses came from other sources anonymously.

Who responded:

1. Afzal Khan (http://toprankseo.blogspot.com)
2.
Chris Brogan (http://chrisbrogan.com/)
3.
Daksh (http://themarketingblog.wordpress.com/)
4.
Netra Parikh
5.
ideasmithy (http://www.theideasmithy.com/)
6.
Subatomic (http://www.yeskarthi.wordpress.com/),
7.
Franticnews (http://franticindustries.com)
8.
labsji (http://labsji.wordpress.com/)
9.
garimadhiman
10.
gsharma (http://www.gsharma.com/)
11.
seanpaune (http://www.seanpaune.com/)
12.
watblog - Thanks for the link (http://watblog.com)
13.
cruisemaniac (http://thecruisemaniac.com/)
14.
mokshjuneja (http://mokshjuneja.com/)
15.
hiway (http://www.harshadsharma.name/)
16.
juancarlosarzol (http://www.juancarlosarzola.com/)
17.
Damiano (http://www.nitmesh.com/)
18.
Ravages (http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/)
19.
shirleyjohn (http://livingthelifeofmydreams.blogspot.com/)
20.
dhudiburg (http://www.dailymarketingace.com/)
21.
ronakshah (http://www.richdollarblog.com/)
22.
vimoh (http://www.vmohanty.com/)
23.
shankargan (http://www.shankarganesh.com/)
24.
montrealseo
25.
palinn (http://advocable.com)
26.
DDeeps (http://deeplydeeps.blogspot.com/)

And many more who responded anonymously via other sources, So thanks to them also!

What did the statistics say?

The analysis is primarily divided into two types of graphs i.e. “Why we Follow in Twitter” and consequently “Why we Un-Follow in Twitter”. The graphs below show such:
The micro-survey results shows that 5 reasons come out to be more influential i.e. Follow those whose tweets are interesting & usable information, follow thought leaders and role models, Follow friends, Follow back those who follows you and last but not least latest tweet from users. Clearly, it seems that interesting & Usable info guides more twitter users to follow.On the hindsight, the survey portrays a clear and definitive response to why they un-follow in twitter. Spammy tweets is the clear winner and following it are less benefits from tweets, one-sided or monologues by Tweople, Un-follow them who doesn’t follow you and last but not least high SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) puts off users from following someone in Twitter.

Findings & Conclusion

There is no doubt that there is a lot of noise in twitter due to spam messages, blog links, self-glorifying updates, blog marketing and many more ways. But from the figures above, it is very much clear that usable information will get Tweople following you whereas spam messages will put Tweople off.

According to DoshDosh, the Twitter community has grown more aware of these ’spammers’ and many tools like the Twitter Blacklist and Twerpscan have been developed to help Twitter users weed out people who try to follow many users in order to build a large audience. Still, a portion of Twitter users (perhaps the new ones) tend to add anyone who befriends them.

Still my take from the data I have gathered is that most users want Twitter to be a much filtered source of information and social tool (thanks Afzal). And once Tweople understand and start applying this, it’s not far from the fact that signal/noise ratio will drastically improve since it’s still early days for twitter for all of us.

One more interesting thing that I noticed is that Twitter is more for extrovert ones since at the end of it all you just type “What are you doing” and if you follow those two graphs up above, you will surely find some amount of coherence in our offline behavior as well as online i.e. we all want to read about what our mentors are doing, brand ourselves, let others know what we am interested in. So it won’t be wrong if I say that all of us want some amount of limelight.

This is one of my many analysis that I will put forward in times to come. Hope you will participate in the near future to make it better and more indepth.

Lastly, if you want a piece of me, follow me here in Twitter or Subscribe to my Blog RSS Feed.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Links for 2008-05-22

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Social Media Strategy for B2B companies - Insights from Lena West

Few days back, got this mail as part of my MarketingProfs newsletter. The topic was "Getting Results with Social Media: Q&A with Lena West". Though every now & then, we all marketing and social media enthusiats get emails like this but this one somehow struck some chord which prompted me to include a part of the interview into my blog. I found the Q&A quite insightful, interesting and most importantly clears up the ground level realities of Social Media acceptance in B2B companies as they have begun to launch Social Media efforts and incorporate Social Media tools into their marketing campaigns. But with the new tools comes the inevitable learning curve, and many organizations are finding that their initial wade into the social media water isn't yielding the results they were hoping for or expecting.

Here, she shares some insights for B2B players looking to hone their social media strategy.

[Q] It seems that in the last couple of years, companies have been looking to learn all they could about blogs and social networks. Are these still the hot spots for companies wanting to start using social media, or are other areas emerging?

[Ans] Blogs and social networking are still very "hot." Gosh, I don't like saying that because it makes anything new media related sound like a fad - which it decidedly is NOT.

Online communities and engagement are emerging areas for brand investment. Companies that are active in social media are finally getting the blogosphere memo that it's not just about being part of the community and listening, but facilitating dialogue as well.

There was a report released recently that showed that with the economic downturn, many brands are taking a good chunk of their traditional marketing spend and allocating it to social media engagement. Not to mention that there is still a huge learning and adoption curve for social media on the corporate front. The best is far from being over and we haven't even reached the peak yet.

[Q] What do you think is the biggest misconception that companies have about using social media tools?

[Ans] That legal "won't let them" or that people will say negative things about their brands. Newsflash: people in your market are already saying both good and bad things about brands. Why stick your head in the sand, when you can find out what's being said, address it and develop relationships?

As for legal? Their job is to protect the firms they're hired to protect. It's our jobs as consultants, social media evangelists, marketers and PR professionals to present a plan that mitigates risk while still being open, honest and direct. If you're not doing your job, don't dare blame it all on legal.

[Q]There’s a growing emphasis on establishing the right metrics to measure social media programs. What’s hard about correctly tracking and measuring the effectiveness of social media efforts?

[Ans] Because when [companies] started their social media initiative(s), they didn't determine what the end goal was and as a result they don't know which metric to measure to keep tabs on that goal. It’s really that simple. There are HUNDREDS of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) you can track, but if you don't know what you should be tracking and how that indicator relates to your goal… you might as well go watch Project Runway. This is why it's so important for brands to get help implementing social media. If I've seen it once, I've seen it a hundred times. It's seemingly minor things, like selecting the appropriate metric(s), that can cripple otherwise healthy social media programs.

[Q] Is blogging a good fit for every company?

[Ans] Blogs do seem to get the most attention, but that's because everyone can type. You see, people mistakenly think they have to be some uber-orator in order to have a successful podcast. Or, with a video blog, they think they have to be the next Ed Bradley or Barbara Walters. And, even with online communities, they feel it's a lot to manage, but a blog…? Heck, anyone can type. That's the thought process.

No, blogs are not a good fit for every company. Different social media tools produce different results. For example, if you know your audience is on-the-go, you might want to consider a podcast because audio offers a different means of portability than text.

Companies can tell they should start blogging when they feel that they want something more from their marketing than demis and data. Many people get older and they think, "There has to be more than this," and they go on a search for their passion in the Burmese mountainside. Companies get the same fire in their breastbones. They think - and correctly so - there has to be more than numbers and email addresses. They start thinking about how to start a movement in their industry. They start thinking bigger about their brands. THOSE are the companies that are ripe for engaging in social media -- blogging or otherwise. It starts as a yearning to be part of the big picture.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Price of being a Spectator

There are primarily 3 kinds of marketing moves that decides your future standing.
  1. Marketing steps which are taken only after your competitors have taken which somehow makes you feel that it provides you the cushioning.
  2. Marketing moves which make things happen; makes you remarkable.
  3. Marketing steps which are taken only after wondering what happened.

Now in a dynamic world, the saying is true – “It’s not the big who swallow the small but the fast who swallow the slow”. That’s why timing of your marketing campaign is so important.

Now the question is - You want to wait till it’s done or you want to be a doer than a mere spectator! The choice is yours...

Monday, May 19, 2008

Old Media vs Digital Media in hyperconnected world


While reading the article “The Hyperconnected vs. 84% of Everyone Else on Earth” by Steve Rubel it makes me wonder that what it means to New Media/Social Media enthusiast like me when he says that:
“…52% of the US online population as largely passive.

Net, this leaves me convinced that despite all of the buzz around the growth of new media and/or digital advertising, neither will replace existing modalities for some time to come...Digital media is going to be additive in the near to medium term. However, in a decade - perhaps sooner, perhaps later - it will be a different story.”
This is really interesting (Download the PDF). Even Robert Scoble has his own take too on this though in a different way conforming how Google news & Techmeme has little or no noise compared to Twitter or FriendFeed.

Given all these facts & figures together, we can't just write off old school media as yet but on the hindsight looking at the
increasing online spending Y-o-Y compared to old media, we can say that old media is losing steam (PDF Link) whereas digital media is catching fire. Also, it won’t be wrong to say that companies find it more alluring to shift to digital media compared to older one because it gives more traction going forward especially in terms of connecting with their audience near & far. So the statistics shown in the chart doesn’t include the extent to which companies will allure it’s audience to world wide web (Remember 20 years back there was no market for purified mineral water but now billions of dollars flow in- How? Because companies have changed the audience’s viewpoint. So why not digital media then?)

Yeah there will a lot of problems in terms of overcoming the digital divide across the world but things have started changing like decreasing communication cost, be it mobile or internet accessibility which is bridging the digital gap.

So will it take digital media so much time to change gears from being an additive one to complementary & then finally mainstream. What say Mr. Rubel?

Friday, May 16, 2008

Amitabh Bachchan's blog: Marketing gimmick or serious cause?

I never thought that I will write anything about bollywood stars in this blog. But for the couple of weeks something is brewing offline as well as online which is quite interesting to talk about. India's mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan(BigB) has started his own blog which has been the center of attraction both in media as well as in film fraternity.

Though WatBlog has stated this move from Amitabh Bachchan as a marketing gimmick by BigAdda.com (Mr. Anil Ambani's Social Network) but what excited me was the more recent news from this front in ET that Amitabh Bachchan is paid a huge sum of Rs. 100 Crores ($25 million) to blog on BigAdda.com! I guess Mr. Arrington of TechCrunch fame who reportedly earns something around Rs 1 crore ($250000) per month may take some tips from Mr. Bachchan...Psst!

But whatever may be the scene out there, but Mr. Bachchan has justified to BigAdda.com since the amount of controversy it has generated has given the portal enough viral affect which has generated enough furore in offline media to catapult BigAdda.com into a superior visibility status.

Not only the viral impact has helped BigAdda.com but this sort of joint venture has helped Mr. Bachchan to put his much needed voice across his rivals subtly but also do much needed PR for BigAdda itself for free which they could have spend as direct expenses via advertising in television or print. So I believe that it's win-win situation for both these brands.

One more thing about his blog is that it's a big hit among his fans as there were 100's of comments which shows that his fans have taken his blogging step seriously. But the question is will Mr. Bachchan take blogging seriously like others such as Aamir Khan who has even hosted his blog at aamirkhan.com? Or he's going to use this voice-up platform to promote his future films.

P.S. The backdrop of his blog has a picture of Amitabh Bachchan in his next awaited release "Bhootnath".

Thursday, May 15, 2008

How about this Marketing Idea?

Was going through Drew's Marketing Minute and stumbled upon this marketing idea. Though it's still a drawing board idea from South Korea but it sure opens up more than an oppurtunity in revolutionizing traffic lights. Read more about the "Virtual Wall" on Yanko Design.

So all those creative and innovative marketers, does it ring a bell in your head about how this innovation can used to great PR and advertising oppurtunities.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

How Brands make “Meaning beyond Money”

"...Mass media has become increasingly fragmented and viewers’ engagement levels have decreased. Only 5% of the viewers watch TV ads and 30% of the viewers watch TV while reading the newspaper" (tweet) by Stephan Loerke (PPT Link), Managing Director, World Federation of Advertisers.

So this calls for newer and innovative ways of customer attraction and retention strategies. Social Media gives a lot of promise in terms of participation, engagement, permission, collaboration etc which has brought the customers and the companies in the same platform.

But the question is why should you care?

One of the reason is, you like it or not, your customers will definitely talk about you and the web has given them a apt platform to raise their voice to appreciate as well as criticize you.

Now the worst scenario is that your customers are not talking about you at all. Think about it. They don't care about you. But they necessarily need not be negative conversations. They well could be constructive discussions filled with chances to learn about your customers and what you need to do to make them happy. Happy people buy more and tell their friends. It's your prerogative whether to join the conversation or not or rather we can say "To Participate or not to Participate is the question"!

The best outcome is that those who are talking about you are spreading the word on your business - Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell called them Citizen Marketers. The worst case scenario is that those customers who talked about you even once stopped doing so, they did not think you cared about what they were saying, so they stopped caring about you and your business - you become invisible to them (and increasingly their friends).

So letting your customers talk about your brands make a lot of difference since it makes "Meaning beyond Money".

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Remembrance of a Lifetime

This is one of the most unusual posts that I will ever write, I guess.

Have you ever felt bad or rather disliked a good customer service? No one does! Even I didn't thought so but in my case it was very unusual. Today I went to Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC (a growing fast food chain). Everything was quite the usual types except for I was in a very foul mood. Even my companion couldn't help me settle down. So in my infuriated state I sat in a chair, soon to be asked to move since we were two people and some bunch of hippies wanted to sit too in our chairs. And that did it for me. I somehow lost it and gave it back to the waiter. It's not all. I accused him of bad customer service and how they should treat their customers. I even went to the extreme to meet the General Manager and told him that how their service sucks.

Now that's one part of the story. The other part made me feel more than guilty than I can express in words. The waiters (I mean all of them) were deaf & dumb. It was told to me by the General Manager. And the gestures of the waiter during the tiff was to make me understand that all the seats were in the sharing basis. I misread it and took it otherwise and blasted him off. Later he came around and did gave us a seat though and made us comfortable.

Uptil now I was totally infuriated at their unattended customer service but after knowing the real reason of communication gap I was totally immersed in guilt. After apologizing even, the waiter was so calm and still helping me out and making it seem more normal. I simply loved it! At that moment I was only wondering that does a man who can talk or hear can only communicate more, or is it about being more humane?

Still I believe that it's a great move from KFC to employ disabled people as the responsibility increases from both sides i.e. a customer as well as an employee to have a better and wholesome experience. So now before accusing anyone think twice that have you been a good enough to be served well?

But still this incident will be in my memory for a long long time.

P.S. Thanks Sangita for the suggetion.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


What's this? Does Airtel and YouTube logos look similar? Laugh out loud my friend, it is!! Interesting I must say. Wondering is it "TRUE-COPY"?

Thanks Pratham.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Swainism #1: Marketing, Social Media & You

From this post onwards, I will try to post some personal insights on Marketing, Technology, Media, Advertising & to whatever life has to offer. I hope I'm able to express all my thoughts clearly through this specific blog posts henceforth. Please pardon me if I come across as someone who knows it all; As for me it's a just a learning curve and I would need ur admiration and criticism equally as I move along. I have named these post as "Swainism" (Pun intended!!).

  • Man is full of contradictions whereas community thinks in a linear fashion. That’s why marketers should try influencing community on the basis of engagement & trust rather than demographics since the networked world has ended demographics.

  • Social Media is not just another channel to push your message. It’s more about building relationships on trust, respect and faith rather than pushing it towards the consumers. These tools manage reputation, attention, and value chain sharing very well, and these are the tools that build business from trust. (Thanks Chris)

  • Technology will be a key enabler in bringing the brands, customers and business in a holistic ecosystem where business will engage customers through trust & mutual respect to help build their brands. Social Media has a key role to play in that.

  • Long gone are the days when marketing spend was treated as a percentage of sales like short term promotions etc due to easy accountability. Now need of the hour is long term brand building exercise which will touch the audience at 360 degree.

  • Last but not least, most of today's business models which are "Community Driven & Socially Accepted" are the ones minting money in the backdrop of "KARMA CAPITALISM". The future is very bleak for them since THEY (reffering to consumers) know and Trust is missing in the equation. (From one of my Twitter posts)

If you have any such idea(s) and want it to get posted in this blog, do mail me at sampad.s[at]gmail.com. I will post it as soon as possible with a linkety link if possible.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

How Less is More?

It's interesting to see the menu of any fast food joint like McDonald's or cafes like Barista, Cafe Coffee Day or Starbucks etc (Thanks Addy for telling me about Starbucks' thousands of coffee combinations)! I get all the more confused seeing all those choices in front of me. It's ok if you have decided what you want and order it. If you haven't then sure it's a problem to make up your mind.

So the question is "Do we need more choices or less of it"? It's a difficult one to answer thinking how much will be enough for anyone. But one example from an article from MarketingProfs really hit me hard and made me think about it.

"...The story is about In-N-Out Burger; their customers don't expect an extensive menu. Their menu only includes 3 variations of same kind of sandwich i.e. a hamburger, a cheeseburger and the Double Double which comes with two patties and two slices of cheese. You can order a side of fries and a shake. But that's all. NO chiken strips, no salads, no stuffed jalapenos, no kids' meals. You can customize orders from the so-called secret menu i.e. Animal style, for instance, added grilled onions but dining options is unapologetically limited. And last but not least, they keep the lines long and service slow."

One thing is sure. Too many choices can cause a lot of customer experience anxiety and mental exhaustion. So the best strategy would be to simplify the products, services and portolios as it helps customers isolate their needs from burgeoning choices that are in offer in the marketplace.

P&G got it right way back and more & more companies are realising it that nowadays "Less is More" & "More is headache". More so, it all depends how individually exclusive you can keep your products or services without diluting it in the clutter.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Creating Empathy, Understanding & Openess in Business

This post is a part of my explaination to one of my commenters about my "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" slides I posted some months back. So thought of sharing it...

"...Business in modern day has become quite complex because of many reasons. One of them is understanding customers. I will try to connect 4 steps which I mentioned in my slides of "Branding 2.0 & Social Media" (SlideShare Link)i.e. investigating, walking + talking with people, learning by doing and sharing.

For example, if you want to launch a new product, the first primary thing that has to be done is to know what your target audience wants. Some of the tools that businesses have been using are market research, newer methods like alpha & beta tests etc. But the question is do they truly help us understand what they want?

One more thing that has to be remembered here is that we all are dealing with people who by nature are emotional and more often than not are not guided by logic or rationale. So what are these tests do for us! Don’t get me wrong here; I am not saying that it is of no use. But I personally believe that a healthy mix of personal experiences and qualitative & quantitative research will work as a wonder drug in these cases where Logic + Emotion (had to mention David Armano here) is taken care of easily. And that’s where Social Media can help us. Social Media can help businesses to engage, connect, collaborate, corroborate, share and help socialize between customers & businesses.

Last but not least, validation to the extent of measurability & stepwise accountability of the ongoing processes of understanding your customers is an important criterion as it can make or break a company. It can be through bringing your customers into the validation process not just through alpha or beta tests as the question lies somewhere else. It’s much better to have rough answers to right question than to have detailed answers to wrong question like quantitative analysis or focus groups. Validation can be brought to the table through asking the right questions like memorability of trademarks or logos, customer’s brand voice (message) perception & last but not least your customers should be able to verbalize the brand’s concept. Then working backwards towards number crunching may be the total solution.”

Please feel free to add/comment/criticize on it.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Screenshot of the Day


This provides the perfect recipe for your morning coffee with snacks. Isn't it? NO I'm not kidding. Of all the Facebook Apps, research shows that "Just for Fun" is a clear winner. The next one is Gaming. Not surprising though, at least for me since I get most of my Facebook apps invitation from this group only (guys stop sending me such). Anyway getting down at number crunching, it's no rocket science to understand that numero uno i.e. Just for Fun Apps is ahead of the 2nd one i.e. Gaming by a whooping 270%+. Oops!!! There goes Facebook's valuation, at least for me...but as they say "..the rest is history".

Courtesy: Flowing Data

Friday, May 02, 2008

5 key pointers towards Brand building

This morning started with a lot of questions in my head. First up is brand building and how it can make our brand a time tested one. Though branding activities depend on geographical to user base preferences & tastes, but still the basic morphology of building a successful brand remains the same over-time. I have tried to chalk out 5 most crucial questions that is to be asked before building a successful brand:
  1. Does your Marketing Strategy gel with the existing Promotional campaigns?

  2. Does it give you Traction in the marketplace in terms of Scalability?

  3. Is it Measurable to the extent of Flexibility?

  4. Does it build a "Brand of Value" or a "Brand of Convenience" for the consumers?

  5. Does it reflect in the Balance sheets (i.e. is it measurable & accountable)?

These 5 questions is in the heart of any branding activity since the market has become more dynamic than ever mainly because of Fragmented Media // More choices and less of time for consumers to choose // Traditional advertising is losing steam // And most importantly consumers are buying stuff more due to peer recommendation by factor "X" . So all these factors are affecting consumers to turn out to be into "Brand Sluts".

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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Slidepost: Global State of Social Media

This is the Social Media Research done by Universal McCann including 17,000 people in 29 countries. The research provides a comprehensive global trends in Social Media usage.

I think the presentation's findings are quite interesting and insightful.