Interakt Blog » Communication

Social Media – Is it just a fad?

PMO Team — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:17:42 +0000

Not a day passes by without hearing about one brand or the other launching their social media initiative. Some seem to be in a lot of hurry to “be there” and are eventually abandoning the programme, leaving behind carcasses of Twitter pages with no tweets, Facebook fan pages with no fans (leaving apart their own bored webmasters) or YouTube channels with a couple of outdated corporate PR video’s.

No doubt social media has changed the rules of the game. One-way, carefully calibrated communication with a generous dose of PR spin is going out of fashion faster than this year’s summer collection. Enter social media apps and consumer started wielding powers that they only dreamt of in the past.

Like most other things, you can either get it right or you can get it wrong. Marketers always wanted to control the mindshare of their audience and they think social media is just another channel to do so. I read somewhere that almost all CMO-agency meetings nowadays start with the CMO saying “so what can you do for our social media marketing?” Marketing? Hello…? Why would you want to push marketing messages down their throat when your customers are eager to share what they feel about the brand – good or bad? Wouldn’t it make sense to listen first then add some value to the conversation before offering a solution/ advice?

Social media is the exact opposite of “in-your-face” marketing. And, unlike traditional marketing it is highly dependent on a two-way interaction – inside out and outside in. When your employees truly start caring for your customers and engage with them at all levels, your social media campaign has already started. Then, all it needs is some tools and methods to get the mechanism working.

Some still don’t get it

PMO Team — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:47:17 +0000

In this age of ubiquitous connectivity and 24/7 communication, one frequently hears the term “information overload” and rightfully so. The constant simulation via a variety of media all around us – cellphones, web, TV, electronic billboards etc makes us either extremely informed or completely unresponsive – depending on which side of the digital divide you are. Given this scene, one would have thought that organisations would have got their ducks in a row i.e. ensured that communications across all channels are aligned to the core values of the brand, products are promoted with a consistent message and most of all – all stakeholders are educated about the brand and products.

Now this couldn’t be further from truth. You know what I am talking about if you have been interacting with, let’s say, front desk staff of a hotel, a dealer for electronics appliances, an airline call centre agent or a financial advisor of an insurance company. In a typical scenario, you ask them about a particular promotion, product, feature, specification etc. and more often than not you are met with a blank stare or a nervous apology. You, the customer, are left wondering as to how come you know more about THIER business than they themselves do. The answer is quite simple.

While companies pay a lot of attention and spend a fortune pushing marketing messages aimed at customers, they seldom bother to align it with the communication going to the staff, channel partners and everybody who represents the brand in the marketplace. And all this while, the smart customer is devouring all the information that comes his way, telling others and forming opinions about the brand.

As they say, some still don’t get it…..

This, the age of dialog

Dakshen — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:35:41 +0000

The human civilization has seen many ages. Each age was known after the material that was used maximum and hence more popular, during the time. First it was the Stone Age. The Bronze Age was the next. The copper age followed. With industrialization, what came was the Iron Age and then when steel took over and it got to be known as the steel age.

I am tempted to ask myself ’so which age am I living now?’. Well if I have been in any other industry I would have had to break my head with a problem of plenty. Being a die-hard member of the marketing & communications clan, I can’t resist but to name the current age – the age of dialog. More specifically the age of consumer dialog.

So why it is the age of dialog? Is it because there is so much of dialog around. I wish I can say that. But I am calling it an age of dialog for two reasons – the options for dialog have grown manifold and importance of dialog with the consumer has suddenly increased more than ever.

It takes a simple guess to say the channels for dialog have grown with the growth of interactive media. But why has the importance for Consumer dialog increased? I have to say that it is because the brand owners has not seized the opportunity to interact with the consumer in spite of the growth of the dialog options. Though there are exceptions, still I can take the liberty to generalize because still majority of the brand owners are yet to get it right. Many of the brand owners have not started creating and leveraging the channels of dialog. And if they have, a good majority of them have created the channels for the `feel-good’ and left them hanging. The proof is with each one of us – As consumers each of us have our own experiences – from desperately looking for options to reach the brand to share something we wanted to, mails that never got managed to get a response and many more.

So the consumers instead of being in dialog with the brand owners are using the plethora of options available today to be in conversations amongst themselves. Call it peer to peer conversations. These conversations are taking many avatars including blogs, consumer complaint portals, anti-brand communities, sharing of experiences through social media. It is real socialism out there and this socialism has already taken alarming proportions. Is the marketer hearing these ? yes, maybe, maybe not.

How do you stop consumers talking amongst themselves? just logical and simple. First hear with your ears wide open. Second talk back with your ears still open. But how many ears? The ears that marketer needs will be too many isn’t it ? That is a challenge the marketer has to live with. More popular the brand, more the numbers of ears needed.

Marketing has evolved from `pushing what was created’ to `producing what the consumer wants’. Today, it is no longer just producing what the consumer wants but co-creation of brands and the brand experience in conjunction with the consumer. For co creation to happen it is important to hear the voice of the consumer. Not just that – Engage the consumer in a dialog.

So will the marketing fraternity wake up? Being a smarter race, I hope it does soon. One thing I am sure of – in a world of fancy designations, there could be an interesting addition – Chief Dialog officer. So if it’s time for the CMO’s to fade out let us get ready to welcome the new CDO.