Power of Social Media Marketing

Introduction:

Social media marketing is a new entrant to organizations integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications is a method organizations follow to connect with their target markets. Integrated marketing communicationincludes the elements of the promotional mix;advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion. In the traditional marketing communications model, the company collaborates with an external agent to manage the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communication. The external agent may be an advertising agency, marketing research firms, or public relations firms. However, with the growth of social media the way organizations communicate has been affected. With the emergence of Web 2.0, people can build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online using the internet tools. Social media marketing programs concentrate on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it in their social networks. A corporate message spreads from one user to another and gets circulatedas it is considered coming from a trusted source, as opposed to being a communication from the company itself. Social media has become medium that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access, enabling organizations to increase their brand awareness and make it easy to have conversations with the customer. Additionally, social media is a relatively cost effective platform for organizations to start marketing campaigns. Organizations get direct feedback from their customers and targeted markets. Platforms Social media marketing or SMO, Social Media Optimization benefits organizations and individuals by giving an additional channel for customer support, helps to gain customer and competitive insight, and makes it possible to manage their reputation online. Important factors that contribute to the success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides and the strength of the channel. The organization can centralize its information on the platform and give customers information related to its recent developments via other social media channels, through articles and press release publications. The most popular platforms include: Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Twitter MySpace Reddit

Source: wikipedia Web 2.0 is the set of tools that allow people to build connections, share information and collaborate on projects using the internet. It includes tools like blogs, wikis, socialnetworking sites and online communities in the virtual world. People are familiar with social networking sites and companies are using the Web 2.0 platform to engage customers in product development y generation of ideas , and getting feedback on services and for promoting the product.

How Web 2.0 can be used to involve the customers? Traditional advertising creates a need in the minds of the consumer and persuades him to buy the companys products. Using Web 2.0 , companies use tools like blogs to make the consumers participate in writing reviews, providing feedback and giving inputs on the product. An example can be an online community set up by a greeting card company to provide a platform for the consumers to talk to each other and to provide ideas for gift items, pricing and feedback on the products offered. The consumers can also interact with each other and provide their personal information. This gives the consumers a sense of participation in the community and it gives the company a means of understanding its customer. Obtaining consumer feedback using online community is faster and cheaper than the traditional survey methods. Also due to the interaction amongst the consumers, there are some new insights in the feedback loop. Similarly, online communities can also be used to collaborate with business partners.

How to lure consumers to share thoughts and ideas? Consumers will share their thoughts, ideas and experience if they can use the online community to network amongst themselves. Then the site is not just about the company , but allows networking. Others may provide direct incentives like cash rewards, or points for posting comments and answering questions. Many companies also use moderators to keep conversations going and to keep a watch. Consumers when exchanging opinions online, tend to trust each other than if the same opinion comes from the companys marketing effort. Managers track sites that follow the most popular topics on the Web, to see if there's any commentfor their new products, and whether any adjustments are required. In one case, a company contacted a popular blogger who had given favourable reviews of the company's brand. When the company was launching a new product, the blogger was sent a free sample, and was invited to review it on his blog. The result: The blogger wrote a favorable review and generated a flood of comments. So the company got nearly free publicity and feedback. Blogs, wikis and online communities are among the tools commonly used for marketing, but there are other ways to reach consumers. Some of the companies deal in the online virtual world Second Life, where millions of users interact with each other through avatars. Companies sell their goods and services and sponsor events in Second Life as done in the real world. Some examples of how social media was used successfully by companies: Starbucks created its own website, My Starbucks idea that allows users to suggest ideas and the ideas are voted on by Starbucks consumers. The most popular ideas are highlighted and reviewed. Through Ideas in action , Starbucks gives an update to consumers on the status of the ideas. This method helped Starbucks to strengthen its campaign and to involve the consumer. Sun Microsystems CEO created a blog had about 400,000 hits a month in 2006. The success of the blog was due to the transparency of the blog that created trust in the company from the consumers. IBM created an entire network of blogs and allowed employees to write about their work or any other topic. Thus IBM, managed to give a voice to the employees and highlight the body of employees and helps people connect with the employees. Zappos an online retailer, has used Twitter, by the use of micro blogging to provide exceptional customer service. They have created a personality similar to a friend to introduce interesting facts and to talk to consumers.

Use of social media requires a huge investment and has been used effectively by Dell by creating a blogs, using Twitter and being active on Facebook. They have managed a return of $ 1 million in revenues by use of social media. The examples given above give an insight into the effective use of social media in business. The table below gives time spent per person on the internet in various countries in December 2009. Country Unique Audience (000) Time per Person (hh:mm:ss) United States 142,052 6:09:13 Japan 46,558 2:50:21 Brazil 31,345 4:33:10 United Kingdom 29,129 6:07:54 Germany 28,057 4:11:45 France 26,786 4:04:39 Spain 19,456 5:30:55 Italy 18,256 6:00:07 Australia 9,895 6:52:28 Switzerland 2,451 3:54:34 Source: The Nielsen Company *Global data takes into account the following countries: U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy

Questions:
1. In the light of the power of social media marketing, devise a plan for a FMCG

products company to market its products using social media. 2. What can be the problems that companies may face when using social media marketing tools? 3. What are the tools currently used for marketing Bollywood films? 4. Discuss tools like reality shows and other means of television media to market products?

Peter Kim is a Senior Partner at Dachis Corporation. He blogs about social computing and marketing at Being Peter Kim. Over the past couple of months, Ive been curating a list of social media marketing examples. The list started with 100 examples (including 35+ from Mashable) and has since tripled in size with the participation of over a hundred contributors with examples from companies around the world. We could probably come up with 3,000 examples instead of 300 but the current set already gives us a pretty good sample to think about. One takeaway: for now, those neurotic about missing whats next can relax a bit. Consumers still use a broader set of social tools than corporations, but new categories of tools arent emerging rapidly today, giving brands a chance to catch up. Its time to master the last big thing while you have a chance to catch a breath. As corporate adoption emerges, theres nothing wrong with learning lessons from others and making them your own. Start by making sure you have all of your bases covered with the major tools. In other words, copy and paste the items below, then fill in the blanks with your own company-driven effort. Heres a framework of 22 tools to consider with notable brand examples: 1. Blogs (Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines) 2. Bookmarking/Tagging (Adobe, Kodak) 3. Brand monitoring (Dell, MINI) 4. Content aggregation (Alltop, EMC) 5. Crowdsourcing/Voting (Oracle, Starbucks) 6. Discussion boards and forums (IBM, Mountain Dew) 7. Events and meetups (Molson, Pampers) 8. Mashups (Fidelity Investments, Nike) 9. Microblogging (method, Whole Foods) 10. Online video (Eukanuba, Home Depot) 11. Organization and staffing (Ford, Pepsi) 12. Outreach programs (Nokia, Yum Brands) 13. Photosharing (Rubbermaid, UK Government) 14. Podcasting (Ericsson, McDonalds) 15. Presentation sharing (CapGemini, Daimler AG) 16. Public Relations social media releases (Avon, Intel) 17. Ratings and reviews (Loblaws, TurboTax) 18. Social networks: applications, fan pages, groups, and personalities (British Airways, Saturn) 19. Sponsorships (Coca-Cola, Whirlpool) 20. Virtual worlds (National Geographic, Toyota) 21. Widgets (Southwest Airlines, Target) 22. Wikis (Second Life, T-Mobile Sidekick) And use this username check tool to see if your brands/preferred handles are still available. I havent found a single company doing all of these today. Forget divining a big, meaningful business objective before getting started youll end up in analysis paralysis. Just make sure youre making an existing business function better and get started. Today.

has gripped the worlds largest democracy like never before. Celebrities, normal people and now even brands are moving onto web 2.0 and social media like as if its the next best thing. PR, marketing their products, ecommerce or just plain talking about things ranging from girlfriends to talking about enjoyment with friends people are using social media for everything. But then from paedophiles to terrorists to people getting killed / kidnapped because of this medium, the ills of social media are also coming to the fore.

From celebrities to brands

Though social media in India started from Orkut and moved on to Facebook and Twitter, it was mostly the area for normal people like you and me. But Twitter with its uniqueness became a fancy for celebrities and brands alike to connect to their followers. Be it Preity Zinta giving a muaaah to her followers or Tata Docomo asking its customers to convey their problems, the meaning of social media had changed in India.

Digital marketing increasing

2010 also turned out to be the breakthrough year as more and more companies like Jet Airways, Pizza Hut, Shoppers Stop etc. started using digital marketing techniques from YouTube to Facebook to Twitter to even online contests to come closer to their customers. The fact that more than 90% of them still dont know what they are doing is another matter altogether

Facebook overtaking Orkut

Orkut began the social networking journey in India a couple of years back. But problems related to privacy, lack of interesting application and Facebooks growing rise in India stopped Orkut in its tracks. And this year finally Facebook crossed Orkut in India in terms of the number of users and also unique monthly visits leaving Orkut as the leader only in Brazil in the social networking world. An era seemed to have come to an end!

Social Gaming on the rise

From Farmville to Mafia Wars, social gaming has suddenly turned into a craze. It is the next big thing in social media and is expected to exponentially rise as we move forward

Mobile social networking

More and more people in the country are accessing the web from their respective mobile handsets. And therefore todays handsets as well as service providers are coming up with specially enabled / inbuilt social media apps. A way to attract their target crowd, is it?

Proliferation of social media agencies /jobs

Hundreds of agencies which promise to do the entire social media campaigns for various brands have sprung up across the country this year. Most of these are run by entrepreneurs or those with limited knowledge of what they are exactly doing. And similarly there is also a high demand for jobs in companies for people who would do the online marketing campaigns. But does anyone really know what they are doing?

Competitions at colleges
Avalon Consulting, IIMs, Goa Institute of Management, Directi what is common between all of them? All of them have organized social media competitions this year based on designing a strategy and what not for various companies. With the growing importance of social media, looks like companies need more management graduates for making strategies.

Employee social networking / policies Infosys

with its social media policy and then Wipro with its blogging policy have taken the lead in introducing social media policies for organizations in the country. Rather than taking this is monitory ala China style, this should be taken in a way that today organizations in the West have a social media policy. And actually if a company does design one that means it considers it an important thing. On a different note, many IT giants have introduced internal social networking platforms like discussion boards, podcasts, wikis etc. to encourage new ideas, networking and collaboration.

Wikileaks, Modi, Tharoor, celebrities

If it was not for social media and in particular Twitter, controversies such as Wikileaks,Modi and Tharoors spat, Tharoors resignation, celebrities nonsense gimmicks nothing would have received as much attention as it is receiving today

Location based social networking as well as Wikipedia meetups

Foursquare, Facebook Places and other location based social networking platforms moved another step closer to invading our privacy. They allowed a person to give his location at any place in real time. Wikipedia meetups became a common happening in the country. Since Wikipedia contributors in the country are across more than 10-15 different languages, this gave a different platform and meaning to crowd-sourced content Only the tip of the social media iceberg has been decoded across the world! So imagine how long its going to take before they decode the tip itself in India!!! 5. The Facebook and Twitter traffic boom has led all the industry run after SMM so that they can get their fair share of the SMM Pie. Now these big corporations forget that the Social Media sites are For People and it not a Place for blatant marketing. To use the social media platform you need to understand that the Social Media forums are audience focused. The Participants come here to Socialize and not to buy soap or some stuff.

6. Recent market studies shows that people tend to distrust corporation and they dont trust company blogs or paid blogs either. So when you spew out your Social Media Marketing messages from the veil of your logo, you should get this curtained that there are pretty few people who actually believe those and follows you..let alone be motivated by them. 7. In social Media, one to one interaction is the most important factor. People, the real player of this whole marketing industry and the most misjudged also, likes to get importance, they like to feel special. So when you are posting some messages and you receive some comments back, you should try to answer them back in the timeliest manner possible. 8. You should be prepared to accept negative feedbacks and you should try to handle them diplomatically. To me when you are on a Social Media platform, you should try to maintain the thin line between too personal and abject professional marketer. It really doesnt matter that on how many platforms you have presence. If you are a hit on Platform A then you should stick to Platform A rather than diversifying your resources to other platforms. 9. The conversion or the ROI matters the most to a marketer, so I would suggest that you should stick to a certain platform which you feel comfortable with and which you think will value the most and the platform should be capable to follow your business policy. I mean you can attract customer for a coffee shop in Manhattan from Saudi Arabia. So here you need to target, improvise and polish up a little bit. 10. While summing up, I would suggest that you keep you cordial, non professional tone up while maintaining the thin line I discussed before try to focus on metrics. SMM is all about trying and testing and again re-testing..so it usually takes some time to chip in. Hang in there..and be tight..you will have your ROI pretty soon

11.Facebook and Twitter are the fastest growing networks in the world and are also the most popular amongst social media marketeers. A September 2009MarketingProfs survey of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers shows some of the commonly used tricks as well as the most effective techniques of social media marketing on these two sites. Most common marketing tactic used on Facebook was attempting to drive traffic to corporate materials through status updates, followed by friending customers. This tactic is one of the most difficult to follow and getting friends is very difficult to achieve. But the most effective tactic for consumer-oriented companieswas creating a Facebook application, which was done by less than one-quarter of total respondents. Both B2B and B2C companies also reported surveys of their fans as effective; fan surveys were the third-most-common tactic attempted.

12. 13.Twitter: Again marketers using Twitter were also most interested in increasing traffic. Driving traffic by linking to marketing Webpages was the most common activity on the microblogging site, followed by driving sales by linking to promotional pages. But again, the most effective tactics were different. B2C marketers had the most success with monitoring Twitter for PR problems (done by one-half of all respondents) and contacting users who posted negative comments about their brand (done by only 22.4% of total respondents). B2B companies also succeeded with brand monitoring, as well as with using Twitter invites for in-person events (the least common tactic of all). source emarketeer

MUMBAI: Social networking has become a mainstream business tool in India with 52 per cent of businesses having successfully used social networks to win new business, a new global survey commissioned by global workspace solutions provider, Regus, said. Businesses are now putting faith in the social networking medium and the fact is evident with the revelation that well over a quarter of businesses world-wide (27 per cent) have set aside a proportion of marketing budget-- hard cash -- specifically devoted to social networking activities, it said. So far, little analysis is available regarding the use businesses are making of social networking and whether hard business can be generated through this channel. To understand whether businesses globally believe that social networking is ready to take its place among an array of marketing tools, the survey asked business leaders whether they had made any customer wins using social networking, and if they believed the channel was effective enough to be awarded its own portion of marketing budget. Globally, social networks are still used for their original range of functions. The most popular use of social networks is staying in touch with business contacts, with 58 per cent of respondents globally

declaring

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Joining special interest groups is also popular (54 per cent). Although a number of sceptics (34 pc) believe social networking will never become a significant method to connect with customers and prospects, 51 pc of firms organise, connect to or manage customer groups via social networks. 54 pc of firms use it to find out useful business information. YES.It needs no further emphasis that Indian consumers are passionate about Bollywood and cricket. So these properties make for ideal platforms for brand promotion and as marketing tools. Films are an easy way for marketers to reach out to more consumers. Having actors as brand ambassadors gives instant visibility and establishes credibility. In that sense, Bollywood is also a great influence and can be a good purchase motivator. After all, when consumers see an actor using a particular product, more often than not, they tend to follow. In our case, the Samsung Mobiles association with Aamir Khan worked because the values that the brand and the actor stand for, matched perfectly. Needless to say, there has been greater equity built thanks to this association, apart from an obvious gain in market share. As far as product and brand promotions within films go, there are a few precautions that marketers need to take. For example, we need to ensure that the story of the movie provides the right fit for the product. The movie per say should get the product good visibility. There should be a connect between the film and the brand values. Further, the film should also show the product in the correct light, as an enabler of things. At Samsung, we have been fairly active with in-film marketing and promotions, leveraging the popularity of movies like Krishh and Ghajini, over the years. The success of a movie also has a positive impact on the brands promoted through it. It is our experience that using the Bollywood platform judiciously has its dividends and that this medium has indeed come of age ah s a successful promotional platform. Marketers need to use it in a manner that is in sync with their respective marketing strategy.

PROVAB As a leading Social Media Marketing Company we understand the need for an impeccable Marketing Mix and hence we provide powerful Social Media Marketing services to you that will prudently rocket e-traffic to your website, aggrandize your brand, create leads and grow our sales with an interest of maximizing your ROI to give you a feeling of power and eminence in the marketplace. More than 95% of business decision makers worldwide are active on social networks, that's why Social Media Marketing is of paramount importance in present time. Social media marketingWith SMM you will be able to acheive the brings following advantages: Brand Awareness in the social networks Competitive edge over others by bringing your brand among top of the search engine lists Increase e-traffic to your website Create buzz about events Community building platform Boost your Sales Social Media Marketing provides businesses the opportunity to establish an environment where in, they can interact with real people, learn from them, listen to them and when the privilege has been earned, provide them with information about their business. PROVAB has a dynamic team of adroit professionals to research, plan and execute the best solutions for social media marketing for your company. Our

proven Social Media Marketing & Viral Marketing strategies will help you build your brand and improve the visibility of your products & services through social media networks. We provide complete customized social media solutions for our global clients, that includes Social Media Optimization(SMO), Social Media Marketing(SMM), SMM consulting services, market research, as well as advertising campaigns. We execute our social media servces to help you take advantage of the exploding social networking sites and provide you with the right mix of social media marketing to enhance your brand value and guarantee you prominance in the marketplace. We perform the following to amplify your brand value on a global scale: Social Network Optimization Content Optimization Business Networking Websites Video Optimization Blog Setup Article Submission Company Networks Press Release & Classified Ads Q&A Websites As an expert SMM Services Company, we have provided search media optimization, search media marketing, internet marketing services, submissions and social book marking to our clients spread across various continents to achieve the competitive advantage they craved for.

If you are looking at getting your self involved with the social media marketing. These 7 Cs should come in handy!! C #1 Context First you need to understand the context that you will be dealing with. This could be in the form of any social media platform. But before you start engaging with them, you need to understand who they are and more importantly what is the motivation that is binding them together, socially. Example could be pure passion for technology or Bollywood or even communication that has led one individual to pursue on the path of blogging. C #2 Communicate Intention to communicate if you do not have a intention, then you might as well. Just do a cut, copy, paste job and spam the comments section of the bloggers. That is it, then your brand is at the wrath and mercy of the bloggers. Do not try to push your marketing messages across in the social media, it might just do more harm than good. C #3 Conversation You need to have a conversation , with your fellow human beings even online. My belief is that there was a time on the internet when people use to be faceless and anonymous and they use to take full advantage of it. But now these are the same people who have realised that they are not being able to handle multiple personalities. They are the same human beings. Just try to talk to them, even just greet them, they will be friends. C #4 Content What does not work on the Internet is a copy. We need to be the original contentproviders for what we are trying to engage the Internet users into. If we copy and they find out, then our reputation online is scarred! The other element to the content is that we need to have contextually relevant content or else again, we will be seen as spammers!! The rule is customise your messages according to the motivation of the individuals that make the communities or groups on the various social media platform. C #5 Create One of the complains that have been with clients is that communications consultants are not proactive enough. Here on these multiple channels of social media, they have the endless possibilities to create original content

that is being provided to them by their clients and not only prove that they are proactive, but the original content can be used (hint) in combination of text, audio, video, graphical images, animation, pictures to benefit the clients. Dont want to actually, boost ourselves, but we do not have any form of 30-second barrier, we need not have a limitations in our word length (copy). We have the power to inform, influence and impress with the power of words. C #6 Collaborate All our management gurus have spoken about team building exercises. Here we have a platform not only build, but also to maintain the relationships that have been fostered over each and every social media platform. Technology gives us the opportunity tocollaborate and enhance our relationships virtually. Relationships could be built on social platform based common interests and business platforms based on professional experience or expertise that one has. C #7 Contacts Contacts This may be one of the result that you will achieve in the process of your social media marketing effort. You would enjoy being a part of the wise world where knowledge sharing and problem solving are the things to do (TTDs) on a daily basis. This is the element that builds up the social support that you receive even from the online world, which helps individuals at the need of the hour in taking action at both personal front as well as professional!! These 7 Cs have been the culmination of observation, experience, and research in the field of social media marketing over the past 10 months. If you have any more Cs or for that matter any element that you can think of that I have missed, just let me know!!

Marketing films

Manisha dead' and other Bollywood gimmicks V S Srinivasan You know the success rate of a Hindi film? A miserable one in five. And by successful, we mean just the survivors. It's been a hard time since the collapse of the formula film market, forcing film-makers to opt for storylines that defied reality, even the imagination. But still the graph stooped low. So the film-makers, maybe inspired by their counterparts in Hollywood, turned to the marketing men. Save us, they implored...

Serious nudity: A still fromBandit Queen. Click for bigger pic!

The headline in the newspaper said actress Manisha Koirala was dead and that the
killer was on the run. Many frantic calls hit the newspaper office. It's only an ad, the callers were smugly told. Koirala was alive and kicking at some suburban set. The mandatory slug at the bottom of the ad had conveniently been dropped. It was director Mahesh Bhatt's way of pushing his upcoming film Criminalwherein the heroine is killed half-way through. The trick brought Bhatt and Co some easy publicity. Producer Mukesh Bhatt found that the trick, though easy on the budget, could hurt too. Flak from the media followed him long after Criminalvanished from the

theatres. And the police kept an eye on him too. 'Tasteless' and 'unethical' were among the kinder comments made about him. But he defends himself staunchly, saying: "I don't understand what the fuss is all about. It was just an advertisement." Bhatt points out that the film industry is highly competitive and it isn't easy to entice an audience to the theatres. "Marketing a film is very important these days to draw attention. All I did way employ a gimmick," he says.
Trick for treat: Mahesh Bhatt's offer. Click for bigger pic!

A similar gimmick had been employed sometime earlier when Jackie Shroff was 'arrested'. Annu Kapoor, too, the report claimed, was beaten up by a gang of beggars. The April fool promo was for Gardish, which did well but somehow did not suffer the Criminal backlash, probably because it was only featured in Good Day, an ape of Bombay's successful tabloid, Mid-Day. But Jackie was shaken, since the producer was playing on the police probe into the actor's alleged links with gangsters. Shilpa Shirodkar was also 'killed' by Gulshan Kumar, to push his new film Bewafa Sanam. Again in an ad. It didn't work. Apparently, not many cared. More recently, in the wake of the Gulshan Kumar murder, there were rumours of Shah Rukh Khan being shot dead on the sets of Duplicate. It could have been put down to a keyed-up audience, had that film too not been a Bhatt product. Maybe some people never learn. Cheap as they were -- both in terms of expense and taste -- these pranks did help their perpetrators get their movies a better standing than they would have otherwise. Proving that marketing could push a producer's rupee farther.

Rumour rules: A still fromDuplicate. Click for bigger pic!

Less misleading -- other than in the sense that they were leading on the misses -were the Avvai Shanmughi -- the Tamil remake of Mrs Doubtfire -- sarees that hit the Tamil Nadu markets. These could have been put down to the success of the film had they not appeared in the market during the film's early publicity phase. The film's star, Kamal Hasan, says it won't be long before some Chachi 420 -- the Hindi remake ofAvvai Shanmughi -- sarees hit the Hindi market too. Sooraj Barjatya, who made Hum Aapke Hain Koun,also reaped the benefits of publicising the violet saree worn by Madhuri Dixit in the film. Barjatya also created an artificial shortage by restricting access to prints of his film, knowing he was in on a good thing anyway. The demand grew, and distributors got unreasonably frantic for prints, considering it a privilege if they were finally picked.

That selling saree: Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Click for bigger pic!

So it was Barjatya doing them the favour instead of the other way around. As a result, more money came in and with less resistance. And, unlike Mukesh Bhatt who has to yet to live down his 'gimmick', Barjatya gained only goodwill for giving away his own film! Another director who considers the marketing factor carefully is Shekhar Kapur. Of his own admission, when he went to meet producer Devi Dutt, he saw photographic evidence all around that this was a family man he was dealing with. So he immediately scrapped the script he had in mind and told him Hero on CRT: Prabhu Deva another story. The producer capitulated almost immediately. The in Kadalan. Click for bigger pic! result was Masoom, which, to Kapur's credit, was a well-crafted effort. Next, Kapur cocked a snook at the audience with Mr India, which mixed H G Wells, hammed-up Hindi film villainy, Brahmachari, kitsch, with jingoism thrown in to prove the man's sauce. But again, it was a well-made film, and a huge success. Third time around, he played on controversy to sell his film Bandit Queen.Since it was a 'serious' film, he had the literati right behind him when he depicted frontal nudity -- as always because the film demanded it. "Without controversies Kapursaab never makes a film now," says one of his assistants. "Marketing has become an integral part of the film industry," confirms Manohar Mutkote, formerly a distribution manager with Rajshri Productions. Mere hoardings and giant cut-outs won't suffice. Without such marketing, it isn't possible to sell a film properly, says Mutkote. And the pressure has grown, with the easier availability of films from Hollywood and other Indian languages and the insistent presence of television, free, with channels for every shade of interest at one's service around the clock.
Glamour pitch: A still fromRangeela. Click for bigger pic!

Maybe Vidhu Vinod Chopra got a little cute, erecting a miniature set before a theatre to mark the release of his 1942, A Love Story, but so did J P Dutta, perching a replica of a tank atop the marquee of Bombay's Metro theatre for his Border. Sometimes the gimmicks can get really hilarious. Like when the director of a Kannada tear-jerker offered all the women in the audience free handkerchiefs to see them through the movie. Not so funny was the attempt by a producer to cash in on a spate of kidnappings at that time. He invited all parents of missing children to the theatres since, in the film, the child protagonist is safely returned. The enraged and distraught parents nearly destroyed the theatre. The film was finally banned!

Movies have long been marketed at rural centres by vans announcing the attractions on screen. Till recently, Marathi superstar Dada Kondke often used a boonga to publicise his risque films. In the south, banners hung from elephants have sometimes been used.

Accused: Jackie ShroffGardish. Click for bigger pic!

Television, that old enemy, has also been made an ally by film-makers who get songs from forthcoming telecast. Some manipulation of listings of popular programmes too have been hinted at. Prabhu Deva is among the first actors television made famous. Time and again his numbers in Kadalan aka Humse Hai Muqabla were flashed on the small screen. And, despite being an indifferent actor, dark, thinly bearded, and not very attractive, the ex-choreographer was a mega-star. In fact, television is such an effective way of selling a film that even though most channels acquire song sequences illegally, the film industry takes no action against them, argues Mutkote. Why kill free publicity seems to be the argument. Yash Chopra is a exception. Not only does he not allow channels to screen his songs, but he even refuses them clippings. Which is why some angry bigwigs in the television industry are just waiting for his next flop... Seeing demand in the making, three years ago producer K Rajagopalan formed the Tamil Film Producers Council, with the sole aim of marketing films on television channels. But producers of films in other languages are still cautious.
Saree windfalls: A still fromChachi 420. Click for bigger pic!

"Sixty per cent of our programmes are film-based, but the Kannada film industry is yet to wake up to the potential of television," says Srinath, who heads Udaya TV in Karnataka. Resistance is slowly eroding, though. Marketing rules again.

Lala Damani, who pushed his film Saazish by getting former screen vamps Helen and Aruna Irani to dance together, is shoring up his bets with spots on Doordarshan and FM radio. "Their reach is far wider that newspapers or cable television." Of course, everyone agrees that the best way to sell a film is to make a good one. No matter what gimmicks a producer does employ, the film will fail if it is bad," says actress Urmila Matondkar, whose Rangeela and Daud both played up the scantiness of her clothing. Rangeela did well and Daud was a flop. Proof, perhaps, that the better film won. Or maybe the audience had already seen all they wanted to.

Aamir Khan is known for his perfectionist ways and is ready with 3 Idiots and the team is embarking on innovative ways of marketing the film. Beginning with the butt chairs that have been set up at leading multiplex chains across the country, Aamiris doing a host of other activities to promote his film. An interactive website was launched in alliance with Zapak.com with a college set-up as the homepage. The website is designed keeping in mind the college atmosphere, complete with a hostel, classroom, toilet, canteen and a few special added features. On the day the website was launched, Aamir Khan along with R.Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor had a chat with their fans online at a specific time, giving them exclusive information about the film. This was followed by launching the films music online where Aamir and Vidhu Vinod Chopra interacted with fans again. The 3 Idiots team have also used unique stickers on some rickshaws plying on streets that read Capacity: 3 Idiots. The song from the film, Zoobie dooby was unveiled by Aamir and Kareena and a press conference was called. Aamir walked the ramp with co-stars Sharman and Madhavan for a ramp show where they unveiled their range of 3 Idiots T-shirts by Pantaloons. To cash in on the virtual medium, the 3 Idiots team recently launched a new game in association with Zapak.com.

Why social media matters in Movie Marketing or A Film Marketing? Having a website for a any film or movie production company is becoming these days very common. It will be very costly to drive traffic to the website with conventional marketing tactics than how could you generate a buzz for your movie in online media? Social Media Optimization is the single most effective and affordable way for a Movie Marketing to buzz your movie in online media. There are plenty of social media websites in which you may promote your website but it shouldnt be look so cheap. I analyzed where people who used terms including the keyword for any movie site I found top social media websites on the top 10 results which allows audience to review the website and can discuss the thoughts about a movie. The good amount of the buzz you spread in Top Social media websites the good amount of popularity you can gain for your movie website. By keeping a movie website buzz live in various social media platforms such as forums, Blogs, review websites, social networking websites, twitter and press releases websites. You need to be consistent on providing each and every single event which is associated to your movie in every social media platforms. You must subscribed with Google Alerts as you can easily come to know about the buzz in online media for your movie and follow the link to provide the exact information and promote your movie site. Keep the alert status comprehensive and get the alerts as it happens. Although, its essential that you choose good social media websites from various social media platforms for better film

marketing. Still, the fact that so much of this initial search traffic is going to social media sites before the release date suggests that the channel is an important information source for audiences even weeks before they buy a ticket. So movie marketers take considerable note: social media matters even before the movie is released to create a successful buzz, reviews and discussions about movies. If you are a movie marketing company and want to market your movie in online mediacontact us know to get a free quote. We at Direct To India has expertise and experience of successful movie marketing campaign through social media platforms for your films to make success on box office.
Marketing as a tool is considered to be successful if it is able to highlight the unconventional and make it the selling point and the USP and this is the basic edifice on which marketing is governed. Were one to analyze and undertake the comparisons between SAAWARIYA and OM SHANTI OM from this perspective, OSO has emerged as a perfect success as a marketing tool, and it would indeed be studied from this perspective in the near future. This is clearly evident from the fact that Shahrukh Khan still continues to promote OSO on whatever occasions he can grace, as he has been doing through various cricket matches around the countryside and different parts of the world where India has been playing. It is altogether a different matter that the same has unnecessarily raised an unsavory controversy. The song in which all the film stars till date could congregate has been brought together and has been positioned as the USP of the film from the day on which the promos of OSO were launched. The saviness of Shahrukh in marketing the product aka OSO was evident from the smart comment that he made while giving an interview to after the final one day match between India and Pakistan at Jaipur. With a mischievous glint in his eyes Shahrukh told Rameej Raja that when people are bored of watching a test match should come over to a cinema hall to watch OSO. For SAAWARIYA the marketing effort of this variety was not made in the same magnitude as it was done by OSO though it has been reported that more than Rs.50 crores had been earmarked for promotion of SAAWARIYA. Now contrast this with SAAWARIYA. While Salman Khan was an integral part of the film he was never marketed in the manner in which he should have been. After the first round of publicity when it became evident that the film needs some further prop this tool could have been highlighted. Salman after all he has his captive audience. Second aspect of the film that could have been highlighted is the fact that it is a love story between a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl. The films made on these themes are very few, and if a director has taken this courage to do it, this fact should have been highlighted. This is owing to the fact that the past films of this variety, BOMBAY, DIL SE and GADAR were a resounding success, and in the second line of marketing effort this could have been thought of as the strategy to reposition the film. SAAWARIYA is a work of art, where something different has been attempted in terms of the choice of colours and the contours and this needs to have been brought out in a detailed motif. This could be the first film where blue colour has been chosen as the motif in the background, and to make the audience accept the same this is also an aspect that could have been used to position the film.

Marketing after all is the ability to make the product stand out in the crowd and have a distinct entity in the clutter, and to do so unconventional is what has to be highlighted. The mediums of multitude available as option need to be tapped, and occasions need to be capitalized on to sell the product. After all it is marketing that goes on to decide the destiny of the product.

Event

Management

As

Strategic

Marketing

Tool

The word event evokes visuals of a brightly lit stage with well-known cine artistes performing to popular numbers. Sure, thats an event and its handled by an event management company, but the scope does not end there. Event management can comprise handling marketing of soaps in rural areas through street plays or ground promotion activity of a new liquor brand launch. What we are talking of is below-the-line marketing, which has become an important tool for companies to build the brand image in the minds of the target audience. And as competition grows fiercer, event marketing could become a vital marketing weapon to tap the designated audience. Event management today has become a multi-crore industry with live entertainment events, both domestic and international, assuring a big audience. Television events have also become a staple diet in the fare dished out by various television channels. According to industry estimates, the industry had a total billing of Rs 1,950 crore for 2002. Of the total figure, domestic events accounted for Rs 1,150 crore, while international events raked in Rs 800 crore. It is estimated that the industry is expected to grow at a rate of 30 per cent per annum over the next five years. By 2006, the industry is expected to have billings of Rs 11,600 crore.

Television
Advantages Television permits you to reach large numbers of people on a national or regional level in a short period of time Independent stations and cable offer new opportunities to pinpoint local audiences Television being an image-building and visual medium, it offers the ability to convey your message with sight, sound and motion

Disadvantages Message is temporary, and may require multiple exposure for the ad to rise above the clutter Ads on network affiliates are concentrated in local news broadcasts and station breaks Preferred ad times are often sold out far in advance Limited length of exposure, as most ads are only thirty seconds long or less, which limits the amount of information you can communicate Relatively expensive in terms of creative, production and airtime costs

Social media marketing the SMART way to market your business

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, SecondLife and various other social networking websites represent the smart face of online marketing. It is smart because the communication is two-way and it is direct with your target customers.

When you place a traditional ad in a magazine or TV, it is perceived as a company promo and is viewed with a degree of skepticism. Over the years, too many companies have upset their customers so there is a deep lack of trust in any company sponsored message. In the case of social media marketing, the online community validates the message. If the message is that the company has strong after-sales service, the community on the basis of its collective experience with the companys products or after sales service, will either agree or criticize the company for making false claims. So what exactly is Social Media? Social Media is an umbrella term used to define the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction through use of words, pictures, videos and audio. Social Media is further defined as people having conversations online that are powered by Blogs, Online chats, RSS and Social networks. How popular is Social Media? Believe it or not, social networking sites are now officially more popular than porn sites and represent a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. As of today, there are over 4 million articles posted on Wikipedia, there are 100 million videos posted on YouTube, theres 200 million blogs posted world-wide, there are 1.5 million registered users on Second Life - a popular social networking site, 73% of internet users have read a blog, 45% of these have started their own blogs, 34% of blog writers post opinions on products or brands theyve used. 82% of people who read these blogs will respond with comments of their own. 39% of internet users have subscribed to one RSS feed or the other, 57% have joined a social networking site, 55% have uploaded photos and 83% have watched online video clips. Each of the above streams represents an opportunity at marketing your products and services and the best part is, unlike print or TV media, there is no per second or per minute cost or per square centimeter cost. The old method of advertisement involving insertion of a small advert is what we now call a monologue - a one sided conversation. In fact, statistics indicate that only 18% of TV ads generate positive ROI. 90% of people flip channels the moment a TV commercial appears and less than 14% trust advertisements whereas, 73% people trust recommendations by other users. These recommendations come typically via social networking sites and are almost always a part of a dialogue. 14% trust advertisements as against 73% who trust recommendation of other consumers. The new method of advertisement therefore, is the dialogue via social media. Social Media is going to be more pervasive and will soon become a critical factor in the success or failure of any business. If youre not on a social network, youre not on the internet.

And how does one market via Social Media? Social Media Marketing is done by participating in online conversations. You start by listening and immersing yourself in conversations. Dont post messages. Messages are not conversation. You have to participate, share information and ask for opinions in short, enter into a dialogue. Relinquish control. If you see a negative comment, dont delete it even if you think the comment is unfair. The moment you exercise control your customers will flee the conversation. Basically, you market your company and its products by building trust and acceptability amongst your customers. Its a very subtle yet powerful new marketing tool.

RetailBizMD.com has a deep understanding of the issues and complexities of Social Media Marketing. Weve been studying this phenomena and helping our clients use the power of social media to spread the word and market their products and services with tremendous success. Our goal is never to control the conversation it is to enable, inspire, engage and influence the participants. Talk to us today and we will explain to you how we can help make your business popular with your customers through the power of Social Media Marketing. Let us take your business into the future today.
s I was reading a news piece, I came across a interesting article which talked about Reality shows giving a new launchpad for advertisers. May be Rakhi and Elesh are marrying in the coming days after the reality show Rakhi ka swaymvar, but the big winner among them was the was Fem, Dabur Indias newly acquired personal care brand that saw 30% rise in sales after tying up with Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. Similarly Sprite "seedhi baat, no bakwaas" - Sach ka samna (which perfectly blends with the show format where one needs to answer questions and needs to answer them right. Mountain dew "darr ke age jeet hai" - MTV Roadies, Stunt mania here also the same the brand perfectly blends There are many reality shows like Khatron ke khiladi which is having celebrities and then there is Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao which is roping in stars to create the whole drama and higher viewership. What do you think fellow members, Are Reality shows the new launch pad for advertisers? t by : Most Recent Top Rated

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Branding rule says, if you aree unable to find place in clutter, create a space for yourself and rule that turf firmly out there. With lot of products caterging different segments, they are now finding newer platform to showcase their product well.

By Mukul Bhartiya, Head-Sales & Marketing(Organic Food Business), Arvind Ltd. | 1 year ago

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Both complement each other thought the promoters always have an upper hand

By Manish Thakur, Business Analysis & Solutioning | 1 year ago

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Reality shows are a very good source of income for advertisers. In countries like US and European countries, they are most famous source of promotion. On any good show, no matter its "Big Boss" or "Big Brother", if its a hit, sponsors will automatically pour their money on it. This is obvious. In return, the show will promote them.....

By Ramdas Pawar, Sales/BD Manager, Flex | 1 year ago

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Very true, this has become a new trend and is to stay for long. This very common in the developed countries but a new trend here. Also if the show is making money, the sponsors are making money what is wrong in it. The reality shows are becoming very popular with good TRPs. The rakhi show had the highest TRP till now. The companies can also relate the characteristics of the product with the show and so things are picking

up..

By Japan Shah, Assistant Professor, Oxford School of Management | 1 year ago

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1 0

The Advertiser and the tv programmer try to do new thing so that the public take in terest to see new things and the trp increase of that show. Yes its a new trend, becoming more popular nowadays.

By Mohammadarif.A.Shaikh , MBA/PGDBM | 1 year ago

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The reality show and the advertiser use inovatio in the promotion and creation of the programme so that the public take interest in it and see the programme.

By Mohammadarif.A.Shaikh , MBA/PGDBM | 1 year ago

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1 0

Yes! Reality shows and the advertisers are being innovative. The trend seems to be to go this way.

By Hari Prasad K, Head - Custom Solutions and Delivery | 1 year ago

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As the viewership is incresing for these reality shows , they will be good launch pad to associate & promote their products

By santosh kumar, Marketing Manager, AUTOMOBILE | 1 year ago

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Yes !!

By Paresh.Khanchandani , FCD Business Manager, ExxonMobil Company India Private Ltd. | 1 year ago

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Thanks for the referral Jayant. TV market is huge in India which hooks the rural as well urban India together. Advertisers have been associating their brands with TV shows for some time now, if you do

remember when Zee TV came out with the very first take on reality show-Sa re ga ma it was TVS Saregama, other instances are there too. Though now in South East Asia the content for reality shows are made in such a way that the sponsors products get to play a major role. The key message is integration, providing a lot more value to sponsors in terms of exposure to target audience. Product integration is the better way to reach consumers and influence their habits and behaviour patterns. When the brand is integrated into the content the consumer cannot switch off because they're so involved in the show and then they've seen all your brand messages. The aim is to actually get them exposure in a subtle manner that gets the message across to the consumer without it being too in your face'.

By Shiuli Mukherji, Head Strategy Plan- , Region SEA | 1 year ago

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This is true that creative marketing compaines try their best to find the new way to launch or market their product with relating the benifits with reality shows. This is a new way of marketing and reaching the mass consumer to turn them customer. People have tendency and influence of star people to follow their habits, style, products, and every possible things. When you present your product along with Star and related show, it catched people eye and you get a lots of new customer. It is like turnning the viewer to customer with right positioning your product with the star and show.

By Atul Kumar, Project Leader | 1 year ago

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I think yes, even though there is too much of reality shows these days which is giving overdose to viewers, but for advertisers it is becoming a boon with increased number in sales and smart product placement where it blends with the show format, is making even more happy for advertisers, earlier people were going only for cricket matches for the ad slots and now with cricket having higher fees for the ad slots of 10 secs, it makes all the more sense to go for reality shows where there are celebrities and known faces of the entertainment industry participating there makes the format all the more interesting and intriguing at times, there is high viewership even with so many of the reality shows around, and Shows like Sach ka samna and Roadies are having regular and loyal viewers and that too who are young. So yes according to me Reality shows are like a new launchpad for advertisers.

Theres no escaping it, social media is thriving and has never been at such an all time high, everywhere you turn people are tweeting or posting things on Facebook. With social media taking up such a large amount of peoples time (Up to five and a half hours on average) companies are constantly striving to gain our attention. Through the use of social media marketing tools companies have a better chance of breaking through to us. Social networking has been around since what feels like the dawn of time, but has really kicked off in the last ten years with sites such as Bebo, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and of course Facebook. With these sites having such a big following, Facebook alone has over 500 million registered users spending on average 700 billion minutes a month viewing this site. With stats like this its easy to see why companies should be considering these as more of a help than a hindrance. The use of OSM (online social media/marketing) tools is not always restricted to using such sites as above, there are many different aspects that can be discovered to use within your business. Geoff Evans over at LFPress.com has written a post in which he says The key to your online success will be your ability to understand the various roles social media can play within your business as well as the associated risks, Your key to success will be analyzing your existing communication strategies.

So whether this could be through the use of Facebook or Twitter its about whats right for your business and customer base. Something as simple as email marketing with the integration of video could be the main component to your business plan, Erik Bratt (the president of Engage Social Media) was quoted here saying Once deemed too expensive, and too slow in the pre-broadband era, video is rapidly gaining in popularity as a business tool. The best example of use of OSM tools we can think of is the Will it Blend? Viral marketing campaign, in these videos Tom Dickson (founder of Blentec) can be seen blending such items as an iPhone, a camcorder and even an iPad to show the power of his companys blenders. The campaign was a huge success and Dickson was quoted saying The campaign took off almost instantly. We have definitely felt an impact in sales. Will it Blend has had an amazing impact to our commercial and our retail products. To really make an impact within your business you must look at both the pros and cons, although this was a very successful campaign there are statistics out there that show OSM is not as successful as once thought. Read our previous post by Debbie Turner for more info. Is social media marketing a good move for companies to invest in? Let us know your thoughts below
Problems
That set the stage for some of the common obstacles and barriers to social media adoption which he focused on in: 7 Common Social Media Problems and their Solutions. 1. Flying blind Many companies chase social media tactics with no idea about the who, what, when and where of the social web. Its essential that companies first develop a listening program to answer those W

questions.

Listening through social media monitoring is critical to understanding brand,

competitors and key terms relevant to your audience on the social web. Without a smart listening effort, companies miss key opportunities: marketing, customer service, sales, recruiting, partnering and public relations. 2. Unsure where it fits who owns social media? As companies develop their social media programs, responsibilities and resources need to be allocated and that leads to accountability and ownership. For successful social media adoption within organizations, its important to establish social media goals and responsibilities in different parts of the organization. As resources and accountability are identified, the different departments can work to cross pollinate efforts, and work together as a team. Doing so helps leverage combined efforts and from an implementation standpoint, avoids conflicting representation of the brand. 3. Inconsistent participation Companies need to be consistent with their social participation. Our clients at TopRank Marketing with the most successful blogs are those that post consistently. The solution to more consistent participation is to lead from the top, get executive buy-in. Establish goals and provide a feedback loop to contributors. As they grow, the community will provide feedback. Set aside resources, plan who will create content, monitor and engage. Tap passionate community members and activate them to be brand ambassadors. Create efficiencies through the repurposing of content. 4. Not individual or confident Believing that people will listen to and find value in what you really want to say requires confidence. Whether youre right or wrong might not matter as much as being passionate. Now, more than ever, is the time to show leadership and conviction when it comes to social participation and engagement. 5. Digitally unsavvy team Modern marketers need to understand social media. Companies dont do social, they are social. That means being savvy participants. Theres good reason for that. According to Social Technographics of Business Buyers from Forrester Research:

91% of business buyers read blogs, watching user generated video, participate in other social media 55% of decision-makers were in social networks 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.)

If youre a B2B marketer and youre not using social technologies in your marketing, it means youre late. Josh Bernoff, Forrester. The good news is that you can learn to be social media savvy through training, participation, listening and engagement.

6. Data paralysis Data should help drive decisions, but dont let it get in the way of creative ideas from your team. Adam relates the story of one of his clients, Joffreys Coffee where he recommended campaign changes based on his personal experience with the social web vs waiting for data to prove a concept. The result was a successful program by all accounts which is often cited as a social media marketing case study by others in the industry. 7. Lack of personalization Use real team members in your social media efforts. Dont use some faceless person behind Brand X. Forge relationships with others. Put others in the spotlight. Give to get and be focused on serving and being useful. Dont send in legal right away as an initial reaction to social dissension. Read the Streisand Effect for more on what happens when that backfires. Embrace personal brands, dont worry about them getting too popular because their allegiance is to the brand. In the end, companies can win on the social web by developing a strategy, experiment and iterate. And if you get lost, you can always get help. Last week, two specific conversations about Social Media and that state of things struck me. One being with

a fellow mate who genuinely had a point when he mentioned that there are approximately over 75 million blogs in which only a handful few have many readers. Also, there are more people who writes, evangelizes about social media than actively listening and practicing it. The second one, being quite interesting which I had with one of my companys top honcho who mentioned the power of listening being one of the most important trait of being a good marketer. Now putting it in a framework, I felt there is a wide yet subtle difference between *Social Media* & *Social Media Marketing*. Social media is a tool or to take it further, we can think it as a platform while Marketing is more of a channel. So this post is the outcome of those two conversations which led me to ponder deely about it and pen it down. What came out was 5 problems with social media marketing. First of all, lets start with what is Social Media (Source- Wikipedia) Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and building of

shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). I agree to wiki definition. If we read the bold words, it never tells us that social media is like marketing. Infact, if we put marketing, then the very authenticity and transparency is lost. But I do understand that to use a tool/platform to spread message is very important for any business. Infact, viral is one of the most important outcome that a social media marketer wants. But then we really cant agree with Social media being Social media marketing. So five problems which I believe is inherent in social media marketing are: 1. Viewing social media as being a new marketing channel, when actually they are communication channels. 2. Since social media is viewed as a marketing channel, attempts are made to push marketing messages through these channels. 3. Attempts are also made to directly monetize the social media efforts which most often than not fall flat on the ground. 4. Its about building a real relationship with your audience and not marketing or pushing messages across the board. 5. Viewing social media as a channel only to create buzz. Now that is fine but without active listening, it wont see its broad daylight. Also social media is just to amplify public opinion and in the process may be, just may be it will spread across to give enough traction. To end it all, before getting into social media, we should be aware of our goals. Like for example,

Is it to increase awareness and credibility? Is it to increase online conversations? Is it to create a community of unified spirits who may turn out to be evangelists?
Finally the easiest way to fail at social media marketing is to use social media as a way to broadcast your marketing messages with a goal to sell more stuff!

Problems with social media technologies

October 16th, 2009 Mark

In the summer Hyper Happens Asi Sharabi wrote an anguished post about dealing with the output from social media dashboards. Luke Brynley-Jones, who is putting together a panel at Monitoring Social Media next month, asked me to talk about it. At the risk of scooping my contribution, this is what I wrote:
My sense is that there are several issues at work here. There are inflated expectations of what the software can do on its own. There is a general reluctance to appreciate the scale of the undertaking. Put at its most simple, each partner client, agency and measurement specialist needs to field folks with real expertise in: - The brand and its online community - Online engagement as a domain

- The chosen tool and its most useful metrics - The clients business, its capabilities for response and to devote (as Asi complains) real time to it. It is messy, because no one tool performs all the tasks you need, and much of it requires painstaking manual cross-referencing. We never devote less than a day to compiling a monthly report of most of the brands we cover (often a day and a half or even two). 2-3 people work on it. We dont just use our LiveBuzz monitoring tool, we use Google, Yahoo!,whois.net, search Twitter direct, in short cross-reference and check everything. Without a contextual report the value of any tool alone is hugely reduced. Outstanding issues: - Missing data (getting better, but always an issue) - Flaws in identification and automation of topics - Automated sentimenting that works for some contexts (high volume, generic) but is weak in others (low volume, specific) - Conversations that are a propos but dont appear in the tools on-topic conversation bucket (e.g. posts on a brand page, Facebook groups, petitions, backlinks) On a higher level I think that Asis frustrations result in part from the job he is being asked to do. It is unsolvable by him. He is not being given the resources (time) needed to really add value here by addressing the big issues: - The context: what can you benchmark this conversation against? What is the history of the debate? Is that data even available? - The business value: how do you derive really valuable actions from the data? Who has the expertise to do it? (It ought to be the agency, but they are often too close to the fray, and have an agenda which can lead them to recommend marketing activities of some kind and this may not always be the best response) - Having recommended specific actions, who undertakes them on the client side? Is this a marketing issue, or a business process issue, or a customer service issue, or a strategic issue for the business? All those siloes of the business have to be bought in for the thing to work. In short: social media monitoring tools stand at the bleeding edge of the social media question for the industry, a question to which no one has yet formulated the full answer. That question can be summarised thus: - How does a business take full account of the value of the insights that are now available to me from the net? - What is the role of my existing activities? Are they all valuable? Which ones do I keep and which discard? - Who takes those decisions within the business? How are the decisions validated? - What become of all of the existing stakeholders: internal teams like PR, marketing, brand, investor relations, customer service? Can I reorganise around this change? - What becomes of all my talking activities, via all the different agency partners, promotions, DM, above the line, below the line? Do I centralise them, consolidate them? Drive everything via an insights and measurement strategy? My cheeky response is that Asi is a square peg in a round hole. The client is apparently asking him to become a Market Sentinel analyst without providing him with a budget! He needs an analyst to work for him to do the grunt work, so that he can add his value by addressing the big client-focussed questions.