Democracy and Social Media

Recently we as a country saw some unprecedented action around Anti-corruption movement lead by Anna Hazare. This movement was as much in the ether as on the real ground. Ultimately the “civil society” won the day and managed to get some unprecedented concessions from the Government of India. What comes out of the movement  and whether India improves its ranking on the Corruption Index is yet to be seen.

However, Anna and his movement got huge recognition and response from the online community. Facebook Fan Page India Against Corruption moved from a few thousand likes to a few hundred thousand likes in a matter of days. And these were not idol click of a button LIKES, but interaction happened. It was almost as if floodgates were opened on a famine stricken area.While the Administrator was interested in only one way posting and not conversation as is the spirit of Social Media – the do’s and don’ts of the Administrator can be discussed in another post. Each entry from the administrator got instant responses by hundreds.

Detractors of the Movement were quick to dismiss the support as armchair critics and the so called educated minority. They were quick to state that “JAN ANDOLAN” are on the streets through demonstrations and sit ins (dharnas) and not by click of a button. One commentator went on to state that the support is only to fill the void created by the culmination of cricket world cup and for some it is so in to talk about “ills of the society”.  Examples were cited from Gandhi’s and JP’s movements from the last century.

Efforts were being made to discredit the movement by saying how many of these people will come to the streets if Government was to use force and that is how this people’s movement cannot be compared to Tahrir Square or other populist risings. Excuse me, don’t we claim to be a functioning democracy and don’t people have a right to speak their minds in one and why compare to a movement which was to overthrow a regime wherein the movement in India was not for any such cause.

Simplest definition of Democracy is “By the people, For the people  and Of the People” and Not by the street, of the street and for the street. Agreed majority of India is not using internet and as per the last count Indians on Internet are approximately around 100 M out of a total of 1.2 Billion thus making it around 1%  penetration. But does the fact that online population is a minority, its views are not to be heard ? The fact that these people are using internet does not disenfranchise them or does it  ? Or it does, as they have the power to take informed decision and can not be swayed by caste, religion, money or the pretty boy image of a leader ?  Or is this dismissal attributed that neither can you teargas, water canon or shoot online protestor.

On the other hand, is it not that times have changed. Would we dismiss mobile telephony because previous century was used to snail mail and inland letters and postcards and that was the mode of communication. Or would we dismiss mobile telephony and like to go back to the pigeons. Was that not a compulsion of the times and technical advancement from those days, in modern days one would possibly be put behind bars for cruelty to animals.

Village as a unit has always had its chaupal or village square as the connect point. Friends to meet, justice delivery, social interaction leading to matrimonial alliances, help and advise on disease, purchase or any other matter were sought and delivered through the Chaupal. And why not, for a common villager his universe was around the village and extended to villages which were around 50kms radius. We need not go back more then two generations to find out that majority let alone travelling across nations would not even have traversed the boundaries of their birth district.

Cut to the present times, travelling across India is par for the course for the educated and the social circle of influence for them if it does not traverse the globe at least touches different states in India. Imagine for this mobile population, what would constitute their Chaupal ? Their aspirations are on a larger scale, their advisors are diverse and need for them to keep in touch is no longer a shout across the garden. Social Media has done the Chaupal to the global villager, he can now connect with his friends, advisors, consultants and at times with foes transcending the geographical boundaries. And no wonder, he is also using this same medium to express, share and seek political views. Why should he step out on the streets to share his anger, discontent and frustrations about a system gone rotten, when he can do the same, with the help of technology from his home/office? We again come to the point – Democracy is about people and not about the medium. It is now for the political class to choose whether their democracy and participation is about people or about street. I, for one would be very uncomfortable with the educated on the streets because you know what brain always scores over brawn. Revenge of the nerd may transcend the peaceful coexistence which seem to have prevailed after the skirmish.  

Anna and Those Ones

Discussion often used to be that the younger generation has abdicated their responsibility of the nation even before taking charge and that they cared only for the material gains and it did not matter to them whether it came as Union of India or some other state. They were totally oblivious of the governance and only cared about self and that too in the here and now. Their role models were pop idols with pierced and tattooed bodies speaking in staccato and had an attention span of 140 words.

Happenings over the last few days have changed the perception on its head. They do care and the state of the nation does matter to them. And no their form of protest is not the Rang De Basanti style of justice – by the bullet. They believe in organised and disciplined protest through mass movement in the physical world and also the world of Social Media.They are well read, informed and have the natural ability to communicate. Words chosen by them are not the language of the gutter but that of a sophisticate. They are not charmed by eloquence of the language but by substance and are not awed by the Position power exerted by the powerful men and women of the polity. This is not a generation of people who will accept the inevitable but comes with a belief that “THEY CAN” and they do.

It is the middle generation which had abdicated its social responsibility while in quest for personal material success. And also responsible for not providing the right values and direction to the young lot. In the movement against corruption young ones found that direction and values from an unlikely hero – Anna Hazare. Anna, a septuagenarian followers of Gandhian philosophy is the unlikely hero. He does not sport six packs, nor does he have tattoos or speak in an accented English. Anna is the quintessential common man from the rural India, hailing from a small village in Maharashtra, speaking in Hindi or Marathi in a soft tone and sporting a Gandhi topi. His form of protest is not that of aggression but silent method of the Mahatma – Fast Unto Death. While he is polite in his demeanour but firm in his ideas to the exasperation of his detractors.

Anna did not budge from his demands even for a minute while all kinds of shenanigans were being played out around him, snide comments were being made about his demand, method or the movement. It is said that for a peaceful movement to work either the opponent has to have a conscience or the movement has to be so big to overwhelm the powers. Mostly powers have the attitude that such movements fizzle out after initial euphoria as the novelty wears off, after all what  new can one do in a FAST UNTO DEATH but wait for the next step which is Death.

The movement against corruption did not fizzle out but only gained momentum with every passing day. With more and more people across ever increasing cities across the world lent their weight. What was admirable was every single one of those candle light marches or signature campaigns were disciplined and peaceful. I don’t recall any single news item mentioning any instance of violence or unruly behaviour by the protestors.

Actually at the end of this episode, one can only pity the Powers that be – did they have any options at all ? What does one do against a peaceful protest that is non disruptive. One can not arrest people for lighting candles or for fasting. Nor can you disperse them with physical force as there is no instigation. They had already tried trashing the man and the method, saying at various times that method of protest is wrong or labelling Anna as right wing activist or by trashing movement as being instigated by interested coterie. When nothing works then it is best to join in with the objective that through innovative management one can usurp the entire movement and its ideas as ONES’ OWN. It still remains to be seen if this movement goes down the time tested path or defies and brings about the change it promises.

Last word is still to be spoken, written or read on the movement.

Bundi–March 2011

We started our journey on Saturday morning around six thirty in the direction of Jaipur, ultimate destination being Bundi around 446 kms from gurgaon. First part of the journey being uneventful and with one pit stop at Hotel Tokes for a sumptuous breakfast of stuffed Parathas we were crossing Jaipur. Somehow for the first time in so many travels google maps failed us and getting onto the Tonk Bundi Road became an exercise in favourite indian travel past time of asking directions. It was around eleven am when we found ourselves heading in the right direction and crossed the satellite town of sanganer.

This brought us to the NH12 which was to take us to Bundi via Tonk. This is where similarity with any other national highway ended. This road is a single lane road all the way totally devoid of any basic amenities like a Midway or a decent Dhaba and is used by some of the worst commercial vehicle drivers one would come across. And on this road there is an unusually high traffic of trucks carrying indeterminate cargo.

It was only in Tonk we found a decent place to have lunch and guess what it had taken us a good part of three hours to do hundred kilometres. To put this in perspective, yours truly had done hundred out of Bikaner in one hour a few months back. Can’t say we were not forewarned, our hosts at Bundi had warned us that it may take more than five hours to do 200 ams from Jaipur. After the break we started on our final leg to Bundi and with the sun bearing down on us, ac were on blast and by this time iPod had also gone off charge as were playing music through a FM transmitter ( travel tip – if you want to play music through FM transmitter, carry plenty of iPods).

Bundi is a town situated in a valley surrounded by hills from all sides and was considered a seat of preeminence during the times of Rajputanas as the kingdom of the Haras. It was a more important town then Kota then and due it’s natural hilly surrounding was considered a formidable kingdom. As one winds his was around the hills the fort appears to ones left almost one with the hill on one side and a small lake on the other. It is a breathtaking moment and worth the drive of ten hours. Right next to the fort sticking out like a sore thumb is a telecommunications tower and one can only envy the lack of imagination or appreciation of history for the Babu who approved erection of the tower.

We were escorted by our hostess and her charming daughter alongwith their man friday, to their home for a round of snacks which were accompanied with a lecture on history, travels and career opportunities for youngsters by the patriarch of the family. Naturally so, forty years of being a professor in a college does come with some amount of ability to discourse.

All this brought about the sun set which we felt was early onset, possibly due to the surrounding hillocks. We were then taken on a night tour of the outskirts and landed at a Devi temple situated on another hillock which had to be climbed on foot. Ten hours of sitting in a car is not the best preparation for climbing rough heaven rocks of uneven height, even if there is only about 200 of them and especially if you are doing that in pitch dark and only light is of the sanctum sanctorum as a beacon. The journey becomes all the more tiring if one is an agnostic and also aware that lack of lighting renders the camera superfluous. Long and short of it is that we managed the climb up and also the walk down. While on top we did come across a couple of “very happy” devotees with plastic glasses and finger snacks, who miraculously decided to end their tryst with the Goddess as soon as they found us within breathing distance. Another interesting aspect at the bottom of the temple was two kitchens, one for vegetarians and another for the carnivore.

We had dinner at an open air restaurant called Grizzly, while the fare was ok but nothing to write home about and service was decidedly tardy and with all the moths and mosquitos about even the strictest of vegetarians would have tasted some meat. Thankful this day came to an end and we retired to our rooms for the night though not before Man Friday warned us that we need to start the morrow early and instructed the hotel staff to serve us tea at six.

Morning at six we were woken up from our sleep by Tea bearer and unbeknownst to us man Friday was lurking in the background and exactly at 6:15 he appeared to enquire how long would it be before he should fetch us to the house and were suitably warned that if we delay, we will have to face the intense heat. Thus chastened we were ready at seven am and were taken across for a homemade breakfast of poha and tea.

Start of another day and this time to the Palace which is a protected monument approached from the middle of the town. We were in for another climb up a steep slope where the ravages of time and weather had rendered the stones slippery and one was looking for footholds to save one’s life as the fall would not be a very happy one and may result into some broken bones.

At the top it was another fighting palace which must have been witness to lot of intrigue and battle plans. History was replete in every part of the palace. The courtyard where the king held his durbar for the population to the meeting place where king held counsel with his trusted advisor. Importance of the Lead Queen’s counsel was also discernible. While the minions of the entourage were restricted to watching the happenings from eyeholes, the Queen had a window to herself from where she could express her assent or dissent by a simple shake or nod of the head. So much for the women being downtrodden in the Rajput families.

What struck one was the general dismal state of repairs of the palace and what it could be made into if only some repairs were being conducted on the structure.

The remains lay testimony to the grandeur which was built in and the vandals had ravaged over time due to apathy of the family and also disinterest of the government.

One could make out the details that had gone into making of the palace a fighting citadel by the way stairs were designed for one person to pass and that too at a leisurely pace and not at a canter and definitely not with a weapon in hand. The turns and twists which were built into the design and leading into courtyards and open spaces where the enemy soldier could be picked one at a time by a platoon.

From the palace we repaired to the so called Chitrashala for a dekko at the famous Bundi paintings and had come away disappointed as most of the frescos and paintings on the walls were in a state of disrepair and just one official guide for the odd visitor who happened to visit. When we visited this guide was busy with a French couple and none of us being articulate in French it was left to the guard to help us out with his version of history and art. Produced below is what was the painting in the best condition and had supposedly undergone renovation by the government.

Surprisingly we found the courtyard in front of the Chitrashala to be very well managed. Grass was cut and flowers and trees were well tended to. Though the water tank and fountains were dry but the seats around it were in good conditions at odds with the rest of the palace and left us thinking why the same care could not be shown to the rest of the palace or the paintings inside.

We managed to get down from the fort in one piece and had look at the wares on sale at the souvenir shop at the palace and found the inventory to be very mediocre compared to what we had seen in places like Mandawa, Kishangarh or Jodhpur. We did not find anything that we could add to our collection.

We went to the museum, which was a collection of photographs, old weapons and lots of stuffed animals. These animals are proudly displayed as trophies of bravery though what is so brave in shooting an animal from a hundred feet hiding on a treetop is beyond my comprehension. May be one can explain the killing of carnivore to protect the citizenry but what harm could a bison or a deer have caused is only for these hunters to explain.

In the afternoon we made a trip to the RANI JI KI BOWRI – around a kilometer from the palace. Ostensibly the Queen used to come down to this place for her bath from the palace. I personally believe these were the water storage tanks built by the various kings for the use by the people and were also the congregation points for the people to get together for social and religious functions.

In the evening we went to a nearby village for an early dinner of Daal Baati cooked in the traditional earthen oven in the house of Mr.Ramavtaar Meena. House was in the middle of fields and had only one light bulb, no television but all the male members of the family did carry mobile phones and had motorbikes. The family eats dinner by 6 PM and is off to bed by 8, typical day for them starting at 5 AM in the morning. All the young adults in the family are graduates and young ones go to private schools. Mr.Meena’s mantra – this is the age of the educated and it is for his family to keep pace with the times. We were introduced to the family lucky mascot – Toto, the Tortoise who had adopted the family few years back and whose addition the family saw as the turning point in their fortunes. Don’t know if it is legal to keep him in the household but at least better to keep him then to let him out and die.

Food was out of this world and company interesting. We learned that irrigating the fields was still a challenge and with erratic water supplies whole crops could go bad in a matter of days. Utensils were still being cleaned with the ashes from the earthen oven before rinsing with water. Buffaloes in the stable were as moody as the humans, each one with a name and its own idiosyncrasies like one wanted to be tied under the shed when milked and the other would only allow the patriarch to do the honors.

Mr.Meena and his sons had put together Pump Set and Generator set up to pull water and irrigate the fields. Mind you, this water was ONLY for the crop and not for personal use. This was the SWADES moment, all the talks of nuclear state, double digit economic growth, third largest economy in the world and largest democracy and we still can not irrigate the fields.

SOCIAL MARKETING – New Kid on the Block ?

 

Social Media Marketing is the new buzz word in the marketing circles. 67% of marketers want to do Social Media. There are consultant mushrooming all over the countryside specializing in Social Marketing. There are statistical numbers being generated 35% no 51% of people trust opinion from their fellows then the might critic in the news papers who languishes at paltry 10% (and you were planning to fly him Business class to HQ). And lo and behold, all that money that you spent on advertisements, well actually only 30% of the audience believes you or your advertisement across Radio/TV/Cinema Hall.

Did I hear you say, that is why we moved to Online advertisements. Would you like to know efficacy of those Search Engine Ads, Online Videos and Online banner ads. 4%, 3% and 3% respectively.

 

Picture turns pretty dismal when you start looking at the other end of the graph i.e. people who do not trust and suddenly all your marketing strategy seems like Big waste of money and time.

In light of all these, Social Media comes as the manna for the dying. Thus we find the 67% wanting to “do Social Media”. What does the marketer do ? He devices an aggressive Social Media Plan for the next quarter with even more aggressive numbers. He wants people to listen to him and his company.

Approach to Social Media is blow your own trumpet just the same as one was doing on the other medium.

Will this ME centric approach succeed? Are we not forgetting the basics? We seem to equate Social Media with the other medium and have forgotten to understand the very basic reason of why Social Media sites not just exist but are thriving.

Let us examine this ?

What is Social?

The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.

Term “social” is used in many different senses referring among other things to:

Attitudes, orientations, or behaviours which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour);has played some role in defining the idea or the principle.

What are Social Needs?

An excellent  representation of Social Needs is using Maslow’s hierarchy

 

Thus needs have been classified and also ranked according to a person’s stage. A person who has basic Physiological Needs is not necessarily looking for Respect. Either his need is satiated or his need has been extinguished for him to move up the chain.

19th Century Man

Let us now examine the 19th Century Man. The world of a 19th Century human was centred around his village or town. He worked in the perimeter of his village, his needs were satisfied by the fellow villagers. For most of the people their self esteem was centred around recognition by the village elders or the village squire, their friends were from the childhood and more often then not he married within walking distance. His doctor or healer was also nearby.

Centre of this universe was the Village Square. One could get the pulse of the village and also the rumour of the village right then and there. Who has landed a plum deal or who is dating whom or who is suffering from viral fever or whose child has flunked his 5th examination were all available

  

And the marketer of 19th  Century was on the Village Square talking to his clientele in the local lingo, using the local props and discussing man to man for his needs and requirement and also to his peers addressing their concerns and queries. Any purchase decision was made in accordance with the comments and views of the members of the Social Network

This was the Social Network to which a person subscribed and companies sold to.

Cut the chase to here and present.

21 Century 

 

More and more people are moving out of their parental homes and taking up education and employment across the globe. It is easy not difficult for buddies of school to be working in not just two different provinces of a country but also across time zones in two different countries.

 

 

Hence the need arose for better communication tools for people to communicate and a phone would not suffice as night for one would be day for another. Internet became the medium of the century and people started using strictly offline communication mode of email. Limitation of email was it was a hub and spoke model in the sense originator and receiver were the only ones connected onto the communication and was also limited in terms of visibility in terms of Social updates one would associate with Social Networking like family updates or photo graph sharing. For the receiver it was also intrusive, let us face it I may be friends with Mr. John Doe but may not be interested in pictures of his first child drooling over his living room rug but via mail I could not restrict what I got from him without offending him.

Online Social Networks like Facebook owe their success to Social Needs. Here was a medium where I could do my posts in an unobtrusive way, post photographs which my contacts could access at their convenience and their wishes. I could also seek out the opinion of my peer group on whether to buy the iPAD or the Netbook. Could also check out where to get the free ebook downloads for my Kindle. And share this with the larger community at large without actually intruding on someone else’s time or mail box.

One started to connect to a social group which was beyond one’s geographical  location and started interacting. Next thing to happen was congregation of people with similar interests or hobbies from within the extended Community. I may be connected to 1000 people but amongst them and why just them over a extended world community it became easy for me to connect with say Diabetics across the globe. Or for a photography buffs to connect. Discussions on these forums were around the specific interest group.

SOCIAL MARKETING

Would Social Media marketing also work the way traditional mediums work, put in an advertisement or an editorial implant?

Let me ask you a simple question. You move houses to a new city and want to make new friends, can you do this instantly? Do you ring the doorbell to your next door neighbour and expect him to be best of the buddies with you? In my view NO, you may make acquaintance with your neighbour or your professional colleagues but it takes time for you to open up and also to trust the other guy. Yeah, you may take the mundane daily chores advise around finding the household maid or location of super store for buying groceries.   

Why would the other guy also trust you or what you say? he is also evaluating you, your trust and your company. Doesn’t it happen that we do not get along with a push over, someone who tries to thrust his opinion upon us or tries to lead us.

Most companies in their zeal or may be due to background of aggressive product based marketing forgot that the dynamics of Social interaction. We first need to listen in to a conversation for us to make useful contribution. And so it should be with Social Marketing.

STEP 1 : Please listen to the conversation. Get the drift…

STEP 2 : Offer timely and useful advice on the forums. Just the same way as you would do to a new found friend. Make sure that what you saying is meeting some need of the recipient and not just a rejoinder or a blank bullet with no real concern. Empathy can not just be seen but can also be heard and read.

STEP 3: If you are out of depth on a particular topic, listen and learn. Many times we would learn something new if only we were listening for content and not for an entry to conversation. Who knows you may get a great idea for a new product or a new killer feature for your product.

STEP 4: Once you have build trust and credibility then only try to market your advice or your product.

STEP 5: Listen, participate and adapt. May be the group does not want to hear what you are saying or the way you are saying or the timing is off. You will make mistakes but then that is a sure way of learning things.

Some statistics on FACEBOOK

 

Number of Users in India : 11.5M

Male Members : 7.9M 

Female Members : 3.6

Facebook Users in India have doubled in 6 months

31% of Indians on Facebook are 18-34 years old

The Key to Success on FACEBOOK

Is not what you know, BUT who you know and who knows you

Social Media Marketing Does Not Work In India

 

I have come across Marketing Managers stating that Social Media does not help at all. That customers do not make marketing decisions on the basis of information on Social Media.

Some arguments that are thrown in favour of this statement are :

1. Social Media is not used by Indians

People in India do not use Social Media but are on the internet and visit the various company sites or research or review sites

One only needs to have a look at some statistics on Facebook usage at http://www.facebakers.com/countries-with-facebook/IN/

Number of Users : 9.5 Million and growing

Male Users : 6.5 M and Female Users : 2.9M

User Growth – Facebook India

Penetration of Social Media is 0.84% against an online penetration of 11.8%

However this needs to be weighed in against the fact that Facebook User Base in India has doubled from 4.7M to 9.5M in last six months!!!

This data point itself brings us to a conclusion that this is the fastest growing medium.

2. My Target Customers Are Not on Social Media

We should ask the customer to qualify who their Target Customers are

If it is men, 6.5M of them are on Facebook and there are 2.9M women using Facebook in India.

And both the genders have had 100% growth in the last six months.

User Age Distribution – Facebook India

78% of the Facebook Users are in the Age segment of 18-34 years. If one were to add the 35-44 years group to this we would get to 86% of 9.5M.

This age group is largest buyer for most products and services.  

And for those targeting the young ones, we would suggest them to look at the statistics for age groups 13-15 and 16-17 which account for 9% of the total users.

Point to be noted here is that these two are the fastest growing Age segments on Facebook.

Choice is very clear, you want to be where your current customer is and where your next base of customers is going to be.

3. Social Media is Not Useful in Impacting buyer behaviour

Customers do not make purchasing decisions basis of Social Media or Social Network but after going through company and product information in Advertisments (print/television/billboards, Reviews,or Online Banner Ads).

Guess what collectively ONLY 30% of the respondents to a Nielson Online Survey in 2009 said they TRUSTED COMPLETELY” these sources.

And an overwhelming 34% Trust the recommendations of people they know and add to that Consumer opinions posted online as a trust source at 13%. Individually both of them seem to fare better than the Editorial content such as newspaper article which is at 10% and is supposed to be from an informed source.

4. What, allow for users to write negative about me ???

Should I be giving a ready made platform to disgruntled users to write against me? All the negative comments they have will be in the public eye? My company would be ruined ?

Fact is platform exists and people are using it to pass judgments. You are either gaining or loosing customers by no action. Would you rather be a blind mice or play the game ?

If a complaint is raised publicly, it gives you an opportunity to address it publicly thus setting an example of customer care and responsiveness to the audience.  Even if the customer is a trouble maker, you still have made a positive impact on others by your effort.

At times your satisfied customer who comes to your defence and what is better testimonial then that ?

5. Social Media is Hard, Tough and Slow

I want results and I want them now, this quarter? My management is not interested in something that will take ages to and anyways is doubtful as I can not measure the impact.

If one were to follow the guidance of international marketers, discussion about the impact of Social Media is off the table. Yes, it does not subscribe to the traditional methods of measurements and new skills need to be learned by the Marketing Manager.

Simplest would be the traffic driven to your website from Social Media Sites and the behaviour pattern of these users.

We are not stating that replace Traditional Media with Social Media, we are saying ADD this to your existing arsenal. BY all means use the standard medium for short term goals.

Use this medium to build a community and to interact with them. Results are generated over longer term BUT are sustained and not flashes in the pane. Keep in mind that It is tougher to make a marriage work then a one night stand.

Services Pricing

 

Had an interesting discussion this week end with the Service Representative of a house cleaning service – Ashiana Home Care.

Ashiana is a service company which offers thorough house cleaning for a fee. They have priced themselves for a stand alone single service and also an annual contract for 4 services.

We were approached by their telemarketing team around a year back. We enrolled into the service contract for a year (4 services). We were by and large satisfied with the service of the company. Staff they sent for service was always well trained and worked at a quick pace while not being intrusive.

With all the positive experience we had, we thought of renewing the contract for the next one year. Service Executive was duly called and discussed the pricing with us. Net import of the discussion was –

1. It does not matter whether I am renewing a contract or signing a new one, the pricing remains the same.

2. Contract period is 12 months from the DAY I sign the contract and not from the day I get my first service done.

3. Net net if I do not get the 4 services done within 12 months from DAY I sign the contract I forfeit the amount.

I tried to reason with the person from Ashiana that this sounds illogical as I have got the service done TODAY and would only avail of the next service (or the first service of next year contract) around September and hence I would in fact be made to either miss one service or get four services done in a time frame of Nine months.

Also, the fact that I am a return or a renewal customer who should get advantage of continuance and thus should get a discount.

We also pointed out that it was us who told them about the expiry and were proactively asking for renewal. Response to that was – I have eight sites running on any given day and anyways it is for the customer to renew and not our responsibility. Tone, tenor and the body language of the Ashiana executive was reminiscent of the Government Employees of yonder, who used to treat citizen as a problem rather then a customer

In the process Ashiana

1. Lost a sale in a home account.

2. Lost the opportunity to book revenue ahead of delivery of service.

3. Have lost an active reference

4. has given us a chance to explore options and give them an entry into our condominium of 300 Apartments.

I sincerely hope that this is merely an oversight on the part of  the owner/manager of Ashiana. However the problem is compounded by the attitude of the Representative for whom the company’s policy is a gospel.

She could not even attempt to comprehend what a customer was stating. Her approach was either you give me a check or you don’t.

Since then we have evaluated options and we understand that we could get the same job done at around half of the cost of Ashiana. We have also told the person to build it as a service offering and proactively initiate engagement with residents of our condominium.

What happens to the Early Innovator – Ashiana, who introduced this service in Gurgaon, India – frankly dear, I don’t give a damn….  

CIO and Social Media

 

Deciding the technology platform for communication as well as business applications internal and external to a company used to be the exclusive preserve of IT department as a whole and the CIO in particular. CIO also used to preside over what he wanted the user to see or not see. It is no longer so, with the Software as a Service and Social media, a user or a subject matter expert is creeping into what was a controlled domain. For example, A CRM decision is now more of a discussion of functionality rather then the technology. Similarly, while the company portal may still be under the control of CIO but an astute Marketing Manager is either using or exploring Social Media as the backbone of his communication.

That said most CIOs love technology and possibilities of using newer offerings and solutions. One comes across a wide range of CIOs from conservative to early adopter, and this is not limited to their attitude to Social media alone but to any technology adoption. And a lot of time these decisions are based on practical consideration and good of the organisation they serve. Some of the concerns that CIOs raise when discussing Social Media are:

1. Productivity – Employees spending time on Social Media is seen as wasting time – the new Coffee machine. What is seen to be a cost effective and reliable medium of communication can easily be a drag on the productivity. How is an organisation to know if an employee is not breeding sheep on his farm but sending out official notes on Facebook?

2. Information – How does one control what is going out through these medium. WHAT IF it was company confidential information like a Launch Date or a Product detail. It could be an inadvertent statement from a user, something akin to forwarding a email outside of the company or leaving the next generation model of the phone on the bar stool.

3. Resources – This is a tough one how does one account for the network traffic generated from a Twitter or Facebook? I have to deliver performance to Business applications on the same network which are being used for these sites.

4. Business and Brand – An employee can twit away a thousand customers with a simple and innocent message. E.g. Product A has a known bug.

That said a realization is setting in that there could be business benefit driven out of Social Media at very minimal cost.

1. Communication to multiple locations or groups e.g. informing partners of the benefits or training program.

2. Excellent tool for real time feedback mechanism straight from the customer.

3. Influencing the behaviour of the target audience by generating exposure through social media

4. Increasing traffic to web sites and generating leads for the business

Marketing Changes (contd.)

What indeed does the CMO do to arrest this onslaught of the Anon. None of the Marketing Management Gurus had ever spoken about the rise of the masses. No one ever imagined that one day Reviews and Critics will be written by a virtual non entity  and would have the power to reach across to thousands and hundreds of people at the press of button.

Carefully crafted company personas and glossy product brochures shall be rendered useless by one unhappy customer or worse still his teenage son or daughter.

The Smart Marketer realised that on one side he is spending money to build personas and images and on the other paying more to conduct research on whether the market is acknowledging and accepting his creations. And while he is doing it, there is this Common Man who has the power to run havoc with his strategy and impacting where it hurts most – Revenue and Net Units Sold.

Our SM saws the way out of this impasse by redefining his own job and scope from Persuasive to Involving and Empowering. The age old adage – if you cant beat them join them came to the fore. He saw that a single medium can be used to create a Campaign and also get instant feedback directly from the end customer. He realised that such sites are encouraging groupings for their own targeted online marketing and also have other such options.

This brought about the concept of Social Media Marketing and usage of Social Media to connect to the end user directly for his feedback and also as a medium for introduction of the product or services.

Early adopters of Social Media made the mistake of treating it like a standard marketing tool and fascinated with the free aspect of the medium by sending a constant barrage of Product Information and not paying heed to the feedback provided. Also added ills were Unplanned approach to the medium, treating Social Media marketing like a hobby without assigning resources and not respecting the limits like 140 words on Twitter.

Some easy guides to managing social media are :

Don’t sound like PR or a Used Car Salesman

Participate and initiate discussions and not monologues

Engage the community then talk at them

Don’t indulge in falsification of Information

Censorships on comments and feedback are not welcome

Create a group or a page and don’t maintain it.

Not follow a schedule to management

Time commitment on an average required for a Social Media Campaign is around 50 hours/month. Add to that time for feedback gathering and responding.

Easy way out is to hire a Social Media Marketing firm. International rates for such agencies are around US$1000/month per media site.

Marketing – changes

 

In the good old days the job of a Marketer was simple – find the tallest roof top and shout at the top of your voice about your product and drown out your competition by your LUNG POWER. This was the traditional village seller of goods. Then came the age of the suave suites who talked about “media plan” and 4P’s of marketing. Lung Power got replaced with Advertisements, Hoardings, Whitepapers etc.

There were namesake reviews which used to be published in trade or business media. More often then not written by “professional” reviewers. One knew who the writers are and efforts were made to be on the right side of such writers and they were treated with kid gloves. Haven’t we all come across reviews starting with statements like “On my visit to so and so factory in such and such country…”

Times changed and internet happened, initially a tool for businesses to communicate with each other. Companies started using intranet to share information across their employees in REAL time. Also started websites and started posting information across the web for customer to reach out and access information. It no longer was a game of “shouting” but a game of “driving clicks”. People started talking in terms of “eyeballs”, click stream analysis to tell where a visitor is coming from and where he is going off to.

Then came another turn and Web 2.0 and Social Media. A lay or naive customer started writing about his experience with a product or service. What was the exclusive domain of “experts” or “vendors” started getting swamped by the “ignorant users”.

And lo and behold not just writing but people started taking these feedbacks seriously. To the extent that one of the agency surveys indicated that one negative Blog/Post could have a negative effect which would require 200 advertisements to counter. And remember here, the cost to the write of the NEGATIVE comment is ZERO.

Flip side is also true but to a lesser extent a positive comment impact equals 20 advertisements.

Your traditional marketer is now in a quandary over this. There is no competition here to be derided. One can not dismiss these comments a FUD or competition spread canard. How does one take on the faceless David in this battle. And adding voice and reach to the David and making a Goliath out of him are the Social Media sites such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter.    

And worse still, the same gullible customer, who so far was taking “informed” decision based on the Marketer’s strategy, has started to believe in the ignoramus. People started talking about Peer groups and recommendations from contacts. Studies showed that 47% of buyers admitted to being influenced by Social Media and 26% said that they CHANGED their purchasing decision after reading on Social Media.

Suddenly the marketing budget was grossly inadequate to handle the all pervasive Social Media. How does one handle this ? What is the Chief Marketing Officer supposed to tell his CEO. That a faceless entity who is earning zero and spending zero is wiping away all the good done by his marketing team which spent millions and earned thousands…

Introducing India

Recently I saw a mail from a ex-college mate introducing India to his students in some University somewhere in US.

In his mail he gushed over US as A great country which gave him everything compared to his “wasting” his life in India before moving. Also he was of the view that people in India have started eating more and he hoped that they are eating healthy.

During the future email exchanges he stuck to his guns of India being BAD and POOR and US being good. When heat got too much for him he claimed he is a citizen of the country that butters his bread better and also tried defending his stand by saying he does not subscribe to countries and citizenships. Another one of his immigrant mates suggested that residents invariably question patriotism of NRIs.

Set me about wondering why these people who firstly want out of India and employ all kinds of tricks from marrying for citizenship to enrolling in useless courses still want to retain Indian identity. Also what would the US immigration have to say to these people who clearly are stating a contra view to what they said in their OATH of Citizenship about renouncing their Indian loyalty. Or is it a matter of loyalties depending upon the greens ? Should India even be bothered about them or their return, what do they bring just another mercenary ?

Changing tracks, is it fair to introduce India as that down trodden apology of a country. Even if one were to not go into the history of the nation which runs into a few thousand years compared to a few hundred for so called great nations or the fact that more religions have found birth in India then any other nation possibly with the exception of Israel.

We as a country has had voting rights for ALL, irrespective of caste, color,creed or religion from the very inception 60 odd years back. Other then the ingrown religion we also could assimilate imported religions as our own whether Islam, Christianity or Judaism.  We largely live in religious harmony between various religions and also more then 20 languages. We are truly a multiethnic society in which we have had Muslim/Sikh/Hindu President in addition to multilingual Presidents and Prime Ministers. We as a nation have never attacked another country despite enough and more provocation from across the border.

We have been pretty consistent in our policy of denouncing despotic rulers and not bend at selfish interests to support dictators (Pakistan/Iran/Philipines) or attack another country for no real reason (Vietnam, Afganistan, Iraq) etc. We have not help onto enemy territory despite occupying it in battle.

In my opinion, a nation can not be simply judged by its Balancesheet or weaponry but the morals and ethics also should be given due consideration.