iSMOblog

As the world moves on with the general audiences taking the lead in almost everything, the World Wide Web has also made the best use of the same by churning out campaigns which invoke the presence of the Generation Y. In a nation where huge campaigns like Jaago re and Sunsilk Gang of Girls has appealed to the masses through the medium of television and radio, the social media websites have also taken a huge leap in the development of mass campaigns.

A very unusually creative yet interesting marketing campaign by Make My Trip, has taken the entire population by force. Launching the campaign in the form of a protest, the visualizers of “Offisial Atyachar” made sure that the scope of the target audience was huge. Appealing to all who were victims of official tensions, which disturbed their work and personal life balance, the campaign took shape in the form of a Facebook profile page which gave out funny anecdotes and tips about daily life official madness. The increasing amount of people who joined the profile page gave rise to huge event where around 500 employees vented out their anger by smashing down an office, specially created to be brought down to pieces. Also later turning it into an official website, the campaign is still alive, with thousands of employees taking out their office frustration on a stage created by the social media. The campaign not only created a rage amongst the masses, but also created leads for Make My trip as an organization, as it continued its surrogate branding throughout the campaign. Expecting to create awareness for a better work life, the campaign now plans to release the idea at many different levels.

Joining the reality games, the consumer of today is attracted to campaigns which involves them, and connects with them on a much larger level than just emotion. According to various statistics, social media ads beat the efficacy of ads on television and the radio by a huge number. Making your voices heard is one right that the audience today strongly believes in, and the social media is offering them many solutions to do so.

Offering yet another platform, taking the help of the internet as a medium is the “Ibibo Great India Blogger Hunt”. The campaign compels the audience to write whatever they want to talk about in the form of a blog. The prerequisites do not require you to be a great journalist or a writer, but a person who speaks their heart out. Keeping the prize money as a whooping sum of Rs 1.5 crore, the online media challenge has attracted many to express views and opinions on the huge platform.

The social media has not only played an extremely vital role in the creating awareness and enthusiasm amongst the masses, but has also helped various organizations to use it as a platform to define their businesses. In a world where more users rely on social media websites than the television for efficient marketing communication strategies, moving to the internet is surely the smartest thing to do for most businesses.

Social Media is one field which moves so fast that it’s hard to keep up with it. What started as micro setups in small organizations, have taken the form of a huge giant which rule the entire world. And literally so. It seems like everyone who has access to the World Wide Web is active on social media. Numbers of people adding to the social media buzz just keeps increasing in leaps and bounds, adding to the ever increasing population of the social media planet. With micro blogging sites like Twitter catching the imagination of everyone from celebrities, to students, to ardent technological bloggers, the need of the hour is to create something which leverages the usage of Twitter and take its interactive abilities to a whole new level.

What started as an in-house web application in an organization called Odeo, has spread across the world in a matter of three years, experiencing months and months of exponential growth.  Within a short span of time, Twitter has become much more than a platform, where one signs up to stay in touch with his friends. It grew as a source of information, opinions and views about anything and everything one can possibly think of. The question has changed from “what are you doing” to “what’s happening”. Twitter, in other words, is continuously becoming a speedy news site, where anyone can be the reporter, with breaking news clubbed into the character limit of 140.

Moving the infrastructure from the internet, Twitter now knocks the doors of another very-popular communication medium – the television. Tuning with the social media craze all over the world, itaas tru2way interactive technology platform comes up with a new way to keep in touch with the world, even while you are watching the television. Developing an application, which will be of utmost benefit to the avid twitter fans, Tweet Tube will now allow its users to simultaneously access their twitter accounts, viewing their tweets right on their television sets. A fresh challenge to marketers, the Tweet Tube is a whole new dimension in the social media marketing environment.

Another, rather expected combination of the television and Twitter is a new show in Spain, called Twision. Broadcasted on the Veo7 channel, Twision is a new medium which allows its viewers to be directly interacting with the various presenters and the guests on the show. During the hour long, weekly show, many a people log on to their Twitter accounts to comment and opine about any given subject, which in turn pops up real time on the television screen there and then! Though the program has no official connection with the social networking site, Twitter itself said that the show is one of a kind, and its innovative use of its open and public network is even more compelling.

Utilizing the power of the social media, the television medium analysts are coming up with unique ideas to club the kings of communication media in their respective eras. With a high number to support the new venture, the social media is sure to penetrate well in this new-found vertical.

Changing with the current world full of Twitter updates and Facebook status messages, the field of medicine has also plunged into the ever growing world of social media. Social media has now been in and around for some years, and has created quite a rage. People from all age brackets, belonging to a varied amount of sections in the society are active on the assortment that the social media websites provide. From celebrities to teachers, and now doctors, social media has been consistently used as an online portal which keeps one informed in the domains that one is interested.

A survey released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 61 percent of Americans go online for to check on information for health issues, and the majority of them have turned to user-generated health information which has been available through social media. Blogs, forums and Facebook pages are flooded with queries about health issues, and the doctors are now turning to them, to provide people with advice they actually need and require, hence creating a unique, one to one patient – doctor relationship. This not only helps the patients to be at peace, but also helps doctors and prospective medical students to learn through a newer medium, which redefines the meaning of ‘hands-on’.

Citing a recent example, an Indian orthopedic surgeon, Dr. A.K.Venkatachalam, did a Twitter cast of a knee surgery, while he was at it! Containing details of the entire procedure, the doctor believes that the tweets would be of vital use for prospective post-graduate doctors who wish to choose surgery as a career option. He also reiterated on the fact that the social media has brought about a huge change in the way medical studies were taken in earlier times. The physicians also feel that the social media gives them a sense of responsibility and help give the current environment of health care a new perspective.

In yet another unbelievable incident, which was abuzz all over the social media websites, was the initiative of a woman, Mrs Jackson, from New York, to tweet during the abortion of her child, constantly tweeting right from the operation theatre. She also created a step-by-step video of the abortion to be posted on YouTube and regularly updated her blog posts about the happenings during the process. Trying to develop a whole new following of people, and creating a new perception about abortion in the minds of people, Mrs Jackson opted for the social media network to bring about a change in the way people think.

With the social media creating a safe environment for support and assistance, the masses are taking an easy breathe. Across the length and breadth of the globe, there are a million people who are willing to offer some help or lend some support to anyone who is in need. The focus has now shifted from commercialization to actualization. Not only social media has become a stage to offer services, but has also turned into an area to learn, grow and develop as an individual from the medical arena.

Twitter has been in and around for quite some time now. People belonging to all age brackets are live and active through Twitter, updating the world about their likes, dislikes, whereabouts, opinions, news – practically everything. Twitter has also become the latest hub even for the inmates of Tinsel town, who persistently keep their curious followers updated with their ‘oh so interesting’ tweets. The rise of celebrity twitter mania has also given rise to newer job prospects for writers, who the celebrities hire to update on twitter when they are too caught up with work.

Though apart from being a medium which entertains the masses, Twitter has also been put to use for social campaigns which have not only got justice for some, but also saved people’s life – and literally so. In many a recent instances, Twitter has been used as an active media to make people aware and hence create user-engagement for any campaign that takes place.

In a recent example, during the Haiti earthquake, aid organizations were heard quoting that social media websites, including twitter, helped raising the funds required for the relief process, with a much higher pace than through any other medium. Well-wishers from all over the world gathered up together to help the wounded, deceased and the ones in need through Twitter by donating through various social media campaigns, that started as soon as the magnitude 7 disaster took place. Nearly eight million dollars were collected through Twitter, which helped the aid organizations to get the best for the victims. Social media was globally applauded as the relief was provided in the nick of time.

Another such an incident, where Twitter came out as the helping medium, was for a celebrity which saved the life of a man who was mentally stressed. As reported and reviewed, Demi Moore got constant tweets by a follower who had become suicidal, hence posting threats on the social media platform. While keeping in touch with him by exchanging tweets, she instantly informed the police, who helped the man, hence saving him from taking his own life.

Instances like such have given a social media a whole new scope of innovation. Twitter is also now being used by the presidential race of various countries to make the masses aware, and the government transparent. Barrack Obama’s online campaign is being heavily put to use through the social media platforms to raise money and organize various activities at a grass-root level. This encouraged people to come forth and stand for the country.

What the social media as an online medium has done to the world at various levels is something magnanimous. It has not only created a literally made the world a smaller place, but has also developed a common bond amongst the entire human race as a whole. This medium has given the innovators of today to put their minds to creative use and develop something which was unimaginable in the past, turning the technologically driven world to a completely new and unexplored direction.

Social networking sites have transformed the way we communicate and connect. By now most internet savvy companies are already using (and reaping the benefits of) SMO or Social Media Optimization. For those who are still unaware of this rising global phenomenon, here is a heads-up on what SMO entails.
SMO is the process of creating multiple points of access or visibility by utilizing the traffic leverage of already existing social networking sites for brand/service promotion and in-turn improve the bottom line. In simple terms SMO is the utilization of sites like Facebook and Twitter to create a buzz about your company. SMO is a process that not only requires innovation but it also requires continuous dynamism.

7 Tips for SMO

SMO used effectively can have a tremendous impact on the traffic you generate. Here are some handy tips for efficiently using SMO to your advantage –
•    First and foremost set up fan pages or company groups on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

•    Inform, engage and provide information that people can actually use through these platforms

•    Set up accounts on image sharing sites like Photobucket for image sharing and optimal tagging

•    Create accounts on social bookmarking sites like Reddit for sharing additional information

•    Maintain blogs on popular blogging sites

•    Innovate and communicate for retention and increase of members on social channels and finally

•    BE ACTIVE! Regular updates on all social sites is imperative

Whether you want to be a part of this social bandwagon or not is not really a choice now! The digitalization of this world has brought with it newer ways of connecting with people and changed the way we market and promote.

-Adapt if you want to move ahead.
-Stay fresh if you want to stay viable.
-Use SMO effectively if you want to succeed in this digital world!

Social media in recent times has become a headline grabbing phenomenon that is rapidly growing. Instead of using social networking as a tool to simply connect with people, entrepreneurs across the world are frequently trying to find ways to utilize the trend of social networking as a business opportunity.
Studies suggest that social networking sites should be viewed as a complementary device to the presence of businesses in order to promote success. Businesses should consider the sites as an asset that is valuable and useful in gaining their companies positive attention. In essence social networking sites, when used properly, should not be employed as a replacement to the business traditional online presence.
But the question arises, what is social media?

Social media is a conversation on the Internet. It is a conversation of the organization with its customers, employees, suppliers, investors, critics and fans. In a nutshell, it is a conversation with anyone having access to Internet. However, the conversation is not controlled and organized. But it is organic and complex, in the form of a human voice. Thus, it is not a strategy, but simply a mode of reaching out to all the stakeholders of the business.

What are the characteristics of Social Media?

Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following characteristics:

1.    Participation: social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience.

2.    Openness: most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information.

3.    Conversation: unlike traditional media, which is more of a “broadcast” (content transmitted or distributed to an audience), social media is better seen as a two-way conversation.

4.    Community: social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show.

5.    Connectedness: most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people.

Why should companies adopt social media?

- It covers a large audience in a faster, economical and easier manner

- Helps even small businesses to reach to a wider customer base

- These channels allow a connect with the stakeholders which enhances the credibility of the firm

- The best place of connecting with the stakeholders is where they are already talking about things important to them. Thus by joining in the conversation would increase the noticeability of the firm.

- It allows the company’s website to integrate multimedia such as audio and video which increases the attractiveness of the company

- It allows users to generate their own content thereby allowing them to interact with each other

How can companies utilize social media?

There are many mediums available for an organization to effectively harness the complete potential of social media. The various types of mediums available are as follows:

Social networks: These sites allow people to build personal web pages and then connect with friends to share content and communication.

Blogs: Perhaps the best known form of social media, blogs is online journals, with entries appearing with the most recent first.

Wikis: These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting as a communal document or database.

Forums: Areas where online discussion on specific topics and interests are held. Forums came about before the term “social media” and are a powerful and popular element of online communities.

Audio, Video and Photo sharing Sites: Sites where the above mentioned are shared between a large numbers of people.

Microblogging: Social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content (‘updates’) are distributed online and through the mobile phone network.

Companies are now using a wide array of social networking services ranging from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to emails, blogs and websites to build up interest in their new product or service launch. There are countless social media sites available in each of the above categories.
The diagram below maps some of them into the social media space.

Is Social Media perfect? Doesn’t it have any downsides to it?

Like everything else, social media does have its share of limitations. However, most of these limitations vary depending upon the user’s perceptions. The various disadvantages of this new age media are as follows:

Time Consuming: To leverage on social media, one needs to be connected to its audience all the time. He needs have updated helpful information on the network and should respond to any queries to satisfy the curiosity of the audience otherwise the audience might loose faith in business.

Limited Reach: Accessibility to the Internet in India is only around 3-5% of the total population. Thus, only a limited segment can be targeted through this medium.

Information Overload: With so much information available, there can be a problem of information overload and social networking overload which may cause problems of authenticity and validity of the information may become an issue.

Lack of Knowledge: Since social media is still in its infancy stage, not much awareness and information is available. Thus, organizations may have to incur high initial costs for setting up its operations.

Intrusion on Privacy: Since social media is an open platform, there may be issues with privacy as a lot of information is available about the user.

Apart from these problems, there is also an issue with customer loyalty. According to Deloitte in 2008, around 40% of user generated content websites have more than 500 members but very few engage with it in terms of their contribution, retrieval and exploration on the site.

After having observed the social networking phenomenon for quite some time now, I decided to find out which one of the most used social networking websites, i.e. Orkut or Facebook, is more popular and why.  I actually thought that by reading various blogs, visiting various different forums, talking to different people who use these sites etc. would be enough to find out who is the winner out of these two…but alas, I was wrong. All I got was a variety of mixed responses and they only added to the confusion. Here is a meagre attempt to discuss the pros and cons of both- Orkut and Facebook.

Orkut is ‘the’ most popular website in India and Brazil whereas Facebook is the favorite social networking website for America and Europe (MySpace is also a competition…but we are not talking about it here!).

Apart from this, both Orkut and Facebook are disliked for some reasons or the other. First and foremost, Orkut offers you only basic social networking facilities. Whereas, Facebook has a number of other cool applications such as quizzes, Flixster, iLike etc. These make Facebook much more interesting. Orkut is said to have a number of drawbacks such as the fact that it does not allow its user to upload a number of photographs at once, the deletion of photographs has to be done one by one, tagging a user is not allowed, organizing the scraps as per your friends is not allowed and so on. SMS alerts, like those on Facebook, are also a missing feature. Some of these features are there on Facebook and thus it automatically gets that extra edge.

However, this inference is not enough to prove that it is better than Orkut in every way. People who are big fans of Orkut have a number of things to say in its favour as well. Or rather I should be saying that these people have a number of things to say against Facebook. Some people are of the opinion that Facebook has too many things and thus is slow whereas Orkut is really very user friendly. Privacy options are not that strong and efficient in Orkut’s case, hence people are easily able to trace conversations through scraps etc. which makes it fun to use (don’t know if it is a good thing or not!). Moreover, the profile page and links on Orkut are much more systematic and organized. The Google tag attached with Orkut is a major advantage in itself. The name ‘Google’ is enough to build trust and attract users. More so, Orkut is said to be constantly improving and is considered to be introducing more and more features on a regular basis, which offers something new to its users every time.

The debate however remains open-ended. Which of these is better is completely an individual’s choice. So, whichever suits your needs and requirements better, just stick onto it. Happy Orkutting and Happy Facebooking! (If at all these two words exist!)
Cheers!

When the ever so popular Google launched its own social networking site ‘Orkut’ in 2004, it got a lukewarm response in the beginning.  Initially it was only popular with IT professionals but thanks to the youth of our nation, it became a youth icon (literally, in reference with the MTV Youth Icon Awards). Now if you don’t know what Orkut is or what it is about, then you need to do some serious homework. Orkut became the new trend, the new fashion and the new need. Yes…you got me right- need! It had actually become impossible to survive without it.

The trend had actually become that if you came across someone you are meeting up for the first time and you wished to stay in touch with that person then instead of exchanging phone numbers or e-mail ids, you straight away asked- “Hey, you there on Orkut?”. Such is its reach. No doubt, that in no time, Orkut became the 2nd most popular website in India and the most popular website in Brazil!
Why it became so popular…

Its users liked it for its simplicity and more than anything else, its novelty! Orkut can be given the credit for acting as the pioneer in India as far as the entire concept of social networking is concerned.

Moreover, since it was owned by the ever so popular Google itself, then the fact that its sister website also became popular does not come to anyone of us as a surprise.

Orkut also had the advantage of people not knowing about its competitors such as MySpace or Facebook. People knew only about Orkut and Google made sure that it did everything to popularise it even more (like by giving a link to Orkut from each of its web search results page etc.)

Is the charm fading out…

The charm of Orkut, as they say, is surely fading out. And there are a number of reasons responsible for it.  First of all, and thankfully people got aware of the other options to choose from. Facebook is undoubtedly catching up and even MySpace has also started to make its presence felt. Even the Indian social networking websites like BiggAdda and ibibo etc. are gaining momentum. They are likely to do much better if at all they pay a bit more attention to their advertising campaign. That’s a different issue however.

Next, the spam! This issue has really led to the defaming of Orkut. Fake profiles, fake ids, fake communities, and receiving bulk spam messages- all this and more such things have led to users gradually shifting from Orkut to other similar sites. The security and safety of the user account and his/her personal information is also a big question that Orkut has not been able to answer time and again.

It can also be noticed that since the time Orkut.com changed to Orkut.co.in, its popularity has actually gone down.

I hope that Orkut’s this popularity check has helped you, at least a bit, in your opinion about the same. If you are still on Orkut, then Happy Orkutting else congratulations on your wise decision!

Social network marketing is undoubtedly becoming ‘the’ hot topic in Web Marketing. Lately, the Internet has proven to be a very powerful medium and because of its numerous advantages such as its speed, accessibility and the fact that it is simple to use…the internet has started to be used more than just a tool of information dissemination and a mode of entertainment. Today, the internet is synonymous with business!

And here steps in one of the most recent forms of Web Marketing- the social network marketing. Though the makers of these social networking websites, to name a few, Orkut MySpace, Hi5 etc. had developed such sites for the sole purpose of connecting with people and staying in touch with them; but I guess, the masterminds of business had already thought of drawing out more use out of them. Marketing.

The ‘Popularity’ Question

However, even marketing requires intelligence. And thus, a businessman has to be very selective as to which social networking website he is opting for in order to gain the maximum benefit. And when such a decision has to be made, the ‘popularity’ of the website is the most important aspect that has to be taken into account. MySpace definitely wins hands down in this regard.

MySpace all the way

In order to do effective marketing, MySpace proves to be one of the most favorite options. And that is because it is considered to have a pool of more than 100 million members! So, marketing through MySpace can reap you brilliant results because at least some part of this 100 million member pool will eventually be discovered as your prospective customers. The bottom line remains that more the number of people on a social network, the better are your chances of hooking up more customers!

Not only popularity, but the features and the services offered by MySpace to its users also act as an advantage for a person who is looking at MySpace as a business opportunity. Let us here take a look at some of those factors that make My Space the best bet in regard to Social marketing.

Magnifying your business exposure is much easier because the number of members on MySpace is huge. Thus, the probability of getting more customers only increases.

The amount of information that you wish to give through MySpace is unlimited. This is because MySpace does not limit the number of photos, videos or information that you wish to upload.

The features of sending out large scale bulletins or individual private messages (suit your need) makes it really easy for you to send information or the updates across to your customers.

The existence of a number of forums, groups or communities, each catering to a specific interest, helps you to locate your target audience much more easily. It is also believed that navigating through MySpace profiles is much easier than its competitors.

All in all, if you plan to do marketing through a social network, then go for MySpace. You might just end up becoming rich!

Social networking is as important to the present generation as reading the morning newspaper. It is a habit for some and addiction for others. You might say that you are not into it, but you can’t deny the fact that it is in you. May be you are not an active member of this vicious circle (or non-vicious for some), but you are its passive observer for sure. Now, since almost everyone is involved in some way in this business of social networking, then the differences of opinions on the same are bound to happen.

Where, on one hand, social networking has a number of positives about it to boast about such as allowing you to meet new people, getting in touch with the old ones…and we all know what I am talking about…so I guess, I don’t need to go there again; but some people also raise questions about social networking eroding social skills and values of the people. How much of this kind of a question is valid is something that we all are seeking an answer to. But who is to decide that? The population in favour of using social networking sites and the number of people voting against it are almost evenly divided. Thus, the dilemma only increases.

However, almost everyone knows the benefits of social networking, so I thought why not use this space just to discuss the ‘social’ factor of social networking. However, by saying this I do not mean that I am talking only negative about this aspect. But, it’s best if we proceed from bad to good.

Because it’s so easy to stay in touch with people using such websites (which is a plus point!), have we started to feel that there is actually no need of face to face meetings now! Has wishing each other on festival times just confined to shooting a scrap or a message to your friends and relatives? Are we forgetting how we should be acting while we are in public because we almost never do that these days and that’s because we don’t get time from sitting on the computer 24×7?

If one section of the people agree to the things said above, then the people wishing to defend it are also ready with their arguments. Because we are spending so much time talking to all kinds of people through these sites, then aren’t we learning social skills? If we are learning to communicate virtually, then aren’t we actually getting ready to communicate with the real world?

Whether social networking is harming the society as a whole or if its harming the social life of an individual…this can’t really be decided despite critically evaluating both sides of the same coin. I guess, it ultimately remains a personal choice and to balance things out remains to be the best viable option. Both, virtual communication and face to face communication have their own charm. It’s not that one can’t survive without the other but it’s just that we can’t survive without the either of them.