What Does YOUR Business Card Say About You?

When I started on my own around 2.5 years ago, a good friend and CEO of IDYeah Creations, Vishal Mehta, helped me with the design of the logo and the business card. At that time, the idea about the business was clear and it was also clear as to what is going to be the business offering.

My first business card looked like this

I started exchanging the card during business interactions or networking events and also started collecting business cards from the people I meet. My personal experience is that when someone hands over the card to me, while I am looking at the card, I am also listening to that person as to what exactly the business is. Many a times, it gets difficult to remember the exact context of conversation and follow up plan after a few days.

Then starts the Internet search based on the name of the person. Slowly the context starts building up as information unfolds on the internet, you start knowing the person more through social media channels and if you find a photo of that person on the internet, it becomes easy to connect a face with the business. 

Taking this thread in mind, Vishal came up with this new design for the card

Front Side

Back Side

I simply love this ‘personal business card’ because:

• I think this is an ideal card of a social media enthusiast – with information about all social media channels where I can be connected
• It has all the details (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Blog Address, Website URL, Phone number, email address and also my company name) without too much clutter and too little text
• Photo on the card helps in remembering
• Notes section at the back of the card helps in taking points about conversation and note down the follow up plan

Now what’s the reason for me personally boasting about this card on my blog? Simply because I thought this example will help my blog readers in getting some pointers on their business card designs :- )

Thanks once again Vishal for this amazing, innovative and out-of-the box design!

Mind Your Facebook Page Etiquettes – Dos and Don’ts

Here comes another post on managing Facebook brand page. This is a quick and probably already known but not followed list of Dos and Don’ts brand pages on Facebook.

Use this as checklist, if you want :-)

Dos

#1: Form a strategy and tone of the page

The first and foremost thing is to have a tone and strategy for your page. I feel sorry for pages which do not have any tone for the page. For example: If I am following a Book Store page on Facebook, it is absolutely irrelevant for me if the page posts an update about some actor’s birthday or some Fashion Tip (Yes, I have seen this!).

There is no point in being on Facebook just because your social media consultant has asked you to do so. Have a proper plan in mind, understand whom you are going to target through Facebook, what are the likes and dislikes of your target audience, what kind of posts the audience with engage with and what will be relevant for your business. Seems like lot of work? Yes, it indeed is. 

Spend maximum of your time in strategy definition. If your strategy is finely defined, the execution will be easier, more scalable and chances of success will be high.

#2 Pay special attention to time, photo and length

The best time to share on Facebook is noon and a little after 7pm (read more in this post). Go by these guidelines but also keep a close watch on your posts and the engagement you drive through those. You will know the best time which is most suitable for your business.

It is also a known fact that pictures in posts get more engagement –because great visuals grab attention. But yes, select the pictures which are suitable for your post. Do check license agreements of images before using the pictures from search engines.

Do keep an eye on the length of the post. Longer posts (which require clicking on ‘See More’ for complete view) usually get lesser Likes and Comments. Could be that people are busy reading many posts on their Wall and don’t really like clicking on ‘See More’ to check out the complete post. Optimally work your posts to have maximum visual and textual impact.

#3 Provide special incentives and value

Nobody is interesting in joining your page just because you are running a contest with some cool prizes. Well, that can attract people once but those may not be your real target audience with whom you would have deeper engagement or meaningful conversations.

You need to provide real value to your audience for them to be with you on Facebook. The real value can come from some form of incentives which they get only because they are with you on Facebook. Or there should be some value like getting a sneak preview of your products before release, beta program membership, exclusive announcements or some exclusive value-added content.

With too much information overload from various channels, the attention span of people has reduced in general. So you need to be really creative and thoughtful about delivering maximum value to your audience on Facebook.

#4 Get Insights from Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights is a wonderful tool you need to extensively use to understand your target audience (demographics, locations etc), response to your posts and page performance in terms of Likes and Unlikes and the reach of your posts.

The Insights also tell you performance report for each post in terms of the reach, the engagement ratio and interactions. You can use this information to understand the kind of posts the audience engages well with and what is the time when ‘your target audience’ is more available on Facebook. This will also help you in defining the tone of the posts.

Don’ts

#1 Ignore comments/ questions or Delete Posts

There is a general tendency of brands to remove, hide or ignore negative comments on the pages. It is a strict NO-NO. The recent Starbucks India Social Media disaster was a result of post deletion. 

Yes, negative comments spread faster than positive ones, but this does not mean that you should simply ignore or delete those. That will do more harm than good. Respond to negative comments positively and try and resolve the issue. This can be your excellent opportunity to make a good impression in front of the whole community. Here is my other post about handling negative comments on social media.

Lot of times, people post questions on the walls of the brand pages and those are often unanswered. That creates a very bad impression. To me, it clearly shows lack of care from the brand’s side. Many times, brands post canned responses for the questions or comments but they forget that the audience has become very smart and at the same time, very demanding. People now want personalized attention to their problems and genuine resolution.

#2 Scheduled Posts / In-activity During Crucial Time

If you are not active on social media when your audience is, then well, you can’t be on social media. For instance: If you are managing the Facebook brand page of a popular football team and your social media team is not active on Facebook at the time of a crucial match, you have already lost the social media match. Your scheduled posts cannot be work in such cases. Or if you have a product launch planned and your Facebook page or Twitter account does not even announce the launch, then no amount of paid PR will help you in forming connection with your audience.

People connect on social media for interactions, not to get bombarded with scheduled posts. 

#3 Sell! Sell! Sell!

Again, refrain yourself from selling on Facebook. Don’t be desperate and use Facebook as another advertising medium. You have other mediums for advertising – which are meant for that. Facebook is not that. Use it for interactions, engagement, feedback and conversations – all of this which cannot be achieved through your traditional advertising mediums like billboards or TV. 

What Differentiates Killer Presentations?

No, this is not yet another article on “How to present like Steve Jobs”. Neither does it aim to describe how to prepare best for delivering a great presentation.

I have been fortunate to listen to some great presentations. Although the topics of their presentations were varied and the presenters belonged to different parts of the world, there were few things which were common amongst all of them.

I am attempting to list three such things, which I thought contributed to their killer presentations.

#1 Passion
Enough is said about passion in work. I have realized that all great presenters are extremely passionate about the topic they talk about. Mind you, I am talking about the topic they are presenting and not what they work on for making the living. Passion shows in the way they talk and passion shows in what they talk about.  They don’t have to remind themselves to ‘not read’ from the slides – because they simply don’t need to. The topic is something which they truly believe in.

#2 Knowledge
Obviously nothing can replace knowledge. Good presenters know their topic more than the audience. The audience is never interested in listening to what they already know. The audience is not there for entertainment. People attend presentations for gaining knowledge. Only humor or mindless interaction might entertain the audience for some time, but it cannot create a lasting impact. Such presentations (and presenters) are easily forgotten.

#3 Clarity of Thought
This, I believe, is the most important thing. Great presenters not only have deep knowledge of their subject but they have their own point of views as well. Because of this, they have extreme clarity of thought. Clarity of thought helps in better expression, better understanding of questions and better articulation of answers. This gets the audience into thinking mode, which makes them in turn not only enjoy the presentation but also leave with a feeling of having learnt something.

Thanks to YouTube, great wealth of knowledge is just a click away. Below are some of the presentations which I personally enjoyed listening to :

• Simon Sinek speaking on ‘How great leaders inspire action’ http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html 
• Guy Kawasaki speaking on "The Art of the Start"  http://youtu.be/jSlwuafyUUo 
• Hindi Cinema actor Siddharth speaking at TiE ISB Connect http://youtu.be/6wZ7hr2v8T0 

Do you remember any great presentations you have listen to? Do share the YouTube links of those, if available. 

Midas Touch Wins Best Social Media Agency Award

Midas Touch Consultants is pleased to share that it has won the Award for "Best Social Media Agency of the Year - 2013". The award is conferred by the Global Youth Marketing Forum.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers, partners, employees and well wishers for their support and good wishes!

It was a tremendous joy to personally receive the award on February 14, 2013 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.

Here is the beautiful trophy and award citation.

Midas Touch Consultants - Best Social Media Agency - Award Trophy

Midas Touch Consultants - Best Social Media Agency - Citation

More details about  the Social Media Summit can be found at http://globalyouthmarketingforum.com.

Pictures from the award function are coming soon.....

Ensuring Email Marketing Success

Email marketing is one of the most commonly used forms of reaching out to potential or existing customers. However, most of the times, this is the activity which yields the least results. Not because it does not work, it’s because it is not done properly. 

This article shares some very high level tips for making your email marketing initiative a success.

First of all, identify the objective of your email campaign. This is very important because all the below mentioned aspects will need to align with that. 

Email Design

Email design is one of the most crucial factors for the campaign success. Here are some of the easy to follow and easy to implement guidelines.

• Call to Action: Identify one or two clear call to action items. The Call to Action items should be placed in the upper portion of the email. Don’t bury it way down because in many cases, people will never scroll down the preview pane to read your complete message.
• Images: Be careful with the usage of images. While images make the emails look beautiful and better, you need to ensure that you do not use very heavy images. That tends to make the email go in spam. Also, do remember that you check the creative common license and refrain yourself from just picking and using images from search engines.  
• Length of Message:  You might have lot of things to communicate. But restrain yourself from writing lengthy text. Keep it simple and short. Bullet lists work better than long paragraphs. Use appropriate font styles to drive attention to important items. 
• Plain Text or HTML: I suggest prepare both the versions (Plain Text as well as HTML). All email programs allow you to setup both versions. Based on the setting at the receiver’s end, appropriate format is delivered.

Content

Content is another most important aspect which you need to pay attention to. As said, ‘content is king’

• Mind the keywords: Make sure you use appropriate words in your campaign. Keywords such as free, offer and discounts etc could get your email in spam. So watch for these.
• Caps/ Exclamations: Definitely don’t use all capital letters in your emails. Watch the exclamation marks. Don’t use unnecessary punctuation  This is not your causal Facebook update. This is a formal email communication, so definitely proof read the email and watch out for grammatical mistakes.

List Management

Once your campaign design and content is ready, you are ready to send across the email to your list. Do note that List Management is a very important factor which you should definitely not ignore. You need to have a very well maintained, well cleaned up list.

• Manage Opt-in: Make sure that you do not spam the people who have not opted in to your list. Sending emails to non opt-in list is spam and can get your email server blocked. So even if you have a ‘researched’ list or have ‘purchased a database’, do not send emails to those without their explicit permission.
• Unsubscribe Option: Always remember to include an ‘Unsubscribe’ option in your email campaign. The receiver should always have the flexibility to unsubscribe from your emails. Make sure you remove the unsubscribed members from your lists. Respect their choice and ensure that no communication goes out from you to them.
• Forward Option: You can choose to include an option to let receivers forward the email to their friends. This will help you spread your message to those members who may not have subscribed to your campaign.

Best Practices:
On closing notes, here are some best practices for subject lines, timing and frequency of your campaigns. 

• Subject Line: Short and simple yet impactful subject lines (maximum 8 words) can significantly increase the open and read rate of your campaign. Spend considerable time in deciding the subject line of your campaign. Watch the keywords too (read point above about the keywords to avoid)
• Time: You just can’t schedule the campaign and forget about it. Understand and study your audience, their reading habits and then schedule your campaign. No point in sending the campaign when your audience is in no mood to read your email or does not have time.
• Frequency: Here is the Rule of Thumb: Never ever send too many email campaigns. Just because you are excited about some news, does not mean that you have to broadcast it through an email campaign. Be selective about what you share and how often you share. Then only it will have an impact. Make people look forward to email from you.

Have more tips to share? Share those as comments for fellow blog readers. 

13 Point Digital Marketing Checklist as You Enter Year 2013

Wish you all a Very happy New Year!

As we enter year 2013, here comes a handy list of 13 points which you can have a look at while preparing your Digital Marketing strategy and plan.




Website
Is your website up to date to deliver the right message and converse with the audience? Website is the most crucial factor of your online marketing. All your efforts can fail if your website does not deliver the right message, is not consistent with your brand or does not align with other messaging. Remember, the website is not a stone. You can and should change it frequently. Make sure you plan for frequent website updates and conversations. Another most important point is to make sure that your website is mobile compatible. In 2013 you just can’t afford to not have your website visible on mobile

Online Marketing Plan

Start with making a plan. Plan making is not about sitting with a pen and paper. An impactful plan requires a thorough study and research aabout your target audience, their buying behaviors  their purchase cycles etc. Make sure you identify and plan the right mix of PPC, CPM, PR, Email Campaigns and social media to reach out to your target audience, connect and engage with them.

Collateral

Have a hard look at your collateral items (the brochures, flyers, corporate PPT etc). Is it high time that the collateral is looking ancient, mentioning incorrect or old facts and not consistent with your brand image? Your collateral should not merely work as a backup. It should be comprehensive, precise, clear and appealing enough to sell on its own.  Plan for phase-wise revision of that to keep it up-to-date.

Search Engine Optimization

Get together with experts and understand what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means – what it means for you. Don’t go for it just because everyone is doing it. If your business depending on ‘being found’ on search engines on first page, then you should definitely start the SEO efforts. 

Email Marketing

Undoubtedly, email marketing is one of the effective ways to connect with your target audience (if done in a right way). Formulate your email marketing strategy – whom do you want to reach out through email, what message you send across to them and how often would you reach them. Prepare an email campaign calendar and appropriately execute the same. Identify which means are you going to use to design and develop, send and track your email campaigns because all these factors are very important for successful email marketing. 

Social Media Plan

As Erik Qualman said “We don't have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.” So don’t join the social media bandwagon unless you strategize and have a solid social media plan. Know your social media objective, identify the platforms you want to leverage, formulate the message you want to send across on social media channels and have a rock solid execution plan. The worst situation you can be in is to have a plan, start your social media efforts and not sustain those because of faulty execution. Have a look at these 10 most commonly asked social media questions to get started.

Social Media Platform Selection and Strategy

Social media is not about creating a page on Facebook or creating a Twitter account. It is much more than that. You don’t have to be on Facebook or Twitter just because everyone is out there. There are hundreds of social media platforms out there. Identify the one most appropriate for you. Decide what is your communication strategy on those platforms because each platform requires a different tone and theme and you should adopt the right one.

Company Blog

Have you created blogging strategy for your business? Decide which blogging platform to use, which kind articles you would be posting, who will create the content, how often will you post, how will you ensure readership for your blog and how will you promote those. 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the most important platforms for professional networking and yet the most wrongly used on. LinkedIn usage in most cases is limited to business development teams or to recruitment teams. But do you know that LinkedIn offers Company Pages? You have a very good opportunity of creating company profile on LinkedIn, mention your products and services and also to engage with the audience through frequent relevant updates. Go ahead and explore that in 2013.

Thought Leadership

Do you think you know your area of business really well? Establish your though leadership in online space. Let the world know what you know really well. Establish a company blog, write guest articles on well-known websites, speak at conferences, conduct webinars or hold local events. All these are opportunities for you to share your knowledge and also to learn in the process.

Webinar

Technology has made it possible to connect with worldwide audience. Explore the world of webinars/ web demos. You can use webinars to let people know about your products/ services, share your knowledge on a particular topic or requesting your customers to speak about their experiences in interacting with you. Webinars are easy to organize and conduct, are relatively very cheap and very effective. Here is a checklist for you to conduct successful webinars.

Press Releases

Have you identified your press release strategy? Explore the exciting world of online press releases. Press release writing requires committed time and energy. Writing an effective and impressive press release requires business understanding, understanding of online space and knowledge of how search engine works so that the press release helps in enhancing the online brand. Prepare a calendar for your company PR, get well-written PRs out and enhance your online brand.

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Campaigns

Various prominent search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and also other platforms like LinkedIn etc provide paid advertising programs also called as PPC. Under these programs, one needs to bid for competitive key phrases and keywords and substantiate those with a compelling ‘ad copy’ to drive high traffic to your websites. PPC program helps you generate instant traffic on demand while having full control on how much you want to spend almost daily. It’s a quick and effective way to generate right kind of traffic to your website and you need to pay only for the performance. If you think you are ready for paid promotion, you can choose to explore PPC campaigns and prepare plan of action for those. Make sure you regularly monitor the performance and tweak the campaigns for maximum ROI.

What is on your checklist for this year? 

7 Mistakes Businesses Make on Facebook

I often see so many websites with nice looking Facebook buttons on the page but when I click and go to the actual page on Facebook, there is complete disappointment. The pages are so badly maintained that I feel like telling them that they are better off without those icons on the website. Obviously badly maintained pages do more harm than no presence at all.

I have observed some very common mistakes which businesses make on Facebook. This article describes 7 such common mistakes and some suggestions on how to avoid those.

#1 Incomplete Page Information

Facebook offers great options to brands to position themselves properly and create a nice image. Brands often neglect the About, Contact Info and Basic Info sections and fill those out with some incomplete information. Remember to treat Facebook page as important as your website with accurate and complete information.

Secondly, there are things like Cover photo, profile picture. These offer you great way to create visual appeal on your page. Make sure you don’t ignore Facebook’s guidelines while designing the cover photo.  Create a profile picture which is visible in your posts. Creating a profile picture with brand logo which gets cropped in smaller size creates a very bad impression.

Facebook also allows you to carefully select top 3 tabs for your page. You can select those so that you can integrate other things like Twitter handle, YouTube Channel for your brand, Contests etc with  your Facebook page. Set nice images for those tabs which go well with your brand.

#2 Lack of Theme

By theme I mean the content theme. The job does not end with creation of a page with nice photos and profile picture. In fact, it starts after that. Before you join the social media bandwagon, please do think and decide your social media objective. What are you going to use Facebook for? Don’t use it for posting some random things or don’t treat it as another advertising billboard. Create a theme for your page. Let people connect with the theme. Let them look forward to your updates.

#3 Lack of Consistency/ Too much Posting

This is something which I have observed with many pages.  There is a whole bunch of activity during the initial period or during some major event. But as the time progresses, the activity reduces. There are no updates, the page information is old, the page shows incorrect phone numbers/ website URLs, questions by users are not answered etc. On the other hand, some pages get over excited and start posting even if someone sneezes. Anything extreme is not acceptable. Maintain consistency. Attain engagement. Identify the ideal time when your users can be best engaged by posting only relevant updates.

#4 Incorrect Handling of Negative Comments

Most of the brands are scared about negative comments on social media. They choose either to ignore them completely or handle them very poorly. Handling negative comments on social media is tricky but one fundamental rule you need to remember is that you MUST respond to all negative comments. Never delete those leave or leave them unattended. When someone posts something negative, use that as an opportunity to take care of the issue and turn an unhappy user into a loyal brand advocate.

#5 Ignorance to Messages

Did you know that your users can send you private messages in your Page’s inbox? Make it a habit to check those and respond. Many times, people are not comfortable vouching their concern publicly on timeline or need to bring something to your attention through a private message. Respect that and respond to all private messages.

#6 Quantity over Quality 

Your main focus on Facebook cannot be only increasing the fans. There are numerous ways to increase the fans – including purchase of fans. I would strongly recommend not going by this way. If your objective of being on Facebook is to connect with your users, get them involved in your brand and provide them an additional platform to interact with you, then the fake profiles do not add any value to your page.

#7 Lack of Engagement

Ignoring user comments, not answering the questions, not acknowledging appreciations, not paying attention to grievances – all these things tend to lack of engagement on your page. Unlike advertisement, which is essentially one way communication, Facebook offers you an opportunity for two-way communication with your product/ service users. Isn’t this a great opportunity to listen to them, know what they want, provide immediate solutions to their problems and get them involved in your brand? Why not utilize it to the fullest?

Have a critical look at your page and see if you are committing any of these mistakes – knowingly or unknowingly? 

Your 10 Most Common Social Media Questions Answered

When I meet with small and medium size business owners to discuss with them their marketing objectives and offer actionable advice, I often come across lot of questions about social media. It could be because: it’s not very old, it’s evolving very fast (with new platforms coming up every day),  it’s important (everybody seems to be using it!), there are lot of success stories but it has to be done differently for every business (requires creativity) and there is confusion about ROI and so on.  

I agree that no two businesses are same, however, since I do discuss similar topics quite often, I thought of putting together the questions and the best practices I suggested.  If you are faced with similar issues/ questions, you will enjoy this read  :- )   

#1 Do I really need social media?

This is the MOST commonly asked question. Many businesses think that they don’t really need this new media. After all they are just doing fine without it so far. But then I ask them: aren’t you worried that you might miss on some new lead generation methods? You might miss on some very valuable customer connection and engagement opportunity? When brands worldwide – right from Fortune 500 to the small cafes around the corner are benefitting from it, aren’t you willing to give it a thought that there might be some merit in it?

Getting involved in social media allows you to be more engaged with your current and potential clients.  The word “transparency” was probably most clichéd word used to describe social media some 3-4 years ago, but it’s very true.  Social media allows companies to have a voice and to show the public that your company is willing to listen and gather unsolicited feedback.  Social media also allows your brand to provide that extra customer service option outside of the traditional email and phone media.

So while you need to definitely look into if your target audience is on social media or not, you should not reject is outright without giving it a thought.  

#2 Which is a better platform? Facebook or Twitter?

What would you answer if you are asked “Is T-Shirt more appropriate or a formal shirt?” Well, you would say “depends on the occasion” right? Now apply the same principle. Whether Facebook is better or Twitter clearly depends on your objective, purpose, your target market and your user group. Both the platforms have their own merits, purpose, usage guidelines and benefits. You need to understand your marketing and communication objective and then choose an appropriate platform. You need to also consider that people’s behavior on Twitter is different than on Facebook.  Twitter timeline moves faster than Facebook so you really need to post almost like real-time updates on Twitter. It provides the kind of immediacy. Whereas; on Facebook, you have better opportunity to have more in-depth conversation around a topic. Picture sharing is more appreciated on Facebook than Twitter.  So I would say that if at all you have to choose, apply a simple test: Choose a platform where your audience spends more time :-)

#3 Can I use LinkedIn for promotion of my business?

I would not recommend this. LinkedIn as a platform is for connecting with individuals, getting in touch with professionals and experts and interacting with them. Mostly I have observed people using LinkedIn groups to promote their business. This is strict NO. Discussion Groups, as the name itself says, are for discussions. Use them to discuss interesting topics, share point of views and learn. Don’t dilute the purpose by commenting with product promotions. Do it ONLY IF you truly believe that your product offers the value in line with the discussion which is going on.

#4 Does Google AdWords work better than Facebook ads?

Both the types of ads have shown great results for businesses. Fundamentally, although both work on the principles of Pay-Per-Click or Pay as Per Impressions, there is a slight difference. Google ads are more keyword driven. You choose the keywords for which you would like to show your ad, put a bid you are willing to pay and you are done. In Facebook, you can choose to show your ads based on interests like photography, reading, writing etc. Essentially you show your ads to people who you think would be ‘relate’ with your ads better.

Secondly, you need to remember that there is always intent on Google. When someone does a search on Google, he/she has come there with some intention (of either making a decision, making a purchase, research etc).  On Facebook, mostly people are for networking and connecting with friends. So the intent is not explicitly there.

Consider all these options when you take a call.

#5 Does Social Media work for B2B?

Absolutely - Just that you need to use it in a different way. With B2B, use social media to build thought leadership, gather reviews and opinions and educate people. Don’t make the mistake of using social media as any other marketing campaign. Focus on two-way dialogue with your audience rather than one-way messaging. Be patient and you are sure to go long way with this.

#6 How do I create a viral campaign?

Unfortunately there is no formula which can guarantee your campaign to go viral. Of course there are some common elements of a successful viral campaign. Here is one of my previous articles speaking about viral campaigns in detail.

#7 How to get more followers and fans?

You will find numerous articles describing how to increase your fans and followers. But the first thing you need to remember with social media is that it is better to have 10 engaged followers than 100 non-engaged ones. Yes, numbers do matter to create an impact, but do not compromise on quality for the sake of quantity.

Having said that, you can achieve numbers as well as quality with well thought out strategy and plan. Sharing useful and insightful content, initiating meaningful dialogues, making it easy to find you on social media and offering exclusive content on social media are some of the ways which can help you get more engaged fans and followers. In case of Facebook, you can run Facebook ads to drive audience to your page. Do remember to have a concrete execution plan in place to keep the audience engaged. Otherwise, you are sure to lose them in no time.

#8 How much will social media cost?

If I say social media does not cost of anything, I will be lying. Although most of the platforms are free, you do need to spend quality time for using those platforms effectively. So there is investment of time – which is not free :). There are paid options available like pay-per-click ads, promoted tweets etc, but you can very effectively use the platforms without spending money on those – just with your creativity.   Make sure to keep your audience interested in being connected with you, value their connection and offer them something worth their attachment with you, get them involved in your brand – emotionally as well as through some gestures like discounts, exclusive offers etc.

#9 Will I be able to measure the ROI?

Definitely yes! Don’t believe those who tell you that you cannot measure ROI on social media – they don’t know how to measure it. The ROI with social media can be both qualitative as well as quantitative. Here is one of my past articles on how to measure ROI with social media.

#10 How to handle negative comments on social media?

This is one question which is asked many times. There is a common misconception that social media opens a can of worms with lot of negative comments. But actually thinking, if at all there are negative sentiments, at least social media is offering you a platform to KNOW about those sentiments which you would have never known – but your customers and others would have definitely known. With such negative comments on social media, you are at least getting an opportunity to address those negative comments/ sentiments and regain the confidence of your customers, whom you would have probably completely lost. In this article, I have described a simple 3-step approach on handling negative comments on social media.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article. I have also co-authored a book ‘Are you Socially Shy? to help small and mid-size business owners get started with social media. This book describes getting started with 6 popular social media platforms in 8 hours. The platforms covered in this book are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, SlideShare and Blog.

Look forward to hearing your comments! 

Note: This article was originally published on YourStory.in at http://yourstory.in/2012/07/your-most-common-social-media-questions-answered/

What Twitter Means for Film Celebrities in India

Everyone worldwide obviously cares about social media and it is no wonder that in India as well, the transition has happened from mere curiosity, experimentation to active usage. India is one of the top 10 Tweeting countries (based on number of tweets coming from the country). India is also one of the top three countries in terms of user base on Facebook. When such is the case, it is no wonder that celebrities, including actors, singers, sports people and politicians have made their presence felt on these platforms.

Twitter, of all the platforms, seems to be more popular among the celebrities. It could be because of reasons like: a) posting updates is easy from smart phones even while being on move, b) quick and easy connect and c) broadcasting can happen to a large number of people. And of course, not to forget, it’s free and it’s has become a style statement J  

I looked at Twitter accounts of three Bollywood personalities. Each one of them has a certain tweeting style.

Amitabh Bachhcan (@SrBachchan): As in May 2012, Amitabh completed two years on Twitter and must appreciate the regularity with which he posts updates.  The tweets range from updates about IPL matches, festivals, promotion of new shows, film rehearsals and personal opinions. Until recently, there was lesser interaction with fans and mostly the activity was restricted to posting tweets. But now, Amitabh has become even more active on Twitter and tries to respond to @mentions. I liked the way he has written his bio as “Actor ... well at least some are STILL saying so !!” and has given a cross-link to his blog from the Twitter handle.

What I liked: He has introduced a unique style of numbering the tweets. The last I saw, it was somewhere around 750. The tweets don’t revolve only around films or promotion. In fact, such tweets are very rare. There is a nice variety in the tweets which make them interesting. And of course, very personalized responses to the @mentions - sometimes in Hinglish which make them even more appealing :)

Priety Zinta (@realpreityzinta): In October 2009, Priety’s Twitter presence was triggered because apparently a fake account was created in her name and she wanted to get rid of that. I think that has influenced the word ‘real’ in her Twitter handle. Her Twitter bio has link to Kings XI Punjab website which is the IPL owned by her. She has maintained nice tone and language in her tweets. Words like ‘Ting’ match the real her :) Her Twitter timeline is full of responses. This shows the active connection she maintains with fans and responds to almost all @mentions. She even took help of her Twitter fans for coming up with a name for her chat show on UTV Stars.

What I liked: The tone of tweets that matches her personality. She has started a cool thing of Sunday chat with handle #pzsundaychat wherein she picks a topic from suggestions given by her fans and chats with the fans on Twitter.

Priyanka Chopra (@priyankachopra): Although referred as one of the celebrities with large number of followers, I would say this is fairly ‘typical’ twitter account – bio, website link, tweets - everything I found very standard. Active account but no novelty. Tweets are about travel schedules, upcoming movies, endorsements and responses to @mentions. Yes, there are some RTs too but mostly for the tweets by other celebrities.

What I liked: Well, nothing much.

In general, although in terms of follower counts, the celebrity accounts are flaring, I was disappointed to see lack of innovation and creativity in way the accounts are managed. 

Social Media Influencers - Who They Are and How to Recognize Them?

“With a disproportionate ability to spread information and add credibility, influencers are human TV stations and magazines.” Jay Baer, Founder of Convince & Convert, Co-author The NOW Revolution

Smart marketers have started taking a serious note of social media influencers. With information overload from various online and offline channels, today buyers trust opinions of friends and experts, more than the advertising campaigns by brands.

As observed by Ian Carrington, Sales Director for mobiles at Google UK, during the Google+ event at Social Media week in London, “Consumers were 300 percent more likely to buy a product recommended by a friend.”

So who really are the social influencers? Celebrities with hundreds of thousands of fans and following? Friends and colleagues whose opinion we tend to trust more? Experts in a particular field? Well, I would say that social influencers can be any or all of these – depending on the product and brand.

For example:

1.    For a medical instruments brand, a well-known doctor’s opinion will be valued more than a well known personality’s opinion.

2.    At fashion shows, celebrities have started making their mark because for young generation, those are the fashion icons.

3.    For baby food, organic and earth friendly products, credible Mommy bloggers have become real movers.

4.    A grocery store once sponsored a cooking show where the show chef used items from the store and made exotic dishes. Now, for the store, the chef was the social influencer.

5.    After the Tsunami, Japan Tourism saw a sharp decline in visitors. Therefore, to make an impact, Japan tourism had proposed to start a project inviting bloggers and people who are active on social media to come and visit places in Japan by offering them free flight. The proposal was that the bloggers will visit the places which had got affected by Tsunami and then write about how the places been recovered successfully.

Considering the variety in the types of influencers, the question comes to mind is that how to know if you, as a marketer, are choosing a right influencer? Well, I think the real social media influencers have some common characteristics such as:

•  They have a very engaged network. They are in touch with their network well. They don’t just broadcast messages but are well-connected with their network and they are able to influence conversations. 
• They are credible for people to take notice. They opinions are valued because they ‘know’ what they are saying – either because of their professional expertise or general experience.
•  They have reach – The reach could direct or indirect. Either they are able to directly reach out to masses or they can reach out to people who can in turn reach out to masses.
• They have their own style and people appreciate them for their style and with that style, they can keep the people engaged.

It is undoubted that in the coming years, a major trend in marketing is going to be social influence targeting. As brands are realizing the value of social influencers, they have started forming more close relationships with them. But I believe that social influencers should never ‘endorse’ any brand. That makes them loose their credibility. Then it starts appearing like advertising. Social influencers should maintain clear, unbiased, informed and well-thought of opinions to retain their credibility.  

What is your take? Have you ever made any purchase decision because of social influencers? Share your thoughts, experiences and comments.