Our Blog has got new home

We have made changes to our blog. For one, it now has a new address and sports more contemporary look. It will be our endeavor to keep providing articles and case studies on social media and share our learnings and experiences with all. What is going to make this more interesting and enlightening is the comments and discussions that follow from all of you on each post. We have learnt so much more from those and hope for those to continue.

Do subscribe to our new blog to continue receiving our post updates. And share your thoughts and views with us at feedback(at)windchimes.co.in

Happy Reading!!

Getting the best out of your online video

I love YouTube. I think it is a brilliant concept and has given an avenue for self expression like no other. A random search on YouTube will reveal videos ranging from the truly useful to the sincerely bizarre. Some of my all time fave videos on YouTube include Where is Matt, everything from Common Craft and Bridal Skincare (what can I say… I am partial!). Infact Where is Matt with hits to the tune of 20,057,638, has got so big that Visa used it for their traditional TV campaign! Three cheers to the power of online video…

 In India too one can see companies making the shift, with brands like Fevicryl owning a vault of over 50 DIY videos, each serving the purpose of helping a consumer understand how to use the product.

Now that marketers are increasingly planning to invest on online videos to reach out to their consumers, they also need to understand how to get more people to watch these videos.

There is many a fantastic video out there, with the creators asking themselves…why the hell aren’t people watching it? The answer my friend… your video needs a crucial ingredient called ‘virality’. It is like any movie or book. It might be brilliant but it needs to be seen, shared and talked about to become truly fantastic.

One needs to remember that just because you have made it and put it up, people will not automatically come to view it. A good amount of hard marketing work needs to be put in to make a video a viral hit. Here are a few tips on how to make your video deliver for you online:

Really really really good creative: There is no escaping that. A great idea is a good starting point to make your video go viral. Ask yourself… if you were the target consumer would you watch it?

Plan well: Figure out where your target consumer for the video is online and chalk out a detailed plan to reach out to him or her

Seed wisely: Make sure your videos are seen in places where your target consumers are. So if it is a skincare video make sure it is in the video library of skin care communities on Orkut or Facebook, where it is more likely to be viewed and shared by skincare enthusiasts.

Engage with Influencers: Identify the influencers for the category your brand is present it. Get in touch with those bloggers and community owners to view the video and share it if they wish to. Their circle of influence is big enough to help the video spread wider.

Choose smartly: Choose a video site that appeals to the targetted consumers of your video. So if it is an entertainment video meant for young men a Bigadda with a largely male audience skew might be the way to go.

Use Your Social Presence: Lastly share it with your online social network. Status updates are a great way to put your video out there.

How do you measure success of your online video?

Well honestly there is no set measure. If it is a generic youth category like jeans and if there was an interesting online video built around it, chances are it would have gathered a million plus videos if not more. However if it is something of a specialist nature like CAD software, it would garner views only from a limited audience with a maximum number of hits of say 10,000.

So would you term the CAD video an online disaster? I don’t think so. It has done the job it was meant to. Reached out to the limited audience that exists online for it and communicated the key messages. So mere numbers might not be an indication of success after all. Would love to hear your views on how would you measure the success of an online video…

The true mark of success can sometimes be, when an online video that you have created makes it back to you! Till that happens keep at it my friend.

 

 

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Windchimes blog recently earned official badge of achievement as ‘Successful and Outstanding Blogger’. Liz Strauss describes in detail the idea behind running the successful and outstanding blogger program in detail and how you can earn it too.

She states on her blog that this badge is awarded to bloggers who “take the conversations to their readers, contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger”.

Successful and Outstanding Blogger Badge

You can view the directory of all the blogs that have been awarded the badge. As Liz says, “Good Conversation shared can only improve the blogging community”. We couldn’t agree with you more Liz!!

Our article in DMI

An announcement.

Sally Hooton, editor of the DMI magazine, approached us recently to write an article on social media. It was our privilege to be associated with DMI, the world’s only global business title for direct and interactive marketers based out of United Kingdom. The article talks about social media in relevance to India in conjunction with our research on social media.

The article can be viewed in the online format on Page 36.

If you would like to download the article then do click on the Scribd Link given below.

View this document on Scribd

Do visit our Windchimes website to know more about us

Use Facebook to promote your brand

I love Facebook.

 

 

There I said it. The reason I was having dilemma stating it openly was that till all this while I considered it as one more yuppie social networking site that will die a quick natural death. But I was wrong. And that only makes me happy. Having turned an entrepreneur, I have realized the kind of benefits I have reaped from its features.

 

So this post is to those features that each of you can use to promote your brand. Use them wisely and you will experience success whichever category your brand may be operating in. Here goes:

1. Start a Community:

As Facebook is all about networking, it is only right to start a community related to your brand. Keep the community generic in nature with the objective of adding value to people by providing them content – text or visual. Community allows people to join in and share their views. It becomes a good platform to interact and dialogue. Since all like minded people will join in, you know that all members would be your potential consumers. A word of caution here: Do not bombard them with only brand messages but try to be informative too. Community allows you to upload picturs, videos, write on walls, start discussions; basically enough opportunities to interact with people.

 

Windchimes community on FB

 

2. Profile Page:

Sections on profile page:

The profile page is the most critical and you must use it optimally. There are sections on the profile page that can carry your brand information which is easy for your friends to find. Given below are the pictures which highlight the places that can be used to guide your friends and fans to your brand website or blog.  

Status Updates:

This is Facebook way of micro blogging. And they have got it right. It is one of the most used feature already. Its fun reading status updates of friends and then commenting on them. This feature should be used creatively to talk about your brand. Make it interesting, unique, creative, first ever whatever that captures eyes balls. 

 

Status updates for announcements

Using Tabs:

You can add tabs next to the Wall and the Info area as is shown in the picture below. Add other tabs like Photos, Videos, Blog Cast which will further help your friends find out more about your brand. Update them by adding relevant pictures, videos (ads in some cases) and blog posts.  

 

Make it easy for friends to know about your brand

3. Incorporating Applications:

I have personally found several applications of great value. These should be added to your profile as well as your brand’s.

One is Simplaris blogcast:

This application automatically updates your blog feeds and publishes it in your FB account. So whenever you have added a new blog post, this app will get that feed and publish it in your profile thereby generating visibility. So all your friends would know that you have uploaded a new post without you having to tell them. 

 

Update your friends about your new blog post thru FB feeds

Second app that I like is Web Presence: 

This app helps you in giving out all the places in the Internet where you have a presence. So this app consolidates all the presence in one box. So add on your blog address, your twitter account, Photo account on Flickr or Picassa, your videos on You Tube, your bookmarks on Delicious or Magnolia. Put it all in as this will help your fans connect with your brand on several other platforms too.

The third app is Twitter update. You can send out tweets from this app that is installed in your FB profile. This saves the trouble of login to Twitter separately. You can use twitter app and FB status updates as announcement platforms. 

4. Creating Brand Page:

Facebook allows you to create a brand page where all the details about the brand can be added. This is more direct approach of brands connecting with people. Users can become fans of your brands thereby becoming loal ambassadors. The wonderful aspect is that fans can comment on the brand, its features and its advertisements. There are other features like Wall and Discussion Board where the conversations and discussions between the brand and users and even among users can be carried out. The fan page can be used by the brand to announce its on-ground events, invite users to participate in contests or update on new variant launches.

I recently become fan of Phantom sweet cigarettes that I enjoyed immensely as a kid. It was very nostalgic to find its brand page and I immediately signed on to become its fan. Now I get regular updates on what is the company planning as its new launch and I quite look forward to it!!

Fan page of Phantom Sweet Cigarettes

 

The golden rule that applies to all the above points is that the brand must be alive on FB. It must be updated regularly. There must be one person to accept and listen to user’s feedback on fan pages and communities. The action of each user should be acknowledged which makes the community active and ensure participation at all times.

  

 

 

Statistics on Indian Social Media Landscape – Part 2

This is the second section of the research that we have carried out on social media with respect to India. Do read the first section.

Part 2 – To map out the current usage pattern of social media of Indians

Q5) How much time do you spend everyday on blogs, social networking and uploading photos and videos?

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

It is really surprising to note that more than 1/3rd of the respondents spend more than 30 minutes everyday on social media sites.

Q6) What do you do when you are online?

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Distinctly, people have started engaging in active forms of engagement. From reading and commenting on blogs, to creating profiles, to uploading photos and videos – all signs of people moving away from passive to active forms of engagement. There is a need to involve  them if brands want to retain their attention.  

Q7) What do you write about in the communities and groups?

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

When it came to participating in conversation and discussions online, majority preferred associating with a cause or cause led approach by a brand. Next in line were the celebrities or movies that people preferred commenting and talking about.  

Part 3 - To study the impact it has in our purchase behaviour

Q8 Do the comments left on blogs and in communities influence your purchase decision?

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Q9) For which categories will you online reviews before doing actual purchase?

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

The replies for Q8 and Q9 clearly highlight that people are more prone to reading reviews online before carrying out actual purchase. They would carry out the first leve of research – fact finding and opinion seeking – on social media platforms to narrow down their choice.

The categories most influences by this behaviour are:

1. Travel

2. Consumer Durables (I am including Cell Phones in this category too)

3. Automobiles – Both cars and bikes

To Summarize the survey:

1. Surfing Internet scored as the 2^nd most medium to be used in spare time overtaking reading newspapers or listening to music.

2. Internet and social media sites are the first places to seek news, products and services related information and to find out about latest trends. In that sense, instead of being afraid of social media, marketers must embrace it.

3. Social media is becoming a part of daily lives. Even if it means just updating profile on social networking site or reading blogs. It is more involving and will eat into the time that was earlier being spent on other entertainment mediums. There are already youtube meet ups being organized where in group of people play their favourite online videos.

4.  There is a distinct preference over getting associated with a cause when online. Possibly another reason why online activism is becoming so apparent in modern times. Besides that its entertainment and brands that take the next two slots. The important thing to notice is that if brands or companies adopt the role of thought leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach, then they are much more likely to succeed.

5. The most critical aspect of the survey is the impact of social media in our purchase behaviour. It is clearly evident that comments left on the blogs, review sites and discussion forums impact the manner of purchase. Lot of brands are make it in the consideration set of the consumers while others are dropped out on the basis of those reviews. It is important for brands to reach out to those users – be present where they are. They will have to build a dialogue with them in those forums and get them to review their product or service.

6. Another fallout for the companies is to track what people are talking about them. They will have to maintain their reputation online. It will be important to listen to what people have to say and act accordingly. That will start by first tracking the social media platforms and then analyzing the information to take strategic decisions.

The objective of this research was to give a peek inside the Indian users understanding and usage of social media. The role it plays in his life and how it will impact companies who want to reach out to them

You can download this research paper by clicking on to Scribd link given below

View this document on Scribd

 

Statistics on Indian Social Media Landscape – Part 1

Windchimes wishes its readers a very exciting and adventurous 2009

There is absolute dearth of statistics on social media with respect to India or Indians. It is important to understand the prevalence of social media in our lives. There are studies indicating that close to 40 mn Indians are online. But really nothing beyond that!!

So what are these people doing online? How important is social media to them? How do they consumer social media? How is social media impacting the purchase behavior? How can marketers leverage social media platforms to reach out to their potential consumers. We carried out research to find out answers to these questions to help us understand and give an insight from an Indian context.

The research data that we are presenting is representative of 3 Indian cities; Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. While we have received responses from people from other cities but they weren’t statistically significant. The responses have been collated as whole and not individually of 3 cities.

Details of the respondents:

Total respondents – 105

Cities:

Mumbai – 40

Delhi – 40

Bangalore – 25 

Gender:

Males – 60

Females – 45

Age groups

18-24 yrs group – 40

25-35 yrs group – 65

Objective of the research:

1.   To understand the significance and role of Social Media in current scenario

2.   To map out the current usage pattern of social media of Indians 

3.   To study the impact it has in our purchase behavior

Part 1: Significance of social media in current scenario:

Q1) If you had 30 minutes of time, which activity would you be most likely to do? 

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Surfing Internet scored as the 2^nd most medium to be used in spare time overtaking reading newspapers or listening to music. Even when the users have only 30 minutes, they would rather go online than put on their MP3 players or read a newspaper, clearly indicating that Internet / Social media is highly involvement and captures the imagination.

Q2) Which medium do you use when you want to get ‘news’? 

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Q3) Which medium do you use when you want information on new products or services?    

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

Q4) Which medium would you use to find out about latest trends?    

© Windchimes Communications Pvt Ltd

The replies to Q2, Q3 and Q4 clearly indicate the significance online medium has in our lives. Websites, Blogs, Social Networking Sites, Wikis etc clearly are becoming the places to look first – whether it is about new products or about new trends.

Companies and brands will need to have significant online presence to ensure that users find them when they are searching or researching online. Mere website presence won’t be enough – but it will require presence in communities, discussion forums, blogs, networking sites etc. 

The presence will have to be genuine, value adding and continuous. There is no end date to it. Also it has to be value adding for user to referring and recommend it to his friends. Companies will have to indulge in the social media marketing

Click here to go the second part of the study.

 

Who is afraid of Social Media? – Part 3

Now that you have read part 1 and part 2 of ‘Who is afraid of social media’, hope you enjoy the last and final part of the series as much as the earlier ones.

• ‘We don’t know if our workforce will be excited about social media’

A very valid concern. Sometime employees might just not be ready to embrace social media and its toolss. However, one needs to remember, that most of the younger workforce have already embraced social media to a large extent and the others will too, given time and encouragement.

It might make sense to start the reluctant workforce on some simple social media tools, hand hold them and provide continuous encouragement and demonstrate the value. Tough isn’t it… but who said life was easy?

Other ways to ensure participation would be to encourage top management to actively use social media and be ‘visible’ in their efforts. Develop internal ‘evangelists’ to demonstrate the benefits and spread the good word on your behalf.

Make sure any successes achieved from the use of social media are celebrated. Incentivise the use of social media internally. For e.g. reward and recognise top bloggers in the organisation. It won’t take long for others to follow and see the benefits. Promote interesting themes and spark of interesting discussions that pique the curiosity of reluctant employees.

• ‘We don’t know if it makes business sense for us’

Defining a quantifiable value using social media is the toughest part of being a pro-social media internal communicator. The management is not interested in ‘increased dialogue’ and ‘community building’ unless there is a tangible attached. Sometimes you really need to show them the money.

To help deal with sceptical bosses you can pitch it as an inexpensive way for teams to collaborate and for cross-learning to take place. Draw attention to the fact that social media project can help achieve specific business and communication objectives.

Start with a pilot and get internal champions to participate and share their positive experiences, so you have something tangible to report back to management.

• ‘But will we be able to measure success?’

Yes you will, provided you give it even time and effort. Help yourself by quantifying the value of social media tools that you put into use. Decide what you want to achieve and how social media is going to help the organisation.

Include well-thought out goals, build in guidelines and rules and you should be able to measure success. Gather quantitative and qualitative data to support your claims. Some things you can use to measure success are – has employee satisfaction gone up, have innovative business ideas and solutions come out of the use of social media, has employee productivity gone up, have more issues been identified and resolved due to use of social media.

Hope this will help you start on the path of using social media in your internal communication plans. Keep in mind the golden rule of communication – ‘Communicate, communicate, communicate’

Start the dialogue and keep listening to and analysing the comments. Spot opportunities within the organisation where social media could provide a good fit. Start small and learn from your mistakes. Understand management concerns and address them. And get some internal influencers on your side before you start. After all, everybody needs a little help!

Here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year!

Who is afraid of Social Media? – Part 2

In the second part of the series on – ‘Who is afraid of social media?’ – we continue to focus on the concerns that stop social media from playing a key role in internal communication.

• ‘Our culture is very different’

Yes it’s true that social media works better if the organisation has a young, tech-savvy workforce with a flat structure and a democratic and open culture. But there are enough examples across the world where conservative companies with an older workforce have met with social media success. All it needs is time, patience and consistent efforts.

It is important to recognise the company culture and customise your social media plans accordingly. You might have to tweak your plans and phase out in a manner that makes it more acceptable and easier to adopt. One needs to pay heed to the fact that even if the organisation has been traditionally conservative about communication, in the future the Digitally Advanced will form the ranks and their communication needs will be better met using social media.

• ‘What if the employees misbehave or worse leak information’

Read behind the words. Is it just another way of saying, ‘we are not ready to lose control’? The idea that employees can say what they want is often scary to most organisations. This is the biggest obstacle in the way of social media entering an organisation. Management is often scared that employees will not have the maturity to handle social media. It is often feared that employees will say the ‘wrong’ things, use bad language, insult top bosses, complain… the list is endless. There is a bigger, and maybe real, fear of information leaks taking place.

Wake up Mr Boss! Grapevine, gossip, rumour mills… call it what you like… have been around much before Web 2.0 came on the scene. Social media, at least, allows for the so called ‘unpleasant’ things to come to management’s notice than remain something that is discussed and allowed to fester around water coolers.

You have a chance to identify issues and soothe disgruntled employees, which is better than living in a Fool’s Paradise. Just because you don’t hear negative feedback from the employees, does not mean it does not exist. If not given a platform to be aired, in the long run it will be detrimental for the company.

Instead define communication guidelines that will help employees use social media better and offset the worries regarding information leaks. IBM came up with an innovative solution in this regard and created a wiki to get its employees to create social media policies themselves.

Organisations also need to keep in mind that they have employed professionals and just because communication has moved online, professionalism and basic respect will be forgotten. Most of us are already aware that inappropriate use of email in the workplace is not acceptable and the same behavioural standards will transfer to use of other Web 2.0 tools.

• ‘Will the organisation’s productivity come down’

Another common concern is that social media will eat into the employees’ productive time. Time needs to be invested by an employee in participating in blogs, discussion forums and wikis. Is it going to keep him away from his regular job?

No it is not. Social media tools allow information and knowledge to be shared more freely in the organisation, allows for virtual meetings to take place and saves time and costs, boosts overall productivity and is a useful way to cut down on time consuming internal mail traffic. Employees are only going to read or take part in what is their area of interest.

Click here to read about the rest of the concerns that plague internal communicators.

Who is afraid of Social Media? – Part 1

I find most corporate communicators are wary of social media when it comes to Internal Communications. While they are more than happy to embrace social media otherwise; when it comes to marketing to the internal consumer, a very important constituency in any good communicator’s plan, they will not touch social media with a ten-foot barge pole.

 Today, I will try to help you understand what stops most internal communicators from using social media to increase and strengthen relationships with their consumers – the employees.

 In the old way of doing things, companies make use of intranets or websites as static tools. Employees can search and find, but have limited ability to participate and contribute. In the new way of doing things, things are interactive and collaborative and use social media tools such as social networking sites, blogs, collaborative research, discussion forums and wikis.

 It is a pity that companies have failed to realise the potential of social media in internal communications given that it can significantly increase employee engagement, help start a dialogue with employees and build relations, increase collaboration and democratise the organisation in the true sense of the word.
It also helps to collect qualitative feedback and let you know what exactly is on the employee’s mind.

 What are some of the common concerns existing in the mind of internal communicators regarding social media? How can they be addressed? You must wonder, what makes me an expert to answer these questions. Well not too long ago I used to have similar concerns. By virtue of having been there and done that, I think I might be able to provide some solutions.

 So here goes…

 To begin with one needs to understand that in any organisation two sets of people co-exist and I like to call them the Digitally Challenged (who think the scope of the Web is limited to emails and the occasional search) and the Digitally Advanced (who have grown up with the Internet and understand and harness the power of Web 2.0 tools in their daily lives).

 The Digitally Challenged don’t perceive social media tools the way the Digitally Advanced do – as extensions of themselves. The latter understand well and harness fully the power of Web 2.0 in their daily lives. They like to be engaged and like to be involved, a fact that was strategically deduced and used to his advantage by Barack Obama. Most people joining the workforce today are Digitally Advanced and one needs to make an organisation ‘social media ready’ for them.

 Is the reason behind the unpopularity of Social Media when it comes to Internal Communications, the fact that most decision makers are Digitally Challenged? Is it because they have got so used to a hierarchical and controlled form of communication that they are simply afraid of losing control?

 Most decision makers fail to understand that today people prefer a environment where they can be heard, where they can participate, where they can act. Today’s workforce are great communicators and networkers themselves and want internal communications to mirror the same.

 There are multiple concerns behind internal communicator’s apprehension towards social media, but a few common ones are:

•  ‘We simply don’t have the resources’

Most companies have concerns about overloading overworked communicators and also about the cost of implementing and running a full-fledged social media programme for their employees.

 

The only way to lay rest to this concern would be show management how social media tools are not only inexpensive but take very little time to set up. For an organisation, rather than worrying on the ROI in monetary terms, the focus should be on how much it can gain by harnessing the power of social media.

 

• ‘We have other communication tools to focus and don’t have the time for social media’ 

An excuse if I have ever heard on. How can we ignore social media when we can see that Web 2.0 tools are already an integral part of the lives of the employees? Will it not make more sense to communicate to them in a manner that they understand and enjoy rather than a seldom-used-and-often-ignored Intranet? 

 

 

There are many smart companies who have seen the sense, economic and otherwise, of incorporating social media tools in their communication plans. Your chances of convincing your management will significantly go up if you can show them how social media will support the business goals. Arm yourself with case studies of companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and other Fortune 500 companies that are using social media successfully.

 

 

Look out for more such concerns and their solutions in the second part of Who is afraid of social media?.