One of the the key questions that our clients who are trying to stitch together a social media strategy have is, on deciding the tools they should include. It is not a surprising question given the seemingly infinite possibilities available. On one hand you have supposedly obvious choices like facebook and twitter which seem to have become akin to standards, on the other, every morning you hear of some new tool that appears really relevant to your situation! For instance, yesterday I read about this new blogging platform called Tumblr (yes!) which has 6.6 million users – this sets you thinking whether this is a tool for you to consider.

That said, in our view, rather than getting boggled with the choices, pick a few more established ones and get started. That is the key. Like in all branding exercises, your social media strategy will give results only over time, and if you are at it.

By spending too much time on fine tuning your strategy, including deciding on the number of kind of tools you want to make a part of your effort, you maybe losing valuable time.

It is always easy to add as you go along, so if you are debating this question right now, I hope this post has given you some food for thought………

Popularity: 8% [?]

Now, I have my own personal opinions about the Israel flotilla fiasco that occurred about a week ago – however that’s not really something I would want get into here. A point worth making though is how the Israeli Government has set off an intensive media campaign across Twitter, Facebook and other key social media platforms to help restore its reputation. Every few hours, there are new videos uploaded to YouTube and a  regular stream of Twitter updates and blog posts – all demonstrating the ‘responsible’ behavior of the troops while portraying the people in the flotilla as hostile attackers. However the Government didn’t really bargain for the live streams and camera phones that have captured the true story – one that had been circulating around the social media platforms long before the ‘edited’ versions were released.  The social media war had been instigated at the outset when the flotilla began its voyage – indeed armed with Facebook and Twitter profiles, and every detail Flickered and You-tubed, the flotilla got their message across to the world and how!

While the Governments efforts seem to have worked at home to some extent, there is no stopping the wave of condemnation pouring in from across the globe. What is really ironic is that Government is now in a much worse position than it was when the flotilla launched.

Ah, the power of technology and social media!

Popularity: 6% [?]

As a new entrant to the blogosphere, it’s only fitting that I reflect on why I am doing this. Blogging matters – to companies and people. We all like to be heard and some of us even have unique ideas and perspectives that others would like to know. Now we get a chance to hear them all.

Most of us have something that they absolutely need to get off their chests from a pet peeve to just about anything else – the good, bad and ugly. Imagine the stress relief that you get when you talk about stuff you actually care for. And the ego boost when people are like – I know what you are talking about and I feel the same way.

Blogging allows people to respond. When most people take their first baby steps toward blogging, it’s mostly in the form of comments and responses to other blogs you really like. This is a medium built for interaction and conversation.

Finally, blogging can set the record straight. If you are a company that needs to respond to rumors or news, blogging helps. If you are popular or important (lucky you!) and people need to know your version, write a blog about it.

Anyway, blogging gives you a face and makes you real. That in itself, should be a reason to start cracking and publish a blog.

Popularity: 5% [?]

When I read the newspaper headline - Facebook Grapples With Privacy Issues – I must admit that my first reaction was, “ho-hum; so what’s new?”  But it looks as if these issues have turned serious for Facebook, with the FTC entering the picture.  And it seems that Facebook is also taking this more seriously than it has reacted to earlier criticisms, with reports of senior executives hunkering down in the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, debating on how to address the backlash to two of its recently launched features – which again exposed far too much of its member information to the world, both intentionally and not.

While I am an ardent social media evangelist, with respect to Facebook’s rather cavalier attitude to privacy  I must admit that I am not on its side.  Maybe it is a generational thing, but as a parent whose offspring has the same ‘bindaas’ attitude towards privacy, I find that I am quite horrified at the things my son writes on his Facebook page.  He in turn, doesn’t seem to understand what the fuss is all about, so our arguments end only when I pull rank as a parent!  As in my home, Facebook and its critics are on either side of a deepening chasm of understanding, where neither party can seem to understand the other’s viewpoint.  

So whose philosophy do you champion – Facebook’s or the privacy advocates’ ?

Popularity: 8% [?]

In this age of social media, with marketing folks being assessed on new and innovative ideas, we sometimes do tend to overlook tried and tested vehicles of communication. In my view, the newsletter is one such.  A well written and regular newsletter can be a great brand building tool. What’s more, we need not even do print versions anymore.

However, this suggestion is often met with skepticism by clients and prospects as 1. they feel there are too many newsletters floating around and 2. after a point, how can we sustain it?

To address the first concern, there is no such thing as a unique media vehicle- take ads- TV or print- they continue to be a very widely used medium with companies especially in the B2C space, continuing to spend huge dollars on ads. Is anyone saying, there are too many ads, so let me not do ads? No, instead, companies and agencies are vying with each other to make their ads more creative, and engaging. It is no different with newsletters. Just because a lot of companies have newsletters should not deter you from creating one. But it is important to make your really stand out.

And here is where compelling content and the right kind of content plays a role. Also, the editorial outline of a newsletter should be well thought through and tied in with your objectives. At Prayag, we launched our newsletter, Confluence in our first year, and we are happy to say, it has a growing readership and has helped in no small way to build our brand. (http://www.prayag.com/confluence_19/index.html)

Newsletters should ideally be used to communicate the company’s point of view and expertise. It is not a bad idea to involve external contributors, but it is important to have contributions from within. The reason I am underscoring this is some companies, in an effort to remain neutral, make their editorial outline so bland that the newsletter has nothing specific or interesting to offer to its readers. At the same time, it is also important not to make your newsletter sound like your company brochure. The temptation is very high to do this, but one must desist.

The other aspect of maintaining regularity is really related to discipline and focus rather than  to a lack of enough to say, as many people we meet seem to think. Wherever Prayag works with clients to anchor newsletters, we have never been short of ideas for editorial content; we have many cases where the newsletter goes out, on the dot, month after month.

To sum up, I would like to underscore the importance of exploring tried and tested vehicles even while companies continue to experiment.  Some of the social media platforms can actually be used to cross promote the newsletter.

It would be great if others could share their views on newsletters as a way to build and sustain a company’s brand.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Kodak’s CMO, Jeff Hayzlett,  has managed to attract considerable attention to his company through his extensive use of various social media tools like Twitter, Facebook etc.  The company was once a colossus in the photography industry, but missed the digital revolution boat and was left floundering.  According to Hayzlett, the company has now reinvented itself as a B2B company and stays in touch with its customers via its social media strategy, Convergence Ripcurl. It has attracted a lot of attention through its consumer contest to name its HD video camera, and its blog “a Thousand Words” has won awards. One point I found interesting was that it has a ‘Chief Listening Officer’ to  review all social media comments – shows that it is serious about listening to the market.

The brand strategy is paying off:  Kodak has reduced its product-to-market cycle to five months, and 13 of their products rank #1, #2, or #3 in their respective categories, half of which didn’t exist two years ago. One product was launched solely using Twitter at a $70 higher price point and there’s a waiting list to purchase. (Brand Strategy – Reinventing Kodak, Nicolette Beard). 

However, share prices are still falling, so it will be interesting to see if the new marketing strategy will help the company in the long run.

Popularity: 10% [?]