Social Media Strategies and Technologies

At recent NASSCOM-EMERGE OUT conference , I met Vinod Harith, Founder of CMO Axis - who did an excellent presentation on ‘go-to market strategies for Indian Startups’ [that  session was so interactive that everybody who were sleeping post lunch got up to participate and discuss their views:)].

I did an email question and answers session with Vinod on the current state of Social Media Marketing in India and whether Indian Marketers & Brands  effectively use/understand the power of  new media channels like social platforms.

Here we go:

Q.  Are Indian brands using Social Media Marketing(SMM) effectively?.

Vinod : I would think no and I am talking of this beyond the ambit of B2B marketing. I have been in conversation with many brand directors and CMOs - clearly while brand persuasion has moved from its physical dimension to web 2.0, marketing strategies have not kept pace. One interesting note is 8/10 car buyers in Indian metros today make their car buying decisions online – they form opinions and make decisions based on car forums, sites and blogs – how many car makers do you actively see participating in these forums? How many of these companies run their own web 2.0 channels? In B2B, specifically with respect of IT companies, while these companies are more evolved than B2C, I still think that many of these web 2.0 interventions are not customer focused – many are inside out forums and hardly connect with the customer’s pain points and concerns. Considering that 66% of all IT buying decisions are made as a result of clients doing research and finding their vendors and not vice-a-versa. I think Indian brands will have to change focus from push marketing to pull marketing by using social media more effectively.

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Q.  Do you think SMM will help brands in their product/service go-to market strategy { effectively inline with their low-cost marketing budgets} ?.

Vinod: Absolutely. In fact we are doing a project for a leading IT company where we are helping them connect with and influence 170 of their top prospects (All from Fortune 500 companies) by identifying them on social networking channels and building targeted programs to engage with them. Needless to say, it costs $0 to find these people on sites like facebook or linked in and engage with them.

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Q.  Are Indian Marketers are ready to adapt themselves to the new media marketing channels like social media platforms and where do they stand today?.

Vinod: I don’t think Indian companies have a choice than to adopt. On a different note, social media can actually be a game changer for Indian companies as it allows them to reach their target customers more cost effectively and engage with them more effectively. I think the main constraint is that many Indian marketers are not effective users of social media themselves (how many of them do you find on your social media sites?). Marketers first need to personally start experimenting with and using these tools before they can drive their brand strategies using social media.

What is your take on Indian brands using Social Media? - do share with us.