a quarterly report by - Technopak

perspective
a quar terly repor t by
Volume 02 / 2009
| Volume 02
The leaders in social media space -Dell, IBM and J&J, all have met these challenges head on and learnt
from their mistakes. These firms treat their customers as contributors and stakeholders in their business
and reward, promote and empower them. They are far ahead in the social media maturity spectrum.
Key Success Factors
As ‘complex’ or ‘fickle’ as the social web may appear, there are, in fact, a handful of basic tenets that
separate success from failure.
•Listen,
understand and engage with consumers. Engaging the right people is what makes businesses
tick.
•Success
cannot be achieved by merely having a presence on a social media site, the key lies in constant
engagement of customers.
•Involve
top management right from the beginning else with no visibility of serious returns in the initial a
few weeks or months, the initiative would fall flat. Top management would ensure long term focus and
commitment.
•Social
media can cause a huge stink, be prepared to handle the negative conversation and feedback.
Companies should have a reputation management strategy in place.
•Success
and benefits will not appear overnight. Like Dell, companies need to have a long term focus on
social media to reap the real benefits. Plan for a comprehensive presence on the web and evolve with
social media over a long term.
•Just
being present on one or two social media platforms may not be enough. The phenomenon is evolving
fast and the sites that are very popular today may not remain so in future. Therefore, captivate consumers
by having multiple legs across the wide spectrum of social media channels.
•Integrate
the social media strategy with the company’s corporate strategy as well as its marketing strategy.
Non-aligned strategies are bound to fail sooner or later.
•Do
not jump on measuring or quantifying the benefits or impact. Social media is a ‘journey’, a means/
vehicle to reach the desired ‘end’. The success should be measured by the ability to reach, identify
and convert influencers as well as the effectiveness of the ‘influencer’ to spread the word to the desired
consumers.
•Social
media success is not measured by how broad one’s reach is, but by how deep one’s network is!
Conclusion
The social media is a new phenomenon that is often compared with the ‘internet revolution’ seeing its growth
and scale. It has already touched our lives in many ways – from connecting with friends and colleagues,
providing feedback on products and services, participating in events, to even experiencing the joy of
farming on ‘Farmville’ while sitting in our homes and offices. A few years down the lane, we would even be
buying products and services through social media.
The medium is growing very fast and holds huge potential but is still in its nascent stage. Therefore, the
time is ripe for companies to embrace the media, capitalize on the opportunity presented and become the
‘revolutionaries’ of tomorrow. Those who engage all the stakeholders from employees to consumers to
business partners would be the real winners!
Authors
Raghav Gupta, President I raghav.gupta@technopak.com
Veenu Sharma, Senior Consultant I veenu.sharma@technopak.com
Ashima Anand, Consultant I ashima.anand@technopak.com
83 | Social Media : An Emerging Medium for Business Growth