“Social media is a converging point for all medium”

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram – The list of social engagement tools on the web continue to increase with new, innovative offerings being launched every other day. While the social web has exponentially grown to become a significant part of any digital media campaign, there is a need to have an integrated marketing approach, not just for the entire web platform but for the whole media mix as well.

A significant positive of the digital space is its ability to facilitate direct and one-on-one engagement between the brand and its customer. The very nature of social media takes this engagement to a more personalised level.

B Sridhar, Head, New Media at UB Group feels that for an effective social media campaign, brands need to engage and interact with users as opposed to merely communicating the brand attributes to them. Various social platforms aid in building conversations which help in creating brand perception and recall.

However, planting the same television or print campaign on digital will not help build this connect. “Publishing a television commercial or the making of a TVC on the web and characterising the same as a digital strategy is wrong. Advertising isn’t talking. Talking is advertising,” added Sridhar.

Word-of-mouth has been often cited as one of the most powerful tool to build and sustain a loyal community in the social space and push sales. And to leverage this tool most effectively, quality content assumes paramount importance.

According to Sridhar, brands should base the social media strategy on the basis of what people are doing on social media rather than have a fixed approach. So, while a cult brand would do well to have a product-led social media strategy, a lesser known brand should focus on creating content that can drive and sustain consumer interest.

The social media strategy and its execution depends greatly on the intended objective of the marketing and communication plan – whether it is to widen the brands’ reach or to build conversations.

Kapil Gupta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at OMLogic Consulting echoed a similar thought as Sridhar and felt that brands need to develop a consistent communication strategy, in line with its objectives. According to him, a large brand can enter the social media space with a big idea – creating apps, contests and games. However, for a smaller brand, conversation building will be the key in the initial stages of its social media planning. At the same time, content needs to be placed in the right context for it to be consumed correctly.

According to Dhiman Mukherjee, Director, Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn, the challenge in the social media landscape lies in marketers and brands reaching out to the right set of audience and in the right context.

LinkedIn, for instance, with its 16 million Indian users has an educated and influential customer segment and would be well suited for brands looking to forge connect with an affluent Indian audience, shared Mukherjee.

While social occupies an important space in the digital marketing plan of most brands, the key is for it to be seen in sync with the mainstream media and not as a standalone marketing tool.

For OMLogic’s Gupta, the social platform is a converging point for all medium that have been used until now. “Social medium is not different from any traditional media; it provides an opportunity to build connectivity between traditional, social, banner ads – all engagement modules,” he added.

The multitude of options available on the platform has led brand managers to delve deeper into constructing marketing strategies for this conversational medium that can enhance engagement with customers.

While it is imperative to look at social media as part of the entire media mix and develop integrated marketing plans, there are some inherent challenges that need to be dealt with. According to Kunal Soni, Industry Manager, Media and Platforms at Google India, messages in the social space tend to be impersonal and comments are not conversational since they lack the emotional touch. Also, with the overload of content, recommendations do not have a staying power and do not last in people’s minds for too long.

Soni went ahead to briefly summarise the product innovations and developments at Google to counter these challenges. “While the social network, Google Circles, helps in creating segmented communication and sharing the right content with the right people, Google Hangouts, with its video chat facility aids n real conversations. Google Plus One is another feature that allows recommendations and endorsements from one’s friends on the Google Search page itself,” he said.

These are excerpts from a panel discussion on the ‘Impact of ‘Social Media in Media Strategies’ held as part of Brandstorm-Building Brands Online, a marketing conclave organised by The Bengal Chamber of Commerce on August 25, 2012 at Kolkata.