Social Media 2.0 by J.R. Atkins

J.R. Atkins is a social media speaker, strategist and sales 2.0 consultant, who I had a pleasure of meeting in Dallas, while on an IVLP - Activism through Social Media program. His book deals with how best to use social media to communicate with prospective customers, existing customers and the employees. The book has a comfortable pace, providing practical tips for how to use the social media tools to help your business maintain its customer relationships. I will just be highlighting the main factors that I extracted from the book and think will be useful for anyone managing social media communication at the corporate level.

Social Media is no longer hanging at the side lines when it comes to marketing. In fact social media has become an integral part of almost all aspects from both an individual's perspective and that of an organization. Given its importance, it is no surprise that everyone is using the social media tools available to them. The success however, is dependent on how these tools are used. J.R. Atkins in Social Media 2.0 gives out the tips and tricks that will enable you to use the social media tools effectively to help in the success of your business.

The key concept here is that of 'effective communication', be it the use of the traditional tools or the social media tools, at the end of the day the business wants to communicate with the target audience. ("It all boils down to communication"). There is however, a differentiating factor between the two mediums and that is, that the social media now allows for a one on one dialogue and instant feedback. This is something that has given the customer a lot more power and therefore made it necessary that they be engaged with. Moreover, the cost structure is so small that any size of business can use it effectively as a communication platform.

In order to stand out from the clutter, there are three things that should form the base of the strategy that you intend to follow:

1. Be interesting 
2. Content is king 
3. Give to get

Be interesting because if you are not at the head of the game, there are a lot of alternatives that the customer can shift to. Make sure that you are generating quality content and then maintain that quality to keep your customers constantly engaged. The customer is not dumb, put out crap and they will see through it in no time. Give to get; after all this is a two way communication which has changed the dynamics of how things are done.  Therefore, it is of utmost important that your words are substantiated with real quality that has been promised, because the negative word of mouth with all the technological aid spreads much faster.

When it comes to the social media strategy, it does not only include the marketing and the customer service aspects of the business. Communicating with the employees through these tools is another important aspect of this strategy. The employees are the foot soldiers of your business, especially the ones that get to interact with the customers on a daily bases. This makes them the key and the most effective ambassadors for your business and thus, it is important that they are kept in the communication loop and provided all the information and the related materials that they require to better perform their jobs.

The presence of social media however, does not mean that the human contact be lost. Without this basic communication format the social media is not going to be able to hold up. The holistic message of the book is that in order to have an effective communication it is important to reach out to all the touch points. Forcing the target audience to use the tools that you are comfortable at your end is not going to give out any sorts of results. Communicating via the tools that the customer chooses is the recipe for a successful communication that will create the base for a strong relationship and consequently a healthy business.

Subtle is not our Style

Subtle is clearly not our style, especially when it comes to advertising and marketing. On one side one does feel good that marketers are looking at other available options as well and not just sticking to the comfort zone of traditional marketing. However, the low quality of the work and ideas squeeze all the positive feeling from you.  

Television shows and movies are a very good medium for promoting one’s product. People follow celebrities and in their following they do get influenced by what they get to see in the TV programs and movies.

Having said that, the Pakistani advertisers need to be reminded that this fan following does not mean that people are stupid and can’t identify a deliberate attempt of marketing. The most recent example of this is Nokia’s latest dual sim phone. ‘Bulbulay’ a comedy drama was used for the promotion and the actors were made to state lines which described the features of the phone in such a blank manner, that in a better world they would not even qualify to work in a commercial. Then the same show was used for a similar kind of promotion for one of the Q-mobile sets.

This is not the only example of bad marketing of this sort. I don’t remember the name of the show but we got to see the actors eating Amore ice cream and before it was served there was this similar monotone delivery of misfit dialogues.

I did suggest that marketers watch The Big Bang Theory, to get some inspiration as to how these shows can be used for the promotion of a product. The cool and subtle manner in which Dell laptops and other gadgets get promoted, without making the show lose its credibility as labeling it as a commercial front.

HBL; TVC blunders!

The banking sector as a whole really needs to work on their marketing side as it is only rarely that we see something really catchy from their side. However, HBL TVCs don't follow the commoner's road taken by the industry but move a step further by making useless & irritating ads.

Take this 'Anda-Ghutala' TVC. A man who never had money to even pay for anda ghutala & for almost every other thing in his life gets opts for a credit card, paying for which is still out of his reach! 

I mean seriously, this is the message you want to convey to your prospective customers? Given the nature of the whole credit card business isn't this ad a bit dubious as well?

As if idiocracy wasn't proven enough this new Mr Bean campaign is worse. Most of us have some sort association with the character of Mr Bean but HBL has failed to use them in the right manner. I have yet to come across an individual who can relate to the HBL Mr. Bean who portrays an image of an outright idiot. So unless the message they want to convey is 'HBL banking for idiots' the people behind this ad campaign need to be taken to task.

  

The Role New Media can play as a Marketing Communications tool in Pakistan

Not very long ago ‘New Media’ was considered just another addition to the buzz words. Even though the pundits of the field were making some positive predictions for its future, no one was really expecting it to explode in the manner in which we know it today & yet there is more to come. Today new media is the rage.

The new customer is deeply involved with the products & what goes behind the scene in the making & presenting of that product. You can’t just sell your product to your customer these days. Life is no more that simple. The sale depends on the ability of the company to communicate its message; & that message is not only limited to the attributes of the product. Thanks to the technology people are much better informed & aware of their surroundings & this has also helped in making people more conscious of their rights & roles. 

New media has become a surrogate world & the presence of people in this world is on a continuous rise, both in number & strength. Almost everyone who is not completely technologically challenged has a facebook account. A forum which has become a major hub for market research & a front on which the marketing team aims to achieve success so that it is better able to communicate with their customers. Brands have been known to be brought down, if an extremely bad word of mouth is spread. In fact this is no exaggeration when stated that new media can be used as a synonymous for word of mouth. Some other forums that are part of this design include Twitter, Myspace & Blogs. Orkut which now part of history for most of us after facebook came in, but still there is a large Asian population that has active accounts there.    

Like the rest of the world, there is a strong Pakistani presence in the cyber space, even though the rate of education is pretty low. However, companies especially the local ones have yet not been able to exploit the strength of new media as a marketing communications tool to the fullest. The main problem for this is the rigidness in the mindset of the industry. They themselves have not yet completely defined the boundaries of marketing & sales & have not yet fully understood the power of the customers. They are victims of most of the myth that the communities exist for sustaining brands; that they will just come up with a product & people will just but it because it’s there, & the list can just go on & on.  

Reality however has a different stance. We too are part of the global village & people have the exposure through this very new media as to what is happening elsewhere & have access to the brands that know how to pamper their customers. So the competition is not just local. There is a lot happening at the entrepreneurship sector in the country & they are using the new media for communication, both locally & globally. The seasoned organizations need to follow suit as well, because this medium has the potential of expanding their target market & build their image & most importantly, its influence is not dying out in the near future as the customers have tasted power & are not going to let it go.