Antonio Helio Waszyk, Chairman and MD of Nestle India while presenting his keynote session on how to keep brands relevant to changing consumers, stated that for any communication strategy to be effective the three broad points are -

• It needs to be attractive and engaging
• The use of digital medium is crucial
• Has to be customised according to regional preferences

Waszyk also shared that using these key factors, Nestle India crafted a campaign for Nescafe called the Know your neighbours contest on Facebook that engaged young audience and gathered more than a million participation online.

The importance of social media is being realised by not only by FMCG brands but also luxury brands like BMW. Christian Saffer, CMO of BMW India shared how they leveraged the social media, to run contest during their X3 launch. Select 10 winners of this contest were invited for special event for test driving the newly launched vehicle.

Facebook is one of the most important platforms for us, but India has not arrived at an desirable online purchase scenario when it comes to luxury products in comparison to European countries

- Christian Saffer, CMO of BMW India

Sandeep Kaul, Head of Personal Care division of ITC, talked about how communication through contextual interpretation is what a brand needs to get noticed, accepted and maximize their impact. ITC has used social media not only in terms of engaging with consumers but also in product development.

Further to this, Ashisht Patil, the Marketing and Creative Head of Y Films ( part of YashRaj Films) while talking about youth in India, explained how the young generation have gained importance in purchase decision within a household. The main challenge with youngsters of today is to keep them engaged, and the best way to achieve this is through constant

• Innovation
• Participation
• Gratification

which should be done through effective platforms online. This according to Patil has helped their brand which is targeted specially to the youth, leverage recall. University of Freshology, another campaign targeted to the youth by Coca cola’s Sprite, also followed the innovation path and kept the brand’s core essence well integrated in all the communications.

whatever idea the brand follows what is important is how well a communication is woven within the brand’s identity

Srinivas Murthy, Director of Marketing (Flavours & Thumbs up) of Coca Cola India

How a direct marketing brand use social media platforms to both engage consumers and business consultant, this perspective was presented by Sharmili Rajput, MD of Oriflame India. Oriflame’s initiatives like Dare To Be and Make that change, have helped them not only create brand awareness but also increase their direct marketing agent base. Rajput stated that Oriflame is soon going to start using social media platforms to sell their products.

Being true to the product’s value, is another important aspect for any communication strategy. Vidyur Vyas, Marketing Director of PecpsiCO Foods presented, presented this concept and how it helped gained momentum for their new product Quaker Oats. He pointed out three perspective for any good communication strategy -

• Engage with consumer rather that telling them what to do
• Tell them full story rather than stressing on the half-truth
• Be honest rather than boast about yourself

Good Morning Heart an initiative by Quaker Oats is based on these principles. Vyas stated that, throughout the campaign they conveyed a clear message to the target group that their product alone does not ensure lot of health benefits, and a consumer needs to adopt regular exercise along with a healthy lifestyle to achieve desirable results.

To sum an effective communication strategy is all about -

• Innovation
• Engagement
• Gratification
• Being truthful

The summit saw a host of speakers from various industries like FMCG, Luxury and Film Production, where each shared their respective brand case study and what worked for their brand.

Anurag Batra is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media group. This article is originally a part of the Blogworks India Social Media Report Edition 2 in association with NM Incite ( A Nielsen McKinsey company).

Do you remember that advertisement you saw on Facebook, really liked it and fancied winning the competition? Do you remember the number of windows that you opened after that to finally reach a place where it asked you to register for something and then claim? Are you a part of those 760,002 people who really say “thumbs up” to a brand, like it and then forget about it?

I am sure you remember all this and are indeed a part of the Social media revolution in INDIA!

How many competitions did you eventually win? Or if I may ask, how much of shopping you recently did was inspired by the ads on the favourite social network you visit every day? Well, I leave out the answer to you, as I am also one of all of you and a part of these networks, but as you would rightly guess, only to connect with my friends who are either sitting far away from me or whom I haven’t been able to get in touch for long or share our upcoming events . While doing all that does anything else attract my attention? Well not sure about anything else, but the photographs of my friends attending parties…definitely does!!!

The social network(s) that you call Social Media from the advertisers and marketer’s point of view, is the buzz of the town today and everyone seems to be trying to either teach this medium or understand this medium or leverage this medium or eventually making some sense out of this medium. Whatever the purpose, the medium definitely has caught attention of people! But how many people are these out of the total population of India? What is the total reach of these mediums to an average consumer? What is the retention of the brand values this media creates? If I had the numbers, I would have definitely revealed them to you, but fact is I don’t and thus my point on how effective social media is as a media?

First thing that definitely ring bells in my mind and raises a question mark to me, on the effectiveness of social media as a tool for advertising and marketing is the reach of these mediums as a whole. While the numbers of internet users as a whole is far less than other countries in India, the social media users are definitely quite a small lot. Now, many people would counter argue my point saying that these are the people who matter to the brands who are advertising on these mediums and they are their target TG’s. I agree to this point and take a note that India’s youth is quite hooked to these media, but who is tracking how many of these youth are leaving these media after joining them once? There is a significant fall off from social media and burnout. Are we factoring the burnout numbers?

I remember the phenomenon that started 3-4 years ago when not having an account on “Orkut” was quite an unusual thing for any urban youth. Orkut became the most popular site with a huge member base especially in India. Advertising on Orkut had just started flowing in and the platform was just being made more viable for ads when it got a severe blow to its reputation following innumerable fake ids, misuse of its content and a gamut of other issues. While Orkut was just recovering from the debacle, Facebook arrived, spread and conquered. The question of “Whats your orkut Id soon became what’s your FB account called?” Indian users still make just 3 million of the existing 500 million plus subscribers of Facebook. And no one knows those who are right now there, will be for how long? Who knows how close we are to the next social networking phenomenon. Twitter, as we all know has been struggling to devise its financial strategies itself and a puzzle still to be solved even for marketers!

While social media takes you directly to your target group (TG), it doesn’t guarantee you attention, even though you are in front of them. Negative goes viral but dedicated to the point campaign takes time to even get noticed. Creativity does have a pull factor but there are no statistics on how many people actually get off from these things after getting involved at a certain point of time.

So, when was the last time you saw your Friendster, Hi5, Myspace, LinkedIn, Jhoos, ibibo, apnacircle, Badoo, Xing, Mixi, Multiply, Ning, forgot amidst all Orkut account?

Now, what surprises me all the more is the growth in number of social media evangelists available in this country, increasing exponentially every day. It looks like everyone today has mastered the art of social media optimization, web strategies and internet advertising. Solutions to increase brand effectiveness are available on zillions of websites and you have a promise to get the best services. In fact I would like to believe that the social media specialists are like the guys who roam in your locality promising to clean your ear with archaic and dangerous tools. There are too many promising too much and knowing it all. I would like to ask them what do they know about brand, audiences and messaging. Just because they are 27 year old and spend a lot of time on social media does not make them a social media marketing expert. How are they using the insights?

Talking about social media consultants I am reminded of a Scott Adams saying that seems to mock at us all “Consultants have credibility because they are not dumb enough to work at your company”.

But the question remains the same – has it really caught the attention of the consumer in India? Is it turning the leads into sales? Well I believe India still has a long time to go when internet especially social networks become a great tool of attracting consumers towards advertisers. Also, the number of players operating in the system is unimaginable and it becomes difficult to find the best.

My view is that India still needs to evolve a lot in its online social media market to gain a momentum among its far reached, wide spread consumers. From a marketer point of view, until and unless I see strong numbers as ROI, I would really be wary to put my money where its worth is!

Time to “like” another brand, as my friends has just suggested one to me, let me check out, if I am eligible to win a Mercedes now.

Note: Views of authors are personal, and do not represent views of IndiaSocial or its partners.

I am from the generation that grew up without ACs, mineral water or even toilet paper. It was a magical time, without internet (and obviously no social media), where relationships ran deep and interactions were full of quality. Instead of playing a virtual Farmville on Facebook, we played with marbles, ‘gilly-danda’ and cricket with real friends. The physical touch wasn’t missing – what mattered was the one-to-one contact, and it took time to connect with friends and acquaintances, and build relationships.

Today, all of us suffer from the dual syndromes of ‘paucity of time’ and ‘partial attention disorder’. We have a million simultaneous things to do, and prefer to do all these things in virtual space, which allows for ‘multi-tasking’. Let me ask you a real question – if you have a thousand friends on your Facebook account, and are still alone at home on a Friday night hunched over a computer screen, how many friends do you really have? In the virtual space, if you are not updating your profile on Twitter, Facebook, and the dozen other social media sites, do you even exist?

It’s interesting to note that the internet, digital media and social media are forcing human beings and marketers to become publishers, and marketing and connecting is becoming more about the relationships and lesser about the medium of communication. I am reminded of what Seth Godin  said  – that “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” Social media is no longer a small movement; it is a force, and for the average marketer, it is no longer about whether to use it or not, but how to effectively use it – and that’s the real trick! As Avinash Kaushik tweeted “Social media is like teen sex. Everybody wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done there is surprise it’s not better.”

Internet is the great equalizer. It is the medium that allows everyone to post their comment in the cyberspace, regardless of creed, social position, or gender. Everyone is allowed an opinion, and the internet keeps a record of every opinion that has ever been shared on it. This, however, poses a problem, where all opinions posted are less-than-sterling; in fact, it has come to a point where the content of social media and its seriousness is under doubt. Exclusivity is the new mantra, and you are now known by the friends that you do not keep rather than the ones that you do. Let me put it this way – there are plenty of people who try to market their wares to me under the grab of conversation, and that just dilutes efficacy of the media – quite like sms marketing on the mobile phones. Also, I hate the fact that there is no depth in social media relationships – there is no pain or effort involved in building lasting relationships, and breaking a relationship is as easy as blocking a person from your contact list.

To me, social media is an untamed animal – for those who know how to respect its limits, it’s a great tool for keeping in touch with the world around (even casual acquaintances). The problem comes for those who do not know the limits of social media. I think it’s interesting when a person wants to broadcast an opinion to the world, but I draw the line at people who keep updating their Facebook, Google Chat and Twitter status on a minute to minute basis. I know of too many people (and colleagues) whose productivity in their work has been severely hit due to their overindulgence with social media. I am reminded of a recent decision of a technology firm which banned the use of laptops and other social media devices in meetings. After all, imagine making a presentation to a room full of open laptops and active cell phones – how many people do you think are actually paying attention to the presentation?

From a purely marketing perspective, social media shouldn’t be the destination, and while it can be a value-add and the icing on top, it shouldn’t be the main point you want your customers to be. There is no relationship building in the social media world that can match the loyalty you get from physically interacting with customers and talking with them “face-to-face”. Even when a store is virtual, you can still connect with your customers on a real human level. A phone call now and then to the customers telling them how appreciative you are for their business goes a long way. The point is, social media is great at keeping loose contact with customers, but it’s not the main driver of real customer relationships. I was reading that the success of Apple is based in no small part on the ability of Steven Jobs and his “chat with his friends” at any Apple announcement and at the annual Apple convention. While it is true that Apple has done a brilliant job in creating a brand essence that is both authentic and desirable, people still feel that they know Steve Jobs and that Apple isn’t just a cold, tech company. he has been able to connect on a real human level using technology to help reach the masses, and yet many still feel like Apple is interested in them. This brings us to an important point – the real essence of the relationship is built on how you treat your customers in the real world rather than just the virtual world, how your employees interact with them on a “one-to-one” basis, and how authentic your brand is.

Ultimately, social media is just a tool to stay in loose contact with the world around you, and those who live just by social media will die by social media.

Note: Views of authors are personal, and do not represent views of IndiaSocial or its partners.

What are the top 5 social media activities undertaken by Indian marketers?

- What are the top metrics deployed by companies in India to evaluate success/measure ROI of their social media programme ?

- How do companies choose which social media channels to adopt ?

- What percentage of the budget is spent by companies on social media?

As we come to the end of 2010, an year that saw social media adoption go further mainstream, here are some questions that businesses in different stages of social media life cycle in India are often faced with. While there are several studies that have addressed the social media trends among consumers, there has been a general lack of empirical data on how social media has been used by brands and organisations in India.

itimes.com presents Blogworks India Social Media Survey – Edition 2, in association with NM Incite (The Nielsen/McKinsey Company)

The edition 2 of the annual Blogworks India Social Media Survey is an attempt to address the business segment and understand the nature, and level, of social media usage by businesses and brands in India; channels and impact; objectives and measurement. While the edition 1 covered the impact of social media on businesses in India, this edition would cover how businesses have been using social media.

Who should participate in the India Social Media Survey Edition 2?

Brands and organisations who have used Social Media for respective businesses. These may include brands, not-for-profit institutions, for profit corporations, small/micro business, media houses, govt body and others.

How can you participate in the survey?

To participate in the survey, click here - http://bit.ly/ax1DYg

Please share the survey with your peers, clients, colleagues and friends to get best insights.

Do take your time to fill your responses, as aggregated insights will enable everyone to make educated decisions regarding trends and spends on the medium.

All valid participants will get a FREE digital copy of the report summary.

For any suggestions or clarifications, you can email  survey@blogworks.in

The findings of the report will be shared at the IndiaSocial Summit 2010 in December. We will be sharing more updates about the same in coming days.

Stay Tuned!

Open 3 February 2010, through 28 February 2010 (IST), the IndiaSocial™ Case Challenge invites  submissions of their social media work in India,  from brands, private and government organisations, not-for-profits, media bodies, celebrity brands…

So, if you think you have done case-study social media work for your brand/ organisation, let our esteemed panel decide if your case is truly gold standard

Top 3 cases, as selected by our judging panel, will get featured in impact Weekly and also get an opportunity to present their case at a future event hosted by us.

Top 10 case-studies will be featured on IndiaSocial.in under a special Gold Class section.

We’ve tied up with impact Weekly and exchange4media to help us get the word out.

Do spread the word please and help promote in any way you can.

On the judging panel are:

1. Dina Mehta, Co-Founder & Head of Research, Mosoci
2. George Skaria, Founder, ThoughtSpring and Former Editor, Indian Management
3. Kiruba Shankar, CEO, Business Blogging
4. Peter Griffin, Editor, Caferati; co-founder SEA-EAT and the World Wide Help Group
5. Pradyuman Maheshwari, Group Editor, exchange4media Group
6. Rajesh Lalwani, Founder, Blogworks and Principal Coordinator, IndiaSocial™

We are looking for both strategic and tactical cases; cases that showcase rigour; cases that made (and continue to make) an impact. When asked about what would decide winners, our panel spoke about…

Framing of clear objectives

Alignment of results with goals

Rigour in measurement

RoI

Stakeholder engagement

Innovation & differentiation

Delight factors

as some…

Now, did we just give you some winning tips?

We’d like to thank our partners and judges for their support to this initiative.

Come on,  join the challenge, it’s an Open invitation.

Submit your case-studies for the Case challenge here.