Social media has unquestioned linkages with user generated content, customers speaking with each other & buzz; each of these form an important part of the campaign for any brand engaging in social media marketing.

Many of us, however, make the mistake of judging/ reviewing a brand programme merely on the 'visible' elements. Buzz is just one of the desired outcomes. Insights drawn from analysing consumer behaviour/ perception towards our brands/ competition on blogs, social networks could be another.

We often seem to miss out on a critical part of why brands adopted/ or needed to adopt social media. Remember, it was to create direct channels of communication with consumers/ prospects and other key stakeholders for feedback, redressal and insights.

As a programme moves into a sustained two-way relationship between the consumer and brand, towards identifying consumer evangelists and towards co-creation of products, a lot of conversations do move below the surface - emails, telecons and face-to-face. The world doesn't see them, doesn't mean they are not there.Instead, to me, they are signs of a matured programme.

An association has been established; new conversations will continue to get seeded, but many have now reached a new depth.

Your thoughts?

An enhanced interest in social media amongst marketers, organizations, media has meant... the frequency at which mainstream PR agencies etc. are approaching us for alliances & tie-ups is on an overdrive; Digital Ad Agencies too are coming up with respective social media offerings; enthusiastic entrepreneurs are diving in to capitalize on the opportunity - even techies are turning marketing & communication experts and ditto for the reverse - setting up Social Media Agencies. Gaurav had created a list sometime ago.

Every once-in-a-while I get a call from a friend, peer mentioning a new player's entry. There is no cause for concern - the game has merely begun, there is an opportunity for many players to exist and even collaborate. Look at the number of advertising agencies, public relations advisories, even management firms, research companies etc. - each category has many dozen participants, each of who has work and many have achieved significant scale. India has also emerged as a hub for 'creative outsourcing' work.

Clearly:

1. Different kind of client needs would be met by different kinds of agencies - tactical versus strategic; rigorous versus surface and so on.
2. Different levels of specialization would be needed by different clients - expect vertical focus to emerge; emerge specializations like research to come to the fore, distinct from say a blogger engagement specialist.
3. Social Media Outsourcing to India, which has existed quietly for the last couple of years is likely to gain volume

More players is merely an indicator that the opportunity is maturing, but the game's just begun.