This is the piece I wrote as part of the Exchange4Media and Blogworks "India Social Media Survey 2009" Report Document that we revealed released on 28 March 2009. It summarizes the gap I see amongst the marketing/ communication fraternity in their understanding of the connected consumer and social media. The gap was obvious on many occasions at the India Social Media Summit 2009 indicating that we are all still just learning the rules of this new game.

Here is the piece:

The game has changed, and for a change, it's not the marketers who are in the driver's seat. The Consumer is...

Meet the 'new and improved' Consumer 2.0. She and her peers (they) are coming together on social networks, blogs, content communities and forming tribes, sharing opinion and voicing their concerns on a variety of social issue, customer service, brand experiences, politics - life.

When Mumbai is attacked, they don't just report live in a perpetual stream, they also take the government to task; when Ram Sene dictates that women belong within the four walls of their homes, smiling they send Pink Chaddis to Sene bosses; Not just are they creators and editors of news, they also take head-on battles with mainstream media from time-to-time.

Mainstream media itself is evolving, integrating social media, to stay relevant to the times. Not the types to be left behind, celebrities and politicians too have joined the social media space engaging stakeholders.

Social media has forever changed the dynamics of how the Internet is consumed - from predominantly being a work tool, to becoming a tool for personal expression & connections

Conversational marketing

Marketing and communication ought to change too, for, marketers now have the opportunity to narrowcast messages; to change the tone from greedy sales pitches, to personal conversations.

How are the marketer's responding? The focus is still on the tool...

Have you seen a child play with a toy? He fumbles with it, turns it around in his hands trying to figure out how the damn thing works; once figured, he plays with it for a bit, gets bored; a new toy appears on his limited horizon - his neighborhood friend - that's what he wants now.

Social media play for most marketers is no different: "Mummy, mummy mujhe bhee apna social network chahiye."

So you got yourself a fan page on Facebook? Also a video up on YouTube? Even an account on Twitter? Great! So?

Have you really thought through why you are doing, whatever you are doing? Are you listening to what the consumers are saying? Do you know where you really want to go?

The rules of the social media game are a little different, they are being written by the community and the game is evolving so rapidly that if you turn away, just for a minute, the scene has already changed.

Why are most marketers lagging behind?

1. Marketers are scared of the unknown and aren't prepared to jump in
2. Marketers have never spoken face-to-face- they get the agencies to front and want to continue doing so
3. Marketers are plain lazy
4. All of the above

Social media is like masturbation, you have to participate 'yourself' to get anywhere.

What is clear though...

1. Social networks are where media will be consumed, besides content being created
2. Brands will be discussed
3. People want to talk brands when they want to, not when we want them to
4. They are equally vocal about brands/ experiences they love/ hate
5. Social media influences purchase decisions
6. Negative comments allow for an educated purchase, besides helping marketers improve the product/ service
7. Social media can't wipe off inefficiencies, or poor quality

So what to expect?

1. Social media credibility is going up, as it attains critical mass and more & more thought leaders join in
2. Social media impact on marketing will only get stronger
3. Social media will seamlessly merge into mainstream media
4. Meaningful blogging, with thought leaders joining in
5. Micro-blogging
6. Breaking news moves away from television, to citizen journalists
7. Social networking will continues to surge
8. Anytime, any device consumption and creation of content
9. Social noise- with so many voices saying so many things- making it difficult & important to separate noise versus signals/ meaning/ insights

Savvy marketers are also evolving: going beyond mere buzz aspects of social media, to draw real time insights and feedback to improve product/ service; the focus is shifting to engagement; social media is becoming central to marketing.

All is well in my world.

The Survey we unveiled released yesterday at India Social Media Summit 09 brings out valuable insights and trends. Results and Analysis will help understand how our peers, from across India, view social media impact on marketing communication. This allows the industry to benefit from shared insights, and makes for educated decisions.

Sharing some of the charts with you here.

The full study is available for Rs.1500/- and is being sold by Exchange4Media team, who we partnered for the initiative. If you want a copy, write in at Survey (at) Blogworks (dot) in:

The Indian Social Media Scene is in a state of positive ferment. With 90 percent of the respondents believing that Social Media has impact on Brands, the study results are a clear indicator of the markets waking up to a new age consumer. And not just her, Brands and Corporates are now addressing, through Social Media, a whole array of stakeholders.

As these conversations diversify, Indian Marketers are beginning to feel the need to step into this new-media Jungle and get their boots dirty! 55 percent of respondents have seen brands getting influenced by Social Media, while 33 percent have seen impact on their own brands. There is a call to engage, influence and track - especially the more intense pockets of conversations.

While Brand awareness and positive buzz tops the chart of Social Media deliverables, a size-able majority of them also recognize Social Media's influence on purchase decisions. Select handfuls have well rounded campaigns paying rigorous attention to insights and engagement as well.

The engagement and measurement matrices are in place, as we'll note in the detailed
survey findings, albeit still at a developing stage. There still remains a gap to be bridged - to supplement the use of the tool with a deep know-how of the macro-environment and an adequate fore-sight of its impact.

81-85 percent of respondents believe that Indian marketer and corporates have just cursory or no understanding of Social Media, the need for education and learning continues to remain big. Agencies appear better off on Social Media understanding, with 47 percent respondents believing that agencies have only a cursory or no understanding of Social Media.

The motto of the times therefore, as can be culled from the survey findings, is an enhanced focus on strategic approaches to Social Media engagements, possibly even leading to bifurcation of the services into strategy-specialists and operations-agencies.

Do pick up a copy of the findings.

Do join us for the event on Friday, 27 March 2009.

Along with the unveiling of the study, we'll have presentations of case-studies and panel discussions through the day:

1. How can marketers use Social Media and achieve ROI?
2. Social Media: Is there a critical mass, or is it an elitist phenomenon?
3. Have media planners understood and invested enough in Social Media?

Some of the speakers include:

1. Shivanandan Pare of Big Adda
2. Hari Krishnan of MySpace
3. Faisal Farooqui of Mouthshut.com
4. Dina Mehta of MOSOCI
5. Sidhartha Rao from Webchutney
6. Parminder Singh of Google
7. and many more...

More details of the event are here.

Also, please register here to attend.

I am moderating the panel on how marketers can use Social Media and achieve ROI. If you have any suggestions or any questions you'd like asked, do leave a comment.

Keep writing.

Look forward to meeting you there - my colleagues Manpreet and Rajika are joining along.

Sometimes I really don't understand why brands do the things they do. Take the new global 'Go' campaign by Visa.

The description along with the ad on YouTube saysIt's one tiny, two-letter word that makes amazing things happen. Go is action. it's the spark that starts the flame that sets everything in motion..., and then you put a stop after go. You put a 'stop' after Go? It just doesn't belong there - a stop is, the end, it kills motion, it says the action is over. Sigh.

See the ad:

I have been a client earlier and an agency too. At this moment, interestingly enough, with Blogworks and Pitchh.com we are both an agency and a client respectively.

This week brought some interesting perspectives.

• As an agency you seek committed relationships, as a client you want to pay for performance and that alone. Retainers/ CPM pricing versus Project Fees/ CPL or Cost Per Conversion.
• As we move into the new financial year, it might be useful to take learnings from consumer marketing. For example the creation of shampoo sachets allowed many more users to enter the category, many who previously purchased bottles also found it easier on the pocket to buy them.

  Byte sized packages, with set timelines and measurable returns would be a good way forward to gain business. Of course more effort will go in, but who knows customers might, in fact, end up buying more sachets.

What do you think?