The wait is finally over...

We had released the findings of India Social Media Survey Report - Edition 1 in a hard copy format at the India Social Media Summit, end March.

The report, available for sale through exchange4media costs only Rs. 1500/- and consists valuable pieces stories and case-studies (you can send us requests for purchase at socialmediasurvey@blogworks.in and we will forward them to the e4m team).

However, keeping with our promise of sharing knowledge for the benefit of the community and marketers, we are today releasing an online version of the survey findings! :)

The Social Media Survey Report- Edition 1 attempts to capture insights and learnings from Corporates and Marketers of India, to get a sense of what's really happening on the ground in the rapidly evolving social media environment.

Results and analysis will surely help understand how peers, from across India, view social media (SM) impact on marketing & communication. This will allow the industry to benefit from shared insights and make for educated decisions.

The survey , undertaken by us jointly with exchange4media.com in Dec 2008 & Jan 2009, takes a deep dive into questions that matters to all of us:

1. Does Social Media enjoy credibility?
2. Does Social Media impact business?
3. Is Social Media based used as a sales tool? Or as a buzz tool? Or for engagement?
4. Do you believe that Social Media impacts purchase decisions?
5. Do marketers understand Social Media?
6. What about Agencies? Do they?
7. Are clients spending money on Social Media?
8. Do they intend to? :)
9. What are the top metrics that marketers believe in, while calculating RoI
10. And much more...

Find out what our respondents said? Were you one of them? :) Some sample slides are here:

You can download the full report by going here. Hope you find it useful.

Do share your feedback and any errors you might notice, by writing to us at socialmediasurvey@blogworks.in

Cheers

We've been looking for a place that would reflect our personality and found such a place a little while ago - it's just opposite IIT, Delhi; nice access, pleasant surroundings, and of course the place itself is pleasing (not much furniture still :) ). It sets us up for bigger thing, so wish us good luck.

Some pictures from today, as we quickly set the place up for the puja. We start working from the new premises tomorrow.

If you are near us anytime, drop by for a cup of coffee :)

Sometimes you can find out the results only after attempting to do it.

When we announced the Blogworks "India Bloggers Directory" - Edition 1 in April, we wanted to give some stakeholders a consolidated, one page view about a blog author, contacts, subjects they write about etc. and the detailed questions on the submission form reflected that.

Many blog authors got back early with suggestions to cut down the number of fields, but we believe that doing so would have impacted the purpose of doing the directory.

Submissions have been a mere trickle - just over a hundred I think. Many attempts to reach out via Facebook Ads, outreach, blog posts by friends urging bloggers to submit details and personal requests from me haven't made much of the difference. We were clear that we weren't going to write the bios at our end, though that was/ is a choice available to us. Blog authors had to participate first hand and help create the content.

The lack of desire to fill in the details is being ascribed to the form being lengthy. My own assessment, validated by peers who I have discussed the issue with is, that the number of blog authors/ people on Twitter have simply grown too large and are widely dispersed. Opt-in lists that worked with a smaller community are simply inadequate to reach this large, dispersed mass.

We are clear that rather than bring out something that lacks the width and depth, we'd not pursue the project any further.

What helped us make the decision, and why today, is a mail response that I shot to a group (some of you maybe reading this) asking questions regarding the relevance/ need of something else around the Indian Blogosphere/ Live Web (a term that I like better) that we are trying to do.

The India Bloggers Directory is perhaps an idea whose time is gone.

Thank you all who took the time to fill in your details, I do hope that we are able to make it worth your while in some way in the future.

Susan Boyle, one of the contestants of the British reality show "Britain's Got Talent", gave a dramatic performance on stage mesmerizing the audience and judges with her marvelous voice. Immediately after the performance, her viral video circulated the internet and got a whooping 186 million views online in less than a month as per Visible Measures and also made it to the top five '100 Million Views Club'. Interestingly, Susan's performance has landed her in fifth most viewed slot along with Mariah Carey's music video 'Touch my body'. Wow! The video is worth watching.

Brands all over the world have been using viral videos to promote their products for some years now. Take for instance our home grown viral videos, which was first initiated by companies like MakeMyTrip, Desimartini, Wrigley's Orbit and many more. These videos were a rage and in fact are quite popular in the digital space even today.

However, it is only in the past couple of years with the advent and popularity of social media networks like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, and the likes that viral videos are having a spiralling effect. Take the much talked about Vodafone ZooZoo ads for instance, the ads were created for consumption off the TV screens but the impact of the videos online has been phenomenon - fans of Zoozoo are flocking on social networks just to view the Zoozoo characters.

However, at the same time all this sounds easy to do but in reality you simply just can't expect to post your video and have them go viral on their own, even if you think you have the best videos ever. These days, achieving the 'viral effect' takes serious creativity, hard work and some luck.

If you haven't heard of Divesh Mishra, here is his story. Divesh is a taxi driver based out Varnasi, he has uploaded a video of himself on YouTube talking about his taxi service. The video is simple, it gives out all the information that one would require along with contact details. The video has over 25,000 views in about 18 months, not much for it to reach the viral video charts but surely enough for a man located in a town in India trying to reach out to a global audience via a free online tool.

A really viral video making the rounds of the digital space is 'Jone's Good Ass BBQ and foot massage', a root taken by an entrepreneur in the times of recession.

However, one wrong move, and the spiralling effect can cause severe damage. Take for instance the Domino pizza video on YouTube, the video was caught by viewers so fast, that before Dominoes could even realise the severity of the situation, the video was all over the internet, making it one of the most viewed videos in the online space at the time, till it was finally pulled down by Dominos. The impact of the video - over one million disgusted viewers and a huge blow to the image of the brand. However, brand Dominoes was on top of the situation within 48 hours. Interestingly, Domino's President, Patrick Doyle responded to the situation not by issuing a typical press release but via a YouTube video.

There is enough content online that will list down ways to get 50000 viewers, how to maximise the viral effect, what to do when a viral video goes wrong, managing crisis through viral videos and so on and so forth. Undoubtedly, the best tool would be not to repeat the same mistakes made by others and learn-as-you-go.

Tiger Wood's PGA Tour is taking a step further and is hosting a Viral Video Challenge where the top five winners will be posted on the site for public voting. The effect of such a viral video could be phenomenon. Will keep you updated.

So what's you viral idea?

Many a Wednesday evenings, during my growing up years, the 7.30 pm - 8.00 pm slot was spent in front of the tube. Chitrahaar, the iconic film songs programme, would roll out at 8 pm and given its enormous viewership, most and some of the best advertising of its time would be scheduled prior to it - full 30 minutes or so of it, non-stop. I loved it. 'This' was entertainment.

While most brand advertising typically focuses on the product - features/ benefits, rare are campaigns that focus purely on entertainment value and the brand message reaches subtly, without the need to shout.

One such campaign that I instantly loved was the recent Nike "cricket/ traffic jam", capturing, so vibrantly, India's cricking obsession and energy.

And now a campaign that's already amongst the most talked about ad campaigns of all times!!?? One that will perhaps create wonderful new possibilities for the brand, not just in terms of the brand message, but also revenue streams? People are already demanding toys and merchandise.

You have already guessed - it's the Zoozoos - by Vodafone. Much has already been written about the appeal, engagement that the lovable Zoozoos have brought Vodafone, a brand with the legacy of some very memorable branding & advertising - Hutch orange; Hutch orange turning pink; the pug; Vodafone launch with the pug; and now the Zoozoos. Interestingly, and clearly by choice, the brand has always been, and continues to be, positioned as - sophisticated and urban.

On the net too, several touch points have been created by the brand - millions of page views have already been achieved; lacs of people are engaging with the brand on social networking sites. Such entertainment value can sometimes bring forth interesting scenarios...

One such "Ad on Ad" phenomenon that I witnessed, and captured, on You Tube is www.zibica.com, an insurance company, harvesting a windfall with its contextual advertising on Zoozoo films playing on YouTube (see below).

Don't know what Vodafone thinks of that - not that they can anything much about it - the perils of using a free service :).

Many a big brands are re-incarnating this season. But the top grosser in terms of eye-balls and adoration are Vodafone's semi-alien, semi-ghostly & cartoon-like white bodied creatures called the Zoozoos.

While they were launched to co-ordinate with the second season of IPL and push the Value Added Services (VAS) offered by Vodafone, the happiest news is that with Zoozoo, Vodafone has finally found the antidote to the Hutch pug.

The egg-head, as its being lovingly called in many circles, are not even animated characters. Instead, it's humans wearing specialized body suits, shot in creatively adjusted environs. The simplicity of the icon is actually what gave it the edge. With 10 creatives already on air, and 15 more en-route, the team had obviously expected this as well.

The most interesting bit, however, is that the name Zoozoo isn't even mentioned in any of the ads/print campaigns. The popularity of the phenomenon is a result instead, of their attempts on the digital media. See, for instance:

1. The Official Zoozoo fan page - collating their entire online presence on to one, and alongside giving live IPL match updates.
2. What kind of a Zoozoo are you? A quiz, on their website! A temporal & catchy move, Quizzes are the new phase with Facebook flooding up with them anyway. Three questions and they give you an answer. The answer can then be shared with friends on one's blog, through e-mail, on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal, FriendFeed, et al!



3. Less than two weeks into the campaign, the Facebook page has over 68,000 fans. Not just that, the much loved Zoozoo who falls into the perils of a crocodile, has a fan page to himself!



4. On Twitter - Well, it's not trending ;), but it sure is invoking a lot of interest. Don't you wonder why the Zoozoos aren't tweeting? ;)
5. An Orkut community, initiated by fans, running polls, forums around the phenomenon.
6. On YouTube, a channel has been set up. People are demanding more videos, and as a result, the making of the Zoozoo is now doing the rounds as well.
7. A Zoozoo community toolbar.

That's more than sufficient buzz. However, a lot of conversations are happening on these fora. What people like - or don't like - from how they feel it reflects on the brand, how it compares to the earlier ads and what they think of the transformation, to even complaints in the VAS offered by Vodafone.

Not just are fans engaging, they are even giving suggestions on Zoozoo merchandise, and what all that should be! Not just the egg-head, the customers are trying to interact with Vodafone as well. Hope someone's listening in to that.

A mix of simplicity, stupidity and hence, the charm, in both the figure and the nomenclature is what's driving the fan-wave for now. That the Zoozoo, like a star-campaigner, may just overshadow the brand, or come to define it in inextricable ways, much like the pug, remains to be seen; but for now, it's generating oodles of revelry.

Do share your Zoozoo thoughts with us :)