Make social media work for your company in more ways than just a web presence.

Social Media isn’t just social anymore. It’s a powerful, revolutionary tool that can make or break your business. A few years ago, perhaps it may have been just another site to say hi’s and exchange flirtatious nothings, but today social media is your best bet to profits and brand building.

What started off as a means to connect and interact between youngsters is now a frenzied ground for budding entrepreneurs, just as it is for established megabrands. Social media is the biggest thing that’s happened since the evolution of the internet. It’s even bigger than pictures of women on the internet! And that’s saying something if you actually know that stats of adult sites on the internet.

Across the world, companies have been jumping into the social networking bandwagon ever since it first tested waters. Brands like Coke , IBM, Microsoft, and McDonalds have been paying significant attention to the ways of social media, and have seen great results. On the other hand, companies like Dell have learnt the hard way about having a mandatory interactive presence in the world wide web. Google “Dell Hell” to know what I mean.

In India, we’re just so stubborn and hardwired to the tried-and-tested ways of regular ad campaigns and branding activities that we don’t want to reach out in any other way unless everyone else is doing it. Does that remind anyone about the story of the Indian crabs? But people in India can’t really say they haven’t heard about the importance of Social Media. Posts glorifying social media and its advantages are all around us. But keeping an Indian perspective in mind, does anyone really know the real use of social media?

I’ve come across several people who tell me they know everything about social media, but they just can’t see a way to incorporate it into their company strategy. Putting prejudiced options and old advice aside, every Indian company has to ask itself a question. Who is its target audience? And where can it find them? Today, almost every audience had created an online presence in their niche. Everyone is using some form of social media.

While new social media sites like Foursquare (which I think is the hottest entry in the last year) hasn’t still impacted the Indian audience, we still have quite a few social networking sites that are used aggressively like Facebook, Orkut, Linkedin and a few others. Everyone has an account in at least one such site based on their interests. Unlike print media, television, or even a radio which can’t really cater to one specific proven audience, the networking sites target a company’s audience to the tee.  And what’s even better? You can use the networking sites for free!

You can reach and connect with your company’s audience in a manner that no other medium can reach. As a company, you can also interact with them and collect ideas straight from your customers or potential customers, and build a strong loyalty program. Summarising this medium, you can actually brand and promote your company, while retaining your present customers, getting new customers, exchanging ideas, reaching out to a bigger audience, and increasing brand recall and brand loyalty at the same time. For Free!

In this small world of social internet connectivity, it isn’t the big bait with wads of money that catches the fish. It’s the innovative one.

Makes you think why companies want to spend millions of rupees every day just to grab a potential customer’s attention, doesn’t it? In some of my other posts, you can see how you can use specific networking sites to promote your company.

A whole new world of opportunities lies ahead for the innovative company that understands the potential of social media, and uses it to its advantage.

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Custom Publishing Tips

One of the prominent questions that I have been asked in my meetings with potential clients…

This has got to be one of the biggest issues that I have ever faced in the Indian custom media scenario. Eight out of ten times in every meeting with a potential client who is interested in custom publishing, I have been asked a certain question.

“If I launch a magazine, my intention is to see profits from month one (or month three). Can you make that happen?”

Every time someone asks me that, it makes me wonder if this potential client is interested in branding their company or trying to launch a new media house! Really, if making money is all that matters in launching an in-house magazine, then why not just start a mainstream publication. Why bother with an in-house publication?

I’ve also spoken with a significant number of potential clients outside of India too. And there’s a stark difference between the Indian market and the international one. Outside of India, the most common question that I hear is…

“If I launch a magazine, how will it help me brand my company, and what other benefits can I get from it?”

That question rings a beautiful monotone in my ears. I’m happy to hear it. A few clients do know the real advantage of an in-house magazine, and they are clear with what they want from the magazine. But I’m not trying to make some Indian companies look bad, but that’s life. It just shows the way we work. In India, we want results. And we want it now! Branding, building loyalty and creating brand awareness are crucial to any company. But these are intangible elements. And they need considerable time to take measurable strides. You can’t count these elements, and you really can’t call a custom magazine publisher, and ask him to show you results in a bank balance. But over time, there are other ways to see the innumerous results of an in-house magazine.

Speaking about the profitability of an in-house magazine, I must say that it is a definite possibility. Well, unless a specific company doesn’t want to include advertisements in its magazine. In my experience, I have seen that almost all in-house publications that have been produced by Confetti Media have reached a point of self-sustenance in less than a year’s time. Many of them even see an average profit of 200% on their production cost with every new issue. The only exception that I have seen is one of my earlier clients who needed a magazine more as a brand building initiative rather than as a revenue generating medium. But well, we all know our requirements and limitations.

So if you ever consider having your own in-house company magazine, which I think is an absolute necessity if you want to stay connected with your customers and increase evangelism, do ask yourself if you’re doing it just to make more money? Or are you using it to increase your brand value and your company’s customer satisfaction?

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I’ve been a part of the nascent Indian Custom Media industry for a while now, and I can definitely tell that this is one of the fast growing sections in the media business. But things weren’t so flowery and sweet even five years ago. When I first found myself working on a custom media publication years ago, it was an unheard-of affair, and one that left a lot of my colleagues confused and wary. Back then Custom Media just wasn’t an Indian thing. We didn’t think we’d ever need it.

And in most of my meetings over the years, one of the most common questions I’ve always heard from a prospective client is “Why on earth would we have to print a custom publication or indulge in non-conventional activities when we’re perfectly happy with the proven full page advertisements we spend millions of rupees on?”

True, you say? Well, join the club. Not mine, but the one that’s left behind in the last century!

Most of us are completely oblivious to the changes in the world of media in the recent past. The sort of techniques and innovations that have hit the media industry just in the last year alone is mind-boggling. But this is not the time to elaborate on them, at least not today. Why talk about checkmates when we’re still learning to move the pawn? Personal blogs are personal. And I can’t talk about the changing tides of media while rambling about my drunken escapade at the same time.  So well, a new blog with all the works for any budding custom media enthusiast was on my mind for the New Year, and so I figured I’d better get to it.

Google “Custom Media” or “Custom Publishing India” and you’re sure to come up with tons of info about the definition of custom media. But are all of them helpful? I rather think not. Whatever the definition, the easiest way to come clean off the mumbo-jumbo is a simple line that clears the air. Custom Media is a way by which any organisation, big or small, can make a BIG difference to their company by incorporating media activities into their company core strategy. I’m sure you know about the commonly discussed media activities, the spanking new internet activities, the idiot box, the glossies, the broadsheets, and the radio. And we’ve also seen the same splashed with advertisements.

So that is a media activity, right? Right?! Wrong.

Well, you see, in the new world today, just an advertisement isn’t enough to get a consumer interested in you. We see big brands advertising all the time, in every medium, so much so that we get sick of it even before trying the product. That’s never a good sign for a company making the product. On the other hand, we have companies that don’t think they need to promote or advertise. They sit back in their big cushy leather recliners and scream “show me the money”. And if anyone asks them why they aren’t interested in advertising, they turn their nose up and scoff, “we’re so good, we don’t need advertising…”

Well, yeah right, now really….

And then we all know what happens. Another VC funded competitor springs up with well structured plans and fresh ideas, and then, bang! The old “I’m-so-good-I-scare-myself” company starts showing a stark reduction in their quarterly profits and soon, they’re all old and forgotten. Sometimes, in life, it’s our own arrogance and ignorance that shovels our downfall.

So over-advertising isn’t good. Not advertising isn’t good too, obviously. So let’s put our brains together. What’s the best path? Oh yeah, the Middle Path!

Well, that isn’t good too. Unfortunately, the middle path is actually the sad one. It can also be the worst of all paths here. The heavily advertised one can get hit below the belt because the consumer could get suffocated, or worse, it could be a bad product and news always spreads fast. The small budget advertiser may carve a niche for themselves, but that niche would last only as long as they’re the lonely one there. A new guy comes in and provides the same, while advertising cleverly at the same time, and he’d be the one going straight to the bank. Now back to the middle path. The sad thing about the middle path is that we get so used to seeing this product being advertised at regular intervals that we just don’t care anymore.

It’s like watching “Avatar” for the second or third time. The first time, you get all misty and drooly, and gasp oohs and aahs, but the second or third time, chances are, you’d be asleep midway. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Those 3D glasses are hypnotisers! Or it’s also like those Spraymint ads on Mtv. We’ve all seen that, but nobody cares. But I hope you’re getting the point here. By being a regular advertiser at regular intervals, people get so used to seeing you now and then, that well, they frankly don’t care about the product. It’s not worth a conversation anymore.

So if we get all of these together, it’s a startling revelation. Huge ad budgets aren’t good. Small budgets suck. And the middle path is just, well, sad. But this is exactly what most people still don’t understand. They just can’t seem to get that. Well, advertising and media activities do help, but they are way too inefficient. It’s just not worth it anymore. Especially when you can carefully plan a custom media activity for ten percent of an ad budget and see tenfold increase in profits!

That’s the power of Custom Media. And it’s not just for the big fish. Custom media and custom marketing strategies are a breath of fresh air to corporate houses all the way to the little budding entrepreneur. Anyone can use it and see the results for themselves. I’ll tell you more about how you can use it for your specific industry soon.

But then again, are you ready to remove the blindfold of traditional ideas and join the speeding bandwagon of Custom Media?

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