Does Social Media Really Matter to Indian Businesses?

Social Media has become one of the most Loved Mediums for the Indian Youth today. But are Indian Business Houses geared up to capitalise on the same?

Traditionally, companies would have had to send out an inquiring army to the market to get questionnaires filled, or arrange focus group discussions, and have a sample of perhaps a few thousands to get some credible feedback on how their brands were performing. And despite such sweat-demanding exercises, doubts about the authenticity of their product or service quality would prevail. But thankfully, the gods of evolution became merciful, and along came a brainwave, which multiplied the credibility of the research and reduced manifolds the troubles and costs. Dig this – early this year, the $42.87 billion-a-year earning (revenues for FY2009) Kraft Foods was planning to take a feedback from customers on its Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Earlier, customer engagements in traditional interactions had provided Kraft with around a 100 recipe suggestions a year. Rather than resorting to tradition, all Kraft Foods did this time was to affiliate with Paula Deen, the famous American chef, restaurateur and actress, who is quite a celebrity on The Food Network. Paula runs a cooking contest by the name of Real Women of Philadelphia. Through this initiative, Kraft got back 5,000 recipe suggestions in just a matter of eight weeks. And how many individuals was she was able to engage? Hold your breath – 300,000 users in the same duration who spoke about the brand. What worked was the right method of engagement and a well-chosen messenger. Technology did the rest.

Now take another, rather stark extreme. A guest who was impressed by the service of Devesh Mishra, a taxi driver in Varanasi, got his video uploaded on YouTube, where he gives his brief introduction with his contact details to prospective clients. The results have been encouraging with respect to the rise in the number of enquiries, and an excited Mishra is confident that hereon, there will be no looking back. 2010 has proven yet another great run for Mishra.

These were just trailers of the immense power and reach of social networking, a medium that marketers globally are only in the process of understanding. As Facebook crossed the 500 million user base in July this year, the social networking website had certainly achieved far more than what one initially expected out of a start-up venture born in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard. With close to 7.3% of the world population already present on the social network, the six year-old company is surely one of the most successful start-ups of this decade. Be it because of the individual social network of the users, photo-sharing, event updates or even the applications, networking is widely touted as the next big thing people have begun to do online after search. As Mark Zuckerberg admits (on the 500 million achievement), “I could have never imagined all the ways in which people would use Facebook when we were getting started six years ago.”

It is not only Facebook that has become the apple of the eye of the new-age marketers. Platforms like Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn are also making a huge difference in the opinion of the ultimate consumer. Aware of the fact that a large chunk of the Target Group (TG) spends a lot of time online and mainly on social media platforms rather than the traditional advertising mediums, many global names have rightfully enhanced their presence on the social media platforms. For instance, BMW has a fan base of close to 2.9 million people on its fan page on Facebook, while Nike and Coca Cola’s official fan pages have close to 2.6 and 1.7 million respectively. If that is not enough for the first round of dope, sample this: Ford Motor Company skipped all the auto shows and decided to reveal the much-popular next-gen Explorer on Facebook, as the company was sure that it will be able to create a better connect with its TG on the social network. A survey done by the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller proves that 79% of the Fortune 100 companies are using at least one of the social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a corporate blog. The survey further mentioned that while 20% of the companies are using all four mediums, the figure is higher in Europe (88%) and lowest in Asia-Pacific (50%). In fact, when Barack Obama won the Presidential elections in 2008, many industry experts gave a lot of credit to the social media campaigns that the Democrat candidate had floated. Apart from making his presence felt on the major social networking websites with the ‘Change We Need’ campaign, Obama also made optimal use of his own website and other tools. For the record, Obama has close to 5.8 million followers on Twitter currently and is unsurprisingly one of the most popular personalities on the site. But these are renowned cases from the western world where the social media industry is being used at a far more enhanced level.

As the reports from the field would suggest, the trend is also picking up in India. According to a latest one by ViziSense (till July 2010), social media in India reaches around 60% of the online audience, wherein Facebook is at the pole position with a user base of 22.1 million users in the country. It is followed by names like Orkut (18.5 million), ibibo (3.56 million), Twitter (3.14 million), Bharatstudent (2.95 million) and LinkedIn (2.95 million). Facebook has also topped the charts on engagement, with 975 seconds spent on the site per visit followed by ibibo at 894 seconds and LinkedIn at 676 seconds. Twitter has already become a popular medium in India, thanks to the way celebrities like Anand Mahindra, Sharukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar are making use of it. Of course, former External Affairs Minister Shashi Tharoor’s contribution to its popularity cannot be ignored, due to his controversy grabbing tweets. Ironically, what did him in was a tweet by former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi, which gave ownership details of the IPL Kochi team!

While many of the big names that have their presence on various social media portals are solely running after more numbers, industry experts are of the view that content will be the crowd-puller in the long-run. “Where many of these companies have been going wrong is they have been focusing too much on getting sheer numbers on their pages on the social media portals, but equal importance needs to be given to the content bit,” explains Pradeep Chopra, CEO, Digitalvidya. Adds a spokesperson of MTV, “It is important to establish your core and ensure you are able to drive value to your fans. Active engagement is also a challenge. Social media cannot become a platform to only offer deals to consumers.” Social media as an industry in India, is at a nascent stage as compared to the exposure it has received so far in the western part of the globe. But the winds will gather greater momentum. There is hope.

Brands like MTV, General Motors, Pepsi, BlackBerry, Ching’s Secrets, Mahindra & Mahindra and many more are also effectively making use of social media platforms to connect with their TG. “We have allocated 50% of our ad-spend for television advertising, and the rest is used for non-traditional media to connect with consumers,” says Deepika Warrier, Head – Marketing, Frito-Lays (PepsiCo’s foods arm). In fact, Pepsi has over four lakh fans on its Facebook page alone and runs various contests on the same to connect with its consumers. “All the companies whose target consumers are present on social media platforms cannot afford to miss this space. In fact, sectors like FMCG, automobiles and entertainment are the most aggressive on social media in India,” says Freddie Laker, Executive Director – Digital Strategy, SapientNitro Asia.

When M&M was planning to launch its Xylo’s ‘Happy Legs’ campaign with Atul Kasbekar (the ace fashion photographer), many industry experts weren’t convinced with the idea. But the events that followed proved them wrong. “Just before we launched the campaign for Xylo with Atul, Sachin Tendulkar (a close friend of Atul) tweeted about the same to his fans. Moreover, the online contest that we ran on the same also got a similar response as Anand (Mahindra) retweeted my tweet on the same to his fans as well. Social media as of today has become an integral part of our marketing activities,” says Vivek Nayer, Senior VP – Marketing (Automotive sector), M&M. He also informs that when some critics attempted to spread a bad word about the company, fans at the community blasted-off the post, saying that the company has been delivering what it promises. Taking its Scorpio, Xylo, Great Escape and Bolero pages into account, the company has close to five lakh fans on Facebook.

Needless to add, the sites can be used as a tool to strengthen competitive advantage as well. A case in point is the time when Apple was busy dealing with its antenna problems of late. Nokia took no time in boasting-off on various social media platforms, that its antennas are the best in the industry. It also showed consumers how people hold their phones in different ways and yet the signals remain unaffected. Undeniably, social media is very different as compared to traditional media and may not yet have the power to replace the idiot box, but it can surely be a very strong complimentary factor. Moreover, users can switch channels easily on the telly. On the social network, they have a richer engagement. “Some of the evolved brands that have embraced the platform have realised this and have approached social media marketing as not just a platform for brand advertising, but also for building up of their basic concept. It has provided organisations an opportunity where brands can easily communicate while providing a platform for its audience to talk and express themselves, exchange opinions and increase unaided brand awareness. It is imperative for brands to realise that, because of the sheer number of people that access various social platforms. The key to success lies in the engagement level, transparency and credibility,” says P. Balendran, VP, General Motors India. Moreover, it allows the company to establish a relationship with tomorrow’s customers as well. “Social media acts as a direct, cost-effective and an interactive medium that provides complete information on the brand and acts as an authentic contact point too,” added Anup Jain, Director-Marketing, Yum! Restaurants India – Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut runs several contests on its Facebook page and has close to 2.6 lakh fans on the same.

And the social fever isn’t restricted to just large companies. Consider this case in Mumbai. After having had enough of the overcharging and unruly behaviour of auto rickshaws and taxiwalas in the country, three advertising professionals Abhilash Krishnan, Jaidev Rupani and Rachana Brar decided to launch the ‘Meter Jam – Say No to Taxis & Autos on 12th August 2010’ campaign. While the initial overwhelming response came as a surprise, the fact that the problem was not taken as a Mumbai-centric problem from day one, was a bigger shock. In fact, it got more fans from Bangalore as compared to the other metros. For the record, close to 12,500 citizens pledged and boycotted the use of autos and cabs on August 12, by signing up on Facebook and Twitter pages of the campaign. The ad-trio also launched the second chapter of the campaign recently on October 12, which was able to generate a similar response. The community pages of Meter Jam as of date, has close to 42,000 fans on Twitter and Facebook collectively. Similarly, a Pune-based restaurant chain, Faaso’s has initiated the innovative tweet-to-order phenomenon under which, the consumer can just choose to tweet his order, rather than place it via a call.

“India has till now seen only the starting chapters in the social media journey. The coming years will have a lot to offer,” says Digitalvidya’s Chopra. Companies like Facebook, who will be banking on the broadband and telecom boom in emerging markets like India will give ample opportunities to the new-age marketers to tap the young Indian consumers. As far as Indian companies are concerned, they have to move beyond numbers and improve the engagement levels on their pages. Numbers may not sound as attractive initially, but this is a sure way to reach some of your best customers and read their minds. If properly nurtured, these could be your most cherished brand champions in the coming future.