Do you have a social media strategy?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Brand conversations on the Net are influencing decisions and are quick to spread in the connected world.

Facebook recently announced that it has 59 million active users in India as of June 2012. This again is supposedly a 29 pc increase compared to 2011. This number may not amaze you as worldwide there are 900 million members. The young, growing and happening Netizens of India are expressing their thoughts, emotions and preferences through social media.

These conversations could be shaping opinions that influence brand perceptions. These perceptions in turn can influence buying preferences. Facebook fans of icons and brands are now easy to check, follow and build. However, few large brands, especially the consumer brands, have a specific social strategy to follow through and create impact on its community using social media.

One of the brands that has been quite successful is Diesel. They currently have 2 million Facebook Likes and 25000 people talking about their brand. Indeed a great connect with its existing and potential customers.

And Van Heusen, an Indian clothing brand, has 250,000 Facebook Likes and 10,000 people talking about their brand. Infosys has 172,000 Facebook Likes and 10,000 people talking about it. These are not necessarily gooey-good work.

The organization and its people getting connected and sharing is a big win and also creates tremendous impact for new and aspiring employees. The feeling of connectedness and community building helps bonding of employees which otherwise would have been a daunting task.

Indigo Airlines is another brand which has a vibrant community with 40,000 Facebook Likes and 5000 people talking about them.

Communicating directly to the consumer and hearing live what is being talked about is a fantastic tool for marketers and innovators. The simplicity, reach and connect has never been so easy and never been this viral and instant. Mining into these conversations, influencing netizens will have a business impact.

And we are going to see newer measures and metrics that will give the early adopters of great social media strategy a terrific marketing weapon to stay competitive.

In that perspective, does your organization have a social media strategy in place? Let us know about it in the comments tag below.

(Anil Kumar Ravindran is Senior Vice-President of CyberMedia India Ltd)

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