1) Large amount of strategy focussed on activating people within existing social networks. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there needs to be more meat and creativity to a strategy than just plain optimization on social networks. Social networks have an inherent flair – they are platforms for Word of Mouth marketing on steriods! The time has passed from when we needed to have brands creating just a presence on social networks. That not only lacks creativity but also makes the entire medium seem like one thats not too complicated. Agreed that conversation is a part of the social media marketing mix, and that conversations have to be sustained for long however, there have to be spurts of campaigns – campaigns that make people undertake actions. Its only when these ‘actions’ are undertaken by consumers, then will the real power of social media be outlined. The action could be something as simple as ‘unfriending’ a Facebook friend like in the case of Burger King, getting a vote from your friends as was the case with The Great Driving Challenge – and then syncing those votes as feeds into people’s social networks probably drives a lot more value than anything else. I have noticed that social media consultants have started to notice that just a presence on social networks will not work and hence they are creating websites to back the same. The emphasis however, has been on creating either static sites or sites that are not engaging enough. Few people have gone out of their way to ensure that the web properties that they create outside of social networks merge seamlessly with social networks and at the same time provide added functionality by themselves. I have made the mistake of undertaking strategy that is solely married to social networks.

2) Be genuine. Always. A lot of people have said this over and over again. At times, i have made the mistake of fake commenting/ interactions. I am a 150% sure that this does not work. The idea is for a brand to build relationships with important stakeholders. Relationships that cannot be sustained shouldn’t be started at all.

3) Use opinion leaders and use them well. At the start of the year, i was unable to use opinion leaders to further my cause. By identifying interested stakeholders and building relationships with them – getting them on your side, the process becomes a lot easier. The returns are also more valuable. With our work for Blue Bus Tees, this has shown results. The Great Driving Challenge is another perfect example. DeskAway has also done some great work by getting in touch with the correct opinion leaders and thereby getting covered on some of the top technology websites.

4) Not spending as much time ‘educating’ clients and also fudging certain statistics. I have done this once with a client. Out of desperation, sometimes you have to – its a horrible practise though! Be as true as possible. I have seen social media reports from companies glorifying applications they created when in fact the application may not have an uptake/ be engaging enough. I have seen social media companies over value the ‘conversations’ they create. I have seen companies build crap properties and charge an arm and a leg for it. All of us will have to be more faithful to our clients. That obviously requires an objective mechanism for measurement – which we still haven’t created – there are no industry standards rather.

5) Using the ’social media is not about numbers’ argument. Trust me, it is about numbers. We need to find relative audiences, no doubt. But if you can find only 1000 fans/ group members/ unique visitors for a national or international brand then you have to be kidding when you say the same. If your numbers aren’t good enough, it only means that your property is crap, your idea stinks, and you haven’t worked hard enough. Brand managers have choice – they have money to spend on SEO, PPC, Social Media, Banner Advertising. If you want social media to be the center of your brand’s online strategy – make sure it can deliver the numbers. The brand manager will then divert all his online resources to your campaign!

6) Not understanding the metrics by which your client measures success. We have to, have to do this! Atleast till standard metrics are a given at the marketplace.

7) Putting 1 brand manager/ social media evangelist on more than 1 brand. I would never ever do this again. 1 brand manager/ brand team per brand ensures deeper involvement, a stronger marriage, and greater results. Social media at the end of the day is about breathing life into a brand in the online space – if the person managing the brand, cannot be on the brand 24 x 7 – the spillover effects of word of mouth will not be achieved.

These are mistakes that we will definitely not repeat again. To work with us, call FoxyMoron.

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1. Social Networks,
2. Video Sites,
3. Microsites,
4. Microblogging & Microtexting,
5. Blogs,
6. Wikis,
7. Q&A Forums.

Over the past year we have gone through numerous clients for whom either FoxyMoron, or its team members have executed campaigns, consulted or pitched to. These include: ICICI Lombard, BJP, Congress, United Nations’ office in India, Indian Tourism Ministry, Virgin Mobile, Cadbury, HSBC, Grazia Magazine, Imperial Group of Hotels, Deskaway, Force India and Delhi Daredevils amongst many.

Amongst the many things that we have learned one thing is of utmost importance: Strategy & Pitching!

Now clients always ask, “Im on Facebook, Twitter & You Tube. Why cant I do all this on my own?” The difference is what you will get is an amaturish campaign if done by yourself & a more professional one if done by us. But what does this mean? The difference comes in when you’re deciding which platforms to use? How to integrate all platforms used? Which one to give more impetus to? How to market via Social Media without luring away the masses?

To be honest initially we had no professional clue of Social Media Marketing. We thought it was as simple as creating groups on Facebook; creating generic & branded groups with the clients’ name & ancillary ones on related topics. Then mass inviting your friends & using already created personal groups to drive numbers to these newly created groups. Once the numbers were enough as promised to the client send out 1 mass message with the message of the client. Period.

Effective? Proffesional? Ethical? Long term sustainable?

NO!

Overtime after trying & testing multiple methods & strategies, we finally have come to ascertain that:
Social Media Marketing isnt marketing actually, its communication. Its like suddently brands & companies can use another platform to communicate with the masses. Online is similar to any other platform, for instance TV gives brands a chance to have a 1 way interaction & show them a video clip [advertising] or get their brand ambassador to give an interview on a leading news channel [Public Relations]; same for Radio, Print & Outdoor.

Clients, agencies, companies & media houses should not look upon ‘Online’ as a quick boost to their already running offline campaign. The power of online shouldn’t be dismissed & harnessed this way. It requires a whole new & different approach, perspective & objectives. What you can achieve via online media cannot be achieved through any other.

By using all the above named portals correctly brands can generate enough traction, buzz & online traffic. They can build something that cannot be achieved via any other media. They can create loyalists, they can have interactive campaigns, they can have interactive communication & discussions, they can test marketing campaigns before launched into any other form of media, they can choose their method of communication & platform, they can be very specific to target audience demographics & they can chose a variety of methods: Videos, Photos, Blogs, MicroBlogs, Groups, Fanpages, Q&As, etc.

Clients & Brands shouldnt sign into Facebook, type a big brand’s name in the search bar, see of 3,000,000 people fans of it & then expect the same to be replicated here. Here is a message to them, listen Mr, “Its not the same! It cannot be done by waving a wand!”

Amidst this mass confusion, we at FoxyMoron have deplored & finalized on what exactly we are going to do, our Standard Operating Procedures, our research methods, our deliverables that we can promise & our method of functioning & with whom.

What services in SMM do we offer now:

1. Talk: Creating online methods of communication for brands.
2. Hear: Generating feedback & discussions between consumers & brands.
3. Think: Thinking & implementing online activation campaigns. [Such as Lipton's Stay-Sharp.in]

At the end of the day we must all realize that Social Networks are not for marketers to exploit & spam with their corporate-ish messages. Social Media was made for people to get away from traditional methods, use new media to share, collaborate, network & communicate. It wasnt made to be marketed upon! Remember that! So the next time you send out a mass message from your facebook group, ask yourself, am I on Facebook to receive tons of marketing messages in my inbox? Thats why I always ascertain that such campaigns built around using of the above mentioned methods of spam would never be successful in the long run.

Also I dont understand why clients treat online media as any other form & dont think of it differently in terms of deliverables & expectations. Its not like you can choose a hoarding which gives you 50,000 eyeballs in a day, a TV spot with the highest TRP rating, a Radio show with the highest listenership & then dictate online marketing companies to give 500,000 members on their Facebook group at the end of the 3 months campaign. IT DOESNT WORK THAT WAY!
An online campaign is to be quality driven & not quantity! The next time an agency signs papers for an online campaign with a client, be it O&M, Lowe, Leo Burnett or any other big or small agency, numbers shouldnt be on that paper! Clients shouldnt aim at a number centric online campaign. Numbers can be achieved through other mediums. The online medium & its spends should be used only to create loyalists, an interactive & buzzed about campaign & discussions with consumers; which must I remind you is unattainable via other forms of media.

Now no doubt numbers are important to a brand, but if they want those numbers, instead of dictating numbers to the agency & having that as the only deliverable, they should rather give full creative freedom to the agency (the way Blue Bus Tees did with us, who received unimaginable results), use other forms of media as well as their corporate communication & packaging & demand a quality based ‘buzz worthy’ campaign. This itself will show the numbers. Case study: O&M India’s Vodafone ZooZoo offline + online campaign.

Our advice-

To Brands & their managers:

1. Online Media isnt the same as other forms of media so dont expect the same numbers,
2. Build your brand, get loyalists, get buzz & have interactions,
3. Synergize your offline & online campaign,
4. Your offline ad agency may not be necessarily be equipped with online & new media marketing. 

To Large Ad Agencies (who handle offline campaign):

1. Believe in new media, its growth & power,
2. Include online media while suggesting strategies & pitches to brands,
3. Sync & integrate your campaign through all medias,
4. Start giving online presence with your current offline campaigns.

To prospective start ups (in this field):

1. Keep yourself updated at all time on changes in Social Media & its constituents,
2. Dont let large agencies ’screw’ you & your resources by outsourcing tons of manual & unnecessary work for cheap rates,
3. Be smart for business development! See no one doesnt want to market & create buzz. You give anyone, big or small, a concrete strategy & breakthrough or ‘killer’ idea for high value for money & high ROI; voila! You’ve got the ball rolling.
4. Be confident of Social Media Marketing & what you are offering/pitching/selling. You will come across numerous brands & their managers who highly doubt web & Internet marketing. Be sure you have your research, numbers & case studies to prove your point.

Lastly, Be Sharp.Be Innovative.Be Foxy.

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Younger generations, housewives, and other non-users now struggle to drag themselves away from the computer screen, busy as they are browsing through the photos of Karan’s birthday party last evening. Platforms such as Ning have now given the lay man too, an opportunity to go social via digital mediums. The integration of various social media are now allowing the common man to not only create his own personal social network, but also populate the same and monetize it via the means of culitvating ‘cult’ networks via the same. The only challange, is conceptualizing a business model that will sell. One that can self-populate and hence, serve to be not just a social network, but a self-sustainable, lucritive financial platform for the host.

Recently, I was followed by a GlobalSindhi on twitter. How they found out I was a Sindhi, I have no idea. How they found me,  have no idea. How they followed me, I have no idea. What was their objective? Do get me to click on thier URL: http://www.globalsindhi.com

And it did!

Global Sindhi is a community based Social Networking model deviced and developed in order to unite Sindhis globally.

GlobalSindhi.com is a Social Network Dedicated to SINDHI’s

It’s an initiative to unite Sindhi’s globally

“Find the who’s who of the Sindhi community and interact with them, Take your business to new heights globally, Make Sindhi friends, have fun and interact with likeminded Sindhi people. There is something in here for every Proud Sindhi.”
However, noble as it may seem, the cause to untie the world’s Sindhi’s, this makers aim is obviously commercial. Notice the slutty use of advertisments on even the home page, stooping to the level of incorporating google ads into the footer of the home page:

Google ads on Footer

Further, the integrated ads from the Google ads box on the home page can do enough to scare many Sindhis away from joining the social network all together!!

Check Related Links!!

Sindhi Matrimoney?

Scary as it seems, one begins to conclude that the network was created either by or for the pupose of:

1. An old Sindhi aunty who wants to hook all the Sindhi boys and girls up in the world
2. Some one looking to monetize community marketing with the Sindhis (scoring on first movers advantage here). Just need to capture the right markets.
3. Desperate to commercialize the business venture as ratings don’t prove the network as a web based platform is doing too well at all!! (Don’t miss the inclusion of both Share tabs)

YP now has competition baby!

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Its interesting from the perspective that an offline media powerhouse (which has been treading into online heavily, read: the launch of Shine and Desimartini) is looking to build a presence online as well and readying itself to create a captive audience online, add value, and be more future ready.

Lets also not forget that according to ComScore, the traffic to Twitter grew to reach 0.12Million visitors in February. Neilsen on the other hand says that 60% of Twitter users fail to return to the microblogging network. No clear numbers for India.

Their twitter page however, at this point is fairly disappointing. The page is being used to distribute links to their content rather than create conversations. They are simply passing on links to stories from the main website.

In the long run this is very close to spam. It does not effectively capture the utility of Twitter’s conversational capability. Its an RSS Feed in another form.

Further, the number of followers they have able to attract is largely disappointing given the prime real estate that they have (an advertisement on Mumbai’s 2nd largest daily – not sure if they have this on the editions in other cities as well).

There are some great posts on how media houses can use Twitter on Search Engine Guide. Mashable has a good post on how social media is using Twitter.

In my opinion, HT Media can start off by:

Ensuring that they create conversations with people who are mentioning keywords related to their articles using Twitter Search. For example they have an article on Bipasha Basu. Here are Twitter users who have mentioned the actress. There’s a chance to strike up a friendship!

Actually Following Key Newsmakers to listen in on current news. For example profiles such as India Today, WATBlog, Labnol etc. are great sources of generating news stories and leads. Building relationships with these influencers also ensures that HT gets linked more often through their posts.

Finding out HT users on Twitter and following them (they have email databases arising from sign ups and also from people who may have commented on the HT website). In order to refrain from seeming as spam they should regularly unfollow those who do not follow them back by using FriendorFollow. They can then be encouraged to Tweet and ReTweet HT stories.

Twitter can also be used as a medium to add value to editorials by giving 1 line insights and quotes from their top journalists.

Over time, the main twitter profile can be used to pass on voice love and link love to the blogs and twitter profiles of their top journlists as well. This brings to the fore another thought. Will social media profiles built by media companies for individuals using company resources be bound by contract?


Once they have a few followers they can also try and generate polls through Twitter. A page in the main paper with opinions from Twitter perhaps.

They can also have a citizen journalism section through Twitter where users can either send pictures or news updates and the paper can provide hat tips to Twitter users who generate leads (eg. written by Vir Sanghvi tipped off by Harshil Karia)

The last obvious thing that they can do is try and create a process for feedback on articles.

Its pretty clear that so far, HT is just feeling the waters. Im pretty sure that they will get up to speed on these development. If not, they can always find FoxyMoron

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As a result, users have started segmenting friends into lists. You may not want to let your co workers see your pictures for example or you may not want your family to see what your friends write on your wall.

This privacy button was missing for chat. All the friends you add could see you online. The only switch that you had so far was the ‘go offline completely’ switch. Facebook has now added the option to let only certain lists of friends see you online.

So if your boss is stalking you on Facebook and checking if you are online while sitting in his cabin, you can simply put him in an ‘annoying people’ list and block him! :p

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So whats happened is that ‘www.sex.com’ is the 3rd fast rising search in the past 30 days in India

Google Insights for past 30 days

Now, as the topic of this blog shows the peculiararity of the month of April. The last day of March recorded 11 units, the 1st day of April recorded 60 while most of April recorded 90+ & fell back down to 26 on the 1st day of May. Just have a look at the graph:

Graph of web search volume of 'www.sex.com' searched over 12 months

Whats even more weird is the demographics of the people searching for ‘www.sex.com’. Why does Madhya Pradesh record 100 with Orissa & Delhi closely behind? Werent Madhya Pradesh & Orissa non metro states (states that do not have any of India’s 8 metros) and considered more on the conservative side?

State wise representation of people searching for 'www.sex.com'

Shifting our focus to more city based searches as opposed to state based as above, once again we notice Bhopal based in Madhya Pradesh tops the list with Delhi following after a good gap in the units. What shocks me more is Mahape, which is a small town in Maharashtra! I did not even know of its existence, forget internet coverage & activity; but in this case not only does it seem to have a good grip on technology but can drive itself all the way upto #3 with a good lead over metros such as Hyderabad & Mumbai. Any logical explanation for that? Also why does Google account for ‘Delhi’ separately than ‘New Delhi’?

City based searches for 'www.sex.com'

Now it makes one wonder why would such a weird phenomenon take place?

I mean you could come up with very theorotical, pratical, creative & factual answers to this, but there has to be 1 logical explanation for this.

Any suggestions

Why only in April people search for ‘www.sex.com’ 9 times more?

Why Madhya Pradhesh has the highest number of searches?

Why Mahape, a tiny town in Maharashtra is 3rd in searches for ‘www.sex.com’?

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Screenshot of search of 'IPL' on Google

So while ‘ipl’ is a rising search on Google Insights, especially ‘ipl live score’ being a rising search with +3150% growth.

www.ipl.com enjoys the benefit of this international sporting event. Its almost comical to see how there is a sudden rise in the pageviews of this website during the months of the Indian Premier League.

Note how there is sudden growth during the months of the Indian Premier League.

Whats even more absurd is the demographics of the people who visit or ‘accidently visit’ www.ipl.com:
61.9% are from India!

10.1% are from South Africa!

8.3% are from Pakistan!

4.4% are from Bangaldesh!

3.8% are from UK!

PS: Its a UK based company, serivicing clients in UK.

Now whether this has resulted in more clients for the above mentioned company or not is yet to be acertained. But definately integration of Google Ad Words onto the website would have helped them earn some revenue. I mean why not make use of this extra misguided traffic coming to your website?

Or why not auction the domain name to a high priced bidder? Because the Indian Premier League is here to say.

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As an aside, there is also a film review video which has a good number of views. For the review too, the thumbnail probably does the trick. The lesson? Show some booty on your thumbnail and you will get views from Indian audiences (or so it seems )

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A Facebook application is polling users on the the new site layout . So far, just over 5% of the nearly 800,000 respondents give it a thumbs up. The rest go the other way.

Users can also leave comments with their thoughts. Recent user comments include “Missing so many features I used to adore. I am saddened,” “Please change it back to the way it was,” and “I hate it and if it doesn’t change I will only check it once in awhile.” Ah, the fickle user.

Until January users and advertisers could create polls directly within Facebook, and the company used them extensively at the Davos World Economic Forum. It would be great it they brought that feature back directly.

Is this leading to the end of FaceBook popularity?

The last that I remember, FaceBook has completely overhauled their design 4 times! There is something Google hasnt dared to do in all these years. Is that the secret behind Google?

It’s a classic story: Search engine meets social networking site, social networking site snubs search engine, search engine claims that social networking site is a passing fad. The ridiculousness of our high school relationships is now hitting the business world as Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer tells the Times Online that Facebook’s days are probably numbered.

Ballmer is definitely blowing hot air by projecting the possible wane in interest for the site, but he also raises a good point. Despite multi-billion valuations, the relatively young company could befall a number of unfortunate fates if it fails to play its hand correctly in the near future. We don’t have quite the axe to grind as Ballmer, but from our assessment these are the top three potential causes of Facebook’s death:

1) User Base Exodus
As ridiculous as Ballmer can be at times, he’s also probably right. Facebook’s platform may be the greatest thing since sliced bread in terms of potential, but much like social news site Digg, it’s really the user base that makes the site popular. Without the 40+ million users that serve as Facebook’s lifeblood, it’s but a shell of a service.

2) Falling Prey to a Weak Business Model
Facebook totally hit the scene at the right time, and in that providence lies the possibility of a bright and prosperous future. But after those rainbows and puppy dogs fade, we still have to view the company’s business model for what it is — murky, at best. It’s one thing to have a clear game plan to rule the market, a solid revenue stream and an inflated sense of self-worth. Its entirely different to have a questionably sustainable revenue stream, a pricey rate card, and valuation aspirations that border on hubris. For Facebook, longevity lies in a sound foundation, not hype.

3) Stunting Growth While Waiting for Valuation
Timing is of the essence, but the current investment bubble is bound to burst. By no means would we ever imply that Zuckerberg and company should sell themselves short, but it seems realistic to assume that Facebook could be seeing some big-time growth in terms of infrastructure if it had the deep pockets of Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft (ad deal withstanding). In a market where the big guns are buying start-ups left and right, it might not be a bad time to sell for the sake of the site’s growth — especially with such a high profile list of buyers already chomping at the bit. Tweaks to the platform are great and all, but expansion on a large scale has got to be in the cards if the site wants to go the distance.

Comscore has reported some interesting stats on Facebook, shedding light on the site’s growth after opening up last September and their demographics. Over the past year (May ‘06 – May ‘07), Facebook saw an 89% increase in unique visitors to the site at 26,649,000 uniques, with a 143% increase in page views at 15.8 billion. The site’s stickiness has increased and then tapered off at about 190 minutes per average user.

The site has also seen a demographic shift toward teens and post grads as it moves out of the college crowd.

Bravo…I’m in total agreement here. I have a facebook account I can tell you that it does absolutely nothing for me, except Social Media Marketing. Ask yourself a question: Do you yet like FaceBook and Do are you yet as addicted to it as before? Maybe 8 months ago?

On another note…

Remember that once you put something on Facebook, whether you delete it or not, or make your profile “private,” it is always SOMEWHERE out there in the internet world. You never know who is scouting you out…potential employers, parents, the government, and even your schools and universities. Don’t believe me? As a professor…or USATODAY…or MSNBC.

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An illustration of Google AdWords going through the contecnt of our emails.

Deep inside Googleplex, Mountain View, California are located the Supercomputers which perform brilliant functions, host gigantic websites as Google.com and Youtube.com, oh they also scan each email sent and received in Gmail! Does this offend you? Do you feel your privacy infirnged upon? Are you thinking of any particluar emails that you wish no one read, whether they know you or not? Well too bad, you are the one who signed away this right to Google!

Remember signing up for Gmail? And after a dozen of basic questions and a graphic from which you have to interpret alphabets & numbers, you stumble upon a thing called ‘Terms and Conditions’ and ‘Privacy Policy’ which I highly doubt if anyone of us have ever read, for any website! But then again when this situation shows up, where you are almost cursing Google and questioning its ethics of business process and functioning!

Well to help you out I made ‘the effort’ to go through the rather long extensive Priyacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.

T&C during signup for gmail.

They have provided a link to another section of Google’s website which solely deals with Privacy Policy which illustrates two important things:

1. Google Ads are based on an array of factors such as: IP Address, content of messages and other factors.

2. Google goes through the content of messages for several purposes such as formating, advertisements, scanning span mail and creating a backup of our messages.

Google Privacy Page

But then again there’s a flaw in Google’s integration and the image they potray to us. On the Google AdWords website, the centre from where organizations can Advertise through Google with the help of relevant words; it is written that the ads will appear next to each email where in the Subject or Topic of the mail contains keywords which pertain to the company, whereas the Privacy Policy shows that Google scans through the entire message. Which makes one ponder why would Google make such an error? Or they really read the entire message?

Google AdWords website: Help Section

Thus I leave you all with a question:

Do you think it is ethical for Google to go through each email just for the sake of their optimum and customised advertisements?

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