Aristotle had once said, “Humans are social animals”. True, it is our basic nature. We can’t survive outside society. To fulfill our different needs, we have different people in our society? The role based arrangement is well constructed. We deal with colleagues at office while we share our emotions with our friends, families. We need [...]
Archive for August, 2011
Why Anna Is Important?
Posted By Nitesh Ambuj on August 20th, 2011
Anna [not the person but the movement] is important, not because he is fighting against corruption or the arrogance of Indian government but because he has ignited several minds. He may not be fighting for something which you believe in, but he has surely shown you a way to protest, to raise your voice against any misrule. He has induced the fighting spirit in this generation of youth. India as a nation is in the midst of a strategic inflection syndrome. Unity and transparency is at utmost importance at this juncture. Compromising on core Indian values can further deteriorate the condition of this country which prides in its historical heritage and cherished culture.
End of corruption, which itself is a herculean task, is not end of the road. This is a curvy road and you have got to deal with these twists and turns. If you wish to stand for a social cause, you can’t ride a cool blow on the back seat. You have to eye the sharp turns and be ready to jump on the bumpers more often.
You may be wondering why the path ahead is so scary. What’s the next big thing? Well, there are many. The first item which may pick momentum is “Right to Service” act. It is required to further cure the corruption and it will make sure that government officials are also responsible for their duties. They can’t take things for granted. In short, there would be a timeline associated with every official task and government employees will be forced to complete that task in given timeline. For example, your passport should be ready in 15 days. If it gets delayed the concerned officials will be punished. This act has already been implemented in Bihar. Rest of India has yet to adopt this.
Right to Recall is another such demand which will empower “aam junta”. This act will makes sure that politicians are not taking things for granted. Public will have power to call them back, anytime. Once elected they cannot be lethargic for five years. They will have to work if they want to continue.
If you are determined to change the system. If you are out on road and if you are willing to fight, be prepared for a long battle. Calm, composed and confident approach is need of the hour. But, don’t succumb to any pressure. Be firm, be sure. It may have short term wins and short term losses but the truth will prevail in the end. As they say – Satyameva Jayate.
Why Do I Need a Social Media Agency?
Posted By Nitesh Ambuj on August 18th, 2011
Social Media has emerged from last couple of years as one of the most popular digital media platform. It has been used as a tool for listening, monitoring, conversing, connecting, advertising and marketing. It has changed the way we have been communicating till now. It has re-defined the social connection. And, the most important fact is – It has just begun. Things are yet to take a final shape. Businesses across globe are utilizing this new media to improve their current communication model.
In between all this buzz, there are businesses which are still struggling with the obvious question – Why do I need a social media agency? Their basic understanding is – Do I really need an agency to manage my Facebook and Twitter account? And, the basic answer would be – No. You don’t need an agency to manage your Facebook and Twitter account. But, social media is not all about Facebook and Twitter. It’s not about writing few posts and tweets. It’s much more than that. Let’s look at the importance of social media agencies.
Real-Time Information : Time is money and just-in-time information has a great value for any business. The pace of change in business is growing by leaps and bounds. To get competitive edge and access a piece of information before someone else grabs it, is getting crucial. Real time information prompts you to take a quick call, a call which can even change the fate of your business. Information is floating in public domain and all you need is to grab it as quickly as possible.
Meaning out of Mess : Social Media is messy, unorganized and uncontrolled. But, there are real people creating some real data. And, the entire ecosystem is growing. You need to find a way to get meaning out of this mess. Out of millions of posts, thousands of them would be related to your domain and hundreds of them can surely impact your business. You need to rely on a strong filtration so that you don’t miss any relevant information.
Connection and Collaboration : Connecting with your customers, your employees and your competitors is very tough in real life. Social media makes it easy. You can not only connect with people but also collaborate. You can share information, exchange ideas, views and listen to the feedback. But, do you have in-house expertise to utilize different social media channels to do so? Do you monitor them 24*7? How much in-house person hour you can devote on this?
Research and Grow : Social Media is a great source / tool for doing research. There are millions of people talking on thousands of different topic at any given point of time. These people are real people and most of the time they share data which is relevant to them. A company which is aiming a research before taking a call can easily utilize this flow of information. They can even talk to people who are conversing on their area of interest. They can connect with subject matter experts.. If needed – they can do online surveys and / or check out previous such surveys / polls done by other agencies.
Enhance +ve WOM : We had a lesson in childhood. Our teacher used to ask, “how can you make a particular line small?”. He used to draw a line on blackboard. Most of the students used to rub from one side to make it small but teacher had a different solution. He used to draw a bigger line near that existing line. It makes the original line smaller without doing any harm. The same theory applies with your online impression. You need to draw a bigger line of your positive Word Of Mouth. If will help the negative flow of data about your organization smaller. Do you know how to do that? Which channel to use? What time?
Having said all this, you shouldn’t make haste. Don’t appoint a social media agency just because everybody else is doing so. Do your homework first. Understand your business requirements. Make sure that the agency your are appointing also understands your business. And, most important – make sure that the agency has a subject matter expert from your domain.
I’ll try to touch base on this topic again in my further posts. Drop me a mail at info@niteshambuj.com for any specific question on this.
Future of Social Media Monitoring – II
Posted By Nitesh Ambuj on August 5th, 2011
In last post we saw that era of social media monitoring is not yet over. It has become more intense in the form of returning value. People and practitioners are exploring new opportunities to apply the huge data / information gathered by these tools. These are real and meaningful data. It has information about people, their preferences, their conversations and sometimes their intentions as well. The next part is to channelize them, to integrate them with existing business line. And, there are quite a few dimensions emerging up.
One of such areas where it has picked up momentum is integration with CRM [Customer Relationship Management]. There are various tools in this category now. They call it Social CRM. The acquisition of Radian6 by Salesforce could be seen as one of such moves. Salesforce is a big player in traditional CRM business and by adding Radian6 to its kitty it can very well position itself into Social CRM market. Their latest move to integrate social media monitoring to CRM proves the same. Salesforce is not the only player which is eyeing this market. The other players are also interested to enter this. Lithium’s move to add CRM capabilities is another example of social media monitoring and CRM engagement. As I see, if things will move in right direction, there will be some major acquisitions in this space. This time, it could be by big CRM players like Oracle, Microsoft, Amdocs, etc. Or, even SAP can eye for a social media solution which can add more value to its existing suite. The platform is all set for big market leaders to integrate both of these products and look for a futuristic solution.
This mix and match is working well with smaller social media monitoring tools as well. They are adding CRM features with products like Sugar CRM and vtiger. This solution looks perfect for SMBs which are looking for a CRM solution with social media integration. This combined package will enable them to manage not only their brands on social media but also their customers. They won’t even mind to pay for this package which has got dual benefit.
A good number of existing social media monitoring tools are moving into Social CRM. It reduces the pain of their marketing team in terms of explaining ROI and it helps the end user to understand the connection. This new line of business has just started and it is surely going to evolve from here.
