Microsoft India has launched BuyOriginalMS.com, an e-commerce platform that would enable software resellers, website publishers and bloggers to sell original Microsoft products including Windows, Office, Server, Xbox, games, and gaming accessories online.
The e-commerce platform has been launched in partnership with Smile Interactive Technologies Group (Quasar Media), the e-commerce platform provider and Redington India, the distribution partner for Microsoft products.
Brian Campbell, director, original software initiative, Microsoft India, has said, “At Microsoft, we continually strive towards providing our customers with increased channels to access original software. This portal is a remarkable outcome of this initiative and will help increase the ubiquity of original Microsoft software in the online world.”
Harish Bahl, CEO, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, has said, “E-commerce is a fast growing trend in India and we are excited about this partnership with Microsoft to provide customers with greater access to original software through an extensible and easy-to-use platform.”
It is about time that Microsoft, one of the biggest player in the digital space, had an e-commerce enabled store for its product..
We will need to wait and watch how many of the users actually go online and buy, considering the fact that software piracy is so prevalent in India
Santosh
Minggu, 24 Februari 2008
BuyOriginalMS.com
Microsoft India has launched BuyOriginalMS.com, an e-commerce platform that would enable software resellers, website publishers and bloggers to sell original Microsoft products including Windows, Office, Server, Xbox, games, and gaming accessories online.
The e-commerce platform has been launched in partnership with Smile Interactive Technologies Group (Quasar Media), the e-commerce platform provider and Redington India, the distribution partner for Microsoft products.
Brian Campbell, director, original software initiative, Microsoft India, has said, “At Microsoft, we continually strive towards providing our customers with increased channels to access original software. This portal is a remarkable outcome of this initiative and will help increase the ubiquity of original Microsoft software in the online world.”
Harish Bahl, CEO, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, has said, “E-commerce is a fast growing trend in India and we are excited about this partnership with Microsoft to provide customers with greater access to original software through an extensible and easy-to-use platform.”
It is about time that Microsoft, one of the biggest player in the digital space, had an e-commerce enabled store for its product..
We will need to wait and watch how many of the users actually go online and buy, considering the fact that software piracy is so prevalent in India
Santosh
The e-commerce platform has been launched in partnership with Smile Interactive Technologies Group (Quasar Media), the e-commerce platform provider and Redington India, the distribution partner for Microsoft products.
Brian Campbell, director, original software initiative, Microsoft India, has said, “At Microsoft, we continually strive towards providing our customers with increased channels to access original software. This portal is a remarkable outcome of this initiative and will help increase the ubiquity of original Microsoft software in the online world.”
Harish Bahl, CEO, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, has said, “E-commerce is a fast growing trend in India and we are excited about this partnership with Microsoft to provide customers with greater access to original software through an extensible and easy-to-use platform.”
It is about time that Microsoft, one of the biggest player in the digital space, had an e-commerce enabled store for its product..
We will need to wait and watch how many of the users actually go online and buy, considering the fact that software piracy is so prevalent in India
Santosh
BuyOriginalMS.com
Microsoft India has launched BuyOriginalMS.com, an e-commerce platform that would enable software resellers, website publishers and bloggers to sell original Microsoft products including Windows, Office, Server, Xbox, games, and gaming accessories online.
The e-commerce platform has been launched in partnership with Smile Interactive Technologies Group (Quasar Media), the e-commerce platform provider and Redington India, the distribution partner for Microsoft products.
Brian Campbell, director, original software initiative, Microsoft India, has said, “At Microsoft, we continually strive towards providing our customers with increased channels to access original software. This portal is a remarkable outcome of this initiative and will help increase the ubiquity of original Microsoft software in the online world.”
Harish Bahl, CEO, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, has said, “E-commerce is a fast growing trend in India and we are excited about this partnership with Microsoft to provide customers with greater access to original software through an extensible and easy-to-use platform.”
It is about time that Microsoft, one of the biggest player in the digital space, had an e-commerce enabled store for its product..
We will need to wait and watch how many of the users actually go online and buy, considering the fact that software piracy is so prevalent in India
Santosh
The e-commerce platform has been launched in partnership with Smile Interactive Technologies Group (Quasar Media), the e-commerce platform provider and Redington India, the distribution partner for Microsoft products.
Brian Campbell, director, original software initiative, Microsoft India, has said, “At Microsoft, we continually strive towards providing our customers with increased channels to access original software. This portal is a remarkable outcome of this initiative and will help increase the ubiquity of original Microsoft software in the online world.”
Harish Bahl, CEO, Smile Interactive Technologies Group, has said, “E-commerce is a fast growing trend in India and we are excited about this partnership with Microsoft to provide customers with greater access to original software through an extensible and easy-to-use platform.”
It is about time that Microsoft, one of the biggest player in the digital space, had an e-commerce enabled store for its product..
We will need to wait and watch how many of the users actually go online and buy, considering the fact that software piracy is so prevalent in India
Santosh
Kamis, 07 Februari 2008
Rabu, 06 Februari 2008
Demystifying Social Marketing in the online world
There is so much buzz about Social Media Network in today’s world. From Facebook to Myspace to Orkut, and our very own desi version of Ibibo, Yaari, Minglebox, etc… suddenly it all seems like one big family.
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
Demystifying Social Marketing in the online world
There is so much buzz about Social Media Network in today’s world. From Facebook to Myspace to Orkut, and our very own desi version of Ibibo, Yaari, Minglebox, etc… suddenly it all seems like one big family.
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
Demystifying Social Marketing in the online world
There is so much buzz about Social Media Network in today’s world. From Facebook to Myspace to Orkut, and our very own desi version of Ibibo, Yaari, Minglebox, etc… suddenly it all seems like one big family.
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
If you dig deeper – you would realize that the germ of this idea lies in our ancient texts. The Vedas talk about – Vasudeva Kutumbham – This whole world is one big family.
On marketing front, today’s networked market offers a wonderful opportunity to build communities around your brand. The online world of social networking is a wonderful place to create and communicate your brand. But, where in this place lies the El Dorado is the big question.
Uniqueness of Social Marketing:
The best thing about social marketing is YOU don’t talk about your brand, YOUR CUSTOMERS do. And any marketer would vouch that there is no better marketing than word of mouth.
The Never Ending Friending Project, a recent study commissioned by Isobar and MySpace, shows that incorporating social marketing into your overall program can increase your advertising exposure more than 70 percent. It also improved purchase intent and a positive brand image.
Why then is that the agencies and brands shy away from being a part of the social network. Someone said – the customers are talking about your brand – whether you like it or not.
Popularity of Social Marketing in India:
I read somewhere that there are close to 40 Million users from India on Orkut, around 500,000 on Facebook… these are huge numbers considering the size of Internet population in India. But, I do not find any much activity that brands undertake to be present on these sites. And by presence, I mean REAL presence, not an Orkut profile of the brand, with a poll listed.
In my current job, I get to attend many ‘digital’ marketing conferences being held… What I get to see is the same speakers, different topic, and the same talk. The conferences are populated by online media publishers, and some Internet companies… Few months back there was conference about web 2.0… everyone talked about the userbase increasing, the need for more broadband connections, the internet accessing cost to be made cheaper, etc, etc, etc… but, heck, no one spoke in plain simple terms what are these social networking sites, and what are the advertising opportunities that is available for the marketer.
I have my own take on what we can do in the Social Network Sites… and hope it will help you in creating unique experience and develop a strategy for social marketing.
1) Have an objective to get into the social marketing
2) It should drive value to your brand
3) It should also give a reason for the community members to be associated – content, communicate, share, etc
Define the Objective:
Like all marketing activities, your brand presence on social networking sites should also have an objective. Do not get into social marketing network just for the sake of being there. Define a clear and measureable objective against which the performance of your campaign can be done.
Driving Value:
What does this activity do for your brand? It can vary from - creating awareness, building brand preference, driving purchases, increasing loyalty and deepening engagement – against which success across a range of social media can be measured.
A Reason for the community members:
Remember, the people who come onto the social networking sites are there for a purpose. They want to connect and communicate. Your brand presence in the social networking sites need to help them in this regard.
- Create unique messaging to help you connect with specific communities
- Provide tools, widgets, promotions to foster the community
- Content – about the brand, encourage discussions, content that is cool, can be shared or better still content that can be created by the community itself
There are 3 main ways in the social media space to help you achieve the above objective/ social marketing strategy.
1) Advertising on social networks
2) Create your brand page on the social networks
3) Create your own brand social network
Advertising on Social Networking site:
Usually when the media planning is done for an online campaign, a part of the budget is allocated for Search Engine Marketing, a part for display ads, part for text, EDMs, etc. Ideally, it would better to allocate a part of the budget for Social Networking sites. The ads should drive traffic to your branded networking page or site. You could also explore – online PR, syndication, and seeding in relevant blogs, or existing communities to drive traffic
Brand page on social networking site:
Create your brand pages in the social networking sites. The more the interactivity on these pages, the better it is. The best thing (though most brand managers and brand custodians would disagree) is to let the consumer control the site. Ideally this is the best platform for you to LISTEN to your consumers. Some of the things that can be plugged into your brand page could be
- Widgets (API’s)
- Videos
- Photos
- Downloads (themes, wallpapers, RTs, etc)
- Podcast
- Reviews/Ratings
- Blog (your brand’s personal diary)
Check these links for some great examples on Myspace
Adidas Soccer: The site had 25,000 friends signed up on the first day itself
www.myspace.com/adidassoccer
Honda: Has over 45,000 friends, and allows the users to create their own wallpaper for Myspace profiles. I personally like the ‘I pinch’ crab
www.myspace.com/hondaelement
Create your own brand social networking site
In a long term marketing perspective, and probably the most important step(though overlooked by most marketers) is building your own branded social networking site. Having your own site gives you a little more control than you get when you embed your brand in traditional social networks. Building your own site is more involved, of course, but here's where you can really cash in: You gain all the advantages of social networking along with the ability to weave in your product merchandising to drive real sales. You can also capture invaluable data about your core consumers -- data that you can't obtain through media buys or social networks. Remember, consumers will evaluate your own branded site more than your embedded site before joining, so you'll definitely need to have a good user interface tailored to your consumer and brand persona.
• The recent mash-up Nike + iPod talks a lot of digital integration that can go onto disparate products. And their website for the same (www.nikeplus.com) is a great example for branded social networking site. It has got desktop widgets, community forums, challenges between members, etc…
Let your brand hang out in the right places
Sabtu, 02 Februari 2008
[HOW TO] - To put Your iPod in RECOVERY Mode
Source taken from - Way Too Frequently Asked Questions
12. Help, I bricked my iPod!
No, you didn't. If you seriously screwed it up, the first step is to put it into "Recovery Mode" so iTunes can recognize it.
First, get it to turn off, if you can't with normal methods: Hold down both the Stand-By and Home buttons until it turns off. It can take up to ten seconds (ten chronological seconds, not ten panickily rushed through seconds).
Second, put it into recovery mode:
1. Press and hold the Stand-by button
2. Before the Apple logo appears, press and hold the Home button
3. After the Apple logo appears, release the Stand-by button.
4. Wait up to 30 seconds.
5. After the Connect to iTunes picture appears, you can release the home button. Your iPod is now in recovery mode.
This procedure has moderately tricky timing and may have to be attempted a few times. If you mess up, accidentally release a button at the wrong time, etc. You'll have to shut down your iPod as previously described and start over.
After your iPod is in recovery mode, you can connect it to iTunes and restore.
UPDATES - OTHER REVIEWS
12. Help, I bricked my iPod!
No, you didn't. If you seriously screwed it up, the first step is to put it into "Recovery Mode" so iTunes can recognize it.
First, get it to turn off, if you can't with normal methods: Hold down both the Stand-By and Home buttons until it turns off. It can take up to ten seconds (ten chronological seconds, not ten panickily rushed through seconds).
Second, put it into recovery mode:
1. Press and hold the Stand-by button
2. Before the Apple logo appears, press and hold the Home button
3. After the Apple logo appears, release the Stand-by button.
4. Wait up to 30 seconds.
5. After the Connect to iTunes picture appears, you can release the home button. Your iPod is now in recovery mode.
This procedure has moderately tricky timing and may have to be attempted a few times. If you mess up, accidentally release a button at the wrong time, etc. You'll have to shut down your iPod as previously described and start over.
After your iPod is in recovery mode, you can connect it to iTunes and restore.
UPDATES - OTHER REVIEWS
- Review: 13 Reasons iLike iPad - How About You?
- Review: I Am A Student - Is It Worth To Buy an iPad?
- Review: After 1 month using iPad
- Review: What is it like after 2 months owning an iPad?
- Review: iPad - After More than 100 Days
- Review: After 4 months - List of my 11 Pages of iPad Apps
- Review: STM Scout XS
- Review: Screen Privacy Filter
- Review: Yoobao iPad Case
- Review: Apple Wireless Keyboard
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