What social media has done to us…

2 things i hated... but did the most in 2009

a. Facebook

b. Twitter

But now i just love them.. (twitter takes the 1st position)

so where are they heading for...

Facebook crossed the 350 million mark..every day users spend 8 billion mins. on fb \,post 45 mil status updates..i actually contribute 120 mins.. :) n u??

So what does it hold for marketers??

Well if u want to promote urself ... be out there on facebook.. even a small restaurant can advertise there n reach out to it's target audience.. for as low as 1$ a day..

it gives you a platform whre the customer reach out to you .. n can have a meaningful converstation.. so hey u CEO do create a page out there on fb n start connecting wth ur customers at a personal level..

well facebook is on a roll...worldwide spending on Facebook is expected to reach $435 million in 2009 and $605 million in 2010..

n Twitter has been on a steady rise..it has had more than 7 billion tweets .. check the real-time figures on http://popacular.com/gigatweet/

but there has been some sort of stagnation in twitters growth http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/22/the-world-is-flat-for-twitter-as-in-global-growth-has-stalled/

n it is a tough road ahead for twitter in terms of makin money,,

they must definitely look at creating their own applications.. n can earn revenue thorough ads when one goes on the application page... i definitely not recommend ads on the user pages..

there are zillions of applications out there based on twitter... so it's far better that twitter itself monetize the opportunities that lay in front of it...

but y do we spend soo much time on these sites...

well for me i use fb to play games...first it was poker... nw cafe world n stuff..

i rarely use it to intreact wth people...(thou undoubtedly itz the place if i wanna check someone out or reach out to)

n i use twitter to search n knw more abt the things i like... (i have almost stopped using google, blv me)

nw I don have to even login to techcrunch or google blog .. or nasa’s blog

.. I just get updated through twitter n if something interest’s me i just go on tha link..

actually some of the saddest news I heard was thru fb n twitter..

RIP MJ … n RIP Asheem da

Okay so yes twitter keeps me updated .. what’s more to offer??

Well use the search..

U knw .. try n search for mundane things like office furniture n u'll find :

a. people willing to give away furniture for free...NGO's can use this

b. people wondering from where n what furniture to buy.. co.'s can use this

go try out something really crazy .. n do share that with me..

was surprised myself to see that 90% co.'s promoting there hardware stuff like hand tools , garden tools etc. wre from India.. n they actually got leads...

I actually got to knw the abt a restaurant in Delhi which serves some of the best Indian cuisine .. from a German guy who had tweeted abt it..

when i don use them(fb n twitter) for work... i use them for fun...

n this"fun" tha i get out of them is wha keeps me hooked...

The other thing I really used on the net was stumbleupon …

Itz just wow… try it people.. it let’s u see the sites ..the webpages .. on the topics which interest u .. n u’ll get to see some amzin relevant stuff which otherwise you wouldn’t have come across on the net,, no amount of googling can yield the same results..

So 2009 has been an interesting year.. n ya social media sites have changed a lot… for the better… now let’s see what’s in store for us in 2010…

So Nokia will go bust!!!!!

Well i ain't sayin this..

MY very good friend says this..let's see why??

Well he owns a Nokia N92( communicator) n one fine day he drops it(keep this in mind)

now some part gets broken from inside.. so he gives it to the Nokia service center to get it repaired..

now it takes them more than a week to reapair n return his phone.. they had promised it'll be done within three days..

now can u stay without your phone?? ..which has all your contacts n other info for a day..

let alone a week.. no doubt my friend was infuriated..

so, while getting the delivery of his phone he writes on the feedback form that he's not satisfied with the service... n forget's all about it( no co. actually goes through the forms)

surprise !! surprise!! (actualy shock in his own words)

he get a call from Nokia..ya.. u heard right..

ok so whatz the big deal.. they ask him some lame questions.. n he states clearly that he was quite discomforted becoz of the delay...

so the Nokia promises that something will defntly done to compensate him..

( well promises are meant to be broken..aren't they)

shock!! shock!!

he gets another call a day after.. n guess what??

Nokia replaces his phone for a brand new one albeit battery..

ya .. this is a true story..

n before telling all this to me .. my friend said" Nokia is gonna go bust "

no prizes for guessing y??

Disclaimer: i've always used a Nokia phone.. n i love them...

Snail Mail form......Google!!!!!

Yup.. i got a snail mail from google.. actually it was addressed to my dad..

He runs a typical small scale business here in India, n the mail(letter) was from the GoogleAdswords..with a promotional offer..

Wonderful , i said as i opened the letter n showed to my dad..
Something i had been trying to cox him into ... to advertise on google..

Now this is something very imp and unique.. google is a co. which is today
a synonym for "web search" n they using something as far away from Internet as electricity is from my home town meerut..

The thing is ..India is unique market which provides unique opportunities
that we marketers need to tap n not grumble about..

people like my dad who are business owners( he's an exporter) still live a
century away from the net..
but not from good business logic..

Try n have a look at Indiamart.com .. it has co.'s registered on the site which have a turnover of less than 10,000 $ a year.. but Indiamart a typical e-commerce website has used traditional marketing channels to promote themselves ... and yes it has been damn successful ..

I wish alibaba was doing the same in India.. (can u think of more such co.'s??.. there are many)

K now google has my dad's attention ... i just hope he call the no. given in the letter.. as he would need assistance for running the ads...as he can't use the net to check his mails let alone go through the whole process of creating an ad online..

hence .. a 360 degree approach is what works best in India... with Internet just beginning to gain prominence for e-commerce( i say this because the size of e-commerce is minuscule compared to what it would be) all parties involved..be it the websites or the brands..they have to reach out to their customers in a way that leads to better engagement with their targeted audience,
n proper marketing mix is a must for tapping the vast market out here in India...

i remember registering on eBay n getting a letter from them...
Now maybe i'll get a letter from facebook one day??
u never know.. but i'll be really glad..