Social network marketing can be as volatile as it can be bountiful.
I work in the social network marketing space. Social networking has many positives. Can you tell me one negative?
- Saad Rahman, New Delhi
Saad, there are many. But you asked for one. So here goes.
Social networking is a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways. It can be used to spread polite brand-butter, and equally, brand-gore.
Riding social networks is like riding a tiger. If you are on the right side of it, on its back, its fine. If you, however, are in front of it, then God bless!
That's exactly what happened to Brand Kingfisher on social networks. Twitter, Facebook and more were full of brand venom. A service brand in particular gets the raw end of it when things go wrong. Kingfisher fliers have been venting their ire on Twitter and Facebook, for instance. This is to be expected.
As a solution, it is important for social network marketing managers to be forever online and forever alive in managing these programmes. You need scores of micro-site managers and administrators who are forever replying to every individual complaint and query. Answers cannot be generalised or common to all. Answers on social networking sites need to be individually dished out. And that is the challenge. You cannot manage a social network marketing programme like you manage your mass advertising programme.
Most Indian corporates and more importantly, consumer brands do not have an active social networking management programme in place. There needs to be a programme that is alive, and there needs to be a crisis management programme on hand as well. Social networking sites are micro-sites at large. These micro-sites need to be managed in a micro manner, and not with a one-answer-fits-all kind of big paint brush approach.
The fact really is that we are still infants in the social marketing management space. We have discovered something exciting, but we don't know how to manage it finely as yet. Service-oriented brands need to be extra careful when adopting a social network marketing strategy. Remember, it's a strategy, and not a short-term tactic.
Let me ask you a generic question for a change. What are the basic traits of leadership?
- Gowri Rathnam, Bangalore
Gowri, I have kept this question waiting in line for a long time now. Let me get to answer it straight away, from my personal understanding of leadership space.
I do believe leadership embraces some dominant traits. Here goes.
Integrity: Integrity that is personal and professional. Do what you say and say what you do.
Intelligent work: I don't mean “hard work”, instead, “intelligent work”.
Understand people: Learn to read people and be with them come what may.
Acknowledge your mistakes: Be open to mistakes, make them and accept it publicly that you have made a mistake when you have. Look and behave fallible.
Don't invest above the curve: Start small and grow big. But do it slowly. Not too fast. Not too quick.
Talk the walk: Demonstrate your personal ability to do every job. No job is small or mean. Show your office boy an efficient way of sticking stamps on envelopes if necessary.
Don't ever mix business with pleasure: They make for a bad cocktail.
Don't ever pass the buck: Own up and take responsibility for your actions.
Christmas marketing seems to have become big in India. What's with festival marketing?
- P. P. Ponnappa, Mumbai
Ponnappa, festival marketing in India is in boom mode. In the days gone by, the dominant festivals were really Diwali, Dussehra, Holi and a host of other regional festivals. Today, true-blue secular India has adopted Christmas as its own in a big way. In the bargain, festivities revolving around the event have Christmas trees, mistletoe, shiny glitter and more entering Indian homes in a big way. This has actually caused a boom in the demand for Christmas trees and stars, and in the New Year festivities business as well. Never mind what religion you practise, in the bigger metros the Christmas tree is becoming a sign of changing times in secular Indian homes.
The spillover effect is all there. Turkey has become a rage even in the non-turkey eating home. Eating a Christmas lunch or dinner out has become a habit. This habit has morphed, become Indianised even. Today, in Bangalore, we have the Nandhini chain of Andhra food restaurants offering a ‘Turkey thaali' for lunch on Christmas day. What next? Tandoori turkey in New Delhi for Christmas next year?
What is brand positioning really?
- Mohit B. Ranganath, New Delhi
Mohit, brand positioning is the core process of brand equity at large. Brand positioning is essentially the exact pinpointed position a brand occupies in a consumer's mind at a given point of time in relationship to all other brands that occupy that consumer's mind.
Brand positioning, therefore, has several dimensions. One is of exactness. It is all about being focused and precise with whatever is being sought to be owned and communicated. It could boil down to a single word even!
Brand positioning is also importantly about one consumer and not an aggregate group. It is about a point of item as well. BP changes with time. The concept is also about relative ranks and positions with all other brands that occupy a consumer mind.
Brand positioning is therefore the most important concern of a brand manager. Never mind whether you are selling panty hose or an aircraft, positioning is an important aspect to fret about. Fret about it.
(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.)