MxMIndia

Tag: e-book

  • GK Suresh of ITC Foods in an extract fm Simplify360's ebook,Predictive Analytics 2013:The future of social media

    How social media can reveal the mystery of brand loyalty

     

    G.K Suresh – General Manager, ITC Foods

     

    Let’s face it. Customers are no longer loyal or rather they are loyal but to brands that understand and engage with them in the new world. The messages carried by the advertisements are no longer compelling. For years, brands were able to suppress the consumers’ voice. But now, all it takes is a Tweet or a Facebook update from an irate customer and the world knows about it. Honesty has become most brands’ top priority.

     

    Maintaining brand loyalty has suddenly become the biggest challenge. Moreover, the entire concept of loyalty is vague. All thanks to Facebook, where one person is interacting with several competing brands, all at once. In such a scenario, traditional branding exercises are no longer effective in getting the attention of customers. This is further complicated by the variety of devices where such micro eco-systems exist.

     

    This is the result of the digital convergence of culture, business and economy into bits and bytes. So, this is where lie not only the challenges but also huge opportunities for brands to understand their customers. Digging into the wealth of social media data, brands can today discover consumer insights like never before.

     

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Having taken the corporate world by storm, social media today is today spreading its wings far and wide and is no longer just a casual hangout for users. The possibilities that it offers are endless, and it’s been proven beyond doubt that social media is no longer a fad. It means serious business for brands. But with this realization there is also the truth – about enterprises not being equipped with right tools and human resources to leverage social media.Simplify360, a firm that enables organizations to effectively implement social media concepts into core business functions, has released an e-book titled ‘Predictive Analytics 2013: The future of social media.’ The study saw the firm connect with different professionals active in the field of social analytics and learn from them about the future of social media. The book is an attempt by Simplify360 to reach out to the experts in the social media field in order to learn the meaning of what predictive analytics meant in social media and its role in the future of social media.

     

    Predictive analytics has been around for a long time and slowly these analytic tools are finding their way into the marketing and social media arenas. What predictive analytics does is use behavioural data from past to predict how individuals will behave in the future. Some of the experts who have contributed in the book include Ajay Kelkar of Hansa Cequity, GK Suresh of ITC Foods, Ankita Gaba of Social Samosa, Bhupendra Khanal of Simplify360 and the others. MxMIndia presents extracts of the article by GK Suresh who has written on ‘How Social Media can reveal the mystery of brand loyalty’.

     

    There are 4 steps to understanding customer insights through social media:

    # Find out what people are talking about and why

    # Find out who is talking and influencing the crowd

    # Use this intelligence to optimize your brand’s message to impact in real-time.

    # Measure your interaction and influence of the messages and optimize them.

     

    One brand that has successfully utilized the above steps is Bingo! with the launch of Bingo! Tangles on Facebook. With over 3 million fans, Facebook offered Bingo! a great window into understanding consumers conversations. Consumers use these forums to talk about their likes & dislikes and welcome new information on product as they find it appetizing, tempting &satisfies their need for variety. Consequently we decided to launch the new Bingo Tangles first on Facebook and give a chance to loyal Bingo! fans to discover the product and also taste it before it hit the market. A teaser contest was created for Facebook fans which encouraged them to decipher the brand name and the winners could taste the product before it was made available in the market. Thousands of fans participated in the contest and packs of Bingo Tangles were sent to the winners. This campaign helped us connect with the brand advocates and also use Facebook as a launch platform for various other brands.

     

    Data is a vital raw material for building the business infrastructure in the information age. Brands that can put systems in place to access, process and utilize the data will be the most successful in connecting with the customers and influence their decisions.

     

    The key idea behind customer loyalty is customer retention. There are already different programs, which   businesses employ like reward programs, referral programs and 1-to-1 marketing campaigns to ensure that customers stay with the brand. But social networks are taking over these programs in terms of gaining a deeper relationship with the brand.

     

    There are 3 ways to use social media data to improve and make social programs much more effective:

     

    1. The Brand should genuinely care

    When you embark on the social media journey, be prepared to respond to negative as well as positive feedback and genuinely do something about consumer problems. On the Aashirvaad Multigrains Facebook page one of the fan brought to our notice unavailability of Aashirvaad Multigrains atta in her area. We used this info to investigate the issue with our sales team and figured out that there was an issue with the sales person operational in that area. Action was taken immediately and we called back the consumer to validate that her problem had been addressed.we figured out that this was an issue due to the sales person operational in that area. Thus listening to a single fan, who was representing a cluster of consumers in that region, we were able to resolve issues faced by many such consumers in that region.

     

    2. Engage without losing focus on your brands

    Many times the focus on the content posted on Social Media platform goes to extremes. Either it is too generic or it is too brand centric. There should be a proper balance.

     

    3. Brands have to learn to converse with consumers as equals

    Brands are too used to speaking to consumers from a position of authority & knowledge and not as a friend. But today brands need to learn to converse with the consumers on equal terms & be seen as an enabler.

     

    The key thing is to do it without compromising on the brand “personality”. Hence the voice of Bingo! is more youthful & contemporary; the voice for Aashirvaad is always joyful & optimistic while that of Kitchens of India is authentic & welcoming.

     

    So we now know why and how social media can help decipher the mystery of brand loyalty. But the last portion and the most vital one, is to understand how to measure this in social media. There are 4 factors, which one must consider while looking into brand loyalty in social media:

     

    1. First of all, what are customers talking about your brand and how? What are their attitudes and sentiments towards your brand? What is their feeling towards your brand? Are they neutral, friendly, hostile or ignorant? This helps brand not only understand the emotion but also map them along the brand attributes and identify the missing bits.

     

    2. Secondly, to understand the emotional connection between a customer and your brand and measuring the strength of the bond. Most often an out-burst by a customer is temporary, and can be mitigated easily. Hence, identifying such customers is vital. Many a times the reverse is true as well. There was once a complaint on Facebook by a consumer on the quality of Atta. Before we could begin to address the problem, 3 other consumers had responded asking the fan to check the storage conditions at the outlet of purchase as well as her kitchen.

     

    3. Thirdly understand that the customer is likely to buy more than one segment of products from the brand. This sends much a stronger signal of loyalty.

     

    4. And finally, know which platforms are more effective in communicating with the customer. Email, Social Networks, Mobile, TV, Tablets and the list goes on. The avenues where customers are present are wide. Hence identifying the top engaging platforms and optimizing them is vital.

     

    Mining social data and building your decision systems on top of it is the secret of successful customer retention. The main goal is to make an emotional connection with the customer in each interaction to increase referrals, retention and acquisition.

     

  • It's possibly one of the world’s most difficult questions, but veteran adman and trainer R Sridhar has tackled it with a collection of, well, ideas.

    How to get ideas (& climb the corp ladder)

     
    By Tuhina Anand

     

    Veteran adman and now business and innovation coach R Sridhar has come out with an e-book titled ‘How to get ideas – an incomplete book’. The book is a collection of insights from various people who have shared their mantras on how they get their ideas. Mr Sridhar, who is former chairman at OgilvyOne Worldwide and director at O&M, and whose website is at ideasrs.com, explained, “I am an innovation coach and I work with people to help them do things differently. So when it comes to doing things differently, idea plays an important role in achieving this. I have had several conversations with people on what triggers an idea in them and this led me to collate the responses and put it in a book.”

     

    Mr Sridhar calls it an incomplete book because he hopes to come out with version 2 in three to six months’ time, where he aims to include not just national players but inputs from global players. However, Mr Sridhar categorically avers that the book is not targeting advertising professionals as he adds that most in the business think they know it all, but largely aims at the corporate world.

     

    He added, “We are all creative in one way or the other but don’t really know how to express it.  While some may have the opportunity to express their creativity in the outer world many don’t. The purpose of the book is to help people find their own creative streak. There are many places when we are stuck and don’t know how to move ahead or are not comfortable asking for help. The book will help people in different situation by giving them cues and find their groove.”

     

    Mr Sridhar in fact says that the book will be handy for even professionals like doctors, lawyers and even homemakers. In your daily life if you are stuck even for simple things like planning a menu for an evening dinner, the book will give cues on how one can be creative and, with minor variations and combining different things, can come up with an innovative menu.

     

    He concluded, “Most importantly, in today’s corporate world there is a need to be innovative to lead. The person with ideas will move up the ladder at a quicker pace than any other and that’s where this book comes into play. For any ambitious person who wants to succeed, I would suggest he should keep a copy of the book on his laptop.

     

    Click on the image for larger view

    Excerpts from the e-book:

     

    Pulling strings in the head

    Few things I always do. Look out for interesting and unique stuff while I travel, watch TV,   read, talk with family, watch movies… I register it in my mind (luckily it stays there for ever). 🙂 When my sales team comes with a brand brief, I read a lot about the brand, understand it well  and thereafter,  my mind automatically starts pulling strings from all the available information in my head.

     

    Then…..I get the first spark of an idea… After that I go talk to different people about it, get inputs, shape it, modify it, answer their questions. If I scrap the idea I go back to step 2.

     

    Aparnaa Rajasekar

     

    Helicopter ride in the mind

    I remind myself that ideas are everywhere if I choose to look.  I try to take completely unrelated things and try to connect them to the problem. Something I came across in DeBono’s work really struck home with me. Roughly he said, everything can be connected  with everything else. Thinking laterally is like taking a helicopter ride and getting dropped off in an unknown location (unrelated object) and finding your way back home (the problem) by making connections.

     

    Among specific things I do to generate ideas: sleep on the problem and wake up early. I find I am in a great frame of mind at this time. I try to find someone who will listen uninterruptedly so that I can speak aloud, hear myself think. I am able to generate more ideas like this.

     

    I spend time by myself, retreating inwards; I spend time browsing the internet, looking for inspiration; I drive; I talk to my wife; sometimes my dogs; to my dictaphone; to my colleagues at office; to my clients.

     

    Santhan Reddy

     

    Ray of light passing through

    Ideas often are often like , a ray of light, it just passes through the mind while doing something totally unconnected. Could be while cooking, drinking coffee, reading a book, taking a walk, reading the newspaper, bathing and very often while on the pot (pardon me saying that).While travelling by car, is another time when ideas flash past. I personally use mind mapping to generate ideas and solutions to complex situations. Invariably I note them down as the thought is lost as we get busy in something else. If I need to generate ideas, thoughts I generally go to a room, sit down, relax and allow thoughts to flow. This is invariably while doing problem solving or looking at multiple options. Bouncing off ideas is with a close friend who will be objective and tell me if i am terribly wrong.

     

    Laila Sethna

     

    Just let it be

    I first surf the net for the subject and randomly follow links to related subjects. Almost like immersing myself in the topic. Someone somewhere has always faced a similar problem. I have found from hard experience that its best not to actively think about ideas. Just let it be and sleep over it. Then I talk to some selected people who are good sounding boards about the general subject (NOT ideas). They usually ask me some more questions during the discussion. Again I let all this be in my mind. Ideas then just come to me… sometimes inspired by imminent deadlines.

     

    What not to do (for me)

     

     

    Active brainstorming – I find this yields superficial and obvious ideas.

    Tell people that I am looking for ideas – again people limit their thinking and discussion and come up with the most top of head obvious stuff.

    Generate ideas without researching the material.

    Pressure myself for “ideas” – just doesn’t work.

     

    What works

     

     

    Talking to specific people who are able to think and talk at an abstract level – then I manage to find analogies from unrelated areas.

    Talking about the subject without a goal in mind.

    Talking to my kids – sometimes yields surprising ideas

    Surfing, surfing, surfing with broader and broader search terms.

    Thinking of the subject when I go to sleep. Often, I wake up with an idea.

    Nalini

     

    Just start writing

    I just start writing my ideas. If I wait for ideas to come, they never do. But when I sit down and start writing, then they seem to come out. Writing is usually on the laptop on the iPad.   When writing, I try to structure my thinking. Mind maps help quite a bit.

    Suman Srivastava

     

    Excerpted with permission from the writer.

    The e-book ‘How to get Ideas’ can be accessed at http://ideasrs.com/ebook/