MxMIndia

Tag: Rohini Kapur

  • Everyone’s talking, most of which is meaningless chatter, but no one’s listening on the social media, feels Rohini Kapur

    The Anchor: 7 painful social media trends

    1. Idiotic “movements”:

    Social media is a place to hang out and chill with friends. And inane conversations are part of the mix. But some of these private conversations are going public and turning into hotly debated topics, communities and even “movements”. Like the WTF or “Women Take Forever” movement that has caught the fancy of over 31,000 men who have hit the “like” button because they think women take too long to get dressed.

     

    2. Contests… and some more contests:

    The Indian social media scene is exploding with contests of all kinds. Not much wrong with that, except that it’s become one of the few ways to draw attention. What’s worse, each contest seems exactly the same as the previous one. In a single day, I spotted three recipe contests on Facebook from different brands.

     

    3. Cloned content:

    Everyone’s talking about the same thing, whether it is Sachin’s pending century, Farhan Akhtar’s birthday or a certain song about soup boys. And then comes the copy-pasting of one-liners, jokes, images and videos. Facebook Walls and Twitter feeds are the new SMS, perhaps.

     

    4. Meaningless Twitter fights:

    Person A (usually a celeb) tweets something. Person B objects. Or Random Person sends hate tweets to celeb. Celeb responds with anger, sarcasm, close to a personal attack. Fight ensues. Enough said!

     

    5. Everyone’s talking, no one’s listening:

    Conversations, discussions, polls are all great ways to talk to fans and customers. But how about listening to them for a change? Bad product and service experiences abound, and they aren’t necessarily on the brand’s Facebook Page.

     

    6. Missing the brand story:

    For most brands, the only constant is to post “something”, with the brand’s voice, depth of content and messaging almost an afterthought. For instance, most media brands use social media only to post links to stories on their website, rather than encouraging debate and discussion or positioning the brand.

     

    7. Lots of fans, no engagement:

    We all know Facebook brand pages with thousands or even lakhs of fans, but take a look beyond the numbers, and the community seems moribund. Very low or no engagement, silly comments and disinterested fans. Wonder what will take the page admins and brand managers to shake things up.

     

    Rohini Kapur works in social media and web strategy and runs a fashion blog

  • There are hundreds of brands on Facebook at any given moment vying for your target group’s attention, even as Mark Zuckerberg introduces changes every few weeks.

    The Anchor: 6 reasons why ‘Likes’ aren’t a good indicator of Facebook popularity

    By Rohini Kapur

    The Facebook rat race has begun, and everyone’s racing to beat competing brands by gathering as many ‘Likes’ as possible. So while the fight for market share and the next bestselling product rages on, marketers are doing their best to win the Facebook battle. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of brands on Facebook at any given moment vying for your target group’s attention, even as Mark Zuckerberg introduces changes every few weeks. Meanwhile, as Indian users become more discerning online, the number of ‘Likes’ (or fans) on your page has can be quite misleading. The top six reasons your page ‘Likes’ don’t really indicate how many people really like your Facebook page:

    #1 ‘Likes’ (or fans, as they were called earlier) are there to win goodies: Let’s face it– most Indians are constantly on the look-out for freebies. From stickers to sunglasses, MP3 players to mobile phones, they will do anything for a chance to win something cool. They may not be interested in your brand or your updates– they are just there to impress their new girl with the free BlackBerry.

    #2 ‘Likes’ does not mean engagement: One reason brand managers love the online space is because a user can “engage” or “interact” directly with the brand. Sadly, that’s not always the case. A large number of fans does not always lead to a highly engaged audience. So if you’ve got 1 lakh fans but only 15 comments and 50 likes in response to your updates, it’s time to wonder whether the remaining 95,935 people really bother reading your updates at all.

    #3 They like your brand or product, but not your page: Some of the most loved international and Indian brands have just as good pages with updated content, a distinct voice, and a vibrant community. But then there are those with thousands of ‘Likes’ that have run-of-the-mill content, generic updates and somewhat relevant information from time-to-time. The question is– are those people still on the page because they like your brand or because they like your page? There is a small but significant difference here– a consumer may joined your community based on a wonderful experience he had with your product, but is not enjoying the brand story on Facebook.

    #4 A fan has forgotten about your page: Very often, a user ‘Likes’ a page because he likes what he sees, but he joins other pages and gets busy with things such as his real life, friends’ kids’ photos and viral videos. As a result, his engagement with the page drops, the page’s Edgerank falls, and the page updates tend to disappear unless the user scrolls all the way down his news feed. If he doesn’t see you updates, do he still like your page?

    #5: ‘Likes’ could be lurkers, haters or wannabes: A number of fans on brand pages just want to know what people are saying about the brand, product or service, especially before buying high value products like cars. They want to know product features, new collections, prices, and how the brand responds to complaints about poor service. Similarly, a number of fans are there just to complain. And then there are the wannabes that you are almost everywhere– you see them ‘liking’ every post, competing with others to be the first to comment or advising others. They aren’t really there because they love your page, they are there for timepass on Facebook.

    #6: They ‘liked’ your ad, your welcome/ landing tab or the Mallika Sherawat picture you posted: As a reflex action, users have begun seeking the ‘like’ button (or a thumbs up, star etc) online when they see something that amuses, enthralls or captivates them. Pressing the ‘Like’ button on your page could be due to a variety of reasons– the very cool ad they saw on Facebook, the Facebook widget on your website, an attractive landing tab or a hot picture of their favourite actress.

    Rohini Kapur works in social media and web strategy and runs a fashion blog.