MxMIndia

Tag: Social Media Week

  • May be there is a need to enhance the workshop part and even live stream it to the paid audience, writes Sanjeev Kotnala

    Sanjeev Kotnala: Social Media Week: Brilliant sessions, but time to go completely online?

    By Sanjeev Kotnala

     

    SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK is still the most happening event in its space. There is a definite growth in live stream watchers and a drop in the delegates physically attending sessions. Full houses were there but not that frequent. On the other side, SMW hit 2000+ people on the live feed. I was also one of them. I attended Day 2 at the venue and rest of the days I was enjoying a perfectly smooth webcast coming in live through April Broadcasting on my Hathway Internet plan. The tweet buzz was keeping me updated on other elements and few what’sapp calls told me of the situation.

     

    The only shortcoming of the live feed was static camera positions and a pillar that physically divided audience in two sections. Thus on live feed you missed the audience feel.  Even during the Q&A, you could hear the voice but could not see the person making the point.

     

    This is what makes me ask for SMW being a complete online event. May be with two live streams. May be with setup that can give it a more holistic feel including audience view. It can still have 40-50 ticketed or invitees as audience. I am told that stakeholders discussed such possibilities.

     

    Workshops were a huge success. May be there is an element of selfishness. Every delegate in workshop cherry picks workshops according to their interest.  They are more focussed and with less gyanbazzi. Example ‘Come, Plan, Go – travel workshop’ and‘Think and Do Dum De Da’

     

    May be there is a need to enhance the workshop part and even live-stream it to the paid audience.

     

    I would believe that some of the organisation would want to live stream the workshops of their interested and if that can be organised in a non-pixelated projection, it could add another stream of delegates. It also saves the travel time what is of concern to all the delegates.

     

    It was a pleasant experience to see that most of the SMW sessions were well-managed and they stuck to their timelines. Other than one or two sessions where few speakers joined late- all most all the speakers made to their sessions on time.  It was a bit of shock to see that very few speakers stayed back for other sessions.

     

    Keeping somewhat thinned delegate presence, the crowd engagements across sessions were very encouraging. I do believe that SMW could have asked questions to be tweeted and leave the moderator to pick the one to be answered. This pushed for focussed questioning and saves time from interactive and not-well-articulated questions.  It also catches the online viewers.

     

    One had to search out and seek event Wi-Fi password. In an event like the SMW, it should have been boldly flashed for people to use. Or may be there is some past experience that made them manages it differently.

     

    Surprised to see some of the panel discussion engaging delegates far more than the single speaker sessions. It was surely a different experience. My feeling is that the panellists were honest, transparent; spoke more like a friend and a mentor which made it exciting. Most of them were so energetic that one had to re-calibrate the speaker volumein live stream.

     

    In my scorecard, 5 out of 10 sessions were good. And 2 out of 10 were fantastic. It is a decent scorecard. Congratulations is due to the Rohit and whole of SMW team.  The event ran smoothly without very few technical snags.  Expectedly SMW was trending most of the time. Someone commented ‘SMW trending is as exciting as finding beer in a pub’. I am not sure how to interpret this.

     

    There were many take-outs depending upon what was your area of interest. I am listing below some of the points that were pushed again and again.

     

    Soon everything will be digital and you will not be able to any more avoid social media. There are three things that make Social Media (SM) work: it’s content, content and content.  To succeed, your content must be searchable and shareable. There is a hot time to tweet- is a myth. In SM, you must not fake things and personalities. Audience is able to smell that. In SM, the best policy is to be you. There is space for multiple platforms. Tier-II and III are digitally ready. To connect with audience, brands must remain relevant. It is the time for traditional with the power of social not social versus traditional. Your medium defines the craft and not the craft defining the media. Brand ambassador must remain relevant to you audience for a long time. Creating acts is about creating platforms, not slogans. It’s about seizing cultural moment. Consumers are no longer just willing to receive the logical rational messages

     

    And then there were some interesting revelations and pointers like Baroda has the highest number of women buying sex merchandise. Arnab Goswani confessed that he woke up to social media in December 2013, in the same breath that believe journalism should drive the conversation and not be driven by it. Consumers are happy when you are transparent and honest.  Men tweet more than females. And the split gets skewed towards males as the evening mounts ( SMW data)

     

    There were sessions that stood out with high attendence and level of engagement . I am listing a few here. The list is not in any order. Diffusing the taboo on sex, digitally. How #socialmedia is shaping Journalism!. How do you define and evaluate the ROI of trending or going viral?. Express, Impress and Progress – Social Media, Creative Up- starts and Intellectual Property. Digital Formats and Content. Cards Against Influencers – A hilarious game that will bring out the dirty secrets and grey shades of Influencer marketing.Let’s Get Real About Real Time Marketing. Digital video: Redefining long form content & brand stories

     

    Interesting safe driving campaign used the SMW platform under #mysafetymylife. Delegates shot pictures with one or the other pledge placard and populated the message on SM. Tata Motors, the main sponsor, had its Shoot with Messi virtual reality both. It was interesting but not something that made you say wow. Disclaimer, I was one of the winner of #madeforgreat contest.

     

    Sanjeev Kotnala is Founder at Intradia World. A Brand, Marketing & Management UnConsult Advisor. He conducts specialised workshops in the area of IDEATION (Harvest and Liberate) and INNOVATION (InNoWait). He focuses energy in enhancing client’s team’s potential and capabilities and decreasing their dependence  on external resources. Email sanjeev@intradia.in  or tweet at s_kotnala visit www.intradia.inwww.sanjeevkotnala.com.

     

  • City set to host the fourth edition of the global event, from February 23-27, 2015

    Social Media Week to focus on ‘Upwardly Mobile – The rise of the connected class’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Bangalore will host the fourth edition of Social Media Week (SMW) in India with the theme being Upwardly Mobile: The Rise of The Connected Class. Multiple sessions through the week will explore the dynamic ways of how social media strategy is converging in multicultural market and how mobility devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones along with social technology have transformed the way we work.

     

    The international festival is hosted twice a year, in India, by R SQUARE Consulting, an integrated marketing services firm.

     

    The five-day event will bring together brands, agencies, influencers, practitioners, academic thinkers, entrepreneurs, public officials, celebrities and international experts, who will provide a blend of information and ideas through panel discussions, debates, master classes and more. Some interesting events in this edition of SMW include the Social Media Strategy Challenge, ‘App’athon, Tweetathon and Blogging Challenge. SMW’15 February edition is scheduled simultaneously across the world in seven cities– Bangalore, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Jakarta, Lagos, Milan and New York.

     

    Speaking on the initiative, P. Krishnakumar, Executive Director & General Manager, Consumer & Small Business, Dell India said, “The marketplace today constitutes of a dynamic set of consumers who are constantly evolving the manner in which they engage with brands and with each other. Social media has been one of the pillars of this evolution and Dell has embraced it as a key medium for outreach to keep in step with them. A consumer brand must recognize the value in being able to reach out to its audience in the manner that they prefer to connect.. We believe that SMW is a platform which explores the dynamic nature of social media. We also see it as the right platform to demonstrate that technological innovation is imperative in this context; and that a successful experience comprises of both the right technology as well as the right medium.”

     

    Rohit Varma, Founder R SQUARE Consulting & Director Social Media Week Bangalore said, “The aim of SMW 2015 is to understand how technology will impact the way we Live, Work and Create in a connected world and also how new ideas, innovations and technology will change our lives. The change is happening quite fast and platform like Social Media Week becomes very important to discuss, understand and implement social strategies for the connected class.”

     

    Globally, 30,000 people came together to be a part of this mega event which was held simultaneously in 11 cities. With 2500 speakers and more than 1000 events, the festival reached out to 555 million people in 2014. This edition of SMW Bangalore will have 60+ events with a league of eminent speakers both national and international joining. Attendee registration will commence at the beginning of February, 2015.

     

  • Reputed influencers, and India's social media savvy politicians, authors will share their perspectives at this year's event

    Speaker line-up announced for third edition of Social Media Week

    By A Correspondent

     

    Approaching its third edition in India and second edition in Mumbai, Social Media Week (SMW) has announced key speakers, who are set to captivate the audience this September, in Mumbai. The line-up of speakers includes social media influencers, bloggers, politicians, authors and international experts, each of whom will share their views on the domain, through presentations panel discussions, debates, workshops, and more. Some of the experts expected at the event, include Rishi Jaitly of Twitter, Vikram Menon of OgivyOne Worldwide, Anaggh Desai of 1+99 Experience Consulting, Mohandas Pai, Manipal Group, Raheel Khursheed of Twitter, Kunal Jeswani of Ogilvy & Mather India, Navdeep Suri, Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sean Gardner, author, co- founder of the Huffington Post “Twitter Powerhouses Series”, Jeff Bullas, a Social Media Marketing Blogger, Strategist & Speaker, Arvind Gupta, Hibernation Innovation Evangelist & The National Head of BJP’s IT Cell, Deepali Naair, CMO, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, Prem Panicker of  Yahoo, Vasantha Kumar, Director Marekting & Communication India & South Asia, IBM, Viral Oza, MD, Nokia India Pvt. Ltd., Richard Lui, Asian-American journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News, Sanjay Tripathy, Sr.EVP Marketing, Digital & eCommerce – HDFC Life.

     

    Based on this year’s theme for SMW, ‘Social media for Social Change’, the renowned speakers will share their insights and knowledge through various sessions, including those on managing diplomacy through social media, social media and politics, building  a career in social media, and New age fight club-Social Media, Disruption & Viral.

     

    Rohit Varma, Founder & Managing Partner, R SQUARE Consulting Services Pvt Ltd, said, “­­­­­­I’m very excited to see many organization & brands from different industries coming on board to curate sessions and making it the biggest crowd-sourced festival. Look forward to the five days social media festivity. I’m quite sure the there is lot more awaiting the audience.”

     

    In addition, SMW has partnered with leading media and integrated communication agencies, including Social@Ogilvy, chlorophyll, UB, TiE Mumbai, The Express Group, The Indian Networker, Construkt festival, mXm India, PageTraffic, AVID Learning, Yellow Seed Content Solutions, Fratelli wines and Steerttalk, to organise the event in India.

     

  • The third edition of the global event will be held from September 22-26, 2014

    SMW 2014 to deliberate on Social Media for Social Change

    By A Correspondent

     

    The second edition of the Mumbai leg of Social Media Week (SMW) has been announced. The five-day event to be held from September 22-26, 2014 will bring together influencers, practitioners, academic thinkers and international experts, who will provide a blend of information and ideas through panel discussions, debates, workshops, and more. SMW 2014 is set to happen simultaneously in 12 cities- Berlin, Chicago, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Mumbai, Rome, Rotterdam, São Paulo, Sydney, and Toronto.

     

    SMW 2014 aims to reach new realms of connectivity and knowledge through social media platforms by creating an ecosystem for influencers, practitioner, brand managers, entrepreneurs, students and social communities. The theme for SMW Mumbai 2014 is Social media for Social Change, with multiple sessions through the week will explore the dynamic ways of how social media has become the greatest marketing tool to the loudest voice of the people. This international festival was founded in New York by Crowdcentric Media LLC and is hosted twice a year, in India, by R SQUARE Consulting, an integrated marketing services agency.

     

    “Dynamism in social media makes social media week really interesting. New technology, platform, insights, usage, there is so much to know hence social media week plays a very important role for the whole community and industry,” said, Rohit Varma, Founder and Managing Partner at R SQUARE Consulting.

     

    SMW’s unique format explores the social, cultural and economic impact of social media, and gives a platform to instil ideas and empower the social world. With a mission to help people and organizations connect through collaboration, learning and sharing of ideas, it garnered an overall reach of 19 million in Mumbai, last year.Globally, 27,000 people came together to be a part of this mega event which was held simultaneously in eight cities. With 1745 speakers and more than 1000 events, the festival reached out to 555 million people in 2013. This edition of SMW Mumbai to have 100+ events with a league of eminent speakers both national and international joining. Attendee registration will begin on August 20, 2014.

     

    SMW has partnered with the leading media and integrated communication agencies GroupM, OgilvyOne, Step Up (inspired by Genesis Burson-Marsteller), Germin8, Chlorophyll, Avid Learning, Page Traffic buzz, MxM India, TiE Mumbai, Construckt Festival and The Indian Networker together to organize the event in India.

     

  • Missed SMWM2013? Read our recap to know what happened and who spoke what

    Social Media Week Mumbai: A Recap

     

    By Fatema Rajkotwala

     

    It was India’s first attempt at what has been a rage internationally. Social Media Week Mumbai happened in the metrop from September 23 to 27 at five different venues from South to North West parts of the city.

     

    Many of the movers and shakers of the digital world converged at India’s first ever dedicated week for social media – Social Media Week’13 or #SMWMumbai. Brought to India by New York’s strategy firm, Crowdcentric, SMW is in its fifth year and has been instrumental in bringing together marketers and advertisers together in over 20 cities globally. For those who could not make it to the #SMW’13, let us take you through the week’s highlights and takeaways with this Executive Summary (Disclosure: MxMIndia was Trade Media Partner of Social Media Week Mumbai).

     

     

    Key Learnings and Insights

    If one were to sum up the pearls of wisdom gathered from the many conversations, discussions, debates and chats at #SMW, these are our picks:

     

    - Engage, Engage, Engage

    - Collaborate and create to translate into consumption and sharing

    - Cross-platform integration is essential

    - Internet penetration and more specifically, social media users in India represent a small subset of the diverse Indian population

    - Choose your social media tools with caution, but your analysts with more caution

    - The social media community and audience is yet to evolve in India

    - Your collective audience will always be smarter

    - There are no rules or rights and wrongs in social media yet

    - Mobile is the next big platform

    - Focus on the trend, not the data point

    - Social media is not cheap - to be truly digital and social, brand need to think 365 days, not 360 degrees

    - Marketing is no longer about creating awareness but what you can do with and for consumers.

     

    Organised by Bengaluru-based marketing services firm R Square Consulting, the week’s agenda saw events held at five locations, over a wide range of themes that spoke on ways to integrate social media in business strategies, how it impacts media and publishing as we know it, politics, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and culture, education and learning and health and wellness. The platform also presented unique opportunities to learn, interact, network and party as it was kept open to the general public.

     

    Day 1- Monday, 23 September

    SMW unofficially began on Sunday, 22 September with Mega Pink, a run with Milind Soman for women’s fitness.

     

    Monday September 23, had a range of interesting sessions lined up at Bluefrog, Lower Parel to kickstart conversations.  An explosive debate organized by IAA with industrious participants such as Jawhar Sircar, CEO, Prasar Bharti, Suhel Seth, Dr Subramanian Swamy, senior BJP leader and Kiruba Shankar, digital entrepreneur on “Social media does not contribute to the socio economic growth of the country”, entertained and gave audiences food for thought.

     

    The day also saw Kalyan Varma, well-known wildlife photographer taking about social media for entrepreneurs; a session by Ben Shiem, Director – Social Media Week, Crowdcentric and Alex Oberberg, Global Head of Markets Engagement, Social Media and Digital, Nokia. Panel discussions on “Social Media: Global platforms and local cultures? Perspectives from different regions” and “Women’s health and fitness: Is social media helping the cause?”,  saw interesting perspective from Unni Radhakrishnan, Head of Digital, South Asia Maxus Global, Max Hegerman – Managing Director, Edelman Digital India; actor, Gul Panag; Devika Bhojwani, social activist and cancer survivor and Dr Sudeep Gupta, professor of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital.

     

    The evening concluded with an interesting discussion on how social media has impacted the Indian music scene, followed by live performances by Ayush Shrestha and the band, Coshish at Bluefrog, Lower Parel.

     

    Day 2 – Tuesday, 24 September

    The second day of SMW witnessed a range of sessions on how social media impacts various spheres such as journalism, education, politics, personal branding and data insights on advertising investment on Facebook. The venues for Day 2 and Day 3 were Bluefrog and The Barking Deer, Lower Parel.

     

    A panel of publishing gurus discussed the role of social media in journalism today. Siddharth Bhatia, senior journalist and author; C P Surendran, editor-in-chief, DNA and Sachin Kalbag, executive editor, Mid-Day shared their valuable experience and insights with the audience and with Pradyuman Maheshwari, editor-in-chief, MxMIndia who moderated the session.

     

    The second enlightening session of the day was Social Squared’s panel discussion on “The Role of Social Media in Politics” with Priti Gandhi, Head Mumbai BJP Communication cell; Mayank Gandhi, Head Mumbai Aam Aadmi Party; Dilip Chalil, Secretary – Indian National Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, national spokesperson for the All India Congress Committee; and Gul Panag, model, actor and Twitter buff.

     

    Other informative events of the day were panel discussions on pertinent topics such as “Traditional Social Media – Done! What next? – Influencer Relations!” by MindShift Interactive; “Hardwiring SoLoMo to Business and not just to Marketing” hosted by AD2C and a presentation by Alexandre Corso, Head of Asian Business Unit, KRDS on “Inside Facebook Insights and Mapping it to GRP”. Mr Corso shared innovations within Facebook that will be game changers and optimistic statistics to help marketers sell and yield better returns for their client investment monies.

     

    The evening switched to the theme of music with an event on “Music Makes Mumbai Go Round” hosted by Drizzlin Media. Audiences were then treated to a live performance by band, Empty Café.

     

    Day 3 – Wednesday, 25 September

    Taking a closer look at how social media conversations are dominated by entertainment and cricket, MxMIndia called upon Hemant Kenkre, former cricketer, commentator and PR consultant; Deepa Gahlot, senior journalist, award winning film critic and Head of Theatre and Films Division, NCPA; and Krishna Vilasini, Genesis Marxstellar to share their insights.

     

    Another point of scrutiny was the negative practices prevalent in social media, and how crowdsourced journalism can be used effectively for content creation. Discussions also percolated around youth and how social media has affected and benefited women entrepreneurs in India. Some of the speakers of the day were Gauri Vij, Editor, Time Out Mumbai; Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Head, Digital, MTV India; Ashwath Ganesan, National Strategy Director, Social @ Ogilvy; Iyer Premkumar, Head, Online Marketing, Gozoop; Saugata Bagchi, Vice President, Tribal Worldwide; Naman Sharma, founder and CEO, U’th Time Magazine; Malini Agarwal, founder and blogger-in-chief, MissMalini Publishing; Pooja Dhingra, founder, Le 15 Patisserie and Priyanka Khanna, fashion features Editor, Vogue India.

     

    Y B Chauhan Centre hosted an interesting set of events including a workshop on digital media by DMTI; “Social by Design” by KRDS and “Mobile governance” by IMI mobile. At evening, there was a live performance by Neeraja Arya and Nitesh More on djembe.

     

    Media agency, GroupM’s office, Goregaon was the third venue of the day where the agency held crowd-pulling sessions such as “Brands in the Youth X Social equation: Expectation & Serendipity”; “Search <3 Social” and “MasterSpeak: Socialization of Branded Content”. Music artist, Winit Tikoo and Sriram Sampat performed live to end the evening.

     

    Day 4 – Thursday, 26 September

    As SMW was coming to a close, you could choose your pick of events from an array of sessions for the day.

     

    At Bluefrog, FoxyMoron held a session on aspiring digital marketing entrepreneurs. Numbers and more were discussed by Mindshift Interactive in “Social Media Analytics – Going Beyond Numbers”.

     

    Other sessions included “Mobile Photography goes Social in The City” by AVID Learning; “Learning Experiments with Social Media” hosted by Jardine Lloyd Thompson India and “Integration & Importance of Search Marketing in Social World” by Web Marketing Academy at The Barking Deer. The final session was hosted by Indian Bikers Week on “Challenges of Riding in India. How social media can help propagate?”

     

    Sessions at GroupM began with a live music performance by Pratyul Joshi. Next was Madhouse’s session titled, “Next stop: Mobile”, followed by sessions on managing customer expectations better by IMI Mobile and interpretation of data and actionable insights by GroupM. The most scintillating session for the day however was the panel discussion on the topic, “Cinema in the age of the internet”. Part of the conversation were Rohan Sippy, Bollywood Film Director and Producer; Guneet Monga CEO, Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd and Pragya Tiwari, Editor-in-Chief, The Big Indian Picture.

     

    Day 5 – Friday, 27 September

    The final day of SMW’13 was organized by GroupM at Westin Hotel, Goregaon. After the opening address by Rohit Varma, Co-Founder, R SQUARE Consulting (CO) and Toby Daniels, Founder & CEO, Crowdcentric, the day covered talking points such as the changing face of advertising agencies in the dynamic social media scenario, brand building, media analytics, technology innovations, the consumer angle to social media, experiential marketing and much more.

     

    Through the day, influencers from their fields discussed and debated various topics at hand. Some of the speakers were Karthik Natrajan, National Director – Social Media Insights, GroupM; Viral Oza, Director Marketing, Nokia India; Ayeshea Perera Executive News Producer, Firstpost.com; Anika Gupta Product Manager – Citizen Journalist Digital CNN-IBN; Ramaa Sharma Digital Editor BBC; Lakshmanan Narayan CEO & Co-Founder Unmetric; Krish Ashok, Head – Web 2.0 Innovation labs Tata Consultancy Services and Anant Rangaswami, Editor, Storyboard.

     

    The entertainment for the evening was a shot of soothing live music by band, Filter Coffee.

     

    Day 6 – Saturday, 28 September

    As part of the Indian Bike Week, bike enthusiasts gathered for the “Chai & Pakoda Bike Ride” at Fountain Hotel, Western Express Highway No. 8 at 7am for an 82 kms bike ride to Hotel Ahura, NH 8.

     

    Through the week, NCPA hosted open exhibitions for photography, lifestyle and culture lovers. “Call of the wild”, “Click Rights”, “Mumbai on Canvas” and Phototalk by Kalyan Varma themed on Mumbai, wildlife photography and art were held at the Piramal art gallery, NCPA.

     

    For those eager to learn, a master class workshop on Mobile Photography by Nokia, a creative workshop by DMTI, a Creative Writing workshop by Yellow Seed Content Solutions and art workshops by Amol Pawar, Kavitha Kale, Neena Singh, Devyani Parikh and Rahul Dangat were also enthusiastically received.

     

    To celebrate – was another important aspect of SMW. The opening and closing bashes, coupled with Miss Malini’s Bombay Street Style Party hosted at Olive Bar and Kitchen and The Barking Deer Meet pulled crowds from all walks of life.

     

    Among the various partners of the Social Media Week (other than MxMIndia) are: BBC, SAP, IMIMobile, Germinait, MindShift Interactive, Unmetric, GroupM, chlorophyll, Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Crossworks, Avid Learning, Sportskeeda, Yellow Seed Content Solutions, Social Samosa, Page Traffic buzz, Social Times, Time Out magazine, Cartel Advertising, Miss Malini, authorSTREAM, and The Indian Networker.

     

  • With panels on crowdsourcing, women entrepreneurs and how entertainment and cricket dominate social media

    Content & more on Social Media Week Day 3

     

    By Fatema Rajkotwala

     

    As the Social Media Week Mumbai progressed into its third day, the panels delved deeper into ways in which conversations are dominated by entertainment and cricket, the negative practices prevalent in social media, and how crowdsourced journalism can be used effectively for content creation. There was even a discussion around youth and how social media has benefited women entrepreneurs in India. The proceedings happended across five hubs in the city and this report covers only the events at two of the venues – Blue Frog and Barking Deer.

     

    Within the Indian context, social media seems to be predominantly ruled by conversations by two major industry giants, entertainment, that is Bollywood, and cricket. In the second of the sessions curated by MxMIndia, Hemant Kenkre, former cricketer, commentator and PR consultant; Deepa Gahlot, senior journalist, awardwinning film critic and Head of Theatre and Films Division at NCPA; and Krishna Vilasini, Managing Partner, Entertainment and Brand Marketing, Genesis Burson-Marsteller to share their insights (Disclosure: MxMIndia is also a Media Partner of the Social Media Week Mumbai).

     

    Agreeing that social media conversations on cricket do seem to overshadow most other talks on social media, Mr Kenkre said, “Cricket, as we know, is a religion in India and even though it seems to be in our face and on our screens, there is very little known about what goes on behind the scenes. This is why social media is a relevant space for fans. Cricket in India is run by an ‘old boy’s club’ and as fans, we don’t get much interesting information on our cricket icons.”

     

    Similarly, Ms Gahlot said that in India Bollywood tends to dominate everything. “Today, you cannot do a book launch, an event or a press conference without involving Bollywood lending its name. In this space, social media caught on fast as a PR marketing tool because a lot of people tend to watch movies than vote. Now everyone is a critic. On the flipside, this has helped small films that would’ve otherwise sunk at the box office, gain mileage and manage do recover costs and do reasonably well. It also creates controversies such as the one surrounding The Lunch Box and The Good Road Oscar nomination. So, social media is a powerful public tool but it is a platform where you cannot control negative opinion.”

     

    Representing the PR industry side of things, Ms Vilasini spoke about how social media is a definite godsend for the communications industry. “Entertainment and television in India is very close to people’s hearts and egalitarian, in sense. We have realized that television viewing is now a multi-screen experience for viewers, counting mobile screens and PC viewing. Social interaction is welcomed and created by us. It makes everyone feel important, have a voice and we embrace, work to amplify and maximize it to fully channelize the power of social media. ”

     

    The panel went on to discuss what the impact of social media has on cricketers and if it affects their performance on the field. Mr Kenkre agreed that at times it does, “Cricketers do check what is being said about them but what is said on any public communication platform is very controlled. Even when they are not officially connected, cricketers or selectors or any official person within the system does not have a chance to come out and explain themselves because at some point they may be part of the industry again. So nobody speak honesty on social media and people who matter in cricket are largely not on social media.”

     

    In response to how do PR agencies handle negative criticism on social media, Ms Vilasini pointed out that maintaining a buzz is of prime importance and that the hotel industry closes the loop well when it comes to negative publicity. “We advise our clients to first listen to what is being said, by whom it is being said and then address it. Most times, if you acknowledge someone’s opinion, the ranting stops. We encourage conversations on Bigg Boss, even though a lot of what is being said is negative. We will be petrified the day no one is talking about a show on television.”

     

    As the head of theatre and art at NCPA, Ms Gahlot spoke on whether apart from affecting Bollywood, social media is making inroads into theatre. “We do monitor reviews and use social media for disseminating knowledge about upcoming events. It also has helped in improving or changing content according to feedback, which is possible with theatre, as opposed to after a film is made. It is considered safe to vent or rant on Bollywood as compared to politics, for example.”

     

    Mr Kenkre spoke for the panel with his closing remark, “The challenge in social media is to engage the audience and do so at the right time.”

     

    Crowdsourced journalism

    Day 3 at SMW also brought up the new byproduct of social media – crowdsourcing in journalism. Avid Learning called in Gauri Vij, Editor of Time-Out Mumbai magazine to share her insights on “Crowdsourced journalism and viral news in the city”. She cited innovative examples of how crowdsourced journalism is being used internationally by the Guardian through its app – Guardian Witness or by Indian helpline, CJNet Swara or Traffline. She also gave example of successful collective blogging ventures such as Moifightclub, a film blog where people can record, report, perceive and share through social media.

     

    Speaking about how her magazine successfully used crowdsourcing for the compilation of its urban dictionary issue, Ms Vij said, “We realized that we needed help and the wisdom of our crowds and we asked for it. Samosapedia has also done this effectively. Social media helps in interacting with your readers, from a marketing perspective it creates a buzz and it also gives immediate feedback on hard worked stories.” When asked if social media undermines the work of resident journalists or comprises on creditability, Ms Vij added, “You have to verify facts and be careful of what you carry.”

     

    Negative practices in the Indian social media

    Moving away from the good face of social media, social media consulting firm Social Samosa brought together a panel of social brand managers and agency experts to talk about the ignored elephant in the room with their discussion on “Negative practices plaguing the social media industry”.

     

    Commenting on the approach of brand managers and brands alike when it comes to social media, Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Head, Digital, MTV India said, “The problem is that brand managers are not working for the brand but more to impress their bosses or are more concerned about the fans or followers of the competition. The buzzword now is Engagement and Facebook is changing its offering accordingly. It is heartening to see some brands care about their content but many a times, contests are being confused with content.”

     

    Bringing in the advertising agency outlook, Ashwath Ganesan, National Strategy Director, Social @ Ogilvy said, “Social, more than digital, tends to be looked at as a cost cutting way of advertising but its is not free. There are time, opportunity and transparency costs. Digital is an expression; social is a behavior and ideas are ideas.”

     

    Iyer Premkumar, Head, Online Marketing, Gozoop spoke about how the problem of client’s insistence on numbers was created by brand managers themselves. “We made clients realize that look at how well your competition is doing.”

     

    Does undercutting by brands and agencies affect innovation due to a decrease in the amount of money pumped into the market? Does this in turn pose the problem of talent retention? Panelists agreed that undercutting of opening up business opportunities. Mr Ganesan said, “I think it is more of a valuation problem than a pricing problem. People don’t know what they want to do on social media. Until companies understand the real impact or value of social media until it becomes a core business position rather than an imposition.”

     

    Is there a lack of ideation in terms of social media campaigns and content which are often inspired from international content or complete rip-offs but are by being applauded through awards? When can we expect a Redbull or an Oreo kind of success in Indian content? Speaking on innovation and new ideas, the panel discussed how most times there is a global mandate being pushed towards a digital spend and the fact that these brands are semi-local leads to global campaigns being adapted and distributed. “Innovation is often confused as doing something first rather than doing something better. All stories have been told; can you do it more interstingly?” said Mr Ganesan. Mr Bagchi added: “While incremental success can be improved upon, explosive success can never be improved upon. Said Mr Bhattacharya: “There is a lot of cool content on the web in India but we are not sure the audience is ready for it.”

     

    The panel also discussed why social media is being used primarily for marketing rather than as a tool for market research or a strong customer service platform. The panelists agreed that an edgy brand can adopt a bolder stand rather than an FMCG brand that is looking at reaching out to a more conservative audience. Said Mr Bhattacharya: “Yes, you can do so much more with it. As an edgy brand, we can take on someone if someone takes a dig at us. This culture is still not high in India.”

     

    However, panelists agreed that it is still too soon to specifically create content for the web audiences in India. Saugata Bagchi, Vice President, Tribal Worldwide stated, “The evolution of the audience is what makes the campaign a success. In India, we’re far away from there. So, I agree with the market forces, which combine to create the concept of adapting, or getting inspired so that in the short term the campaign becomes successful and the medium gets more traction than what it currently has. Another market reality is that even though we’re talking about publishing content, it is seen as a media driven rather than a content driven vehicle.”

     

    Youth and Social Media

    Considering the youth make up for almost the entire userbase of the Indian social media, Naman Sharma, founder and CEO, U’th Time Magazine hosted a discussion on the challenges and proposed solutions for the youth while using social media and the need for better content creation in this context.

     

    Rishi Vohra, author, Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai shared his experience with social media during the promotion of his book, “After understanding the power of this medium in our country, I completely relied on social media to market my book. I kept my story in mind while writing my first book but I have kept the youth in mind for my upcoming book. Social media is a great tool to advance your word of mouth publicity, to brand and position your product but it is not meant for advertising it.”

     

    Addressing the key question of how much social media interaction translates into sales, Sumit Verma, independent film-maker and founder, FitHead Factory shared his personal learning from how social media can be used by artists such as himself to monetize content, “For crowd-funding, Linkedin works better than Facebook or Twitter, which helps more in direct chatting. Social media helps in spreading the word, finding like-minded people, connecting content creators and their audience and turning content viral because of youth and we are a young country. If your content is good, social media will help.” Some other solutions for raising funds were Vimeo, which has begun paid distribution for content or by partnering with Youtube, Wishberry, Indiegogo or Kickstarter.

     

    The panel discussed pertinent issues such as the social media to be used as a tool to bring about social change, a need to train the youth on how to conduct themselves on social media, and how despite the negative content, it can be used to retain consumers and turn critics into loyalists.

     

    Women Entrepreneurs and social media

    Helping leverage women entrepreneurs gain valuable insights on how to use and mark their presence on social media to advance their businesses, Moxie Media and Communications drew a large charter of female audience for their panel discussion. Hosted by Moxie Media Marissa Bronfman, founder and President, the panel comprised Malini Agarwal, founder, MissMalini Publishing; Pooja Dhingra, founder, Le 15 Patisserie and Priyanka Khanna, fashion features Editor, Vogue India. The panel of enterprising women shared their personal social media story, personal insights and techniques on what worked well for them, and urged women to use the platform to the best of their advantages.

     

  • Here are the 10 winners of the contest for entry passes to the last day of Social Media Week Mumbai being hosted by Group M

    Winners of Social Media Week Entry Pass to Last Day Contest

    Social Media Week Mumbai, the hottest tech thing happening to have happened in the city this year, is ending on Friday, September 27. A day full of top draw content is being hosted by Group M at the Westin Hotel, Goregaon (Western Express Highway).

     

    Here are the winners of the Contest that we ran earlier in the day:

     

    Four of the last five digits are:

     

    01. 752×0
    02. 493×4
    03. 338×1
    04. 911×9
    05. 819×8
    06. 989×0
    07. 879×5
    08. 736×2
    09. 805×2
    10. 947×6

     

    Congratulations!

     

    Winners will receive a registration/invite mail by 1pm on Thursday, September 26.

     

  • The two sessions will be held on September 24 and 25 at the Barking Deer, Lower Parel, Mumbai from 12noon to 1pm

    MxM @ Social Media Week, discussions on how social media dictates journalism and how entertainment, television and cricket dominate social media

    By A Correspondent

     

    MxMIndia is hosting two discussions at the Social Media Week Mumbai. The first one – on Tuesday, Sept 24 – is one how social media dictates journalism and the second – on Wednesday, Sept 25 – is on how entertainment, television and cricket dominate social media.

     

    Both sessions will be held at the Barking Deer, Lower Parel, Mumbai from 12noon to 1pm.

     

    In the session on journalism (and journalists) getting influenced by social media, the panelists are: Sidharth Bhatia, senior journalist and author; CP Surendran, editor-in-chief, DNA and Sachin Kalbag, executive editor, MiD-Day.

     

    For the panel on how social media in India is dominated by entertainment and cricket, the panelists are: Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, Hemant Kenkre, former cricketer and columnist, Deepa Gahlot, awardwinning critic and Head of Theatre and Films at NCPA and Omar Qureshi, editor-in-chief, Zoom.

     

    Registrations can be done at the Social Media Week website.

     

  • A Q&A with Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric on the eve of the Social Media Week Mumbai (September 23-27)

    Jaldi 5 with Toby Daniels, CEO, Crowdcentric: Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13

    Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric is going to be among the speakers at the Social Media Week Mumbai (September 23-27), and is excited about the concept taking shape in India and Mumbai specifically. Fatema Rajkotwala engaged him in a quick Q&A on the eve of the event.

     

    01. How has the experience been so far in the process of organising the maiden Social Media Week in Mumbai?

    We are always excited to SMW expand. Given India’s presence in the mobile and tech space, Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13. SMW is a distributed conference and we’re honoured to have RSquare Consulting taking the helms for SMW Mumbai. The team has been responsive and quick to help us understand the cultural aspects of hosting SMW in India. We can’t wait to see the week unfold.

     

    02. Tell us how India and Mumbai specifically are viewed globally in terms of digital footprint?

    India is emerging as a major digital force. The Facebook userbase here has amassed more than 60+ million. Yet, we know that it’s only beginning to grow. Social media is available for only 60% of the entire Indian audience, and we think Mumbai’s digital industries will be a leader in helping bridge this digital gap.

     

    03. What is Crowdcentric’s vision and philosophy for SMW now on?

    We are experiencing one of the biggest shifts in how we communicate in human history. Because of this, our aim is to provide the best information, ideas and inspiration to help people understand how to achieve more in a hyper-connected world.

     

    04. Social media is the flavour of the season now, but a decade hence?

    We are often asked about the direction we plan to take Social Media Week and what we’ll do when social media is no longer en-vogue.

     

    Whether social media as a term is popular in the future or not has no bearing on the mission we’re embarking on.  The world is changing is fundamental ways due to the speed at which technology has permeated our lives and created a connected society.  For example, in the past 10 years, 3 billion people have connected to each other through the Internet and mobile technology.  This has already created a seismic shift in how we connect and communicate, but it’s really just the tip of the iceberg.  In the next ten years, as technology continues to advance, as the global population continues to grow, especially in emerging markets such as China, India and in Latin America and Africa and as mobile technology becomes even more ubiquitous we are going to see an additional 3 billion people  join the grid and come online.

     

    05. And the impact of Social Media on society?

    We can’t tell what impact this will have and we’re not sure how societies, governments and economies around the world will change as a result, but with the support of some of the world’s brightest minds, our community, our Local City Organizers, we aim to be the biggest and most influential platform that connects people around the issues that matter and a be the most important platform that provides a way for us to explore how our lives, culture and human behavior will change in the future.

     

  • Starting Monday, 23 September, over a hundred events to be held in six venues including Mantralaya and Group M will celebrate and discuss social media

    Mumbai to go Social next Week

     

    By Fatema Rajkotwala

     

    After garnering much success and kudos in over 20 cities globally, New York strategy firm Crowdcentric’s brainchild, Social Media Week (SMW), comes to Mumbai. Digital buffs and enthusiasts will attend their first solely focused social media conference. Organized by Bengaluri-based marketing services firm RSquare Consulting the event will comprise over a hundred scheduled sub-events spread over a span of a week starting Monday, September 23 to Friday, 27 September, 2013 across six venues in Mumbai.(*See Disclaimer)

     

    Toby Daniels, Founder & Executive Director, Social Media Week, and CEO, Crowdcentric is excited about the experience of bringing the Social Media Week to Mumbai, “Given India’s presence in the mobile and tech space, Mumbai felt like a natural fit for SMW13. SMW is a distributed conference and we’re honoured to have RSquare Consulting taking the helms for SMW Mumbai. The team has been responsive and quick to help us understand the cultural aspects of hosting SMW in India. We can’t wait to see the week unfold.”

     

    MxMIndia is curating and hosting two sessions at Social Media Week Mumbai.

    The details of these are as follows:

     

    How Social Media dictates Journalism

    Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2013

    Time: 12noon to 1pm

    Venue: The Barking Deer, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Lower Parel

     

    Like it or not, social media dictates the way journalism in India happens. Newspapers and television channels track celebrites and people in office zealously and that dictates the way the news flow works. For many newsmakers, Facebook and Twitter are a godsend as they can now reach out to their TG and the media directly and with much ease.

     

    Panelists:

    1. C P Surendran

    Editor-in-Chief, dna

     

    2. Sidharth Bhatia

    Senior journalist and author

     

    3. Sachin Kalbag

    Executive Editor, Mid-Day

     

    Moderated by Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-chief and CEO, MxMIndia

     

    How ETC rules Social Media

    Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2013

    Time: 12noon to 1pm

    Venue: The Barking Deer, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Lower Parel

     

    News and discussions on EntertainmenT and Cricket rule the social media. How has it changed the way cinema, television and cricket function? Do cricketers get influenced by what is being discussed on social media. Ditto with cinema and television?

     

    1. Raj Nayak

    CEO, Colors

     

    2. Deepa Gahlot

    Senior journalist, awardwinning critic and Head of Theatre and Films, NCPA

     

    3. Omar Qureshi*

    Editor-in-chief, Zoom

     

    4. Hemant Kenkre

    Former cricketer, commentator, columnist and PR consultant

     

    Moderated by Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-chief and CEO, MxMIndia

     

    *To be confirmed

     

    What to expect?

    Social Media Week will host to an array of over 100 events themed around advertising, marketing, politics, government, science and technology, business and entrepreneurship, lifestyle and culture, media and publishing, society and environment, education and learning, health and wellness and ofcourse opportunities to network and party.

     

    Over the week, there is a mixed bag of workshops, seminars, exhibitions, parties and speakers lined up such as Dr Subramanian Swamy, Suhel Seth, Gul Panag, Kiran Khalap, Deveika Bhojwani, Subhamoy Das (e-Bay), Harshil Karia (FoxyMoron), Toby Daniels and Benjamin Scheim (Crowdcentric) among others.

     

    The multiple venues across the city are also eyebrow-raisers. These include Mantralaya, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), GroupM office, Bluefrog, the Barking Deer, the Westin and Trident. As reported earlier by MxMIndia, the event is open to the general public, being an essential part of the social media.

     

    SMW has a visibly city-focused angle. Toby Daniels spoke of how Mumbai and India are viewed globally in terms of their digital footprint, “India is emerging as a major digital force. Its Facebook userbase has amassed more than 60 million. Yet, we know that it’s only beginning to grow. Social media is available for only 60 per cent of the entire Indian audience, and we think Mumbai’s digital industries will be a leader in helping bridge this digital gap.”

     

    Social Media Week Mumbai kickstarts on Monday, 23 September at Bluefrog with a power packed day of interesting topics hosted by IMI Mobile, RSQUARE, International Advertising Association (IAA) and SAP, followed by music performances by artists and the SMW Mumbai Opening Bash by Mindshift Interactive.

     

    From the advertising and marketing arena, September 27 is another day to watch for. The Barking Deer and Westin will host various talks by Group M and other media agencies. Buzz generating topics such as “I’ve got my fans, now show me the money” by Drizzlin Media, “Social by Design: Vada Pav meetup” at Mantralaya are some others to keep an eye out for.

     

    Tushar Vyas, Managing Partner, Group M South Asia spoke of GroupM’s association with SMW, “Social media is becoming central to communication – helping integrate all communication channel. We would like to help highlight the role of social media in marketing communication. Social media is at the heart of adaptive marketing and to look at it as an island would be a big folly. One needs to step back and also peer in at the same time. This is why we at Group M are trying to weave in elements of this medium into everything we do – from activation to content to campaign.”

     

    The week will also see exhibitions themed on Mumbai, wildlife photography and art at the Piramal Art Gallery, NCPA hosted by CRY, R Square Consulting and Indianartcollectors.com. Nokia will also be conducting a Masterclass on Mobile Photography.

     

    The Bombay Street Style Party at Olive Bar and Kitchen is another event to mark your calendar for.

     

    SMW will begin with ‘Mega Pink’, registrations for the women’s fitness run at Shivaji Park by Maximus Events and will end on 28 September with the Chai and Pakoda Bike Ride hosted by the Indian Bike Week.

     

    Why should you be there?

    If you use social media on a professional front or as a means for individual brand development or deal with anything in the digital space, Social Media Week is the place to be. In today’s hyper-connected world though, this includes everyone from brands, digital agencies, entertainers, individual artists, government verticals, and basically, everyone.

     

    Shedding light on Crowdcentric’s philosophy and vision for social media, Mr Daniels said, “We are experiencing one of the biggest shifts in how we communicate in human history. Because of this, our aim is to provide the best information, ideas and inspiration to help people understand how to achieve more in a hyper-connected world. We are often asked about the direction we plan to give Social Media Week and what we’ll do when social media is no longer en-vogue. Whether social media as a term is popular in the future or not has no bearing on the mission we’re embarking on. The world is changing is fundamental ways due to the speed at which technology has permeated our lives and created a connected society.”

     

    Social Media Week promises to be the platform to bring together people from different walks of life to come and share their experiences and learnings of how social media has benefitted them. R Square Consulting, the city organizer for the event, has partnered with the Government of Maharashtra, advertising professionals, photographers and individuals from the entertainment industry who will guide the public through the events chalked out each day.

     

    Hemant Soreng, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the firm spoke to MxMIndia about how an event of this scale will provide multiple takeaways for the public. “Some of the objectives are to help learn to collaborate to share and educate; amplify existing causes/issues within the social media industry; networking and meeting people from different backgrounds; a city-based event that will put Mumbai on the social media map globally. Our vision is for Social Media Week becoming one of the regular annual festivals of Mumbai.”

     

    The Buzz creators

    Talking about the challenge in organizing a new format event such as this, R Square founder Rohit Varma told MxMIndia, “As a format, Social Media Week is unconventional in terms of venues chosen, partnerships and its audience. The basic philosophy here is to collaborate and connect. India has not witnessed this kind of a conference format, which is why when we began talking to partners it took a little while for everyone to realize the power of this format. With this event, we are building the community as social media touches everybody, making it a B2B and B2C event. It is not just about brand development or social media tools; it is about how individuals, artists, a brand use social media, or how an agency uses tools to understand consumer behavior. That is the amazing part of SMW – it is by the community for the community.”

     

    Talking about the challenges and preparations that went into putting the event in place, Mr Soreng said that the newness of the format of the conference that is based on crowdsourcing, posed some difficulty in the beginning but things eased up along the way, “We started the process five months ago by putting an advisory board in place, which comprised experts and veterans from the advertising, marketing, government, media and entertainment industries. We are primarily based out of Bengaluru and have an office in Mumbai. With a systematic plan, timelines and a project plan, along with the global team that we worked with, now there is a buzz that is helping. We believe that next year it would be bigger. The experience has been great so far, challenging but we have learned a lot.”

     

    From the company’s business philosophy perspective, an event focused on social media neatly fits into their ideology. Mr Varma added: “One of the services we provide is events and activations. This is what we want to do and this year being the maiden event in India, I’d say this will go bigger and bigger.”

     

    These features contribute to what makes this conference unique in its own right. The Social Media Week has been favourited the world over for its potential for global collaborations, interesting and educative workshops, knowledge sharing and eclectic mix of speakers and attendees. Mumbai sure is awaitin’

     

    * Disclaimer: MxMIndia is a trade partner of the event and is also curating and hosting two sessions