Just a few days old at iridium (Delhi office), I was put in the team to work on this project. We were given a flat 15 days to get the new design and the entire back-end implemented, but kudos to our technical team (also consisting of new joinees) for getting the portal up and running. This year we also ensured active customer support (making sure that we answer each and every query) and extended it to social media (via Facebook); additionally we also used the fan page to generate buzz.

The project received a tremendous response of 40,000 business plans got submitted on the website.

The project exposed me to the absolute vastness in terms of budget, impact, brand awareness and connect and the impact such an activity could have. There was a lot of cross functional synergy required, a lot of fire-fighting (at times), a lot of unlearning and learning and hard work and all of this was worth when our team got the chance to attend the Grand Finale and to watch the participants we have interacted with/supported/helped deliver those business plan presentations. It was like reliving the entire 4-5 months of working on the project.

And then came the big one, the announcement of the Grand Finale winner! It was a great feeling for us to have helped someone to win a brand new WagonR and Rs 10 Lakhs.

In the photograph, this is our team with Ms. Aparna Bhatnagar (winner of the WagonR Think Big Challenge).

Not to forget we (our team) got a chance to meet Madhavan (aka Manu of Tanu weds Manu) and we even got a photograph clicked with him ☺

Overall it’s been a kick ass experience and we are already looking forward to its next edition.

The Case
The client’s problem stemmed from a reputation issue that they had noticed but did not resolve hoping it would die down with time. An ex-employee had been spreading false rumors about the organization on various portals related to the industry and this was slowly eroding the goodwill the company enjoyed. Potential employees walked away and, they later guessed, a few potential clients too. Our client had no idea until someone pointed it out to them. The posts were read in horror, duly noted and the company decided to wait it out. This was November 2009. A few token efforts were made to douse the flames but discontinued when they realized they were egging on the bloggers. An email began circulating saying blatant lies about the company.

In March 2010, an old customer pointed this out to them and they knew something had to be done. Legal notes were sent but the forum owner was neither legally liable nor could he violate the integrity of his website by deleting posts. The only option left to them was to take the bull by the horns and they were little equipped to do so.

This is when iridium Interactive was called in. Here is a snapshot of the things we did to build a stronger reputation

Listening:
iridium set up its monitoring tools starting with simple free ones like Google Alerts and free online monitoring tools along with our own social media monitoring system. We listed out in detail all the forums and websites where the company was being spoken about favorably as well as negatively and set about identifying influencers who really affected the online reputation of the company.

Responding:
As soon as we got a picture of the kind of things that were being spoken about, iridium swung into action and listed out appropriate responses for the same. We engaged clients and employees to promote a positive view of the company. where there were negative reviews, we stepped in and resolved people’s queries.  Our SEO machinery swung into action working to position relevant information on the first few pages of major search engines instead of the false rumors. We went a step further and created positive conversations on more credible communities.

Engaging:
iridium set up social media accounts to represent the company online. We dug into twitter and started slowly to interact with the influencers in their field. A facebook page served as a touchpoint for the employees of the company, slowly evolving as an extended platform to promote activities, updates and discussions.  The blog which we set up and maintained was a mix of industry news and company updates positioning the company as a thought leader and industry peer.

Within six months we noticed a remarkable change. The damaging reviews and emails subsided. The company’s sentiment index swung from red to green. A greater chunk of information about the company was positive and positioned in the initial pages of web results. At an industry conference they were recognized for what really mattered, their performance, and pulled in greater business. iridium’s efforts on the online reputation management program had worked. This is now an an integral part of the company’s work ethic. Never again will they ignore the multitude of voices that speak about them.

iridium Interactive is a pioneering company with over 10 years of experience in the field of internet marketing.  we have been in the ‘social media’ field from before the term existed.

Follow us on twitter and facebook to stay current with what is happening in the industry and how simple interventions can benefit you.

Aide et Action [South Asia], an organization working to empower people by providing quality education to all, has launched an initiative called Punni Ki Kahaniyan, a series of short films that uses the voice of a young girl to tell children stories built around the values of multiculturalism, communal harmony and education. The first of the series, an 18 minute film, shows children the bright side of cultural harmony and the pitfalls of ragging, bullying and racism. By showcasing the varied cultures that represent India through the eyes of schoolchildren, the film is a teaching aid that also opens the eyes of adults to the fact that we are one people and that a herd mentality that propagates racism and divide is to be shunned.

Support Punni through social media!

Aide et Action South Asia has partnered with iridium Interactive as a Social Media partner to create Awareness and Buzz for Punni Ki Kahaniyan and reach out to students, teachers, parents and the society at large. The objective is to start a strong movement that promotes cultural harmony through social understanding and integration. iridium Interactive is promoting and connecting with all the stakeholders using the social platforms like facebook,  twitter, youtube, vimeo etc., to promote the film and supporting Aide et Action South Asia to take the message to millions of school children across India.

You can aid this mission by:

1. sharing the movie and/or showcasing it in your neighboring school

2. demonstrate your support  on facebook and take this initiative to parents and educators, the key influencers of young children

3. actively sharing your ideas on how to increase the impact of this initiative

On 26^th October 2010, Punni ki Kahaniyan is formally launched at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad with 1000 children representing 35 odd schools who will watch this movie and, we hope, learn the importance of unity. Sania Mirza, ace tennis player, is an enthusiastic supporter who is attending the launch of this event. Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director-Aide et Action South Asia, Sriram Bharatam, CEO and Founder at iridium Interactive and Ranga Reddy, RM-The Hindu would also be part of this event. Our endeavour is to reach out and promote this movie to as many children as possible and along the way, sensitise the general public so that they too imbibe these values and create an ecosystem that shuns regressive beliefs and promotes unity.

So come, join Punni as she takes the lead and tells children value driven stories that will make them better people.

Punni has been covered by The HIndu in today’s newspaper. Click here to read the full article. The Hindu is an official media partner in A.P for Punni Ki Kahaniyan. You can reach Punni on her facebook page and on her twitter account

For further details contact:
Mohammed Salahuddin
salaudin.m at iridiuminteractive dot com
+919989234334

Follow iridium Interactive on twitter and facebook and stay current with the latest on social media and campaigns.

Over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve been monitoring several blogs, Indian as well as from across the globe,  to understand the commenting trends and almost everywhere we have come across this phenomenon. It seems that now, with the advent of so many social media platforms, there are a hundred different avenues through which blogs are commented on and discussed, including the blog. A simple tweet on twitter like ‘Read interesting post about wordpress 3.0 by *** and totally disagree’ can trigger a conversation on twitter rather than on the blog. If the blogger would like to be part of this conversation, it becomes her job to track where her story is being shared and discussed and get there as fast as possible with her reasons and opinions to continue the conversation. For instance, this blogpost may be retweeted by 10 different people on twitter, each marking the tweet with his/her thought [which takes the place of the comment] along with the url. In this scenario, it might simply be a better solution to add to the comments box a continuously updating list of mentions on the social web thus allowing you to connect with those who have thoughts about your ideas on their platform rather than bringing them to your blog and expecting them to drop a comment. So if the lack of comments is really getting you down, hang in there! Someone, somewhere is tweeting about you. You just need to find them and engage!

Follow us on @iridiuminter or catch us up on facebook and we’ll keep you posted about more such news.

Social media includes blogs, forums, wikis, tags and any user generated content. This is where consumers and users saw the opportunity to share their opinions and thoughts with so much ease.

Word of mouth marketing saw unprecedented growth which it never did before. Listening to these conversations on companies has brought about the importance of social media monitoring and the various tools invented to track and measure the zillion conversations happening online.

Social monitoring tools monitor:

• All websites
• Every possible social network
• Social news
• Blogs
• Forums
• Microblogs
• Images
• User generated content
• Tags
• Videos
• Almost every possible thing on Web 2.0

Social Media Monitoring tools will provide you with all the statistics. But it is sheer analysis that will give some sense to the random numbers and graphs these tools generate.

In my next blog I will talk more about these tools and provide you with more examples especially from my experience at iridium Interactive.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam.

Companies have their own reasons of joining the social network bandwagon as I have already discussed before, and so do customers who have already mastered the social networking sphere for their own purposes.

Here are some of the reasons why customers befriend companies on social media sites:

• It is considered cool to be associated with your brand on such forums.
• Or to simply be aware of offers and discounts they might avail (majority do this).
• Just to be up-to-date with company information in real time.
• Or even gain access to company information, exclusive only to company fans and friends.
• Sometimes to show support for their loyal brands.
• Follow the herd and be associated with brand making news.

Whatever the reason may be, this has surely provided an incentive to every company to promote their brands on social media, to leverage their marketing efforts by communicating with their community of followers.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam.

• Introduce your self and your company before adding people relevant to you and your business.
• Don’t blow your own trumpet: Do not talk too much about yourself and promote only your company without understanding the wants of your audience.
• Talk what’s relevant to your audience and community: Double check and ask yourself before submitting a blog if it is what your community will be interested in reading?
• Listen and Respond: If your community is actively responding to your blogs and tweets, it is a good gesture to acknowledge it and reply back in time. Engage them before they loose interest.
• Constantly Participate in social media interactions. This will help you have an everlasting quality group of community and relationships.
• Being Gregarious is one of a valuable social etiquette that rules the charts.
• Be Politically Correct: Do not make any statements just because someone in some blog says so, without being backed by a solid source. This is basic ethic to not join the rat race.
• Rise Above the Noise: If someone is making rude comments on your blog or other social networks, do not engage in a row over the matter. Instead, listen to what they have to say and politely respond back.
• Do not engage in personal conversations on your corporate blog or social network.
• Show your Soft Skills: Value your audience and respect them.

With these etiquettes, your company will develop an honest and authentic voice that your stakeholders will value over time. Do share your inputs with iridium Interactive about what your social media etiquettes are.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam.

B2B is a complex sales practice which involves a lot of people and companies. It is not easy to start conversations between your prospect and the company. There has to be a way in which your ideas get the conversations rolling. Here lies the need to strategise your marketing content in order to broaden your reach.

It is a fact that consumers rule the buying decisions and companies can no longer dictate or push a product on the consumers. Sales guys have been worst hit thanks to the advent of social media since consumers look for networking sites which will help them make their purchase decisions.

This is the cue B2B marketers can take to enter the social media sphere and make the most of it. Facebook and Twitter are amazing stops for B2B marketing. But the approach for B2B marketing is similar to any non B2B marketing.

Here is what you have to do to start your social media marketing efforts.

1. First, listen to what is happening around your brand and the industry. Set up Google Alerts with your company’s name and also competitor’s name.

2. Second, monitor, analyse and  make conclusions on where you stand and what should your goals and strategy be.

3. Third, after framing your business policies and strategies, design content that will inspire prospects and existing parties to start conversations with you.

4. Fourth, step into your buyers shoes and develop content relevant to them.

5. Fifth, do not start hard selling from the beginning.

6. Sixth, research on audience profile, what are they typically researching, what are the problems they are facing, etc…

7. Seventh, address the issues they may be facing and also the solution to their issues.

This way, you have set the stage for your pre-sales conversations even before you interact with them personally.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam.

Think of the evolution of marketing from radio to television ads, from newspapers ads to billboards and print media; these newer techniques may have evolved but that does not mean we are done away with older methods, they still coexist and need an integrated approach by any smart marketer.

Social media, in my view, is a new way of marketing that allows a company to communicate their campaigns across multiple platforms consecutively. At the same time it is important to point out that campaigning through all the marketing channels should be similar and complement your online & off-line strategy.

The PUSH v/s PULL Strategy…..

Traditional marketing methods have been essentially stressing on the “push” method, where brand managers and advertisers are pushing their products on the consumers. Here the marketers had the power to create a need for a consumer and convince them to buy their products; Social media on the other hand is more like a “pull” technique, where the power is bestowed in the hands of the consumer who will dictate what they want and how the company serves their wants and needs. A sensible marketer would continue his traditional marketing ways while attracting potential consumer through the pull strategy of social media.

Brainstorming in traditional marketing can be combined with social media monitoring to know what exactly your stakeholders are talking about you. Visuals and audios created as a part of traditional marketing can also be aired on the internet that has a wider consumer reach. In my understanding, traditional and social media work harmoniously with wider and stronger customer coverage. For example, I have seen many companies’ online communities and website traffic swelling 10x times during the time they were present in an industry trade show, or when they sponsor a public event, or when their key thought-leaders increase their social presence through awards, interviews etc…This is the time a complete alignment of online v/s offline marketing is needed.

To simply summarize, different audience respond to different methods. Start developing parallel online & offline strategies.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam

With an open mind to allow social media as a corporate wide activity and not just limited to one department or a person, employee blogs are rising very rapidly. A classic case that comes to my mind is IBMer’s Blog

They encourage all their employees to be a part of the blogging process as it brings out the culture and vibrancy of the organization. Customers look out for these factors to relate to a company and IBM sure has played it right to attract more audience and consumers and most importantly their PEOPLE, the IBMers.

But before letting your employees start your social media initiative, there are a few things you should keep in mind for harnessing a sensible social quotient:

• Train them and educate them on Social Media and the purpose of their engagement for the company.
• Lay down the boundaries and the confines within which they can talk about the company.
• Before making it live create an internal sandbox for them to learn and play around with.
• Create a playground for your employees. Encourage some of the employees from different work areas to post their pilot blogs and engage them to collaborate via commenting, also called builds. @iridiuminter, for our own company blog, we have been successfully able to engage the employees by having them comment openly.
• Do not punish them for speaking their mind. This is a great sign of creating trust both within and outside the organization.
• It is always better to do a sanity check in the beginning on all that goes live from the employees. After a while this check can be removed as they now know their limitations.

Last but not the least, let them enjoy this activity.

Follow us on @iridiuminter or my personal twitter @sbharatam