Iridium Interactive Blog » social media marketing

Online marketing for non profits: Increasing Awareness through Social media

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:09:07 +0000

This is the start of iridium Interactive’s marketing series for NGO’s. The three part series will speak about using Social Media to

1. Increase awareness
2. Raise funding
3. Increase volunteering

In this post, we will focus on trying to using techniques we feel have worked for iridium’s clients and give you working principles of what you should concentrate on to raise awareness for your cause.

Increasing awareness

As social media continues to dominate internet timespend, it is but obvious that this is a channel you need to capitalize on and increase your reach at minimal cost. However, as NGOs occupy a major chunk of social media space it becomes necessary for you to not just differentiate but also have a much more interesting and involved approach towards social media engagement. Opening a facebook and a twitter account, pestering your network to like the page or to follow your twitter handle, although essential isn’t the be all end all of things. Here are three simple principles for you to follow:

The messaging:

Your product is as good as your message. Short or long, it must communicate something to your users, fans and viewers. Updates thus are the point where you either get shared or hidden or get your page unliked. Someone who likes your page would obviously be looking to learn more about your cause and you should try to keep your updates in line with this. Communicate what you want to but ensure that your tone is conversational and maintains the standard you have started with. Use a lot of videos and pictures which communicate your message directly with the minimum lag in understanding. Not only will your message get watched, read or viewed, it also has a higher likelihood of being shared which is what actually contributes to enhanced reach.

The engagement:

Speak to your fans. Let no comment/post go unreplied to. This helps build a rapport with your fans and can be a pleasant surprise to them when you speak to them in a friendly way. Without becoming intrusive, stay connected with your fans and engage them. Keep a cheerful tone and stay at it!

Social plugins:

Get a facebook like box, get a twibbon, get a youtube channel and spread the word. The more places that you garner social sharing, the more chances of you increasing your reach and spreading awareness to a greater demographic.

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

AeA launches Punni Ki Kahaniyan: Follow her on facebook now!

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:07:19 +0000

punni ki kahaniyan

Aide et Action-South Asia along with its Social Media Partner, iridium Interactive and Print partner, The Hindu launched Punni ki Kahaniyan, a Short Film series about Multi Culturalism at Ravindra Bharathi, Hyderabad on 26th October 2010. The initiative of Punni ki Kahaniyaan is aimed at fostering the values of multiculturalism and promoting cultural harmony in children by helping them understand other cultures through short films talking on these subjects. ‘Punni’ is the animated narrator of the ‘Punni Ki Kahaniyan’, that acts both as a narrator and observer in the Films.

iridium Interactive, as the Social Media Partner has been associated with Aide et Action right from conceptualizing the online branding of Punni to the launch of the film series. Tireless efforts have been put to bring in identity to Punni in the social media. Punni has been promoted in the Social Media circles by a wide range of activities on Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Twibbons, News Portals and a whole range of other Social Media initiatives.

Sriram Bharatam, CEO and Founder, iridiumInteractive and Sania Mirza at the launch event

The launch event comprised of an audience of over 1,200 enthusiastic children from over 30 schools in Hyderabad and they sure added a lot of enthusiasm to the proceedings! The enthusiasm of the children was palpable as they clapped and sang right from the prayer song till the end of the launch, adding immense zest and energy to the proceedings. The screening was preceded by messages of multiculturalism to the children by Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director, AEAI South Asia, P. Ranga Reddy, Regional General Manager, The Hindu, Rajiva Wijesinha, MP from Sri Lanka and Ganesh Devi, Educationist. All the Speakers drove across the point of multi culturalism in their own ways. While Ravi Pratap Singh narrated his childhood experiences, Rajiva Wijesinha amazingly compared multi culturalism with a bouquet of flowers. He said “The bouquet looks good because of many flowers, but what makes the bouquet beautiful is that the flowers are of many colors”, thereby driving home the need to recognize ethnic diversity.

What followed later was the screening of the first film in the series of Punni Ki Kahaniyan which was cheered by the children amidst loud whistles and claps. Post the screening Sania Mirza, the Indian Tennis Star talked on how Sports does not recognize differences in language, religion or color. She added that she is humbled by the fact that she gets to play for the Nation and that she wishes that every child gets to serve the Nation in their own way.

Sriram Bharatam of iridium Interactive narrated a very interesting story that stressed on the need for children to look beyond their boundaries and actively explore new things. His story drove home the morals of Cultural acceptance, shunning the herd mentality and realize their true potential. His account of his childhood experiences helped children connect with him. RP Patnaik, music director, also echoed the same sentiments and sang ‘Saare jahan se achcha’ which the children happily participated in.

Saniz Mirza, Sriram Bharatam and RP Patnaik presented accolades to the children who were the cast of Punni Ki Kahaniyan.

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

Comments, anyone?

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:44:45 +0000

We’ve been here for a while, posting ideas on the blog and our thoughts about various happenings in the industry and trends that are set to shape how we use the internet. One thing that we notice everytime we post on the iridium blog is the lack of comments. And hey, this is no impassioned plea for you to click on the comments tab and start typing but more of an analysis of a phenomenon we’re trying to understand. What could be the reason for the lack of comments? If we noticed this on our blog alone, we’d find a quiet place to vent our frustrations and not bother writing about it, but this seems to be a phenomenon afflicting blogs across the board. Twitter retweets, check. Facebook shares, check. Likes, check. Comments,..er..what?

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!

Integrating Traditional Marketing and Social Media

iridiumInteractive — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:40:43 +0000

While writing a lot on social media marketing and reading a very interesting case study on traditional marketing versus social media, I understood one common debate marketing experts and social media experts have constantly- do traditional marketing and social media contradict each other or compliment?

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.

Taking the Baby Steps to Social Media

iridiumInteractive — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:30:03 +0000

After sharing the C’s to Social Media or the basic approach to it, lets get on to implementing them in your organizations.There are no defined classes for teaching Social Media yet but from my experience with iridium Interactive, social media marketing takes time to learn and understand. Social media is a risky venture because when it goes wrong it can spell disaster for the company and its brand. Not to freak you out but lets take social media marketing slowly and step by step to set a firm foundation in social media.

1. The beginning of every possible thing done in the corporate way is to Frame a goal:

Why do you want Social media?
What business purpose will it serve?
What is your target audience?
Will this be an organization wide commitment or a seperate department?
What marketing initiatives will Social media be helpful for?

2. After answering all these questions it is important to frame policies. This is particularly important when your social media efforts are an organization wide endeavour as you have to set boundaries for the employees involved in it.

3. Start Research: before starting any thing new it’s always wise to take a look at the happenings around you. Research and analyse what the rest are doing in the social media sphere. Create your own inventory of links and resources that you can refer to in the near future.

4. Understand the world wide social media sphere and what you would want to implement in your social media activities. There are millions of social media applications out there, pick only those applications which you think you will use.

Not very different from traditional marketing, social media also deals with building trust and creating a community. If you know the marketing tricks this should not be a difficult feat for you. Just like the human evolution social media also has its own evolution, where you CRAWL, then WALK, RUN and then FLY the glorious heights of Social Media.

Essential Cs of Social Media Marketing

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:09:37 +0000

After giving you some clicks on social media marketing, lets take those thoughts further to the vital C’s of social media marketing. Just like the 4Ps in Marketing, Social Media Marketing has their set of Cs that form the ground rules for every social media marketing strategy.

1. Commit

While incorporating social media in your marketing strategies you have to commit time and resources. It is not a one time engagement. There is a continuous chatter around your company and brand, so proactively keeping a real time tab on this chatter is what is needed in social media.

2. Communicate

There has to be a purpose for your communications with the customer. Marketing is one thing and establishing relationship with your stakeholders what can differentiate your uniqueness. To be frank the only reason companies are jumping into the social bandwagon is because their customers want to be heard. Talk, listen and establish relationships is what social is all about.

3. Connect

While conversing it is important to build a rapport with all your listeners. Let them connect with your brand and company.

4. Collaborate

There is a lot of chatter around your brand both positive, negative and neutral. If you proactively respond and connect well with your customers it will not be too late when your stakeholders will become your brand ambassadors. Let your stakeholders collaborate with you to market your brand to form a bigger consumer base.

5. Create Content

Think like publisher and not like a marketer on Social Media. Write compelling, interesting, and engaging articles, blogs, tweets etc. on various social networking sites. Also write content relevant to your company strategy. First determine your audience then write what they want to hear, what is relevant to them.

6. Calculate

Tracking and measuring the impact of social media on your audience is also one important aspect companies should look into. But do not obsess with numbers right from the beginning. Numbers will come if you are patient and consistent, which brings me to the next C.

7. Consistently Consistent

Consistency in conversing with your stakeholders is a very important activity of social media, because when customers start talking to you they expect instant replies too. Inconsistent conversations will only take the interest away and hence your customers.

Marketers Must-Have Social Media Marketing "Clicks"…You Need Them Now

iridiumInteractive — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:10:20 +0000

Social Media Marketing is a powerful marketing medium…not in the traditional marketing sense. It does not mean that all other marketing strategies have been abandoned, yet the shift is happening without the hype. If you are wearing the hat of a CMO, a marketing-communications executive today, I know exactly what is creating the dilemma..what is keeping you thinking. What is the right marketing mix to invest in? What do I do with all this hype of social media marketing? How are these companies, actually generating solid ROI through just Twittering or simply having a community of listeners and followers? Where do I begin? I understand this because, @iridiuminter, my company is passionate about getting marketers the answers to these dilemmas.

As the world is shrinking thanks to the web and now the social networking sites, social media marketing has arrived as a critical need. I have made some key words that marketers should keep in mind while venturing in to social media marketing that will be a great deal of help for you. No longer will the blow horn, over the top marketing strategies work anymore as consumers just do not want products, they want much more than that, a consistent commitment and a degree of transparency from their companies. Best brands use social media as a medium to freely exchange opinions and thoughts.

Here are some of the important “Social Media Marketing clicks” that give you the main essence.

· Shed all your social media fears

· Listen and never stop listening

· Be a silent observer of the chatter first. Answers to engage will simply come

· Determine your audience you want to reach out too

· Speak-out before you think, just let go and communicate transparently

· Have an earnest and honest appeal to your conversations with your consumers

· Subtly market your product through consumer experience driven approach. Aggressive selling repels customers.

· Be consistent while using social media- it not a one time apply tool

· Create relationship with your stakeholders. Things will sell automatically once you connect.

· Listen and answer to their queries. It is not a one sided communication tool.

· Unanswered customer queries can lead to negative reputation. Be proactive.

· There is no age limit to social media

Keep these clicks with you and explore your digital marketing efforts with a fresh perspective. Change is happening dynamically, you create the shift for you…

I will write more on this in my next blog….The Essential C’s for Social Media. Keep listening…

Social Media Fundamentals with a flavor of "Marketing"

iridiumInteractive — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:15:44 +0000

Knowing that Social Media is a need not a choice…I am now sharing with you the flavor of “Social Media Marketing“. Social Media is driven by the people, solely for the people and is here to stay, tools may change or may get sophisticated. I was reading this somewhere and it immediately caught my attention- 78% people believe in peer recommendations and only 14% believe in advertisements. It was then I thought I should talk about Social Media Marketing.

Social Media Marketing is nothing but using Social Media as a platform for your marketing endeavours. It is the new way of marketing that has this unique ability to let consumers market for you, beautifully aligning your offline and online marketing. The industry gurus call it WOM (Word of Mouth) marketing. Social media in its real essence is interactive in nature, so when a company starts interacting directly with their customers, customers / stakeholders fundamentally tend to relate more with the brand and indirectly become brand ambassadors for such companies.

These customers then spread their marketing messages organically. Most successful social media compaigns include consumer engagement, corporate transparency and community building.

So many companies now have blogs, newsletters, accounts in various social networking sites like facebook, twitter, myspace, linkedin etc. this is solely for the purpose of giving their consumers a real time view of what is actually happening within the company. Building trust by engaging in conversations and creating transparent avatar is what these companies are successfully doing in their social media marketing activities.

Companies who restrain from using social media marketing are missing out on the huge coverage social media has to offer which no other traditional marketing tools have to offer. And guess what….it is extremely cost-effective low cost marketing platform with a reach you cannot comprehend, if you have something fresh to voice …it gets heard ! that will help you derive huge consumer following and build your brand credibility that traditional media alone can no-more promise.

Social Media for your Business is Not a Choice..Its a Need

iridiumInteractive — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:39:35 +0000

What took the radio 38 years to accomplish, Facebook achieved double of it within 9 months? Well, I am talking about the 1 billion users Facebook recently achieved. Social media has transformed the way consumers respond to you. Traditional marketing was all about creating a need for consumers but now it is catering to the needs of consumers- its the network effect. Shouting and hard selling will not reach people. Social media is no less than a evolution that has taken people astorm.

People by their very nature are social. Companies, businesses thrive on people and their opinions. No surprises then, that Social media has it own reasons to evolve with more and more social networking sites mushrooming every single day. Whether you like it or not, accept it or not, there is so much being said about you- with or without you. If you choose not engage, you are simply giving up the ability to manage and influence what’s being said…

It has become an imperative need to listen to what your stakeholders are saying about you in this social space before planning any marketing strategy. In a recent global CMO survey, over 90% of companies confirm that they are allocating over 25% of their marketing mix budgets to social media / digital marketing initiatives. They are understanding this critical need to participate in continuous consumer interactions that engages users with opportunities to share their opinions.

There are so many online social networking sites from facebook, twitter, orkut, flickr, digg, technorati, myspace, linkedin, picasa and so many more. When you search for Social Media on Google you get 210,000,000 results. Whaoo!! This can be rather intimidating for someone who is just looking at implementing this very popular phenomena people just cant stop talking about in the business context.

@iridiuminter, having the depth and breath of social media for over a decade, @iridiuminter digital strategy team enjoys placing the social footprints for our clients everyday with a robust relevancy and reach that delivers tangible online growth engines for them.So, it is time to question your marketing plans and explore the new dimensions of online growth opportunities right now.

In my bid to share the knowledge and experience on Social Media Marketing and Monitoring, I will take you through these stories in my upcoming series and help you set your fortress of Social media.

DNA Mumbai Edition Feature on Social Media and the Web Do gooders- an interview with Sriram Bharatam

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:00:05 +0000

A web of do-gooders

R Krishna / DNA

Sunday, December 27, 2009 0:48 IST

Mumbai: Sriram Bharatam, founder and CEO, iridium Interactive, an internet consultancy firm based in Hyderabad, runs a non-profit called Cause an Effect Foundation. Last week, the foundation installed a water treatment facility in a village near Hyderabad. Bharatam, who was in the village to oversee the operations, started tweeting and updating his Facebook status message about what he saw there — the villagers, their culture and the curiosity they showed in the project.

Within a few hours, close to 100 people on his network responded, says Bharatam. “Initially, the comments were about how great the project was. Then, a few started asking more serious questions such as ‘What is reverse osmosis?’. I started getting into the details like the chlorine levels in the water which can cause disability, and that it takes Rs2 lakh to install a water treatment unit. It was then that five people came forward to donate money. In one day, I inspired these five people to give around Rs10 lakh.”

According to Bharatam, 10 years ago he would have had to put in a lot of effort convincing people. “Today, I am having a simple conversation and call to action is happening.”

The internet, especially social networking, is a great enabler for people who have a cause, but lack the wherewithal to get a large number of people to pay attention offline. Ask Ranjeet Walunj, a Mumbai-based professional, who started The Sapling Project this month. The project aims to get people all over the city to plant saplings (which were given away for free at the inaugral event) and nurture them for two years.

Walunj and his friend Satish Vijaykumar with whom he started the project, talked extensively about The Sapling Project on Twitter and Facebook. “The first level of contact with people we have is on social media,” says Walunj explaining why social media was central to The Sapling Project. “We could have opted for offline media, but the problem is that I cannot measure its impact. For example, I won’t know how many people will come for distribution. But in online media, I know exactly who is doing what. Measurability is an important reason for opting for social media.”

There was also an off-shoot. Following Walunj’s posts, bloggers from Chennai and Bangalore too got interested and started chapters of the Sapling Project in their cities.

Collaborative Tool
Social media can be used not just to raise money, spread the word or get people together. It’s a great tool for collaboration and drawing upon a diversity of expertise. IIT Bombay, for example, has built an online service called aAqua (aaqua.org) that allows farmers to post queries related to farming or allied activities (such as setting up a dairy).
According to Krithi Ramamritham of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at IIT Bombay, a set of experts from various Krishi Vigyan Kendras and some agricultural universities then provide solutions to the problems which the farmers can implement.

This is similar to Yahoo Answers, where you post any question, and someone from the community provides the answers. The key difference, Ramamritham points out, is that “both the farmers and experts are shy of computers.” Still, after about five years of operation, close to 15,000 people have registered with aAqua and now around 25,000 farmers get their answers on SMSes, says Ramamritham.

Social media’s “reach” however does not ensure success. Many causes that grow through tweets and pokes fizzle out quickly. Netra Parikh who works with Pinstorm, a Mumbai-based online marketing agency, and an active Tweeter, says, “I myself have experienced that. Causes tend to fizzle out due to lack of consistency, determination, and focus. But most important, one needs to own that cause.”

Beyond I, Me, Myself
Bharatam agrees. “Conversation is merely the trigerring point to start anything. And social media is where conversations happen. But you have to follow up. A casual conversation should turn into a serious conversation, then into an organised conversation, which finally will result in concrete action.” Bharatam who started Cause an Effect as a website to raise money to help victims of the 1999 Orissa cyclone, says that while the online medium makes things easier, it is also very demanding. “Internet itself was a new concept in India when I first started the website. People wanted to know who I was and how they could be sure I wouldn’t run away with the money. It took a week for me to convince people about the cause. Initially we were asking people to send in cheques. But that was taking too long. So we set up a system where people could wire the money. Next, someone suggested that we put up a payment gateway so people could pay with credit cards. I didn’t even know what an online payment gateway was!” Bharatam was just an ordinary citizen with a regular job when he started the website. But it turned out to be a 24/7 job. “I don’t know whether people have that kind of commitment. If you look at Twitter or Facebook right now, it is all about I, me, myself. There is no agenda. There is no focused activity. If there’s a single point agenda, people will respond to you.”