Economy of Social - Social Media Tips, Marketing and Business

Is PowerPoint the greatest thing given by a tech company to managers or the worst? I would not try to bias your thoughts since I am in a similar field but this story of Divorce, Management Consulting and PowerPoint has a lot to stay about PowerPoint-ization of life. I came across this story on the Facebook notes of Krishna, a management student at a very reputed Indian B-school. Shruthi – working as a software engineer in Gurgaon filed for divorce from her husband Abhishek because of the impact his consulting profession had on their personal life. Her husband works at one of the big four management consulting firms. Long work hours were definitely a straining point but things became worse at their daughter Priyanka's second birthday. She says, "It was our daughter Priyanka’s second birthday. We had arranged for a small celebration at our place. In the middle of the celebration, Abhishek opened his laptop and started with a 20 minute presentation that he had prepared on Pri...

Failure is a part of life. To put it simply "Shit happens". Vodafail is an outcome of this failure by a mobile network operator. Vodafail became a hit after its music clip , featuring comedian Sheona Urquhart, was launched just months after a disgruntled Vodafone customer Adam Brimo created Vodafail.com. Vodafail is a complaints website and Twitter feed that enabled tens of thousands of users to vent out their frustrations about Vodafone's poor service. The enterprising nature of this customer activism is the result of two factors. A high failure rate and a high dependence on the service. The dependence on Mobile networks for internet and calling makes them pseudo-arteries of modern world. Any disruption virtually halts the activities of any user. For businesses, this means revenue loss. Failure is a part of any system, although we try to reduce errors by Six Sigma practices and achieve other operational efficiencies. But when such practices are not followed, the fa...

Are you tired of using Social Networking Sites? Do you feel that joining a new Social Networking Site like Google + will not add value to you, but only waste your time? Man is a social animal. The successful development of virtual communities that tapped into this social aspect of human beings took the world by storm. The collective power of entities such as Facebook is so huge that it can topple governments like it did in Egypt or build one like it did for Barack Obama. But have we got too much of Social Media? There is a segment of people on social networking sites that is simply sick and tired of Facebook and Twitter. In a recent conversation with a friend he was of the opinion that " People are too Facebook oriented ". Their conversation end with - " And now this goes on Facebook...Please click a pic for Facebook... Their life begins and ends with it. As if their entire existence depends on it or as if their life's goal had just been Facebook-ed. " But,...

In the 65th year of Indian independence, we have a choice to either think about India's glorious past, its freedom fighters, its number one status, cinema or we have a choice to think about a mechanism to build a better future. I can safely say that India has built a very solid foundation, and is continuing to do so with the likes of Anna Hazare. But what next? This solid foundation with around 60% of population below 35 years means a lot of restless energy. Sadly this restless energy has to be channelized through a country run by old people. There is a discord between the demography of Indian leaders and Indian society. To grow we need to maximize this restless energy and channelize it. The phrase "Lets be practical" has to be dumped. Its time to think Big and think Honest. With some of the country's biggest business tycoons beings tainted with the "Dishonest" tag, the new generation has to think clean and still maintain the "Big Dream". ...

We very well know that the Egyptian revolution found its lubrication on a Facebook page. People came together to support Barack Obama in what can be termed as world's first organized political movement on Social Media. We also know that Social Media can be an effective tool when it comes to solving problems. You can ask queries on forums and experts answer them. People also contribute, share their expertise and experience on blogs & Wikis. All this is leading to the creation of an online society. This society rises up when a revolution is calling, shares knowledge, builds companies and indulges in transfer of wealth, manpower and expertise. Looking at the fineprint of this society, there are two distinct elements. Lets take the case of Facebook. Facebook has a concept of Facebook pages. Individuals or companies can create "Like Pages" which allows fans of an individual, organization, product, service, or concept to join a Facebook fan club. Facebook Pages...

Facebook pages offers an effective tool for brands to connect with their consumers on a medium they use the most. But are they using it properly ? Facebook as a media offers marketers a medium to reach their audience where they spend most of their time. It is a useful way for information dissemination and a source for customer intelligence gathering. After reviewing Facebook and research on virtual communities, I have come up with 5 tips that make Facebook pages successful. 1. Engaging users on Facebook page : Marketers did a lot of hard work to increase the fanbase of Facebook pages. Now that they've reached a landmark and are striving hard to add more fans, its time to engage the users. The bottom line of this tip is to keep your facebook page user committed to the page.Engaging your page through contests and games can make your page stand out among other pages. After all going away from your page to a competitor's Facebook page is just a click away. 2. Adding value to th...

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.~ Martin Luther King, Jr. We often tread on a path of uncertainty. Uncertainty has a tendency to move towards adversity. It happens since we tie a lot of resources, time and money on that path. This adversity leads to greater courage. If the Britishers or Soviets had not kept faith Hitler would have been a victorious in the second world war. All successful innovations had innovators who kept faith in their judgement. After all adversity makes us stronger. Entrepreneurship is another such challenging way of life. Uncertainty is in the DNA of entrepreneurship. All successful entrepreneurs (with Steve Jobs being the role model ) just learned to deal with uncertainty. They simply kept faith.

People who stay in the news everyday, ads that repeat over and over again on TV, radio etc. can annoy. Although budgetary constraints restrict excess advertising, had there been little constraint brand managers would have gone bonkers while launching a new product. Although it has been accepted in consumer behavior that advertising helps in building brand equity and promotional schemes dilute it, excess of advertising can also dilute the brand through annoyance. To see this annoying effect yourself, check out this ad of head on.  

In my last post, I said that only competent people can afford to be arrogant. So what if your arrogance gives the other person a feeler of your competence. Getting a bigger client for a smaller business would mean matching the level of arrogance displayed by the client. This is what I call pro-arrogance. You arrogance is directed in the same direction as your client's arrogance. This makes you birds of the same feather. And they usually end up flocking together. Prospect to a confirmed sale may just mean matching the arrogance of your prospect. 

If you think all inventions, political campaigns, entrepreneurial ventures were successful because of a great idea, think again. Not all great ideas gain acceptability, and not all Barack Obama speeches are successful. Hitler was one of the few dictators in the second world war who had mass support during the initial phase. He lost it, and finally the war. The success of an idea does not lie in its greatness or its novelty. It becomes great because of a sound economic framework. An idea is like a variable, whose success depends on the mathematical equation where the success of the idea is a dependent variable, and the idea is one of the few independent variables.  Y- Success of the idea (Dependent variable) X1 - Idea X2 - Support from executors of the idea X3 - Support from the beneficiaries of the idea X4 - Processes governing the execution of the idea X5 - Social support for the idea X6 - Ability to generate monetary gains to support X2-X5 Y = f(X1,X2,X3,X4,X5,X6) Stil...

“Humility is like underwear, essential, but indecent if it shows”~ Helen Nielsen. Although I think of Humility as a rich over coat. It should be worn over you. It gives you respect in the eyes of your opponent or competition. Inward aggression should be concealed as it is a driver. A competent person can only afford to be arrogant. A loser cannot be arrogant. But what happens when you are loosing the race and still want to keep a graceful edge over your competition. You simply wear the over coat of humility. It is not an underwear and indecent in no way. 

How did Steve Jobs come up with the idea of Apple? How did Mahatma Gandhi use non-violence to win independence? How did Allied forces get rid of Hitler's tyranny? How did Barça become the best club soccer team the world has ever seen? Before we try and answer these questions we need to see that before their big victory came after a period of looking inwardly. They looked into themselves and asked one question - " What value am I trying to achieve? " Its helps in identifying the goal. Achieving it means maximizing that value, which leads to innovation. Had allied forces not innovated in technology and economic capacity, we would have lived a different life. Had Gandhi chosen a different path, India may have been a different story. Barça's decision to groom their own players led them to become the best club soccer team. Value can be showing the world how to play great football or being the best footballer.The ambition to maximize it will lead to innovation. But the f...

Estaré Allí is a Spanish word that means " I'll be there ". An Estaré Allí person is dependable and can be called upon when needed. People who rise to achieve greatness in society are the Estaré Allí type. Even success in domestic life needs you to be the Estaré Allí type person. It essentially gives you respect, which comes from trust. Those we remember in our life are the ones that we could count on in times of need and otherwise. They belong to the Estaré Allí class. 

The post recession recovery has not been successful in creating enough jobs. WSJ has reported the following about the recovery scenario. Over the past 10 years: The U.S. economy's output of goods and services has expanded 19%. Nonfinancial corporate profits have risen 85%. The labor force has grown by 10.1 million. But the number of private-sector jobs has fallen by nearly two million. And the percentage of American adults at work has dropped to 58.2%, a low not seen since 1983. 

Wall street journal's Peggy Noonan made a big statement about the messiah of hope . It is that nobody loves Obama. This is amazing because every president has people who love him, who feel deep personal affection or connection, who have a stubborn, even beautiful refusal to let what they know are just criticisms affect their feelings of regard. At the height of Bill Clinton's troubles there were always people who'd say, "Look, I love the guy." They'd often be smiling—a wry smile, a shrugging smile. Nobody smiles when they talk about Mr. Obama. There were people who loved George W. Bush when he was at his most unpopular, and they meant it and would say it. But people aren't that way about Mr. Obama. He has supporters and bundlers and contributors, he has voters, he may win. But his support is grim support. And surely this has implications. Although I really doubt the concreteness of this claim it has a lesson for leaders. The human touch, the fact tha...

What is the biggest thing in the world today? If you ask me it is the alphabet 'i'. In lower case it has made an entire generation spend crazy amounts of money, spend an equally crazy amount of time buying and using iPod, iPhone and the latest in series, iPad. The alphabet i also starts begins the word idle - a period of inactivity compensated by an i-Gizmo app. Earlier you would've been idle. But now you are a touch away from powering your i-Gizomo. I would say that if there was a noble prize in marketing its sure winner would've been Steve Jobs. Marketing is responsible (directly or indirectly) for the word adoption. Adoption of good or bad, beautiful or ugly, irresponsible or responsible, interesting or boring, or simply mundane things in life. Among all the good and bad things that have been adopted by this world there was an idea and effective marketing (whether deliberate or purely accidental). Among the lucky ones that were adopted, the worst in the second half ...

Nokia has been subject to huge battering in the last one year. The Finnish company has had a much needed change in leadership with  Stephen Elop taking on the role of president and CEO. Nokia has lost market share , suffered from declining profit margins and scrapped its smartphone operating system for future models, creating significant uncertainty for the firm’s future. There have been five major problems for Nokia.

People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. Arrogance is one such wall. It does not help in winning people or making friends. Like rust on the iron curtain it also manages to succinctly take away existing social support. What remains is a lonely person. Success breeds arrogance and that is the reason people on top sometimes end up being all alone. The same phenomena happens with brands. Successful brands end up being arrogant. Courtesy: Successful managers of these brands. On the contrary humility provides that extra cushion of social support. It gives grace when a defeat can be humiliating.