Economy of Social - Social Media Tips, Marketing and Business

David Ogilvy has famously said, " The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife ". Like all wives, the consumer has never been happy and has been on a look out for something more ;-) This has been a puzzling aspect for marketers and researchers in the last few decades. Marketers like diligent husbands have been trying to solve this puzzle and just when it seems like they've cracked it, it becomes more complicated. How to make your consumer happy? I heard a talk by Harish Bijoor earlier this year where he talked about how marketers tried to cross existing paradigms in their endeavor to make the consumer happy. Marketers earlier came with idea of Customer Satisfaction . And when the customer was no longer happy with customer satisfaction, marketers invented Customer Delight. When consumers started getting happy with customer delight, they wanted something more. Now marketers are planning on Customer Ecstasy .  In future the day is not far when Ecs...

The present day obsession with brands have left today's "aspiration class" riding the materialistic wave. The aspiration of climbing up the social ladder is fulfilled by brands. The growing number of malls and billboards in our cities spoiling the natural surroundings is a direct outcome of this demand. What we don't realize is that even if temporarily these brands help us increase our social standing (fueled by money), they at the same time make us more lonely. Marketers project brands as a way to fulfill dreams, as a way to be happier. While this gives us the temporary pleasures of a worldly life, it takes us away from close relations. We devote more of our time to earn more, which fulfills our materialistic desires. The outcome is that this pursuit distances ourselves from relationships and makes us lonelier. Ironically, this loneliness is overcome by again indulging with brands.

I've often found myself wondering what differentiates these famous people? Some are stars, but some are simply super-stars. The road to stardom is undoubtedly not without risks. The most talented, hardworking and intelligent find their way on this road. But only a few on this road become what I call "super-stars". One commonality in all these people are that they are in the news more often than "stars". Going by the doctrine, "any publicity is good publicity", it should be fairly simple for stars to jump on the publicity bandwagon to attain "super-star" status.  But it is not! Superstars sustain their publicity for prolonged periods. They have a cult following that is often  willing to thwart any attempt by external forces (people or organizations) to dethrone the superstar. Based on my observations, I have come up with five things that differentiate these people from rest of the popular crowd. 1. Vocal about Feelings:   Rarely you...

Is the age of Facebook 'fan' over? Is it reminiscent of its poor stock performance ? Or have they not yet unleashed themselves? Social Media was meant to foster relationships. It "was" about interactivity. But do the brands that boast about their million+ Facebook fans really connect with them? Has the brand fan page become the Berlin wall. Do brands really know who is that guy, girl, dad or mom who regularly visits their page to check what they are talking about? Facebook features prevent your fans from being singled out or rewarded. In a deluge of comments on updates by brands (which I suspect are paid), finding out that loyal customer, that super fan is like searching for a pin in a haystack. When the comments are few it is still possible to "interact" (like the example below).  But when they are in thousands how can you really appreciate your fan club and build it? The problem is both ways. It lies in the limited options given by Facebook to i...