Looking at Each Client Through the Same SOcial Media Glass – Are We Going Round in Circles Talking about the Same Problems?

August 14th, 2009 § 1 comment § permalink

Well, Yes I have a problem.

I discuss Social Media with some of the established brains in the domain in India and have had discussions with Social Media thinkers sitting thousands of miles across the seven seas.

And now I do have a problem!

Before I put my problem down, let me put some questions for you to ponder upon:

  • Almost every business today needs to reach out and the Internet becomes one of the best mediums. But does every business have the same objective in terms of (Branding, Outreach, Lead generation) etc.?
  • Is it necessary that a solution which has worked for an IT company (as an example) would fit great for a BPO?
  • Is it necessary that YOU as an Online marketing company would be able to understand everything from a product business to an IT to a BPO to a Chocolate product company?
  • Is marketing universal and do the same rules apply for all on Social Media?

Well, now let me put forth my problem!

One of the biggest lacking points that I see with online marketing/ social media companies today is lack of good human resources. In my experience, you need three core and basic qualities to be even thinking of creating social media strategies for a business (client). These are:

  1. Solid understanding of Business/ Products/ Services/ Industry
  2. Solid understanding of the consumer who consume these products/ services online
  3. Solid understanding of marketing

My experience of the industry says that majority of Social Media companies, talk about all the major tools and all the great jargons, but what they dont understand is how to customize a solution for the client. Each business (may be from the similar domain) will have a different set of problem statements to answer. Each business will have different objectives to achieve.

When so much is different, how can you just go along with jargons and pitch the same solution to each client?

I have interacted with many a Social Media people who if spoken to, would not have the required level of knowledge/ understanding of the product/ industry/ consumer behavior they are pitching to, but will keep circling around their choice of words which are: branding, positioning and lead generation (amongst the many others)

To scale up as a Social Media company – My way would be

The human resources that I recruit would surely have these three above mentioned qualities. Also, since time is an essential factor in the Internet business, I as a small company cannot afford to keep training my employees and wait for them to grasp business and start delivering. Hence what I need to focus on is getting the right people on board who take the ownership of work and understand the criticality of client delivery and execution.

The fresh’err debate…fresher’s in the industry – a questionmark for us?

February 18th, 2009 § 0 comments § permalink

In one of the conferences I was scheduled to speak in, a gentleman shared his thoughts on a crucial topic, which in my belief, is affecting the industry as a whole, and not just emerging companies.

The question was: what should one expect of a fresher to the industry?

A number of answers came, hinting at what should be done and what lacks! Till that moment I was in the conference, but the speaker before me left everyone with a thought that everyone could relate to, but not many could suggest a solution to. After a long haul I feel its a concern worth sharing at the Emerge Forum!

What is lacking in our system are proper training and development methodologies, which could be implemented right from the first year, when a student enters college, till the time the student graduates out. The principle applies to all (management, engineering, IT etc.)

A unique industry-academia partnership, which has been tried before many a times on several occasions and platforms, but hasn’t been able to make an impact, as the corporate vision is again “nurturing” and “nurturing profits”!

Today such a question arises, because we all know the quality of majority of the graduates being pumped into the market each year. And again a majority of them still are either unemployable by industry standards or simply not upto the mark, which forces the corporate to invest into the individual intellectually again.

Expectations from the “fresher” should be:

  1. He/she should already be aware of the fact that college is over!
  2. Domain knowledge (which could be honed upon as per the requirements by the corporate)
  3. Understanding of hierarchy, work ethics of the organization
  4. How do they contribute to the company’s growth (which most corporate forget to share with the “employees” )

I strongly feel that, instead of investing into a “fresher” post recruitment, the industry should collaborate together, to hone the future prospective taskforce according to their own requirements.

  • The Startups/Emerging companies!

Situation becomes difficult to answer for a startup/emerging company, which could not afford highly experienced professionals nor can they take a chance of being happy employing everyone who comes cheap!

  • What do startups do?

Having these stalwarts from the industry as mentors could be one option. Moreover, any startup/emerging company/SME, looking to hire freshers could be highly instrumental in establishing such a training and development knowledge grid, which links the industry and the academia.

The emerging companies can use the “social networking” and “web 2.0?  tools in a unique and innovative manner, in knowing their candidate in and out before joining in.The step involves minimal costs and high level of innovation!

  • The power of community!

I feel startups and emerging companies can take innovation to new heights and in the process, create a platform which allows for the existence of a unique knowledge grid which aims at increasing the employability of the graduates from India.

As goes one of the major agenda’s of President Kalam’s Mission 2020.

Link to the post at the NASSCOM EMERGE blog: http://blog.nasscom.in/emerge/2008/07/28/the-fresherr-debate/