Its a Sunday morning and after quite sometime, Iv sat around looking at what is happening across the Digital Media/ Marketing industry in India. Overtime the interactions Iv had with people across ages and businesses, today I share a perspective with everyone who is interested in exploring the New Media!
I must confess, this post is not going to be the sweetest in the line.
Recently I read an article at Alootechie a famed site which Iv been following since sometime and have admired their content, on, “are social media training companies helping”? Hold…hold your thought…lets revise it again!
Social Media Marketing/ Digital Media marketing companies, training people/ corporate/ employees in using the New Media??
Learn Social Media in 2 days!! I must confess, Iv been working in the New Media domain since quite sometime now and I still learn new things each day, evolving with people around! Networking with people who have done one thing or the other which has proven successful. And I still wont say that I know enough!
Before we go ahead, a question to these trainers?!
Give me 5 successful case studies of clients you have served and when I say successful, I dont mean, raising pageviews or traffic. Also give me 5 super failures that you had while you were associated with the New Media?!
I recently got a mail from one leading company’s past clients’ saying that we just could not understand what happened, for us it was a waste of an activity as we still dont know after so many months, what went right or what went wrong!
– this is one such training company quoted in the Alootechie article
We recently fired our PR agency who was also doing the social media for our events, they did deliver but they were trying the social media on us, there were no results they could show – a leading events company
– this is one of the leading PR agencies of which almost everyone would know
Okay, these are just two of the interactions which Im putting here! I meet so many people daily and interact with several of them and many of them have the same response.
The entire New Media industry is going in a way which many call in the corporate lingo, you scratch my back and I scratch yours, and this keeps on till something like: one tight slap comes like an MTV does!
I recently saw a presentation from one of these social media training companies, which uses the “video” content of a foreign company, without any credits to them! This is what you teach to your people guys?!! Take others content and use it commercially, without even letting the owner know?!!
- I actually went and connected with the owner of the content and notified him about it, to which strangely his response was, we can’t help it as Indian laws dont protect content!
And now for these self confessed Social Media Marketing/ Digital Media Marketing companies
No doubts, some of these guys have done real good work, I know personally some of them. But the rest, and again I know personally these “rest” are making hay while the sun shines! And why do I say that?
Well, in a previous post, I showed how these companies are employing graduates/ freshers, people from varied backgrounds, to create the marketing communications online, for your brand?!
My honest advice for Clients, who are investing money to explore the new Media: Please go to Linkedin and do a strong check of the people who will be executing your brand on the social media, as many of them dont even have the word brand remotely connected to their profiles!!!
And now for the employees
Last night I was looking at some employees of these social media marketing companies, of which I could personally think of and found their “core social media team” was missing from twitter
These companies have no search results on twitter, isnt’ that strange?!
Why did I write such a damning post?
Well, coz all such efforts are actually harming the Industry, rather than improving it. The Indian consumer reacts to logical use of the New Media like a commodity like fruits and vegetables, negotiating at each stage. A client who has burnt his. her hands (not just fingers) before, becomes much averse to the New Media and hence goes very cautious the next time.
