Rohit Bidappa, Independent Management & Social Media Consultant
What are the benefits of social media marketing?
Due to the massive growth of social media and number of people using it, in India itself there are about 150 million social media accounts. The global tally goes above a billion, so why not try spreading awareness about your offerings through this medium.
The biggest advantage of social media is that you are diving into a database of consumers. So in order to reach your target customers, you must have a good social media strategy build around good content. Without the right content it is not possible to connect with such a large number of people. There are companies who have realised that the old out-bound marketing that they did was not working, so they are now moving towards in-bound marketing where one builds a community based on good content and where they can commercialise their products. Social media is the best platform today, as it can be viral and scalable in terms of creating that community. So fundamentally, from the marketing point of view, what is happening in social media is companies, especially SMEs are moving from communicating with customers to converting them into customers.
With social media the world actually is in your pocket. In the last one year, I would say about 60% of my clients have come from social media.
What is the best social media strategy?
I would summarise it in what we call the 4M concept:-
- Understanding who is your market (demography and target audience)
- What is your message, what does your content typically would like to speak and whether this content is useful for your target audience?
- Which is the best medium; in social media you have lots of platform and you have to choose the right platform for giving out the right message.
- Methodology is very important. If in a given calendar period, one should run promotional campaign and link it to offline marketing among others.
So basically, in order to use this 4M method, you need to make content calendar, positioning and action plan. You have to understand what is your message, who is your target audience and what is your method (banner, blog, social media port, website for ecommerce).
Which are the areas where social media can be effective?
Product and brand propagation, identity protection and image management, crisis management and customer engagement & support are some of the areas where social media is effective. There are few companies in India who do social media campaign for companies. But one should go for the one that will not only build a platform and provide strategy, but will also guide during the implementation, analytics and consumer insights. In the higher end of value chain, there is a term called social media command. The term stands for a technology enabled system that will provide analytics and consumer insights into social media.
Which is the best platform for the machine tool companies?
For this industry, I would say Youtube and LinkedIn. By using Youtube, they will have the ability to showcase their solution, while Linkedin would be appropriate to interact and keep themselves updated by gaining knowledge from other industry professionals and experts.
What are the fundamental changes that you have observed in B2B marketing?
B2B sectors were lagging behind when it came to social media, but now they are getting enough visitors and information through this medium. In fact, what I have noticed today is that many companies are looking up to social media to get the first information.
How would you rate the awareness level of Indian SMEs when it comes to digital marketing?
The awareness in among the Indian SMEs is certainly low. The old school businessmen are not very tech savvy, whatever ever awareness can be seen among the Indian SMES, the credit goes to the younger generation who are now taking over the business. They know the importance and that is driving social media marketing among the Indian SMEs. The trend is catching up and will grow in the years to come.
There are various good products that have the capacity to take on the competition at the global arena. In such cases, social media will not only help the business create awareness but also connect with the global customers.
Can e-commerce be implemented in machine tool industry too?
Things have changed in today’s world, people are buying furniture online, Nissan is planning to sell car online, so of course there are some benefits that’s why people are spending money on e-commerce. So why not machine tool. For instance, you order a CNC machine and pay Rs 1-1.5 crore, of course the seller is giving you 30 days money back guarantee, so there is no risk. If you are getting a cheaper deal with money back guarantee, so why not, unless it’s some customised machine.
nishant@mfgtechupdate.com
