SOIL Markezine - Nov 2012

November 2012

CONTENTS

Featured Articles Page No

Copywriting for Google AdWords 2

Mobile Markerting - An Emerging 4
Opportunity

Game Marketing 9

If Facebook has a new WANT link... 14

Gamification: An emerging trend in 17
digital marketing…!!

Social Media Crisis Management 19

Mobile Marketing 23

User Generated Content – A new 27
Marketing Dimension

Interview with Mr. Ishaan Gupta, CEO of 31
EduKart

November 2012

Hi Readers,

We are very happy to bring out this month’s edition of Markezine- Digital Marketing. We all
know that the world is quickly evolving into a more digital one and so are the businesses and
the way they market their products and services. Gone are the days when the businessmen
relied on the traditional sources to communicate to their consumers and the reasons for this
shift are innumerable such as having a larger and a better reach to your target audience and
identifying them in a better way, lower costs of reaching out to them, engaging and interact-
ing with your customers in an efficient manner to get to know about your products and ser-
vices and the biggest advantage is that your marketing efforts can easily be monitored and
tracked and corrective actions can be taken.
This issue of Markezine concentrates on very important and happening trends in Digital
marketing- Mobile Marketing and Gamification, which businesses now use extensively. The
highlight of this issue is an interview with Mr. Ishaan Gupta, CEO at EduKart.com and an
alumnus of The Stanford University Graduate School of Business. EduKart.com gives stu-
dents, young graduates and working professionals access to high quality certificate courses
to develop their skills and talent and improve employability. With a wide range of courses
in different segments like Retail, Finance, Software Engineering, Digital Marketing, Project
Management and more, it is an ideal platform to enhance your knowledge. All the courses
come with unlimited telephonic doubt-solving support.
We place on record our sincere thanks to all those who worked hard in bringing out this edi-
tion on time.

Happy reading…!
Team Markezine

Editing and Design-
| Sheeza Shakeel | Shivaraj | Nikhil Girhotra | Ishwarya Lakshmi

1 MARKezine C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP

November 2012

Copywriting for Google AdWords

Take up any advertisement, be it online or offline, words. You must be clear about the demographic
print or electronic, the most powerful component is that you are targeting and you must make sure that
the words used to deliver the message. Sometimes your ad appears only when the search is pertaining
we come across certain ads which lack something, to your product.
either the words don’t create the right impact or the The Search Engine Marketers have focused heav-
call-to-action is weak. These are all the loopholes of ily on the importance of keywords but it is not the
copywriting. only factor that affects your ad getting clicked. Some
Online advertisements require a lot of research in other factors that contribute to the success of your
choosing the right keywords for your advertisement. Google AdWord are as follows:
You must make sure that your advertisements are 1. Copy:
targeting the right demographics. Your ads might These days Google is using advanced algorithm to
prove to be useless if the target customers don’t test your Google ads. It checks the extent to which
click on them. And every click on your Google ad your Google ad matches with the user’s search.
costs you a lot of money. Therefore, if it is not the It also checks the synchronization between your
right people who are clicking on the advertisements Google Ad and your Ad Copy.
then it is sure to cost you a lot. 2. Group:
Google AdWords is a widely used service provided Google analyzes your keywords as a group of Ads.
by Google that allows you to create and run adver- Thus, they evaluate if the keywords are relevant to
tisements for your business on Google SERPs and your ad copy. Your list of keywords might be very
on Google’s advertising network. However, the de- long and pertaining to your product but if it doesn’t
sired results require strategically identifying the pertain to your ad copy then those keywords would
keywords and then bidding for them. be considered in another group.
After creating your Google AdWords account, the 3. Landing Page:
first step that goes in designing an effective Google Your landing page is where people go when they
ad campaign is to identify the target audience. You click on your ad. Your landing page should be com-
can rule out certain sections of the society depend- pletely hassle free and must serve what your user is
ing on the product you are marketing. looking for. Google searches your landing page for
the keywords. Your landing page must satisfy your
The next step is to write an effective ad copy. While
users. Thus, bidding for the right keywords is nec-
writing an effective ad copy you must narrow down
essary.
the range of your keywords. Select particular key-

C SCHOOL of INSPIRED LEADERSHIP MARKezine 2

November 2012

Industry experts say that if you have not bid for the
right keyword then your entire ad campaign might
turn out as a flop show. Writing a compelling and
snappy ad copy is very essential. You must know how
to play with words creatively. Uses of certain ‘hook’
words like get, learn, best can do wonders to your ad
campaign and increase your ad clicks. Include the
price also in your ad, this will increase the number of
conversions. Remember that you must add effective
Calls-to-Action to your ad copy like Apply now, Save
Today, Buy Now etc.
right keyword then your entire ad campaign might
turn out as a flop show. Writing a compelling and
snappy ad copy is very essential. You must know how
to play with words creatively. Uses of certain ‘hook’
words like get, learn, best can do wonders to your ad
campaign and increase your ad clicks. Include the
price also in your ad, this will increase the number of
conversions. Remember that you must add effective
Calls-to-Action to your ad copy like Apply now, Save
Today, Buy Now etc.
In a nutshell, it is not only about choosing the right
keywords but also about writing an effective ad copy
and designing a creative and innovative ad cam-
paign which caters to the maximum number of cus-
tomers and results in maximum conversions.

Submitted by:
Kumud Pudrani
Edukart, An online Education Portal


November 2012

MOBILE MARKERTING -
AN EMERGING OPPORTUNITY
Marketing is about identifying and meeting human marketing in emerging markets is mobile marketing.
and social needs. One can say “meeting needs profit- Emerging markets have experienced strong eco-
ably”. According to American Marketing Association nomic growth in the recent past and four of the top
“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of five mobile markets are emerging markets – China
processes for creating, communicating, and deliver- in first place, India second, Russia in fourth and Bra-
ing value to customers and for managing customer zil in fifth. The US is the only developed market to
relationships in ways that benefit the organization sneak into the top five, at number three. According
and stakeholders”. The highlighted words depict to Anatel, the Brazilian regulatory agency that over-
the importance of MOBILE in marketing. Marketing sees wireless carriers in Latin America, Brazil leads
without communication and customer relationship the way in terms of mobile penetration on 92 per
is just impossible. The changing Marketing com- cent, followed by Columbia (88 per cent); Chile (75
munication environment defines the opportunities per cent); Argentina (72 per cent); and Mexico (63
ahead. Technology and other factors have profound- per cent). Credit Suisse’s report, Convergence 2010:
ly changed the way consumers process communi- The Wireless Web World estimates that in the pe-
cations. The rapid diffusion of powerful broadband riod 2009-2015, the number of smartphones in Latin
Internet connections, ad-skipping digital video re- America will have increased by more than fivefold.
corders and multipurpose cell phones have forced The Indian Telecom Sector has grown by leaps and
marketers to rethink a number of their traditional bounds over the last decade. The growth has been ex-
practices. With globalization at its rapid pace Mo- plosive in the wireless segment with teledensity lev-
bile has attracted attention of many of the marketers. els reaching 75.42% overall and the subscriber base
One should know – What is Mobile Marketing? reaching 911.17 million at the end of Feb 2012 from
Mobile marketing can be defined as “the use of the 893.84 million at the end of Dec 2011. Even more im-
mobile medium as a means of marketing commu- pressive is the teledensity figures for the urban ar-
nication” or “the distribution of any kind of promo- eas, which has crossed 162.61%. On the contrary, the
tional or advertising messages to customer through teledensity figures for rural areas remain at around
wireless networks”. More specific definition could 37.62%. However, the fact that the rural segment is
be: “using interactive wireless media to provide cus- the fastest growing in terms of subscriber base is
tomers with time and location sensitive, personal- encouraging. With 68.84% of India’s population liv-
ized information that promotes goods, services and ing in rural areas, this presents a huge opportunity
ideas, thereby generating value for all.” Definitions for the telecom sector. And with such a population
apart, we know one of the fastest growing forms of India will stand as a favourite destination for mobile


November 2012

marketing in coming years. with your customers. Increased exposure with your
With comparison to other media, Mobile has many customers. More number of feedback and interac-
advantages – deciding on the Reach, Frequency and tion is possible.
Impact. Total number of exposures (E) is the reach EFFECTIVENESS - Assured delivery of message to
times the average frequency (E=R*F), Weighted the customers. When you make advertisement on
number of exposures (WE) = R*F*I. Seeing all this we T.V or display pamphlets, you are not sure that they
can say mobile marketing has – OMNIPRESENCE have been watched by your customers but you can
- 75.42% of huge subscribers providing full plate cus- be assured when you send it through mobile.
tomers. With such a growth rate in penetration it is CONVENIENCE - More number of ensured custom-
very easy to reach more number of customers in less ers base for advertisement. No extra efforts needed
time. for this.
DELIVERY - More number of customers and one can LOCALIZATION - You can attach and reach more
make delivery easy by bunch delivery of messages. number of latent buyers and potential buyers.
AFFORDABILITY - It is much cheaper than any of INTEGRATION - You can integrate those customers
the marketing techniques. Low cost will attract a lot with equivalent demand or same customer segment
of users. Bulk usage makes it cheaper. or choose only those whom you want to target. Tar-
PERSONAL - The more you connect to customers geting becomes easier by mobile marketing.
the more successful you are. The major part is retain- NOVELTY FACTOR - Being new it will obviously
ing your customers lifelong. This can be done only attract a lot of seekers and hence increase the con-
when you connect well. sumer base.
TARGETED - In the case of mass marketing, you can It can serve as a form of buzz marketing as well as
choose the customers of your product, only those viral marketing.
can be targeted. Targeting is an important phenom- Seeing the trends of marketing tactics
enon of marketing and can be easily achieved by this used by many companies, the following
cost effective way. technologies can be foresighted to be used
TWO - WAY - Best way to achieve CRM. Taking for mobile marketing:
feedback has become necessary and important for Mobile Friendly Website
your product to be successful. This can be achieved Statistics claim that by 2013 more people will be ac
by phone very easily. cessing websites via their cell phones as opposed to
INTERACTIVE - More interaction brings you closer desktops and laptops. This means that mobile opti-
to the heart of customers and you get to know your mized websites are more important now more than
customers deeply. ever before.

RELATIONSHIP - Helps in building relationship SMS (Text) Alerts/Reminders


November 2012

SMS has many useful applications in the mobile SMS Rewards and short codes
technology realm, one of which is alerts and remind- Text WINNER to 123456 and get a free voucher for a
ers. Having the ability to contact your customers round of golf or free fries with your burger or tickets
with simple text messages is non-intrusive and con- to a local concert! Companies are rewarding mobile
venient. Two current examples of industries utiliz- customers by having them participate in short code
ing SMS alerts and reminders are banks and retail communications via SMS. And these codes appear
chains. Banks use this technology to alert customers everywhere - billboards, radio, television and print
of balances on their accounts. Retail chains can alert publications.
customers when certain products are discounted or QR Codes
available. QR Codes are similar to UPC codes. They contain
SMS Voting/Polling information that can be used for a variety of applica-
Many of you may be familiar with this technology al- tions such as sending a text, making a call or going
ready. Television shows like Indian Idol, Kaun Bane- to a website. The idea is simple but the impact po-
ga Crorepati and many others utilize this technology tential is huge! Place a QR code on product packag-
to rank contestants. However, this technology is also ing and once the customer scans the QR code with
helpful in the business world, where users can poll or a mobile device, the code can link to anything from
vote on various products and services. What a great videos that explain how to use the product to a com-
way to get valid feedback on your business! pany’s promotional website.
Mobile Applications Mobile Search Advertising
Companies and organizations worldwide have adopt- Mobile users are searching for establishments to eat
ed the use of mobile apps to help increase awareness and relax while on the go. Google Places provides
and revenue streams. Mobile apps can provide data quick mobile search results that will show detailed
such as product information, account information, information about your establishment as well as rat-
scores to a sporting event, streaming audio and ings and pricing.
more. Studies show that users prefer mobile games, This list doesn’t stop here, it can be expanded to
social media, maps and music in the form of an app such an extent that one cannot imagine but can also
as opposed to a web based interaction. implement the same very soon in coming years.
Mobile Coupons All arms of marketing can be linked through mobile
The ability to have a retail clerk scan your phone for to the customers. This explains the necessity of mo-
20% off on a product does not sound like a bad idea bile marketing for every company. Worldwide use of
right? Currently, this technology is widely used by mobile marketing is not a new thing, but India still
retailers all over the world. Mobile coupons can be needs to grow a lot in this field. Uses can be seen
available through search advertising in mobile apps, in railways, telecom service providers, retail chains,
on mobile websites and in many other ways. agri input companies and many more. Seeing the


November 2012

needs. Small and medium enterprises are also realiz-
ing the benefits of mobile telephony either through
increases in productivity or finding new business
ventures through the use of mobile phones.
All statistics of Indian Telecom sector is mind bog-
gling, be it urban or rural both growing at an unbeat-
en speed. With such statistics, India has a vast op-
portunity for this new, untapped area of marketing.
Most of the agri input companies are already using
this method to the maximum they can. The rural area
people are using mobile phones not only to talk with
their near and dear ones but now a days it is serv-
ing as a connection between the input companies
and people. All new technologies, any new varieties,
market availability are transferred via messaging on
their phones as and when required. The messages
statistics of Indian market we can visualize the up- are customized into their local language to ease it to
coming scenario of mobile marketing in India. such an extent that every word clearly speaks what
INDIAN SCENARIO - the company wants to inform. Government agen-
From 2001 to 2011, the total number of telephone sub- cies are also using this way of message delivery
scribers has grown at a Compound Annual Growth for weather forecast, market price, MSP of different
Rate (CAGR) of 35 per cent. The comparable rates in crops and new schemes for farmers.
the 1980s and 1990s were 9 per cent and 22 percent, The figure below shows the trend of total mobile
respectively. subscribers in different countries. India stands in a
The telecom sector has received an average 8.2 per very respectable position. And this shows the huge
cent of total inward FDI between 2000–01 and 2010– opportunity of mobile marketing in India. country.
11. Most of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has Not only is the rural sector the ultimate customers to
gone to the cellular mobile segment. be served by mobile marketing, it is still in the early
stages both in urban and rural area. With the advent
The impact of mobile phones on agricultural pro-
of smart phones the mobile advertising and market-
ductivity and revenue varies on the type of service,
ing has a long way to travel. The new AADHAAR
literacy status of farmers and the type of comple-
scheme and many new initiatives will surely take
mentary infrastructure available. However, middle
mobile marketing to new heights. The online shop-
men and traders in both fisheries and farming are
ping, ticket booking in railways or movie, messages
dependent on the mobile to monitor their business


November 2012

from retail stores all are one way of mobile market-
ing. There is a need of new inventions and initiative
in this area. The allowance of 51% FDI in multi-brand
retail will surely pave the way for traceability factor
in supply chain, which will become easier by smart
phones in near future. The social networking site to-
day is playing an important role in marketing; this
can be exploited to a greater extent by smart phones.
Every section of society youth, adult......rural urban....
all will come under purview of mobile marketing
sooner or later.
Being an agribusiness manager we see mobile mar-
keting having an enormous potential to take agricul-
ture to new heights, connecting the rural people with
the fast moving world.
Being an adult we see the hidden upcoming poten-
tial via smart phones in mobile marketing. There is a
long way ahead which will surely be reached with the
help of young minds very soon.

Submitted by:
Kumkum Bala (PGDM,ABM)
Ravi Kumar Kunwar (PGDM,ABM)
National Institute of Agricultural Extension Man-
agement.

The figures show that India stands second after Chi-
na as far as number of subscribers is concerned. And
it stands fourth in number of internet users in the


November 2012

Game Marketing

If Shakespeare was born in the 21st century, he would a powerful tool to transport information, change con-
have said, “All the world’s a game”. With the advent, sumer behaviour, influence the decision process and
acceptance and ascendency of social media, the in- the brand perception, etc. The rise of platforms and
creasing use of the same by almost every brand or applications to enable Gamification such as SCVN-
marketer was only expected. The snowballing addic- GR, Badgeville, BigDoor and Bunchball has made it
tion of people towards social media has made mar- easier for brands to structure campaigns. Gamifica-
keters come up with newer innovations to keep peo- tion can be applied to almost any industry through
ple glued to their screens longer – be it the 3- inch channels such as marketing campaign, website/con-
mobile screen or the 16-inch laptop screen. “I hear tent portal, business services and online community
and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I un- to drive participation and engagement. It can be
derstand” is the concept that makes games a learn- leveraged across enterprise to deal with various user
ing experience and perfect engagement opportunity. engagement challenges.
What makes it an instant favourite of people is the Enterprise Gamification
fact that through games, menial and routine tasks in Innovation management - idea banks, improving
life can be transformed into something fun and rec- team culture etc. by rewarding and engaging em-
reational. Hence, Gamification is in vogue. ployees
Motivating sales people who are already attuned to
incentive programs based on tiered rewards
Education and Learning: e-Learning, certification
programs, vocational training

Consumer Gamification
Customer loyalty programmes by incorporating
gaming features such as challenges and quests to
foster deeper engagement between the business and
the customer
Gamification refers to the use of game mechanics Creating awareness about the brands by integrat-
and game design techniques in non-game contexts, ing games into marketing campaign
in order to encourage people to adopt them or to in- Gamification generates new business when new
fluence how they are used. Understanding and ap- customers find their friends playing games
plying the mechanics of games can give companies


November 2012

Societal and other uses in order to determine when to award points, levels,
Health and Wellness - obesity programs, smoking and badges or the detailed reports about employee
cessation activities provided to real managers so that they can
Public Policy and Government - Carbon credits, distribute recognition.
climate change, welfare reforms
Gamification Market
Gamification is growing up from hype into a signifi-
cant business opportunity for Gamification platform
providers. M2 Research forecasts the market in 2012
to reach $242 million and climb to $2.8 billion by
2016. According to the recent Gartner report, by 2015
more than 50% of organizations that manage innova-
tion processes will gamify those processes. It further
goes on to conclude that by 2014, a gamified service
for consumer goods marketing and customer reten-
tion will become as important as Facebook, eBay or The main characteristics of a successful
Amazon, and more than 70 percent of Global 2000 gamified campaign
organizations will have at least one gamified appli- 1) Setting a challenge
cation. A challenge often motivates consumers to go that
extra step, sometimes literally. The American Pub-
lic Health Association teamed up with Shinobi Labs
to incorporate its Mobile Adventure Walks app into
their annual 5k walking challenge.
The app was designed to add fun to exercise by ask-
ing participants questions about their walk and what
they could see around them. The goal was to walk 5k,
but the app turned the experience into an adventure.

How Gamification Works
Gamification is not just designing video games or
just using points (levels, badges etc.) for an applica-
tion. Analytics lie at the heart of Gamification. It’s
the “behaviour engines” that analyse user behaviour


November 2012

2) A scoring system: badges and points as cash or discounts – or have some other value –
By offering a scoring system people are encour- such as peer respect, recognition or fame. A reward
aged to return again and again to see if they can system can motivate people to do something that
score higher next time. Foursquare has been used might be seen as a chore. More than 3 million people
by events and conferences such as Comic-Con and have signed up Recycle Bank, a scheme where par-
Consumer Electronics Show to encourage attendees ticipants earn points by buying environment-
to visit as many areas as possible and collect badges friendly products or choosing green behaviour. They
and earn rewards. earn rewards in the form of discounts, offers, gift
3) Progression: levels cards or charitable donations.
Gamification is just like a standard computer game, Reasons behind Gamification being an im-
allowing progression through levels where users portant tool in digital marketing:
keep coming back again and again. Starbucks has Gamification essentially targets the psyche of people.
introduced this into its loyalty scheme: progression Everybody loves to face challenges, measure their
through the levels is rewarded with perks such as progress with respect to others and get rewards in
free drinks or extras, giving users an incentive to the end if the performance is up to the mark. Gamifi-
keep coming back. cation meets these desires. It has competitions, easy
4) Rating: rankings and leader boards progress tracking mechanisms as well as rewards at
With Gamification beginning to creep into the work- the successful completion of challenges. Sharing ac-
place, managers are starting to understand the inspi- complishments and status levels has become very
rational power of a leader board and are using it to easy with the advent of Facebook and Twitter.
induce competition, particularly within sales teams. Technology makes all things easier, especially
The Salesforce CRM platform enables teams to track competition
performance and offer rewards to the top achievers. Real-time data and awesome graphics help in in-
5) Multiplayer options creased customer involvement. Also, the ease with
Most people simply love competition. Multiplayer which one can compare one’s performance relative
options add a challenge by letting you compete to his peers increases the competitive intensity.
against others – known or unknown people. Nike Boredom Solution better than TV
Plus has a whole range of features to enhance your With the increasing influence of media in everyday
running experience, including being able to chal- life, one needs an exciting medium like gaming to
lenge up to 50 friends to compete individually or on grab the attention of the viewers.
teams. Marketers get a better amount of attention
6) The prize Unlike advertisements which usually create consum-
There is a need to offer some kind of reward at the er awareness through interruption, in gaming one
end of the experience. It might be monetary – such can build awareness without annoying the viewer.


November 2012

Millions of users everyday play social games on their is a social running game. It was a collaboration be-
own accord. Facebook with its 1010 million users is tween Nike and Apple and the game basically stores
the mecca of social gaming information such as the elapsed time of the workout,
Lead Generation and Conversion: the distance travelled, pace and calories burned by
Social games have proved to be very efficient for lead the individual. The users are able to measure their
generation as they are able to generate much greater performance relative to other users which encour-
interest into the products and services of a business ages them to compete and improve their fitness pro-
compared to regular online ads. Also, one can easily gram.
target relevant users as there is user specific data. Microsoft Ribbon Hero is a free downloadable game
Research conducted by Viximo has shown that so- intended to help users learn how to use all the fea-
cial games that utilize virtual goods on an average tures and functions in Microsoft Office 2007 and Mi-
earn 10-35 cents per user. crosoft Office 2010
Few Examples of Firms who have used Microsoft Ribbon Hero
Gamification successfully is a free downloadable game intended to help users
Dell learn how to use all the features and functions in Mi-
introduced Gamification to engage with B2B cus- crosoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010
tomers to check their products, download content, Challenges
provide feedback and share social contacts through Biggest challenge in Gamification lies in creating a
earning points and badges. fun based platform where every person is empow-
e-bay ered to achieve his goal in his own way. Some of the
introduced a unique gaming system to improve most obvious risks associated with Gamification in-
sales and service levels. Through seller points and clude:
badges the top sellers on the site are found out. Cheating:
Buyer feedback mechanism is also present which The entire concept of Gamification strategy will be
induces the seller to provide better services to the susceptible to cheating. During the design process,
consumers. businesses should attempt to think of themselves as
Starbucks coffee application a player who would go to any extent to win. If the im-
rewards user with the Starts and Status levels which plementation is misused in an unintended manner,
induces users to keep playing. On reaching Green a process should be in place to rapidly identify and
level, users are entitled for free refills on brewed cof- rectify. One reason games are powerful is because
fee or tea. This leads to greater playing as people the implicit rules are clear. Without rules and dy-
aspire to reach the premium category which is Star- namics, cheating may increase.
bucks Golden
Nike Plus


November 2012

Using game mechanics to reinforce a deficient In today’s competitive world of digital marketing,
product or process: Gamification is a powerful tool and going forward
Gamification is not the elixir that will mend some- will play more important role in aligning ourselves
thing that is broken. For example, customers will not with consumer insight. The whole gaming experi-
engage deeply with a biscuit brand that tastes bad ence, the competition levels as well as rewards in
just because they can earn points. the end all have to induce the consumer to play the
Belief that Gamification is the domain of only games again without losing interest to achieve the
gamers: goal.
It reaches everyone. It is important to understand References
that new means of deriving feedback, posing chal- 1.http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/In-
lenges and driving experiences can increase engage- sights/
ment and bring out improved business results. 2.http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/04/01/gami-
Relying on a single game element: fication-adding-stickiness-to-yourcampaigns/
Gamification is a design process that includes hun- 3.http://www.informationweek.com/thebrainyard/
dreds of considerations, mechanics and theories. slideshows/view/232901489/7-
Relying on only one element is usually not good examples-put-gamification-to-work?pgno=1
enough. 4.http://www.business-standard.com/india/

Tying extrinsic rewards to artificial
achievement:
Participants may work to achieve a goal solely for Submitted by:
the sake of getting that reward. This approach can Vikas Goyal, Ranajay Choudhuri and Ritankar Roy
work in the short run but in the long run, the focus Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi
should be on providing systems of challenges and
rewards that can be more meaningful to participants
and allowing them the freedom to be creative.
Creating systems of dependency or boredom:
As Gamification becomes omnipresent, there is the
risk of users getting bored of seeing it so often as
well as being dependent on it. While the former can
be resolved with a good strategy of innovation and
iteration, the latter presents a problem if organiza-
tions implement a Gamification pilot and later re-
move it.
Conclusion


November 2012

If Facebook has a new WANT link...

It was raining on a Saturday evening and my moth- brands in order to attract prospective customers.
er wanted to check out a new water purifier for our This has worked amazingly well with Social Media
home. Five years ago, Dad would have taken his car websites such as Facebook and Twitter where friends
out and went out to the nearest possible outlet and would like, share, tweet and re-tweet about products
we would have looked for various models of water and services offered by organizations.
purifiers. But on that day, I sat down on my sofa and The subsequent advantages due to Social Media
browsed across various models available over online and especially Facebook have been:
retail stores and ordered the one we thought best fit- Brand Association. The ‘like’ and ‘share’ links did
ted our needs. I told myself “E-commerce rocks!!” exactly that. None of the users come to Facebook
But the problem was to figure out the exact e-com- to get bombarded with advertisements. It’s a place
merce store which would provide me the top selling where the customers can be engaged.
product or the service. Now that’s where I felt the Get to know your customers online. The product/
challenge was, and the answer to that might seem- service pages allow prospective customers and exist-
ingly come from Social Media. ing customers to open up and share their opinions
Until February 3rd 2004, the world had one address about the offerings. It’s been called User Initiated
for social networking and that was ORKUT. The next Conversation.
day a new social networking website was launched We as product managers or service providers can
which hit Orkut like a tsunami. The date was Febru- start a conversation and ask for customer experienc-
ary 4th 2004 and the name of the new website was es and gain valuable insights that help in enhancing
Facebook! Indeed I tried to login to Orkut to see if I the offering. Facebook is a great medium where there
remotely remember the look and feel while writing can be a two way communication in real time with-
this article, and of course I did not. out knowing each other in person and yet create that
What has Social Media done to a compa- emotional connect with your customers.
ny’s offerings? Marketers could understand consumer behaviour
One word answer – Brand Awareness! And brand using these tools and design products and services
awareness it was with low cost. The medium of in- accordingly and it’s time to reach the next level on
formation has become critical in digital era and who this path.
else better to trust than one’s own circle of friends Users Like and Share on Facebook
and relatives? The word of mouth publicity has Novelty and affordability are probably the key ingre-
helped companies to position and reposition their dients for the success of a new product. And when


November 2012

I mean affordable, I don’t mean low cost products. moment the video was over, there should have been
The number of likes a product or a service receives, a link that would either get me subscribed to ‘The
which is demonstrated via a poster or a video is one Hindu’ or to the issue at hand or at least redirect me
stop shop for marketers to understand the customer to the newspaper web site. Neither of it was an op-
segment that prefers such products or services. The tion. Disappointed!!
moment they share you have a snowball effect in pro- Both the ‘like’ and ‘share’ links enable users to ex-
gress. press their interests in a certain product or service,
What can the new WANT link add? but neither of them gives the real insight if the user
To understand whether the idea of a new WANT link wants the offering posted. This is where I feel the
would benefit e-commerce or not, let’s step back for new WANT link would bridge the gap.
a moment and understand what is that the existing Where the entire new WANT link takes the user
LIKE and SHARE links don’t offer for increased visi- to?
tors into their online stores. The expected user experience from my offline chats
1. I ‘like’ this product/service with people...
There was a brilliant poster to describe one of the Scenario-1:
cars on Facebook. I loved it. I liked it, and I shared it. “I saw a new ad about running shoes from NIKE, I
Then what? Indeed I “wanted” that car. So where do wanted them. I clicked on this new cool WANT link
I go to check out the features of the car, the accesso- on FB and I was redirected to the company’s e-store.
ries, the price tag, the comparison report, the service I simply placed my order and the shoes are on the
centre details, the loan options etc.? I open another way. It’s so simple. Love it!”
tab, type in the company name and navigate across Scenario-2:
to find that specific model of the car. Boring! The “The car broke down on my way back home. I know
first impression when I saw the poster ad was I want Maruti offers service stations at every corner of the
that car and I should have actually been redirected to city, but I didn’t have the number. I opened my Face-
the company website exactly to that page which had book account profile, just clicked on the Maruti link
all the required details about the automobile. that I liked before. There was this new WANT button
2. I like a video and I ‘share’ it and all I had to do was click on that. It gave me the
Now this is interesting. There was one fantastic vid- contact details of the nearest service station based
eo off late produced by ‘The Hindu’ which is making on my demographic settings. And I paid online for
rounds over Facebook. The video shows how the the service. This feature was needed for so long!!”
MPs behave in Parliament. I told myself it was a great Scenario-3:
job by the newspaper. What did I do? You guessed it “There was a rock band concert in Bangalore and
right. I shared it. But again, I wanted that newspaper. one of my favourite bands was performing on that
The marketer in me wakes up and resonates that the night. I had no clue as to where the tickets were


November 2012

being sold. Even if I figured out, given the traffic jam Taxes).
in the city, there was no way I was going to reach References
the destination before they would have turned the Dave Awl (2011), “Facebook Me! A guide to Social-
sold out board. There had been a lot of advertising izing, Sharing and Promoting on Facebook”
and branding on Facebook about the event and I had http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2006/10/the-
heard that Facebook has this new WANT link. I just five-pillars-of-social-media-marketing.html
clicked on the link and voila, I was booking tickets
for the show. This is just too easy and just too good.”
Submitted by:
The scenarios I described above are possibly the re-
Vinay Kanth Nadikuda
actions that the users of Facebook are going to have
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
if there is this option of WANT.
What’s in it for E-commerce?
DATA! Yes, and data is all that matters before any de-
cision is taken. Our product or service has 1 million
‘likes’ on Facebook and another 500,000 have shared
it. So what? First, it simply means there are 1 million
people out there who like our offering and thus so
many people are aware of the brand. Secondly, there
are 500,000 people who probably recommend our
offering, which can be derived from the number of
shares over Facebook. But the million dollar ques-
tion is – How many of them want it? The answer to
this question is the new WANT link. Going by the
similar statistics, there are a million likes, 500,000
shares and now 200,000 wants. Let’s say as on date
your online store has 50,000 visitors a month and the
conversion rate is 10%. Now you have 250,000 visi-
tors and there is high probability that the conversion
rate would increase accordingly, since all these new
visitors are potential buyers and are indeed in need
of your product/service. Even if there is a conversion
rate of 5% on this new number of visitors, you have
12,500 customers and there is a huge jump in your
revenues. Sounds great? Well, it should. After all at
the end of day all that matters is PAT (Profit After


November 2012

Gamification:
An emerging trend in digital marketing…!!
“Being chased by goons of a different breed jumping each other. Various known companies like Volkswa-
and making sudden turns… gosh am I safe or not!!! gen have dived onto this way of marketing. As can
Ah if only could I have an energy drink to boost my be seen, in a car racing game in which, Volkswagen
power so that I can bolt faster than Usian Bolt him- has a virtual car given to the user with features.
self……?!!” Quoting a context from the Wikipedia:
Strange scenario given above and appears to be “Gamification is the use of game mechanics and
someone who is chased by life threatening forms. game design techniques in non-game contexts.
Such is the gaming world which exists in today’s Typically gamification applies to non-game applica-
time. With a very distinctive and detailed appear- tions and processes, in order to encourage people to
ance of the virtual world gaming has become a sur- adopt them, or to influence how they are used. Gami-
real reality for people of all ages. Imagine, in the sce- fication works by making technology more engaging,
nario given above the energy drink which comes is by encouraging users to engage in desired behav-
“Red Bull”!! iours.”
This is what the marketers are now targeting and When seeing in the light of the reputed Ansoff’s ma-
segmenting. It is a known fact that most people of trix of marketing a product it shows a condition of
different age groups are addicted, if I may use the new markets and existing markets for existing prod-
word, to gaming. Digital marketing is the study ucts. When we consider gamification it is a new kind
which looks and deals into this way of communica- of marketing for an already existing product. Hence
tion and marketing of the products. The reason for by using such strategy the marketing experts would
this kind of marketing is that visually a person re- help the product in two things. Either it would help
tains more information, and this is known but it is in market penetration or in market development. By
also known that by experiencing, it makes a person market penetration it means to tap that part of the
never forget. By giving a product in the virtual world market which was not yet tapped by the company
marketers are actually tapping into this aspect of the which would make the hold of the product in the
human retention. In the virtual world whatever a per- market more strong. And by market development it
son does is like a reality and experiences leave a very implies the way you (marketer) want the market to
deep impact on the mind of the people. World has be developing so that the product is easily accepted
gone mobile hence, by providing or finding a way to by the people. Hence, in case of gamification when
promote a product in innovative and effective ways we are engaging the user in a particular way, we are
for gaining market share. Digital marketing and actually developing the market of the product. Also
gamification are complementary to


November 2012

when viewing the BCG matrix for a product to be a digital marketing’s existence has been discovered.
star product, it should have high market share and Hence, if a company has to remain a player for a
high market growth rate. Now with the help of digital long time or has to capture a market or introduce a
marketing this can be achieved. By digital marketing new product, digital marketing is an exact platform
we can increase our market share and the cash usage which is required. And gamification which has the
involved will also be justified. Gamification hence advantage of capturing the customer when young
also can play an important role in capturing the mar- becomes a wild card worth the use or rather an ace
ket share and hence reviving the product from cash of diamond for the company.
cows to star or can maintain the product in the star
segment for a long time.
Though gaming provides a unique platform for mar- Submitted by:
keting of the products there are some pitfalls and Submitted by:
plummets which one has to take care so that the Ishan Kapahi
brand image is not destroyed. Every product or a Marketing Leadership Program
brand carries with itself an image and a loyalty of School of Inspired Leadership
people. Hence using a game for marketing should be
a very sought after decision. Gaming is supposed to
be fun and if it is not fun then the brand risks its im-
age in the eyes of the customer. For example if the
company manufactures engine oil then it should
market itself in a game like “Temple Run or Subway
Surfer”. Hence the target audience and the segment
chosen should remain the same and the value of the
product should also remain the same. The whole
point of marketing is creating a perception in the
mind of the people about a product. Hence, it is this
perception which would in turn help in the creation
of the brand, leading to loyalty which is the main rea-
son for marketing.
To conclude I would throw light upon the fact that
marketing is fruitful as there is a gap between “what
is” and “what is desired”. This gap is where “need”
is identified and marketing and perception creation
are done accordingly. With the improvement in the
technology and advanced thinking of the consumer,


November 2012

SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS MANAGEMENT-
How would you react & what would you do if you woke up one morning to find thou-
sands of negative tweets and Facebook comments flooding in about your brand?

“You can fall as fast as you rise”, says Jeremy Lin, a Popular studies say that 20 percent of what is being
famous American Basketball Player. With the advent said about brands online is negative and 76 percent
of Social Media Crisis situations could have been
of social media as a popular marketing platform,
avoided had the brands been a little more cautious
the phrase has a similar or perhaps more appropri- about their social presence and invested a little more
ate relevance today in the world of brands and their on social media crisis management.
value. Every brand, every company today has a clus- Managing a brand’s social presence in itself has
ter of icons on their web pages which direct you to become a niche competency today with a growing
their presence in social networking sites. This kind number of social media managers and social media
crisis management institutions budding by day in
of marketing is cheaper, reaches wider audience and
developing economies.
spreads faster. With all the advantages that it has
CHALLENGING BACKLASH!
got, this method of marketing is still a double-edged
“Ok, we’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like
sword because bad messages travel faster than good
the new logo. We’ve learned a lot from the feedback.
ones. Also, this platform provides you all the above
We only want what’s best for the brand and our cus-
advantages at the cost of ‘control’. Companies have
tomers. So instead of crowd-sourcing, we’re bringing
very little control over what is being said about
back the Blue Box tonight.” reads a Facebook post by
them in these platforms. In addition to these web-
the company GAP when it changed its logo in 2010
sites where the companies themselves host a space
and faced intense backlash from the online commu-
to seek feedback and communicate latest updates,
nity.
there are third party websites which act as forums of
discussions to talk about brands. When these discus- This, in a way, reinforces the belief that “Customer
sions go awry and go against your brand they tarnish is eventually the king”. Today unlike ever before,
your brand image which is termed as “social media brands are under constant scrutiny, thanks to the
crisis”. omnipresent Social media!
It is often heard of brands that succumb to constant
consumer pressure (read negative response) and get
left behind but return to the marketplace later. It is
also noted that such brands perform much better
during their second stint. It is definitely the age of
brands that hold their fort and beat all odds!
The changing trends with respect to media and dy-


November 2012

namic customer behaviour make the environment the company later had to offer explanation and re-
extremely challenging for brands to evolve and ac- solve the issue.
commodate. Customer response, criticism and feed- Competitor attack -
back reaches the companies in no time, this means The famous TOI-HINDU
that companies now will have to tread more carefully fight!
than ever before. In last November, Times
WHY DO BRANDS FACE BACKLASH? Of India (TOI) started it
CHANGE is good or is it not? with an ad campaign di-
This question, however, rectly taking a dig at its
does not have one sure competitor THE HINDU (TH). TOI’s ad campaign
answer. Brands are often was “Stuck up with the news that makes you sleep?”
perplexed when it comes and “Wake up Chennai”. TH known for its old man
to bringing about an im- kind of attitude was not expected to react to this.
age makeover. Business But contrary to its image, TH countered TOI’s cam-
leaders should ensure that the change they plan to paign with a series of TV commercials and print ads
bring about is consistent with the brand’s previous that read “Stay ahead of times” which in turn gained
image. The reason for change should be explained more popularity than the TOI campaign.
through the new promotions. The GAP logo episode
Brand Ambassador can sometimes cause harm
illustrated above serves as an example for this.
too! -
ETHICS issue in products – After their brand ambas-
The online protest drove sador’s private life was
Nestle to environment- torn to bits by the media,
friendly palm oil. Gillete and TAG Heuer
were worried about their
brand reputation and dis-
continued their associa-
Advertising or promotion campaign not going too tion with Tiger Woods.
well with audiences –
Nike Olympic t shirts for HOW TO HANDLE THESE SITUATIONS?
women read “Gold Dig-
ging” which was misin-
terpreted by Twitter and
Facebook communities as
sexist comments for which


November 2012

1. The first and most important rule, DO NOT PAN- visable to take some goodwill measures that build
IC. Because another fumble will only turn this crisis customer trust. Coca Cola had put this into practice
into an irrevocable catastrophe. when it was struck with the pesticide controversy. It
2. Position yourself as the primary source of all cred- offered to take Indian customers on tours of its pro-
ible communication concerning the crisis cessing plants.

3. At the first sign of trouble, try to seek the content 12. If the backlash gets viral, use TV commercials to
of crisis and respond to the root cause and through regain the reputation. This can be done with a help
the right channel. If a crisis occurs on twitter, re- of a prominent celebrity. Cadbury India dealt with
spond on twitter first. its ‘worms controversy’ head on. It acknowledged
the situation and roped in one of Bollywood’s most
4. Leverage the help of your customers who are still
reputed actors, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, to lend his
happy with you and are on your side. Let them spread
credibility to the brand. It was with the help of this
the good word.
TV commercial that Cadbury could get a new lease
5. Plan to respond suitably and optimise the re- of life.
sponse to reach maximum customers.
WHAT KIND OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES CAN
6. Regain complete control of the situation in mini- BE TAKEN?
mum time - you need to rectify the situation as soon Be prepared with the right social media crisis plan
as possible, perhaps a tweet in time can be of great
Being able to detect a crisis in the making before it
help as it will last as long as it lingers on the web.
spirals out of control.
7. Handle the situation with grace. Social Media is
Strengthen the relationships you currently share
a very powerful platform, it has to be handled with
with the customers, turn them into positive brand
dignity. It is always better to thank your critic for
experience and positive publicity.
his/her valuable opinion. This criticism can be used
Do not attack any competitor directly on a public
to enhance your product/service or brand. As Bill
forum.
Gates puts it “Your most unhappy customers are
your greatest source of learning”. SOME OF THE GENERAL BLUNDERS THAT
8. Beware that the criticism is not a symptom of BRANDS DO IN CRISIS SITUATIONS
Ignore the attack as another “this too shall pass”
some larger issue.
phenomenon - It shall surely pass but will take your
9. Shift criticism into an opportunity. brand along!
10. Constantly monitor all your social networks with Deleting the negative comments- This will only
the help of customised tools (google alerts). piss them off more.
11. Take Goodwill measures - When questions are Letting your frustration get the best of you and
raised on the authenticity of your product, it is ad- fight back with negative comments- Remember,


November 2012

they have got nothing to lose in this fight.

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
It is wise for brands to treat critics and criticism like
friends! Brands should not only know what they want
people to tell them but also what they might not
want to hear. It is challenging to face uncertainties
but coming out of them gracefully is the key to sus-
tain. Brands should thank its customers for helping
them serve better, pointing out how the brand can
do better. A genuine “Thank you” said to a customer
ensures him that the brand cares and strives to get
better.

REFERENCES
http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/09/shining-
examples-of-excellent-social-media-crisis-manage-
ment/
http://advancedfanpagesolutions.com/category/fa-
cebook
http://www.kippreport.com/2012/06/the-big-brand-
comeback/3/
http://www.katroseconsulting.com/social-network-
ing/how-to-handle-negative-online-feedback/

Submitted by:
Bindu Nandigama
Sandeep Shesham
Great Lakes Institute of Management
PGPM 2013


November 2012

Mobile Marketing

Gone are the days when marketing was done through If you want to be found by the potential customers,
door to door, word of mouth, through advertisements then you need to be where the people are looking!
in newspapers and magazine or through promotions. Marketing through mobile phones is a great way of
Now with the invention of internet they can now get creating brand loyalty among the customers through
not only good but better results. personal communication. After all who doesn’t want
In the present scenario, mobile marketing is done personal treatment? Looking from the company’s
not only for promotion of brands or for an invitation perspective mobile marketing is very efficient and
for any event to the general public but also for vari- time saving. Lot of messaging sites is there on in-
ous educational institutes. Earlier, companies used ternet which allows sending multiple messages at a
to advertise their product by giving ads in newspa- time.
pers and magazines which sometimes go beyond Many of the marketing experts have been of the
their budget, but now with the use of mobile market- thought that the next wave of internet marketing will
ing this has become very economical and assessable be through the mobile device. In the present scenar-
as now they just have to send a text message to their io, a very large percentage of population globally use
regular customers at the time of discounts or any their mobile phones as a medium for using internet
other offer and can keep updating their required in- for sending emails, surfing the web and engaging on
formation to them regularly. Majority of the market- social networking sites.
ers have moved their promotion strategy and adver- Some of the facts are:
tising techniques from newspapers and magazines
to mobile marketing.
Why has this marketing reached great heights in a
short span? The only reason is that it takes only a
fraction of time to reach consumers than advertising
through newspapers and magazines. It has also been
found out that marketing through mobile can reach
a far greater crowd based on interest, within millions
of people using internet, thus all this results into
more demand for the product and services and also
gives positive results than another source of market-
ing.


November 2012

can be subscribed to your mobile list. Also, one more
advantage of mobile marketing is that it is cost ef-
fective and environment friendly because through it
there is no need to leave a paper trail.
With email marketing, the customers had to print
out the coupon where as in case of texts they can just
show their text to the cashier and can get the right
deal.
It is helpful if your restaurant is having a slow night
or if the appointment is just opened up at your office.
There can be a case while advertising through mails
that emails keep sitting in their mail box for weeks
and sometimes get deleted without being opened.
According to the mobile report on content activities
of the mobile subscribers of the world, 63% of the re-
spondents had used text messages during the previ-
ous year. However, it has been projected that India’s
percentage will increase by 11.1% in the following
year.
Internet is a major source of communication. Face-
book, Twitter and LinkedIn are means of social net-
working these days. The impact of these sites is so
high that when people complain on company’s wall
they get immediate reply. Even when a complaint
is tweeted on Twitter for a company’s product or
service, it is resolved at the earliest as the world is
watching. Most of the jobs are posted on LinkedIn
rather than advertisement on newspaper. It is bet-
GLOBAL UNIT SHIPMENTS OF DESKTOP PCs +
ter for both customers as well as the company. A
NOTEBOOK PCs VS SMARTPHONES + TABLETS,
company can have free sample of millions of people
2005 - 2013 (E)
without any cost involved. There can be a lot of cost
Text messaging is an easier way to go through
cutting as online forums do not have incurred cost.
your customers’ information. This can also be done
It is the cheapest and the most decent forum one can
through the text campaign one can undertake, cus-
get for marketing. One can also target specific
tomer can just text their name to your number and


November 2012

customers who are likely to be target audience. On-
line market surveys through Google Spread Sheet
and Facebook have become very common now. Mail-
ers have also been a major source of advertising. It
seems to be more effective for the reason that the
customer can take a relook at the advertisement. It is
human tendency that the more you look at the same
thing, you tend to remember it. Also, it becomes easy
to get connected to the target audience. One can also
post videos, as visuals catch more attention.
There are enough indications from the market – 6
billion projected numbers of IOS app downloads in
2012 and 8 billion projected number of android app
downloads in 2012. Different ways of mobile market-
ing are:

On basis of this, marketing can be done with fol-
lowing procedure:
Marketing through contest generates excitement in
the minds of the consumer and the experience is re-
membered. Similarly, handling the service


November 2012

part meticulously builds customer loyalty. It is a type
of indirect marketing. This can be done by internet
banners, Videos, PPTs, product images, etc. It’s the
time of mobility, and history depicts that those who
do not change according to technology advance-
ment always remain behind. And when something is
available with so much of ease and efficiency, why
not use it!

Submitted by:
Maitri
Great Lakes Institute Of Management


November 2012

User Generated Content –
A new Marketing Dimension
User Generated Content – A new Market- brands in social media, 8% of CEOs label social me-
ing Dimension dia a high priority, and 57% of businesses plan to hike
Different businesses across the globe need to gratify their social media spend in 2012, one in three small
the people who spend and consume its products or businesses are now using social media, 89 % of agen-
services. Traditional ways of essaying the needs of cies said they would use Facebook to advertise for
consumers have been used distinctly and indepen- their clients in 2012 – either by purchasing ads, creat-
dently with the ways of merchandising and marketing pages, or other methods of engagement, 39% of
ing the deliverables. With the evolution of technol- agencies said they would focus on Twitter, 36% You-
ogy and with each step of its generation, the modes Tube, 21% LinkedIn and 18% Google+. These facts tell
of connecting to the consumers kept changing and us a story, a story of a new evolving phenomenon
have always been volatile in close relation to the that is bound to rule the marketing arena for the next
changes in the mass media, and same shift was ex- few decades – User Generated Content.
perienced with advent of the internet. With internet The New Advent
becoming the target of marketers, they started to To reap the benefits out of experiential or behaviour-
look for the ways to connect to the target users and al marketing marketers are plunging into the arena
hence developed a whole new stream, well known as of User Generated Content. Businesses today do not
Behavioural Marketing and Experiential Marketing. stand on the pillars of one way communication; they
can’t afford highlighting their proposition for the
customers but they also require their customers to
revert, thus helping in developing better insights
about the adopted strategies, through their experi-
ences and expectations. Holbrook (2003, p. 46) em-
phasizes the importance of value to today’s market-
ers by stating “...if we accept the Kotler’s definition of
marketing as managerial activities that lead toward
the facilitation and consummation of exchanges,
and if we follow Kotler and Levy in regarding an ex-
change as a trading relationship between two parties
in which each gives up something of value in return
Across the global market, 36% of social media us- for something of greater value, it follows immediately
ers post brand-related content, 50% of people follow that customer value is the the basic foundation for


November 2012

everything we do in marketing”. practices.
Now is the time for consumers to come on a platform
with marketers and lead the show, guiding marketers
on the path to success.
UGC Unplugged
The uploading of experiential blogs, videos, com-
ments via internet have stormed the social media
With the advent of internet and exploitation of it
market providing new insights in form of consum-
as one of the most popular mass media, the tradi-
er touch-points to marketers to focus on consumer
tional boundary that existed between marketers and
driven market strategies for giving their business an
customers has started to fade with the conception
edge over others. In addition to web blogs customers
of User Generated Content (UGC). UGC can be in-
engage themselves in mobile logs (moblogs), video
ferred as any material created or uploaded to the in-
blogs (vlogs), and audio blogs (podcasts).
ternet by consumers, it is something consumers do
Several marketers till date have aired user-generated
by their own and could be in any form like a video
content on their pricey spots in between popular tel-
on YouTube, a comment on Facebook page, or any
evision programs, like Alka-Seltzer, Frito-Lay, Chev-
post on a popular blog. UGC has been there in some
rolet and the European National Football League, to
or the other forms since very early days of the inter-
name a few, to attract more customers for their busi-
net, but it took some time for enterprises and traf-
ness.
fickers to gauge its real power. The loss in credibility
and believability related to other types of marketing Revver (www.revver.com) has set up a website as a
techniques, where the interaction was totally biased platform for anybody to post their videos online and
towards its sponsors making it hard for the audienc- letting general public organize them by adding their
es to trust, gave ignition to the drive of internet us- own descriptive keyword ‘tags.’ Big-shots like Micro-
age and to independent experience sharing without soft, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and American
any dilution. Apparel have signed partnership with Revver which
includes inserting code into the video itself that adds
The most commonly cited definition for UGC comes
a small advertisement to the clip.
from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), which defines UGC as Remember the Coke-Mentos phenomenon, off course
having three key characteristics: we all do. Who started it – Coke or Mentos? Well, it
was started by two people, a juggler and a trial lawyer.
content that is made publicly available over the
They tried to test the geyser effect that was caused
Internet;
when Mentos candies are dropped in a diet Coke
content that reflects a certain amount of creative
bottle. They had it videotaped and posted it online.
effort; and
Within few weeks the video got around 4 million
content created outside professional routines and

November 2012

views, they got a revenue-shar-
ing deal worth US $15000, and
the video is now posted on
http://us.mentos.com.
Sears Retail, an online retail
outlet uses surveys and email,
to create and curate high qual-
ity content with efficiency. All
high quality interactions are
saved and linked to the product
on the site. One time conversa-
tion is converted into search
optimization content. They are
strong believers of the fact that
reviews are good but stories are
better. Each and every custom-
er is requested to write about
his/her recent purchase, when
the customer responds the sto-
ry is posted on the blog page
of Sears. By leveraging these
content channels they are able
to broaden their online reach
and drive revenues. Coca Cola
in order to spread awareness
regarding recycling of plastic
bottles in Israel, came up with
a campaign ‘The Recycle King’
where they leveraged the app
Facebook places to get the job
done in the most efficient man-
ner. They added around 10000
recycle bins in the Facebook
places system. Thousands of their photos and sharing the same with their friends.
users participated by checking-in and uploading The most active participant was crowned The


November 2012

Recycle King. By the time the campaign ended, eve- sion looking into UGC or they use the most overused
ryone in Israel knew how easy it was to track the lo- jargon, outsourcing wherein a third party analyzes
cation of the recycle bin and contribute to this cause the online data for them and gives them a report
of recycling. on what is the current user generated buzz. One
These are only few examples amongst thousand oth- such company, Andiamo Systems, a leading word-
ers, which depict the power of user generated con- of-mouth and social media analysis provider, does
tent in terms of its impact, reach and efficiency. The this job of searching, filtering and analyzing such
companies have realized that conversations are go- information. In an interview, John Hingley, CEO
ing on the web with you or without you. So rather and Founder, revealed that currently companies use
than controlling the whole tornado of public views, agencies like Andiamo not only to determine what
it is more rational for companies to turn people into their campaign should be but also to determine what
brand ambassadors. As Jeffery Elliot, President and product or product features should be. The data anal-
CEO of Bite TV says - “You’ve got a new generation ysis phases are very intuitive; first consumers talk
that doesn’t want to be talked to; they want to be about your company and that data is collected. The
included, and they’re going to make their own deci- agencies then measure and deliver real-time intelli-
sions. The best way to get this demographic on side is gence. The companies use these insights to amend
to empower them and
give them responsibil-
ity, choice and freedom
to help shape your di-
rection.”
So, what drives people
to create such con-
tent? According to a
study there are four
drives namely co-cre-
ation, empowerment,
community and self
concept. The above
image gives a brief de-
scription of the drives
their marketing messages, products & services and
and studies done on them.
as a result they gain customer loyalty and increase
How do companies analyse UGC? their ROI. The figure depicts the four step process of
Companies either have their market research divi- social media


November 2012

analysis. 2. Entertainment Realm: From a broader marketing
UGC, an Insight into Tourist Destinations perspective, the contribution of fun, entertainment
Different studies till date have studied and acknowl- and recreation to the overall individual experience is
edged that value is in the customer’s experience; considered by the destination managers in offering
therefore there is a need to understand experience better and more, to enhance the tourist’s experience
from the perspective of the consumer. The concept and post consumption value.
of experience is purely based on the point-of-view 3. Escapist Realm: Within this realm epistemic sub-
of an individual and exists in his/her mind. Though component of experiential/hedonic value dimen-
current usage of UGC in the field of understanding sions was found to be the most prominent value gen-
the experience realm and customer value is extreme- erator as per the UGCs. This provided the marketers
ly limited and underutilized, still they are steadily to do something different than their competitors to
supporting the Tour & Travel services market in de- add on to the platter in-order to attract more tourists
veloping and enhancing their marketing and service as a part of the packages offered.
strategies on the basis of customer (tourists) feed- 4. Aesthetic Realm: UGCs generated are mostly gen-
backs in form of the blogs shared by them on the erated out of the sensory sub-components (aesthet-
social media – internet through various sites. The ics, ambience) and emotional sub-component (pleas-
use of UGC in evaluating customer value based on ure, adventure) of experiential/hedonic dimension
experience as published by consumers in their blogs of post-consumption value. This provides valuable
provides an ideal platform to analyze personalized marketing information to destination marketers and
consumer experiences. tour operators to focus on various nuances of cus-
Various studies conducted across different tourist tomer value perceptions along with targeting the
destinations, on the basis of UGCs gives an insight functional or technical aspects of tourism.
of the value perceived by the tourists on different Customer’s experience and its propagation through
realms of experience. UGCs is becoming the nucleus to experiential mar-
1. Educational Realm: These experimental/hedon- keting and are being explored to its complete poten-
ic dimensions of value covered panoramic view of tial as a core constituent of business strategy. The
travel related advices and destination related stories detailed analysis of UGC gives an insight of how
were considered the most important. This gave an specific realms, mentioned above, can be utilized in
insight to the market that interpretation of tourists creating emotional bonding among the customers
is not only about informing people about the des- with respect to consumption of the product (in this
tinations but is an overall experience of creativity case the tourist destination). It provides a platform
and skill which forms a link between the consumer for the destination marketers and tour providers to
and the product. Therefore, encounters between tour evaluate the various experiential realms to be fo-
guides and tourists are a key component of value cused upon in-order to build emotional ties with the
creation for this industry. most exotic consumption experience to develop a

November 2012

cutting edge over other destinations. 015, The Market Research Society, 2011.
Conclusion 6. Consumer-generated content - The 2007 Enter-
User Generated Content has changed the way mar- tainment, Media & Advertising Market Research
keters look and control their brands. It has changed Handbook
the way brands enter the market, the way they are 7. http://thesocialskinny.com/100-more-social-
propagated, the way they are accepted and the way
media-statistics-for-2012/
they evolve in their lifecycle. The online democracy
8. YouTube
that is offered by the internet has enabled users to
express their views publically. Earlier, brands used
to be controlled by managers, but now they are being Submitted by:
increasingly shaped by their customers. This change Akhil Girhotra
marks a shift from publisher-centric media model to Great Lakes Institute of Management
a user-centric model. All that marketers need to do is
control the information flow and guide their brands
to success, which seems simple to say but is highly
complicated to implement.
References
1. Using consumer-generated content for competi-
tive advantage — Interview with John Hingley of
Andiamo Systems
2. Christodoulides ,G., Jevons , C., Bonhomme,J.,
“How User-Generated Content Really Affects
Brands”, Journal of Advertising Research, March
2012.
3. Iyanna , S., Bosangit, C., Mohd., A.A., “Value evalu-
ation of customer experience using consumer gener-
ated content”, International Journal of Management
and Marketing Research, Vol.5, 2012.
4. Holbrook, M. B. (2003), “Customer value and auto-
ethnography: subjective personal introspection and
the meanings of a photograph collection”, Journal of
Business Research, 58 (1), 45 – 61.
5. Hardey, M., “To spin Straw into Gold? New lessons
from Consumer Generated Content”, IJMR-53-1-013-

November 2012

Interview with
Mr. Ishaan Gupta, CEO of EduKart-
Digitization has become a culture of or- Google. How does one engage, nurture and mon-
ganizations today, with so many network- etize those fans and show a return on investment?
ing websites and online forums available, Ans. Although Facebook advertisements have a low
what is the basic formula companies need conversion rate as compared to Google but one of the
to follow to engage prospective consum- major differences between the two is that through Fa-
ers, irrespective of the sector? cebook you can target your audience. Facebook ads
Ans. Digital marketing is emerging as an integral have the targeting feature. Since in a Facebook ad
part of every business. In the present scenario, no you are bidding on the likes and interests of people
company can exist in isolation with the society and rather than bidding on broader keywords like Goog-
digital marketing is emerging as a very effective tool le, you are targeting only the prospective customers.
for maintaining a close relation with your audience. 3. How important is analytics in this business and
Your digital marketing campaign depends on many are e-commerce companies making the best use
factors like the product you are promoting, the kind of this data to acquire customers?
of audience that you have and your marketing budg- Ans. Analytics is much more than mere numbers. It
et. There isn’t any sure shot formula that can guar- tells an e-commerce company a lot about the behav-
antee success to a digital marketing campaign but ior of its target audience like the content liked by the
providing quality and original content regularly can audience, the pages they like to visit the most, the
be of great help. The content must be engaging, in- pages they spend a lot of time on, etc. It also tells the
formative and crisp and concise. The companies can time when people visit a site the most. This informa-
engage in activities like spreading news regarding tion can be used for improving the content of pages
new product launches, participation in major trade that are not too popular and have a high bounce rate.
fairs or symposiums, information about change in Before and after launching an online ad campaign,
the management team, collaboration, achievement companies can go in for continuous A/B testing to
and awards, etc. A company can support consum- see which particular ads are doing better than others
ers to help resolve their queries through technical or and then continue with the ones that are doing well
product forums. Also, launching some products can and retract the ones that are not doing well.
exclusively be online and online audiences are given
4. What benefits and pitfalls do e-commerce web-
additional discounts over and above the discount re-
sites bring with them, in terms of profits, market
ceived by offline consumers.
share and customer retention?
2. The low advertisement conversion rate of Face- Ans. E-commerce websites bring with them a lot of
book is a concern to businesses when compared to benefits like faster buying and selling decisions. E-

SOIL Markezine - Nov 2012

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