Social media, be it any platform such as Twitter or Facebook can play an important role in improving business networking and brand building, said Younomy Consulting Services, managing partner, G. Sankaranarayanan. He was addressing a one-day workshop organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Vijayawada zone, on ‘Doing business with social media’ here on Wednesday.
Giving a Power Point presentation he said successful social marketing was about authentic interaction that inspires advocacy for your product and trusted recommendations.
He however, said one should be cautious in handling it as it requires a professional touch. “The success depends on how good is one’s story telling capability and for the story to be good, someone must be involved in the story doing,” he asserted.
Elaborating on it he said, “marketing and production departments are the story doers and corporate communication department is the story teller. There must be something good to tell.”
Mr. Sankaranarayanan was of the opinion that in today’s business scenario one cannot avoid the social media.
“One has to adopt a platform and almost every company has a team in the corporate communication department to handle the media. The team is made up of professionals and experienced journalists. There are many companies who also outsource this department to professional PR or advertisement companies who run the show under the platform for digital media services or social media services,” he said.
Quoting examples of how social media has made an impact he said the delegates present that Louis Philippe brand of shirt makers spend about 35 per cent of their advertisement allocation on non-traditional modes of advertising and digital media.
Mr. Sankaranarayanan, also advised the delegates, who comprised young entrepreneurs and professionals, to give a humane touch to the social media communication.
“Humanising your product or services can at times work wonders, especially for small and medium industries. It is nothing but giving a humane touch to the product or services to get closer to the customer.”
Quoting an example he pointed out how NASA has created a Facebook and Twitter account for Mars Curiosity Rover and how the machine interacts with humans in ‘first person’. “Social media is the new face of communication,” he said. The Chairman of CII- Vijayawada zone, Dr. Lakshmiprasad, and vice-chairman V.V.M. Krishna were present.
