Tissue Issues

Facebook Tags can be an effective device for marking fans for a brand. This is what is referred to as Social Currency of a brand. Good work by Duval Guillaume. Now though the idea has become common, they managed to find a sweet spot for Flair magazine.

Just a quick observation on how I got the news of "Osama Bin Laden killed in US operation" started featuring in media. I first received it on Twitter, then on Facebook, then I received an SMS, then I turned on the TV and the same will appear on newspaper tomorrow. Ha.

Interesting times indeed.

You know what, I'm super impressed with AKQA. This agency is breaking barriers every time and their work is simply amazingly breath taking. The best part, Heineken is indeed one brave, clever client who believes an buys into great bold works. You can read more about the work here.

AKQA developed an application for Heineken which can be played online on Facebook an on mobile phones and allows players to bet live on actions during Champions League Games. Now this is truly exploring an integrated multi-media and making the brand culturally relevant with trends. Borrowing from Adverblog, "In the US alone, to understand how web, mobile and social channels are changing the TV viewer experience : 74% of consumers say they multitask while watching TV; among them, 42% browse online, 29% talk on cellphones or mobile devices, and 26% send instant messages or text messages, according to a Deloitte survey."

Good work AKQA. Wish I was part of this campaign.

When I first saw EpicMix, I was really surprised and shocked. This is bloody brilliant. This is cutting edge innovation that is build on playfulness, sharing and seamless integration of work and fun. Integrating social media, Foursquare, Facebook and outdoor activity into one simple application is simply amazing. Well done guys.

Wish I was a part of such innovations in India. We need more meaningful innovations like this in India rather than wasting time creating more crappy television commercials.

Tata Tea made news in India when they launched their 'Jaago Re' campaign. Everyone started talking about Tata Tea and their bold stance against corruption.

But today when Anna Hazare at the age of 72 yrs is going on a 'Dharna' and pledged to 'Fast till Death' to make India Corruption Free and pass the Lokpal Bill, it seems Tata Tea itself is suffering from TBTC (Too Busy to Care). Ha. Social media is buzzing with the news, news channels are beaming live, the events. But Tata Tea is nowhere to be seen.

Words like 'Brand Movements,' 'Social Brand,' 'Doing Good' sounds good when it comes to pick up metals and Effies. Brands often fall into these traps of finding a cultural insight and doing good. They stand up for something which is often superficial and when the right opportunity comes, they duck. Today is the biggest day for Tata Tea's 'Jaago Re' but they've missed the boat. Will the people of India ever believe in 'Jaago Re' anymore?

Anyways. Corruption is indeed eating up India. Corruption has been institutionalized in India and at every level, in every department, in every govt. bodies. It's the biggest hindrance to our nations growth. So stand up. Log on to India Against Corruption and make yourself heard on their Facebook Page. Support the cause, the right cause, a good cause for yourself and your future generation.

Stand up India. Do good.

Here's a great list of the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2011 by the Fast Company. These companies have made innovation the core of their DNA. Interestingly W+K features at No. 25. Now thats something. When will the others learn?

Creating a benchmark or a measurement Index on the popularity and level of involvement of the most influential people in Social Media was long overdue. The need to quantify the kind of influence a person exerts in the social networking platform and understanding the breadth of a person's brand. The good thing is we do have an interesting Influence Index to refer now. However, the index needs further development to create a robust measurement model. Time Magazine recently conducted the most Influential People of 2010, who can affect our world.

Now don't ask me what that's supposed to mean and how this calculation can give a precise Index of Influence but at least expert are working on it.

In my 2010 Atticus paper, titled "Do Good or Die," I proposed a measurement Index to understand the Return on Involvement of Brand in context to the level of Involvement a brand has with its fans, followers and people in Social Media. Now how do we go about doing it.

Step 1: Conducting a Social Audit of the Brand.

This audit includes understanding of the Digital Footprint of the brand where it gives us a clear understanding how deep the brand has managed to penetrate in the social media sphere, the Social Identity Audit that lets us understand how does consumer identify with the brand, then conducting a Social Engagement Audit that lets us understand how well the brand manages to engage with people on the Social Media. This leads us to understand the Social Capital Opportunity that a brand can gather in the Social Media platforms. The Social Capital of a brand is the most important component for a brand to play with.

Return on Involvement is the measurement to ascertain the efficiency of a company's value in involving its stakeholders, shareholders and consumers to evaluate its social goals. To understand Return on Involvement of a brand we need to understand how transparent a brand is in it's entire value creation process. Second, how much Social Capital it can gather through collaboration and co-creation and finally how does the brand share its value to people of the world.

This is conceptual formula to calculate Return on Involvement. Like most index and formula is needs more clarity and better statistical and mathematical model to create an universal unit as reference and measurement.

The Formula= (Total Audience Size on Social Media Platform/ Implementation cost of Social Activity) x Average Time Spent.

ROIn is a reflection of consumers' sense of belonging and feeling of being valued. ROIn is about bringing people together for a common cause that creates a ripple effect in the market place all contributing to social accountability. It is the measurement of the rate of productive output by collaborating with people on social media platforms.

Coming back to Influence Index, I think it will become an important measurement index in the near future as more brands join the social media platform. Just like TAM, GRP. TRP, INS etc, we do need a strong Index which will bind all social media activities and the level of influence and involvement a brand/ person has on the medium.

Please do share your thoughts and feedback. Maybe we can collaborate to create a robust measurement index for the Influence Ripple and Involvement.

Cheers.

Facebook is indeed amazing. They've just introduced Sponsored Stories as part of their Marketing Solutions. Are agencies and clients in India listening?

Sponsored Stories from Facebook can open a floodgate of opportunities, if only marketers are willing to invest and involve themselves in this platform. Social Media is an essential part of the marketing mix but most brands from India who have a Facebook fan page for some reason restricted themselves to stupid status updates. Here's an example:

Axe started Axe Angel Club with more than 1,117,965 people liking the initiative. But when you look at the activities, you just cant stop and laugh. Mindless trivia and questions to get people to respond. That's hardly involving people to start a conversation. On the other hand if Axe started recruiting Angels among the 1117965 fans, it would have created more buzz than the brand could ever imagine. Now thats Return on Involvement. A great example of right brand, right medium but wrong message or maybe the digital agency of Axe India is too naive to think of better ways to engage their fans. Anyways. Facebook page of a brand is not to send stupid status updates but engage fans in a more meaningful way. Especially when you've created such a wonderful property called Angel Club.

Good Luck. Cheers.

In less than 1 hour, of me mentioning about the Social Media Revolucion, we indeed have "The Virtual March" on Facebook. Go ahead. Bring a revolution. I mentioned here how Egypt is turning to be a great example of social change using social media, rather a regime change. This is a live event happening around us. I just hope more clients in India start listening to what people are saying in the social media platform, before they go out in the streets screaming, 'Viva La Revolucion.'

On a different note, I was wondering, the Communist Party of India is indeed stupid. They couldn't manage to use social networking and social media to their advantage, both online and offline. Am guessing a similar event about to happen in Kolkata very soon. Or maybe not. Didi ain't transparent either. Anyways. Change will prevail upon the regime. May the force be with you.

The latest developments in Egypt can become the new face of Social Revolution in the ear of Social Media. Surprisingly with several instances of people and society coming together to raise their voice against oppression, corruption and government wrong doings signifies an emerging trend - Social Media influenced Revolution.

Examples like:

Go ahead. Explore yourself and spread the joy. Cheers.

Sure you've a profile on Facebook. Your friends poke you. Now how can brands sit alone. So they've started poking too. Facebook is the new playground. And social networkers ain't complaining.

Have a look here. Also read Iain Tait's post too. It might just make sense for you - Brand Managers of India Inc. to get on board, since young Indians are getting crazy about social networking. Especially young Indians from Tier II/III cities are joining the bandwagon. It's fun and excitement for them. They're spending several hours "adding friends" and being part of "communities" at cyber cafes. A brilliant opportunity for you to connect. Now just find the right way to approach them and they might love you. But careful, don't misuse the platform or else you've to face a social wrath.