The extraordinarily successful Anna Hazare campaign that has unfolded in the last fortnight on every TV screen and millions of Facebook and LinkedIn pages across India and the world has demonstrated the power of media in making great movements happen in the world. The convergence of information, communications and entertainment through the rapid advances in information technology and networks have been inexorable over the last decade or so and further change can be expected as the following trends play out in front of us.
The consumption of media will increase exponentially as more and mobile phone users discover applications beyond voice and text communications, the internet pops up on every device and increasing electronics in homes offices and even cars enables us to stay connected all the time. Social networks, which played such a major role in the Obama campaign of 2008 and also in the Team Anna campaign with minute to minute updates on Twitter LinkedIn and even Facebook will also assume ever increasing importance. The advances in smartphone on 3G technology will add the edge to the real-time two-way communication capabilities that are already in the hands of a majority of the human race.
On the provider and user front, a new convergence of technology, media and marketing services providers will provide compelling new multi-channel messaging possibilities to marketers who have something useful to contribute to the thought processes of consumers. However the flip side of this multiplicity of choices available to the consumer is that ?push? advertising and even marketing messages cleverly disguised as advertorials will be screened out as unwanted interruptions to sought content. ?Permission? based marketing or the willingness to click on a display ad on the internet has already declined to less than 6% as reported by a recent survey and deep research will have to be done on the willingness to ?pull? content when effectively designed and presented to the potential customer.
The use of social networks by the corporate sector has been rather weak in India and needs to be addressed particularly as our global competitors are making rapid strides in recognising the value of this medium. In a global research conducted recently, it was found that over 66% of companies have adopted social media in some form in the last year, with corporate brand building and reputation management being the dominant reasons for this adoption. However the confidence in their social media strategies is still low across the corporate sector, with 33% of respondents citing lack of management support and an equal number referring to confidentiality concerns as key obstacles to social media adoption. As in every other serious strategy area, measuring return on investment is essential if this has to become a major weapon in the arsenal of corporate marketers in the years to come.
Two years ago, when we decided to launch Zensar?s presence in social media aggressively, we chose very traditional themes of brand building to establish the brand across Facebook, Blog Sites and even Second Life. With a view to attracting potential employees as well as customers and other stakeholders, creating a brand promise through the quality of experience with our brand was of paramount importance and the design of every customer touch point was done after significant research into preferences of various constituencies.
The design of our corporate intranet and its relevance today as the nerve centre of interactions across the organisation has also helped in demonstrating the power of communication through new media. With more and more options available for people within and outside the organisation to experiment and change preferences at the drop of a hat, continuous engagement is probably the best way to deliver and reinforce the promise of the brand!
This raises an important red flag. While there are many opportunities that new media presents to all of us running corporations in the present era, the need to align the organisation?s capabilities to the expectations and the promises made to stakeholders assumes an even greater importance. Process simplification, rationalisation and re-engineering, ensuring that a willingness to accept feedback and communicate better is prevalent across all levels in the organisation and continually striving to deliver a better brand promise is what future success stories will be made of. As we have seen in the Western world, it no longer takes more than a few months to destroy a reputation that may have been built assiduously over years and organisations will have to be on their watch on a continuous basis.
This logic for teams and organisations is equally valid for the nation as a whole. The first phase of the Anna Hazare campaign has established the potential of social movements but even as Team Anna talks about new reforms to pursue including India?s messy election system, the ability and willingness to deliver on the promises that have been made in Parliament and the will to pursue the ?Shudh Aachar Shudh Vichaar Nishkalank Jeevan? slogan given by Anna in his concluding speech at the Ramlila grounds will be the real test of the mettle of our nation!
The writer is vice-chairman & MD of Zensar Technologies and is the co-chair of CII?s National Knowledge Council