With political parties like AAP taking to social networks to level allegations of wrongdoing against Reliance Industries (RIL), the oil-to-yarn and retail conglomerate has begun using sentiment analysis software and other social media tools to protect its online reputation.
RIL has employed a software called Radian6 developed by US-based firm Salesforce Marketing Cloud to gain insights into conversations about the company taking place online, especially on social networks, and respond accordingly, two people familiar with the development said. None of them wanted to be identified.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud, according to the company?s website, has a suite of products like Radian6 (to gain insights into conversations taking place online and responding in real time), Buddy Media (for managing and scheduling posts and creating content supported by analytics and insights) and Social.com (which builds, optimises and automates highly targeted social advertising campaigns).
A person familiar with the development said RIL is employing the services of as many as 3,000 people (through internal as well as third party resources) who are engaged in monitoring content that is generated online and addressing it accordingly.
RIL has been facing a barrage of allegations by AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal. Most of the charges concern the issue of gas price in India and RIL?s operations at the D6 reservoir Krishna-Godavari basin, touted to be India?s largest gas find till date.
With natural gas production from RIL?s gas reservoir declining, parties like AAP and the Communist Party of India have recently alleged that the government?s decision to hike gas prices, which was set to come into effect from April 1 but had to be deferred after the Election Commission intervened, was to benefit private companies like RIL.
Earlier, through the year and last year, RIL has faced intense pressure from regulatory authorities over its oil and gas business because of allegations that it had artificially hoarded gas and had wilfully inflated the costs incurred towards developing the D6 field to deprive the government of its fair share of revenue (a part of the proceeds from the sale of oil and gas in the country has to go to the government, after deducting the costs incurred to develop such resources).
Hareesh Tibrewala, founder and joint chief executive of digital marketing firm SocialWavelength.com, said it makes sense for companies to use a sentiment analysis tool to protect its online reputation. Tibrewala?s company is the sole licensee for Radian6 in India and he says that depending on the level of customization that a client wants, Radian6 could cost anything between R30,000 and R60 lakh in India.
One visible result of RIL?s new social media communication strategy, which relies heavily on Salesforce?s expertise, has been the creation of a dedicated Youtube channel called ?Flame of Truth?. Deviating from its usual practice of issuing a press release to clear the air surrounding allegations levelled at the company, RIL has now started doing so by posting videos through its Youtube channel.
The videos are usually styled in the form of news shows with an anchor (a member of RIL?s communications team) putting forth RIL?s perspective in Hindi. An English and a Hindi transcript of the contents of the video are also made available. As on date, RIL has posted 31 videos on its Youtube channel. The videos have also started featuring interviews with key RIL executives. RIL’s chief financial officer Alok Agarwal spoke about the financial performance of the company in the March quarter in one such video. ?Facing a bizarre and uninformed attack by a new-age political outfit, ignoring them was the most obvious thing to do,? Rohit Bansal, a member of RIL’s communications team said in an article published on April 2 on the media website Exchange4media.com. ?But given the party?s strength in the social media, the same perversity, repeated endlessly, was creating a body of digital packets that could add up to a formidable body of falsities.?
?These VRs (video recordings) are posted for our valued investors,? Bansal said. ?This, and some new ways to break the status quo on falsities?is work in progress.?
