The number of people present in social networking sites is ginormous. So how can businesses use social media for their benefit? Let us answer this question with the help of a case study on Tata Docomo.
There are social media monitoring tools available in the market. Simplify360 is one such tool which acts as a one stop solution to all the social media needs of a business. The keyword “Tata Docomo” is tracked using Simplify360 for a period of 2 weeks from 19th August to 2nd September 2011.
1. Leads Generation
Social Media can be used for searching phrases or words relevant to its business and monitor those searches regularly. By finding relevant searches, business leads can be generated.
Fig : Twitter Conversation
In the above situation, Tata Docomo could contact those persons directly in their twitter account and promote its brand. Tata Docomo can talk about why Tata Docomo is better than the other brands and send some relevant link for the leads to see so that those person become interested on the brand.
2. Reputation Management
The social media phenomenon is redefining the way ideas are spread. Consider Facebook alone which has more than 500 million active users with average user having 130 friends and people spending over 700 billion minutes per month in Facebook. News spread faster than before and this means that the reputation or name of your brand could spread fast either in a good way or bad way. Say unhappy customers can post negative comments about your brand in his Facebook page or it can lead to tweets and re-tweets until it lead to a million view. So it is extremely important for businesses to stay focus and alert to customer service.
Figure : Twitter Conversation
Tata Docomo should proactively engage with such customers who are not happy with their service. It should ask unhappy customers the reason why they are not happy with their service and give assurance that it won’t happen again. Depending on the degree of severity, Tata Docomo can take different strategy to tackle reputation management. In any case, it should engage itself immediately with the unhappy customer so that the damage done is less.
3. Word of Mouth/Pull Marketing
Good brands are like magic. They don’t require push marketing but instead it is the happy and brand loyal customers who do all the brand promotion job. Customers talk about how happy or satisfied they are with a particular brand in social media and businesses could encourage such brand influencers to promote their brand. As we know, word of mouth is the most effective tool in promoting a brand.
Figure : Twitter Conversation
The above snapshots from Simplify360 are actual people talking good things about Tata Docomo. Such posts have the power to influence many people in their attitude towards the brand. For example, a person who is thinking of getting a new mobile connection might happen to see this post. It will definitely influence him in his decision making in favour of Tata Docomo. Tata Docomo should therefore search for such brand influencers and encourage them to do so through special incentives.
4. Be an Industry Leader
Thousands and thousands of queries and questions are being posted in social networking sites every hour. Businesses can leverage such situation by answering relevant queries and become an industry leader.
By answering such questions, Tata Docomo would portray itself as a Knowledge House and instill a sense of trust in the minds of customers.
